budd4766

I had one of those nicely sealed bottles "blow up" on me while trying to open it once, (new bottle). Unfortunately, at that time my workshop was a spare bedroom of a rental house. Took forever to get the saddle tan off the off white walls. I've come to accept that, no matter how careful I am, if I'm indoors where I DO NOT want to make a mess, SOMETHING besides my leather is just going to get stained...

I still use 'em where I can. Just for the ease of use. Only problem with them is, it's really tough to modify them if you want something slightly different than what they're made for. Like, you can't scale them up or down to different sizes. But, they're quick and easy, and if they fit what you're trying to get your project to look like, then they're great!

I got one of these for Christmas. Haven't used it yet, but definitely looking forward to it! Think Geek

Welcome, JC! I happen to be teaching that holster class at Tandy Memphis. It's going to be a pretty basic class, just to show you how to lay out a pattern and a little wet molding. Just a simple class to get you started. Looking forward to meeting you in person later this month! And, as Luke said, if we can help at all, just give us a shout! Donnie

That's pretty amazing, dude.

I like it!..

If you don't want to "go it alone" you can talk to your Tandy store in Wichita about lessons. I'm sure they'd be happy to set you up with a beginner's class to get your feet wet..

Good job, dude....lookin' good..

I tried it a few times. Wasn't impressed. I do better just taping the back of my stuff with packing tape.

Well, don't be shocked when you put the first coat on...it'll be really pink...but as you ad more, it gets this really nice dark "blood" color... You can play with it a bit, for example, get it darker in the middle of a piece and lighter around the edges....like blood would do. I like it...

Thanks! I stained the belt, sporran, and straps with Fiebings' Ox Blood. I thought that would go well with this kilt..

The speech went off quite well the other night. I made my own sporran, straps, and kilt belt: I talked about that coat, (which is actually called a "jack"), being a leather or canvas coat with metal plates riveted in...they'd also hang chains from the bottom to help protect their legs from sword slashes. Armor, at least as we envision it from T.V., would have been a rare sight in ancient Scotland. The terrain and tactics of the highlanders required them to be more mobile...and plate armor just wouldn't cut it for them. I talked about how the Scots were known for being frugal....and that any people who would come up with haggis, knew how to get the most out of the animals they slaughtered... I took a piece of cowhide and did a demonstration of how they would make ghillies. The picture I posted previously is pretty historically accurate, as they wouldn't worry with tanning the hide they used for these "shoes", but would wrap it around their feet....fresh off the animal, and strap it on. They'd wear these until they fell off, or they killed another animal. The highlanders weren't very worried about fashion as much as they were about functionality. Life for a highlander was so hard, only the clan chiefs could afford to worry about being pretty. All in all, I think they were duly impressed. Got a lot of good comments afterward, so I was happy. Thanks to all for the help! Donnie

Tackle boxes (for fishermen) come in handy sometimes as well. I have a roll meant for wood working tools that I put my stamping tools into for short trips. Works out good, but no place for a hammer/maul in there.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend the show, though I've heard LOTS of great comments from those who were there. As I had an item in the competition, the only thing I would suggest is some sort of posting, be it here, or on your website, showing what/who won ribbons. If you did pics, that might be a lot of space to load on a site, but at least an "official" listing would help. I know a few people posted pics taken as they wandered around, but didn't get all of the winners. And...pics would show what beat us how the competition stacked up.. Plus, the stuff is just plain cool to look at.. Just a thought.

This pattern was in an old Leathercrafter's Journal magazine. I don't have any instructions, but here's the pattern. They printed the instructions in one magazine, and the pattern was in the next issue. You can scale it however you need to in order to fit your phone. cphn.pdf

I'm currently making a "modified" rob roy sporran as shown on this pdf file. Pretty simple, so far. 291sporr.pdf

Thanks for the results list. Do you know if anybody is going to post pics of the winning entries anywhere?

Luke, I'm thinking gillies might be too much on top of the kilt belt, sporran/straps I'm already making. And, I'll use the belt and sporran stuff, not sure I'd wear gillies after this is over with.. But, I could take some upholstery leather and make some of these, perhaps:

Thanks! I'll check that out for sure! donnie

There's two Tandy stores in IL. One in Elgin, the other in Peoria. Either should have a basic carving class to get you started. http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/default.asp?sectionpath=1%2F226&processor=asp&asp_processor=directory&action=searchall&p_countryid=USA&p_stateid=IL&p_city=