SunLynx

May I ask how you added the pressure gauge? I'm having trouble telling how complicated (or not) it would be to add to an existing HF product. Thanks.

I think this is just a different type of modelling spoon. Or rather, I think it has similar uses, and I think you can use it to lift leather tooled edges a bit.

I am very interested in this class as I already use AI but it's like battling a dragon every time (even if I get a permanent pattern out of the process). I only have one question. Does my butt need to be in front of my AI capable computer, or can I watch this on my tablet at the coffee shop and get a link to review the video (repeatedly)? Thanks. - SunLynx

Realistically Sac-town may be your closest option. If you ever go out to wine country though I would check out Napa's Hide House. More expensive, but way better quality and nice people. If you buy leather online don't go through Ebay, use one of the vendors who advertises on this site. Or purchase from the classifieds here. When it comes to thread it depends on what you are doing. Is the construction by hand or machine? What are you making? Is the thread making a fashion statement as well, or is it just holding everything together? You might want to choose a project and see what materials other people used to make theirs and go from there. - SunLynx

Also some people have lots of swivel tools so they don't have to pause their tooling to switch blades. Different angles on the blades will get you different things, as will different widths (both as a measure of blade length and blade thickness). And as Battlemunky said, the tools will each have their own "personality" so you might find you like a heavier bodied swivel for one blade, and a lighter or thicker body for another.

I would also be interested in price and quantity, and as you are selling on Etsy whether you will be selling cards/bobbins with smaller quantities at higher "Try it Out" prices. (A tactic some sellers use, but not everyone wants to hassle with.)

Man, you made out like a bandit! I can't ID everything, but I've got some educated guesses. Those green handled shears look like pattern shears I was "given" a long time ago when I made the mistake of going to FIDM. So heavy shears for cutting tag board and the like. Next pic has safety skivers, French bevelers and then - yes - creasers. I agree with your theory that you have a lacing punch. It looks very similar to a stitching punch (small/tiny holes) that I have. How exactly does our most used tool (rotary punch) wander off so often anyway? Mine does the same thing. The punches in the next picture may have been repurposed from another trade. I want to say maybe metalwork. For all I know they are just really old single hole leather punches though. I think the tool you have no idea on may have been an adjustable creaser that has lost it's adjuster? I've never heard of scissors serrated on just one side. I would love to know what they're intended use is. Hope this helped a little.

Best laugh I've had all week. I assure you it's not really a taco, but even after sending my pic through a file compressor I could still only fit one, so the important one stayed. I'm not sure if I could do a saddle stitch with veg tan lace, especially not without getting that funny angled look I dislike. (When I use thread I have a minor angle that quickly disappears with use.) I know I mentioned wet moulding in my parent post but if I wet moulded I'd have to free form it as I lack the tools to make a form for it. It can be done, I just think there would be no consistency in shape, which is unlikely to be pretty in my case. (No one ever told me that as a leatherworker I would also need to be a woodworker and a CAD artist ) 1. It would have been nice to not fight the lacing so much. Some of that was fear that it would snap though, and I was already on site with no way to make more. Wouldn't the oil or beeswax change the colour of the lace respective of the other leather though? 2. This makes plenty of sense, so I'm going to have to figure out some way to round my laces as I have had literally zero luck getting an oval/slot punch to cut in the orientation I placed it on the leather. 3. I'm having a hard time visualizing your recommendation here. Do you mean to recommend folding the edges of the strip (gusset) that marries the two pieces so that it is doing the work of meeting the front and back pieces of leather? 4. and 5. I thank you kindly for this advice, but I did not do finish work on this piece not because I didn't know any better but because I had some pretty extreme time limitations. Had I chosen to do the finish work I would have basically given up on sleep altogether after working a 10 hour day and before working a 13 hour day. I had to literally magic this pattern and pouch out of nowhere at 1AM to use the following morning, and I had to perform assembly on site. I can assure you that my edges haven't looked like this on a finished piece in years, and given that my hand-eye coordination requires the stop-start method I do employ the sanding trick, which I find to be very useful. Thank you again for the advice though. I would hate for someone to see this post and think those edges are acceptable.

So I needed to pull a pouch out of thin air this past weekend - for reasons. Limited time, materials, tools and I still somehow managed to pull it off. The product is actually really unfinished but it did the job I needed it to do for the weekend. Now that the dust has settled I don't see any reason not to fine tune the design and remake it. The only thing that has me stumped is the lacing. I've never done a lace stitched pouch before, especially with veg tan. Which means I have no idea if the edges are supposed to be sticking up like that, and especially showing such bad stitching technique. (It may be my pattern, and I may be allowed to set the rules for it, but people come to expect certain things in a style, and I don't know if this look is part of it or not.) So my question is two-fold: Is lace stitching supposed to look like a 3 year old's regular stitching on this kind of bag If it is not supposed to look like this is there something I am supposed to be doing to the leather - such as wet moulding, scoring or gouging the inside for folding, softening the leather at the bend... As always, everyone's thoughts and opinions - even just dropping by and agreeing with me that this stitching is hideous - is appreciated. - SunLynx

I don't suppose there's a pattern for that case?

Which glue did you use? I've had good luck with E-6000, but no glue is perfect.

Do you think that the dark background behind the agate is just as good as if you had left it undyed/light behind the agate?

Nice work Dragonfly! I would imagine the 2 turquoise pieces are decorative rivets, and the agate is a flat dyed focal piece? Did you shape/mould the leather piece holding the agate?

I can make a suggestion, but I don't know if it will do you any good. Could be a place to start though. I prefer to wear my phone on my person, but as I used to work retail I wasn't technically allowed to do so while working/"on the floor". So I made a simple figure-8 harness with a screwed on strap to keep the holster in it's preferred location directly under my arm. Because of my physical appearance unless my polo shirt pulled wrong you couldn't even tell I had it. To follow on that thought, and also @Dwight's thoughts, you might want to try a standard shoulder harness, but use a thinner strap at a specific location to keep it in place. Also consider the "profile" of your radios. I have the holster for my cell phone turned in such a way that it's tucked in to my arm pit pretty well, but that required some consideration to the direction I wanted it to face and how best to keep the profile from catching on everything or feeling really loose.

I think that does depend on how you want the feathers to look. I would start with pigskin (Tandy's September flyer has a couple of earthtone options for sale) and experiment with those. Try cutting, burning, dyes, stamps (rubber ones, to make designs over top), water stiffening. Or you can try veg tanned, but it's generally a much more significant monetary expenditure to experiment with. Best of luck.