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Tina, you are a leathercrafting goddess! You have such a unique vision and it shows in all of your work. Thanks for sharing and inspiring!

I'm with jbird on this one. A big thanks to LW.N for being a wellspring of knowledge and community. This place is unique in the level of class and camaraderie shared here. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, fellow leather junkies!

Maybe this should be leatherjunkies.net and Johanna will be our enabler! We need a twelve step program... or just more tools...

This is the one I used for my friend's guitar strap. In this case, I used a stencil cutter to burn the image in and then dyed it.

Thanks! Yep. I wanted it to be fairly sturdy, but malleable. I stretched the cups over a boccie ball to give them shape, but the leather proved a bit less malleable than I'd hoped.

This was a real learning experience for me. I hadn't ever tackled any kind of garment making before. I definitely learned that I have to make the cups bigger...

If you're in Southern California, one of the most amazing Steampunk experiences is right at your doorstep. The Edison is quite incredible - it was built in 1910 as L.A.'s first power plant, and then eventually fell into disrepair. The new owners dredged it from underneath several feet of water, and set about creating a brand new steampunk-inspired bar and lounge in downtown LA, complete with original architectural features and power plant hardware. (The Edison link above leads to a virtual tour of the club. It takes a little bit to load, but it's well worth it!) They have everything from burlesque shows to neo-victorian circus performances. I attended a performance of Lucent Dossier there on Wednesday and it was truly inspiring. The Edison events page has all of the upcoming shows listed there. I am hooked on the steampunk aesthetic. It has such a perfect gritty appeal to its beauty. I've begun some preliminary designs for everything from corsets to goggles to headgear. I would definitely enjoy collaborating on projects like this... after Christmas, at least. I'm neck deep in Christmas gift projects for the next two months!

A friend of mine is asking me where he could find mink oil to apply to floggers as a conditioner. Before I point him in any particular direction, is there something better he should use, or is mink oil just as good as anything else (cod liver, neatsfoot, etc)?

Absolutely gorgeous! I'm finding myself in awe of well applied swivel knife cuts. I really have to start practicing that technique! Where do you get inspiration for the knife cut designs?

Wow! That is absolutely stunning. I just keep staring at it. I really appreciate floral work that steps a bit outside of the traditional style. Well done! I'm going to hunt down that backgrounder. It's perfect! What's the ID on it?

Good job on the MySpace pages, guys! MySpace is doing my website dirty work for the time being as well. For the time being, until I get my real site up and working, you can reach my MySpace page by redirection through http://www.artisanskincraft.com

Very nice, tasha! Heraldry is a great subject for leatherwork. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product!

Thanks, Dually! It's funny how one obsession opens the door the next obsession. For me, this all started with archery, then leather, and now wood. I have so much respect for people that can create something beautiful out of some bits of this and pieces of that. This board has an abundance of those kinds of people! The inset is basically supported beneath by a piece of 3/4 ply mounted to two 2x3's that span the width of the tabletop. There are two more pieces of ply mounted on top of that one, under the stone itself. I used a small stack of paper to shim it up to the exact height of the table. I drilled a hand-sized hole in the middle of the support pieces so I can push up from beneath to remove the slab from the inset if need be. I've considered mounting some angle braces underneath if there was too much bounce, but so far it doesn't appear necessary. We'll see...

Thanks for the input, Bree. Of course, the horse has kinda left the stable at this point. If you'll scroll back a few posts, you'll see the finished product. I managed to incorporate a few of your ideas. It's definitely a heavy, solid workspace. And it's got plenty of room for the kinds of projects I do. I'm a bit concerned about this explosion proof blower for the airbrush. I didn't know that airbrushing was quite so risky! The 'booth' in my plan is merely a few pressboard walls with weatherproofing attached at the bottom over a rubber mat. I just want to keep the dye/paint/atomized grape jelly from getting all over the place. (No joke, a friend of mine used grape jelly in his airbrush when he was rushed to finish a piece and didn't have the color!) So, seriously... what's the blower you speak of? As far as ventilation goes, this is all in my garage, so when I airbrush, I can open the garage door and a I have a whole wall's worth of ventilation. And I have masks and goggles and such. Inhaling Fiebing's does not appeal to me at all!

I love the peel-away over the wood. Very nice touch!

Oh, just wait until I get started. It will be a catastrophe in no time! I've actually already dyed one spot on it as I was transferring stuff in. I figure it's best to go ahead and get it over with. Fate is inexorable. Nope. I can shoot pointy sticks off of them sometimes, but building bows is beyond me. Believe it or not: Harbor Freight. It was about 80 bucks. Once I get some of the commissioned projects off my list, I'm going to make it my first bike seat project. I haven't spent enough time on it to judge it for comfort yet...

Wicked, Spider! I love the color and detail you get into the relief of your masks. What are you using for leather, 1-2 oz, 3-4 oz, ...?

I've been out of it for a few weeks while I've been building this. But finally, I've made the move from a cramped room in my house where I lived in mortal fear of accidentally dumping dye all over the floor to my garage where I'll live in not quite as mortal fear of dumping dye all over the floor.Here's where I've been working for the last six months: And this is my new Official Artisan SkinCraft Island of Doom and Sewing Center! Thanks to everyone for your input and advice. This was my first go at building anything like this. It was a lot of fun to design and build and I learned a lot that I didn't know. Hopefully soon I'll stop sneezing sawdust. It's time to get back to leatherworking!

Thank you very much, Jerry, for taking the time to respond. This question hung out there for a bit and I've fallen prey to my own impulsive nature. My 1948 Singer 66 will be arriving this week. I'm hoping at this point that it will handle garment leather well enough, as that will be my use for it presently. It's my first go at sewing, so hopefully the simplicity of the machine will prove helpful. Undoubtedly, once I get more comfortable with sewing in general, I'll be inclined to go for a serious machine. Based upon the accolades of the craftsmen on this site, I am sure that I'll be giving you a call. Besides, the name fits!

As they say, 'n Boer maak 'n plan! South African ingenuity has always impressed me. Baie goed!

That's how they got me out to the car! Man, I love the Irish!

I've liked McCain since I first saw him in a town hall meeting back in the early nineties. I was relieved that he won the Republican primaries. Even though I lean socially left, I lean fiscally right, so McCain was my choice for this year. Then he chose Sarah Palin. Now there is not a chance that I'd vote for him. Palin would make Bush seem reasonable! If she gets the Oval Office, I'm moving in with Ray in England!

I love Tom's style. Every piece he makes looks like it was carved and hammered by a viking warlord: solid. And Tom, I have total marble envy. That's a great workbench!

This is a cool idea! It's nice to be able to put a face to the name. Here's one of my and my girl at the Bushmill's Distillery in Ireland. At the end of the tour, they sat us down in front of these mats with all of those shots of whiskey, scotch, and bourbon and had us do a 'taste test'. Then, they sent us on our way to drive on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road. Brilliant!

Thanks, Jordan! I think you're probably right about #4. I'm hoping that my requirements are such that I don't necessarily need a leather sewing machine. I just need a machine that will sew leather. (Yes, I realize that makes no sense )