CitizenKate

I suppose it might stick better to leather that has not already been treated with anything oily or waxy... aside from that, I'd say just try it (on a piece of scrap first, of course). Can you tell us what particular effect you are hoping to achieve with the oil paints? Kate

Anther possibility that works great for me... I have a slicker I made from a piece of 1" thick wood and covered it with leather. To slick the flesh side of my pieces, I apply some kind of wax finish (I've used different ones and they all seem to work fine), then rub over it with the edge of my slicker. Kate

I found an Ebay seller, Zelidovitz Leathers (I think they're out of Canada) that has a nice assortment of line 24 snaps with 5/16" posts, and also some with other post lenths. Click here and do a search for "line 24". I've ordered from them, and been happy with what I got. Kate

Steve, Not Michael, but thought I would mention I've had much better results spraying top coats and finishes (either acrylic or liquid wax) from a single-action sprayer, rather than the double-action airbrush I use for dyes and paints. The acrylics go on very nicely, but they tend to clog the nozzle, so the sprayer has to be thoroughly rinsed with warm water after each use. The liquid wax finishes require less maintenance; I can usually leave the liquid in the sprayer after each use, and resume spraying next time I need it. Kate

Skip, Here are a couple of examples of work I've colored with an airbrush. (My apologies to those of you who have already seen these pieces.) I use a wide spray from my airbrush with painters tape and other masking materials to color squares and other larger, intricately-shaped areas on my game boards. I also use the airbrush freehand (without any mask) to create the shading you see around the edges. Using an airbrush has cut the amount of time it takes me to color a game board in about half the amount of time it takes to apply it with a brush. On my larger boards, that's hours. Applying a mask is an extra step you wouldn't take if you were hand-brushing, but once the mask is in place, the coloring goes very quickly. It's also easier to get the color to go on evenly when you're spraying it. Shading with an airbrush is very fast and easy compared to hand-brushing. My airbrush has paid for itself many times over. Kate

I have a couple of books on this subject, that I haven't had the opportunity to explore as yet... "Hand Bookbinding: A Manual of Instruction", by Aldren A. Watson, 1986, and "The Craft of Bookbinding", by Manly Banister, 1975 Both books, plus several others, are available from Amazon.com. They both seem to give pretty good instructions on bookbinding, but between the two, I like Watson's book a little better because the illustrations are a little clearer to me. Hope this helps... Kate

I bought a Badger 100LG with a fine tip about 5 years ago, and so far, haven't found any reason to buy another one. It's a great multi-purpose airbrush; it can spray anything from a pencil line to a 2" wash. You can get it at Dixie Art for around $70 USD. You can see one here. I probably should mention some things about various features while I'm at it... Gravity vs. siphon feed: - Gravity feed usually allows more control and range of the spray pattern, maybe because it doesn't require as much pressure (someone else may know more about that). Color changes can be kind of a hassle, because you have to clean out the color cup each time you change colors. - Siphon feed is nice if you will be spraying a smaller range of spray patterns (or if you buy your brush with an assortment of different sized tips), and color changes are much easier, because you can just swap out color cups. If you get a siphon feed, it's a good idea to get several color cups. Single vs. double action: - Single-action is fine if you just want to use a fairly wide spray. I use a single-action sprayer to put on liquid finishes. - Double-action is better if you want to vary your spray pattern. Kate

Hey D, Very imaginative. What is the cylindrical box used for? Kate

leatheroo, if you're not marketing it for sale, there should be no problem. Kate

Variant on Ken's idea: Ice Jester Kate

That is nice! But how can I do that without spending $13k? Kate

Thanks so much for all the great ideas, guys - I knew you would come through! I will take another crack at it and let you know how it comes out. Kevin, I will mention that your solution is the ideal one. Unfortunately, the store owner glued the top onto the pedestal, making it impossible to remove from it, so that is out of the question on this particular one. But I did let him know this, so he promised not to glue them down any more. Kate

I wonder why it should matter to a client what you use to create the pages, as long as the design specs are met? It's all html in the end. Kate

I've also tried the liquid frisket, as well. It does work pretty well on leather. The only difference I've noticed between the liquid frisket and the liquid latex used in model railroading, is that the liquid latex is much thicker, and does not absorb into the leather as easily. Personally, I prefer the thicker stuff. Kate

Steve, look for it in the model railroad section of your local craft store, or at any hobby shop that carries model railroad stuff. Kate

If they were designed for amateurs and hobbyists, then why do they call it the "Pro Crafters Tool Collection"? Even my cheapest stamps will hold up to steady pounding with my 21oz maul. I will take this up with them next time I call. I do hope they stay around and get back into the game, and if they do, I'll continue ordering from them, but I don't know if they'll ever be the same again... :mellow: Kate

That will help avoid losing anything you really care about, but the police told me something interesting... that thieves are more interested in cars that have stuff sitting in the seats, whether they can tell it's something valuable or not, and avoid cars with nothing sitting in the seats. Of course, that makes sense (... duh!), but my car was pretty cluttered when it got broken into (I had all the usual stuff that you bring along on a trip - jacket, thermos... and my bowling ball, which I kept forgetting to bring in the house - whew! - apparently they weren't bowlers, do ya think? I could just see the thieves trying to lug that thing down the street with sirens going off everywhere - ha!) So one way to reduce the odds of even getting your car broken into (which is expensive, even if nothing gets stolen), is to not keep anything in your car, whether it's valuable or not. Kate

Billy, I just got a flyer from Hidecrafter advertising an expanded line in their "Pro Crafters Tool Collection", which I was very happy to see! I have some tools from that line and they are very good quality for the price. On the other hand, I was a tiny bit disappointed when I ordered a few of the new ones. Two of them were chrome plated, not stainless, like the ones I bought previously from that line, and the other two were some other kind of dark-colored coated metal. They all (including the chrome plated ones) are clearly better quality than their low-end line of stamping tools, but not quite as good as the ones I purchased two years ago. Kate

I second Johanna's recommendation of Coffeecup. I also have used a couple of other free web design/editing programs that are suprisingly full-featured for programs you can download for free: HTML Kit Nvu Kate

On the point you all mention about cutting it down to size after the tooling, I think you're right. One thing I'm probably going to have to give up on is to have tooling going all the way to the edge, or the trimming that takes place afterwards may cut into it. One possibility I thought of was to permanently mount the leather on a backing before tooling on it. This is what I do on my game boards, and the leather does not change size, so sizing it for a frame is very predictable. For this, it would have to be a pretty thin backing, in order to fit into the recessed area with the surface of the leather flush with the table top, and then, a piece that thin probably wouldn't keep the leather in shape. Kate

Same thing happened to me last year when I was parked at the hotel on a business trip in Kansas City. I ended up having to cancel all my meetings and spend the remainder of my time there making arrangements to repair the window, alert the credit bureau, etc. (My auto registration and insurance card were missing, so I was also worried about identity theft.) Fortunately, I had my bank cards and id's with me at the time. The police and hotel management was sympathetic (5 other cars were also broken into at that location), but there was little anyone could do. Very upsetting experience... Kate

Maybe some of you can help me with this... I've got an unfinished elder wood occasional table that I'm finishing with an inlaid leather top. I've routed out a recessed area 1/8" deep over most of the top in which to place a piece of tooled/finished leather. When finished, there will be a little bit of wood showing around the edge of the top. The diameter of the top is 24". I want the inlay to fit perfectly into the recessed area of the top, with no edges showing and no gaps anywhere. I have already made one attempt to cut a piece of leather to fit into this recessed area, but anyone who has done any work at all with tooled veg-tan (especially a piece this size), it tends to shrink and get out of shape. So as you might guess, despite cutting it slightly larger than the actual size, and my best efforts to prevent shrinkage, it shrunk anyway, and was no longer the perfect circle that it was when I first cut it. It's now sitting in my boo-boo bin. This is my first attempt to do an inlay, so before I sink too much more time or money into this, I wonder if any of you out in leather land have any tips or stories from the trenches that might help me make the best of my second attempt? Kate

Here are some photos of a large soft box I made from PVC pipe and 2 translucent shower curtains. I also made a lamp stand that arches over the soft box of PVC pipe. Someone else posted an nteresting design for smaller items... if they don't repost, just sit tight and it will (probably) be restored from the past in the near future. Kate

Ah, the power's out... that might explain it. I'll just try them again Monday, then. Thanks for the info. Kate

I've been trying to call them for two days to place an order, and nobody is answering the phone. The recorded message says, "We're currently assisting other customers... leave a message and we'll get back to you..." Sent them an email... no response in two days. Has anyone been able to get through to them recently? Kate