tashabear

I'm not, I'm an Easterner, but that spearhead looks EXACTLY like the insignia for the Army's Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, formerly Military Traffic Management Command, based at Ft Eustis VA. I wore that insignia while I was deployed to Kuwait as a transportation officer. Too funny. Maybe he's a former transporter, too.

Where is the recipient from? That spearhead looks familiar...

He probably doesn't want to have to meet someone else's standards.

I think that's a ball-end stylus.

At first, and then I decided that there was hope for me yet, and then I felt better. ;-D

It's probably been taken down in respect of Verlane's family's wishes.

Are you serious? I thought you'd started before you learned to tie your shoes!

So cool! You have no idea how jealous I am that Rev War and Civil War reenactors have extant pieces to work from. ;-) How long have you been doing Revolutionary War stuff? (I grew up in Harvard, MA, BTW. My elementary school principal reenacted with the Concord Minutemen.)

All that, and Daddy made it for her? Of course she loves it!

I'd make the tea using vinegar, to be honest -- just bung the teabags in the jug. White vinegar is like $2/gallon, why skimp?

I would. Tea by itself is not a dye; it's a stain. Without the vinegar to react with the tannins in the leather, it'll likely just sit on the surface and not do much. Test on a scrap and see how it goes.

AFAIK, there is no exact recipe. Add something rusty to a gallon of white vinegar and let it sit till it's nice and dark (think strong tea). Dump in a scrap of the leather you want to use (MUST be veg-tanned!) and watch the chemical magic happen. I used steel wool, but I haven't tried my mix for quite a while. The first time I tried it, it turned my scraps grey -- not sure if it was the steel wool or the strength of the mix, though. It was a really nice steel grey color, though. I should give it another whirl.

Crap, I hope it's not too late -- I'm 40 and I just started in August!

Whatever you decide to charge, get a deposit that will cover your materials. That way you're not out of pocket if they flake out on you.

Nah, no hell-raising would be necessary. I bought it from Froghunter and he'd never give me a hard time about a defective product. He might give me a hard time about breathing his air ;-) but never if I had a problem with something I purchased from his store. (I have to factor in an extra hour per store visit just because we all get to talking!)

I filled the jar with Eco-Flo dye, attached the dip tube to the power unit, screwed it all together, and... nothing. Any ideas what I might be doing wrong? It just doesn't seem to be drawing up the liquid. Edit: Strike that. I needed to let the dye warm up a bit, it seems. It's been in my truck for two days and it's freezing out there.

Oh, I LOVE that swivel cut peacock! I mean, it's all gorgeous, but the peacock is awesome. Did you freehand that?

Nice finish job! I like it a lot. On the corners, got through the three corner holes twice each. It give a lot better coverage.

Too true -- before I started leatherworking, I was heavily into knitting. I found some Swedish knitting patterns online, and it was loads of fun to translate them. It's also one of the reasons I started doing a Viking persona in the SCA. Most of the documentation is available in English, and if it's not, it's not that hard (for me) to translate.

No wonder it took them so long to post the catalog. It must have taken forever to put DISCONTINUED over everything they (used to) carry.

(opaque) I LOVE this purse. It's so fun and colorful and totally unique!

Out of curiosity, did you hone the blade on the knife you don't like? I took a figure carving class from Jim Linnell back in September, and he took one look at my knife, which was pretty much off the rack, stopped everything, and taught us all about sharpening tools. He grabbed a whetstone and in ten or fifteen minutes my knife blade was mirror-bright and super, super sharp. It made all the difference in the world.

Check this out: http://leatherworker.net/frapprleatherworker.htm

Oh, that's cool! Where did you get the stencil?

I have a minor critique about the design. You never make a plural by using an apostrophe. It's not "Photo's", it's "Photos". I'm afraid I would pass these up because of that alone, but I was an English major and such things bug me more than most. A simple meme I learned in school about apostrophes was "Yes, yes! Apostrophe S! Singular possessive is apostrophe S!" We did a conga line one day to surprise the teacher. Seventh graders are not proud...