CitizenKate

Acrylic paints are available in craft stores, and also places like Walmart. For spraying from an air brush, you will also need to get some acrylic thinner, to dilute the paint for spraying out of an air brush. Kate

Hmmm... yeah, I really can't tell, either. It's too bad you don't have similar piece you can test on. But as for the stenciling... If you can get the stencil to stick to the leather, spray the color on at a right angle to the leather surface in multiple, very light coats, and give it a little time to dry between coats, you should not have problems with color bleeding under the mask. Since it does apparently have a finish, you might have problems getting dye to absorb into the leather, so an acrylic or createx paints would be your best bet. Here's my disclaimer : Don't try it without testing it first, even if you don't have something identical to test on. You will only get one shot to get it right, and my advice is based on a few assumptions that may or may not be true. Since I don't know what kind of finish it has, I'm not sure what will stick to the piece, or how different coloring agents might otherwise interact with it. Kate

01G8R, Are the cases already finished? Kate

Someone I work with lost his house in this storm; he was in the house with his wife and a very young child. Amazingly, there were no injuries, and everyone is okay. But they spent the day in shock. We have a running joke in Kansas that when there is a tornado warning, everyone goes outside to see if they can get an eyeball, or even a camcorder, on the funnel. It's the "Kansas Way". But that is only true during the daytime. During the nighttime, nobody can see anything, so most people are more inclined to take shelter. This storm hit when it was dark, so I think we can give a little credit to the fact it came after dark. Kate

Those are beautiful! The purple looks almost iridescent... what kind of dye did you use? Kate

I was very fortunate, last night... my house was right in the path of this tornado that hit here last night, give or take a block or two, but fortunately, it lifted back off the ground just before it got to my neighborhood. I could still hear it though... http://news.themercury.com/2008/06/Tornado/ Kate

I really love the splash of autumn colors and the multi-dimensional effect of the layers, Roo. Very nice work! Kate

Hey Grammy Yak, I think this is hilarious that they just seemed to come out of the blue with no warning. This reminds me of a scene from "Remo Williams" where the teacher says, "You walk like a pregnant yak." The ways of a pregnant yak must be something rather subtle, eh? Kate

Great start, Crystal! I like how you incorporated the art into a functional design, and the lacing is quite nice, also. Kate

Yeah, maybe those few moments you had will prevent his premature induction to the freezer. Kate

Wow, Linda, that should be an impressive show! Hope you post a photo of the entire exhibit before everyone comes and buys them all up. Kate

Here's another one that impressed me: http://www.ghilliedhuleather.co.uk/ Kate

I was out surfing tonight, and thought I would share a link to the site of a leather artist that I've come across from time to time. His work is quite superb. Zelberg Anatoli of Grodno, Belarus: http://www.artefact-leather.com/index.htm Kate

Those are cute, Tom, not to mention very original! Thanks for posting. Kate

Hi Duke, I would say you have prompted us to explore that idea! I think it would be great to see people gathering in a chat room to watch you make something. Just a clarification: when I say "produced", I just mean pre-recorded for later playback. It doesn't have to be especially fine in terms of production. We eventually hope to have a site filled with that type of content as well. Kate

Hi guys... sorry for not jumping into this sooner, but I was a little preoccupied earlier. I'm glad to see so much enthusiasm about doing video tutorials! I hope this means we'll have a lot of people submitting videos once we get all this going. As Johanna mentioned, late last year, we were discussing and developing ways to host video streaming right from LW. We had a consensus that we preferred to store and host the video content from our own server, and that we wanted site visitors to be able to view the video just as easily as they could on places like YouTube. Just click on a thumbnail snapshot image in a forum post, and it plays. Around the middle of December, we actually had successfully published a test video on a static web page, and were (ideally) working towards being able to post a video attachment in a forum post (or perhaps in the future, a wiki article) almost as easily as a photo attachment. The worst-case scenario was that people would have to upload the videos to us, and we'd have to publish them on a static page. Either way, we had a working prototype. Then the meltdown, and we got a little side-tracked. I think it would be safe to say that video streaming on LW could be a reality this year. We've achieved the hard part, but we still have a few more tests, decisions, and kinks to work out. I think Troy's idea to do live interactive video workshops is an awesome idea! In my thinking, that's a totally different idea from a produced video tutorial that is posted and replayed on demand, but I would love to pursue that as well. I also support Johanna's view that we should try to implement live video streaming in our existing chat space. Kate

For clean precision cutting on heavy material, I like this (click here to see it). I use this on mostly 5-6oz veg-tan for pattern piece cutting. I can make cut parts that are almost as clean-cut as die-cut parts. I don't know how this does on leather any heavier than 6oz, though. Kate

That really is a cool project, Clay. Not your ordinary key fob! Thanks for posting that. Kate

I sure would if I could... Kate

I think this one will suffice, wouldn't you say, Tom? Kate

Thanks, guys & gals. The pleasure was mine. Kate

Thanks, Crystal! You found a couple that I hadn't found before. Kate

Thanks for the info, roo4u! Could you please share who the US makers are? Muchas Gracias! Kate

That would be cool to see! As far as I know, nobody here has done this, or even thought about it; I'm pretty sure that once people start seeing us trotting around town, there is bound to be some interest in them. So your story is interesting, because I was thinking about how I could get a piece of the action if this started to take off here. Yeah, yeah, I know, all the little pitfalls...! No, but we do offer it to the local bird population for nest lining material. They seem pretty glad to get it, because it usually isn't 5 minutes before they are in the yard snatching it up. Kate

Hi all, With leash ordinances becoming more restrictive, I've been looking for new things to do with my dogs that will give them more exercise and involves some kind of meaningful interaction between them and me. One is an American Eskimo mix, the other a retriever mix. He loves to retrieve, but she hates it. She, on the other hand, seems to be born to pull something, because she can pull on a leash like nobody's business! I thought, Aha! Carting! So I found a guy in Australia who makes sulkies for dogs. Click here to visit his site, and you can .I think my dogs would love this, but do any of you have any experience with this activity? Any advice on the gear, training, etc.? Thanks, Kate