CitizenKate

Now that being said, I do not track as inventory things like dyes, adhesives, or finishes, even though they do technically become part of the product. I expense the entire amount of those at the time I buy them. Why? Because there are some things that are simply not practical to track as inventory. For example, I might just use 3 drops of dye out of a 32oz bottle on one piece, and sometimes I just can't predict exactly how much I will need from one piece to the next. And after taking out those 3 drops, how much would you say is left over? But things like square feet of leather, rivets, beads, buckles, etc., which can easily be counted or otherwise quantifiable, both in terms of knowing exactly how much goes out of inventory to "build an assembly", and knowing how much is left afterwards, those should be tracked as inventory assets. Kate

Nice straps, Kim! The inlaid stones are a beautiful touch. I just forwarded a link to your site to a musician friend of mine. Kate

Nice! What dyes did you use for these? Kate

Have you tried it to see what results you get? Kate

The way I was edgemakated in accounting (please note I am not an expert, but have really dug into this)... any materials that become part of the final product are not "supplies" (which is an expense), but counted as inventory (an asset) and the amount used for each finished product are deducted from your assets as COGS. Kate

I use the manufacturing edition of Quickbooks to track raw materials and components used to make my products. It has a feature called "inventory assembly" which allows you to list other inventory items used to make a final product. Once you have defined an assembly, you can "build assemblies", which automatically deducts the raw materials and components, adds finished items to your inventory, and makes all the necessary journal entries to keep everything balanced. Very slick. Is that what you had in mind? (I'm a huge fan of Quickbooks.) Kate

Second that, Bob. The letters can be kerned more naturally so they don't look like they were pressed out of a cookie cutter. And there is so much more greater variety of fonts and sizes to choose from. It's well worth the effort to hand carve your letters. Kate

If you can afford the gear to spray on your dyes and finishes (sprayers, airbrushes, compressors, etc.), that pretty much eliminates about 90% of the problem of finishes disturbing dye or antique jobs. Kate

Holly, I've been considering switching to ProPay. They seem to offer credit card merchant accounts with a lot of great options for small businesses without a lot of hoops to jump through, and reasonable rates. But if you decide on someone else, I hope you get back to us here and let us know what you found out. Kate

It's beautiful work, Spider. Thanks for the "Cliff's Notes" for those of us who didn't "get it" on first sighting. Kate

Thanks for sharing yet another feast for the eyes, Bob. All that knife work in the lining is just crazy. (In a good way, of course!) What weight leather are you using for the liner? Do you allow more weight for the knife work? Kate

That looks WAY cool, Mike. I bet all the kids in the neighborhood are going to be hanging out at your place. Kate

As in, a leather mask with feathers? Kate

You're a fast learner, Tom! That turned out pretty cool, especially for your first try. And yeah, the internet has brought the continents a little closer together, hasn't it? Kate

When I was a kid in the '60's, I and the neighborhood kids used to spend endless summer hours building and playing in stuff we made from corregated cardboard (from our latest trip to the Duckwall's dumpster), scrap lumber, and nails generously supplied by our parents. On one of our projects, one of my neighbors' dad came out with us and helped us build a "fort" that actually had some structural integrity to it. We thought he was the coolest dad! Then, we promptly "modified" it to death, but what a time we had! I still remember it vividly, 40 years later. I hope you're planning to post a photo when it's done. Kate

Maybe she put it in boiling water? Kate

Great stuff, Jim! Thanks so much for sharing that with us. Kate

I would say your priorities are in the right place! Kate

Art and craft stores have handy little plastic 4oz. cups with lids that seal them. http://www.misterart.com/store/view/001/gr...torage-Cups.htm Kate

No worries, Bree. Sharing the link was a good thing , very consistent with the open, sharing spirit of leatherworker.net, and we have no problem with members visiting enjoying the web site you linked to. The debate was about whether we should link to it from the front page until we have some definitive answer what the copyright holders' wishes are. I'm confident that it will all get worked out. But in the mean time, thanks very much for sharing it with us, and I hope this does not discourage you from continuing in the same vein. Kate

I also use a utility knife and a straight edge to make cuts like this. To keep the ruler from slipping while I'm cutting, I place my fingers holding the straight edge so they touch the edge of the straight edge and the leather at the same time. If it slips even the tiniest bit, I can feel it, and adjust the blade angle before the cut goes stray. Kate

Beautiful work, as always, ma'am! Thanks for posting it. Kate

The spirit-based white dye is pretty difficult to get good results with. The best results I've gotten with it were obtained by airbrushing it on in several light passes, until the color saturated enough to look like a solid white. If you're hand brushing it on, try diluting the first coat 50/50 with xylol, and brushing it on in a light, even coat. Then apply it in light, even coats full-strength until you have the color saturation you want. I must mention that xylol gives off highly toxic fumes, so use a respirator and work in a room that has good ventilation. Another possibility to consider if you want to color something white: Krylon spray paint. I've used that on a couple of projects that needed true white, and it works pretty well. Krylon also should be used only in good ventilation and a respirator is always a good idea when working with any solvent-based materials. Kate

I've also used that method when my image editing tools can't give me a clean enough line drawing. Works great, although it's a bit more time consuming. I can usually just lay a piece of tracing film right over the image and be able to see the lines well enough to trace the lines onto it without enhancing the image in any way. Another method I've found that works well... this takes about the same amount of time to do as hand tracing it, but can be reproduced an infinite number of times (until your hard drive crashes without a backup, that is <nervous grin>). Open the image into a drawing program, such as Corel Draw, Illustrator, or Gimp. Create a second layer, then draw the outlines over the image. Then you can just print the image onto some tracing film. That should give you a few ideas, in case plan A doesn't work out. Kate

There has been some recent interest in that genre. Here are some links to existing topics that may interest you. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=5922 http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=5780 http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=4976 http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=904 Maybe Tom Banwell will chime in here... he seems to be one of the more knowledgeable of us on the subject. Kate