Handstitched

Thank you . Maybe one day , when I get to his age, I may need a little help myself. He hasn't got much around his waist line , but he does have a quite a good appetite . Thats a good thing. Loves a good casserole, stews , home made soups etc. curries (mild) and a BBQ roast dinner . Yeh,we have *brand name* ' cuppa soups' . My fave is ' Dutch curry with rice' . I put a little extra curry powder in mine to give it an extra kick. Just ideal in Winter and at markets. I also love pot/cup noodles in Winter. I lived on those in my camping days . Once again, .... add a little curry powder 'nom nom ', that and damper ( bush bread ) . HS

I wish I could charge by the hour, if I did , I would be quite wealthy by now. So instead, I charge what I think is a fair price . @Spyros I have seen business ' seminars' , get rich schemes etc. ( aka scams) as well as ' pyramid selling' come and go , I've used my wisdom...and my gut instinct to steer clear of them . Remember those brand name ' magnetic wrist bands' that were constantly advertised on TV ? Not seen them in yonks. Can't be that good . I compare those with the oldest marketing trick in the book. 'Invent a problem and create a product to solve it ' . I wonder how many people got stung by those?.....at a 'seminar' perhaps? HS

The one thing they don't always tell you @Spyros is where their capital came from. Do they have wealthy families? What did they sell to get the capital ? What money did they borrow and how much and who/ where from? Or , did they lie, deceive, cheat & steal their way to a fortune? Its unkind I know, but I do wonder. I just used whatever little savings I had to buy a few tools, leather etc. But I was also doing odd jobs around town and at the local pub to earn a few bucks, including being a rousy . HS

Sticking to food... My ol' 91 year old Father with dementia can't quite get his hands to work with hard tacos, God bless him . So instead, I got those soft taco cups (?) He's quite good with those. But the cup thingy's don't have anything to stand them up in as you fill them , so I use our coffee cups . Full of mince, vegies etc. , I fill the taco cups with taco mix , cheese and so on , but there was a little left over taco mix, , not quite enough to fill more taco cups, so I just put the remaining taco mix directly in the coffee cups and we ate it with tea spoons. Have I just invented a new trend here ? Eating out of a cup? It seemed silly eating taco mix from a coffee cup, but we all bloody enjoyed it, so tasty. We eat/drink soups out of cups ? Who needs plates ??? HS

I did that very thing at one of my (former) regular markets . I just sat and observed what people were doing, what they were saying, wearing , their behavior and son on. You can learn a lot from just observing . I could easily get myself a degree in sociology . One of the 'highlights' from my observations, was an Asian looking woman pushing a shiny vintage looking pram with big wheels, while pressing buttons on her device and without even looking at the screen and without looking where she was going. I thought it was a baby in the pram...it was a fat furry Pekingese dog , dressed up in a frilly dress. Nuff said. Meanwhile, back to selling leather goods.......... HS

I have ' those' that I call the ' 3 P Brigade' , 'Pick it up, Put it down and P *ss off . And then theres the ' TFB's' the ' Touchy Feely Brigade . They like to touch & open everything, and say..."O'h I love the smell of leather" and not closing and putting it back where they found it . I'm sure they're the same people that dip bits of bread in olive oil and tapenades at markets . And the ' Be Backs' . " O'h that looks nice...." Until they see the price,... they then say " I'll be back" So yeh , we can tell who will buy and who won't. HS

I have the exact same feeling when these arm chair experts come into my stall and say, "Aaaw maaaate, ....you should make this this and this....you'll make a fortune !!!!! " Me thinking: Yeh.. ..whatever.....nod & smile......now f***k off !!!! . I'll make what I want to make not what you tell me to make " . One of these days my "filter" may well be turned off . Hang in there Spyros HS

What a beauty !! I can only wish you and your team the very best of luck on an ambitious project. Hope you get it all up and running in the future . HS

WOW !! You learn something new everyday on this site Reminds me of M.A.N. trucks. ' Many Alterations Needed' HS

Here we have a problem with Corellas atm , not quite the same as ' cockies' ( cockatoos) . The first pic is my top paddock full of them . They might fetch around the $2000- mark on the o/s black market, if thats the case there was a million bucks in my paddock. They are a pest , destructive, rip the shite out of the trees, sometimes cause power black outs etc....and they're protected. go figure? And the noise is deafening. I have ear plugs next to my bed. And never look up when they fly over you. The council hire licenced " removalists" if they get a lot of complaints. Right now, as I type, they making a bloody racket at the back of our house. But to stay on topic of food, , I have heard some of the oldies eating them in the very early days. Making pies out of them . Taste like chicken I guess . I've heard of pigeon pies as well. HS

@Spyros I feel your pain & disappointment . It has taken some years, but I have made myself known through ' word of mouth' and attending regular markets( and in the same location at the venue), flyers , cards, and making something fancy to display on my tables, that does get a lot of attention, because thats what they see when they first enter my stall. I get a lot of " oo's & a'hs " and a lot of praise, and further interest that potentially turn into orders. I have tried newspaper advertising , local advertising etc. without much luck, but word of mouth & markets works best, for me at least. However, this f*&^%ing COVID really messed things up for all of us. Thank God for COVID relief for small businesses, otherwise, I'd be out of business. In one way, the lockdowns we had, helped to concentrate the mind , creatively . The other thing I'm glad I did, was to diversify, I repair horse rugs, and do some canvas repairs. So if the leather side of things were slow, or markets are canned , the rugs etc. do help, not entirely, but enough to pay a few bills. But even the rugs have slowed quite a bit lately . So I find myself taking on whatever my hands...and my machines can do these days. And, once upon a time , I had a paper round ( a cashie) that helped too for a time. My first sales....well, my very first market? , I made just under $12.00 All I had was a few key rings, a few book marks, and one or two belts on a small table . I knew nothing about what I was doing. That was 17 years ago . I have learnt so much in that time. As making for making good $$$ , stick with your morning job. It does help to do more than just leather. For those doing leather as a hobby, keep it up for the pure joy of creating something beautiful with their own hands, but don't expect to make a fortune . For me , there were good sales, making good money, it got to a peak, and now its dropped off . I can't blame all of it on COVID . Would be nice to hear from some saddle makers for their point of view ?? Hope this sorta helps, HS

They're known as ' camp ovens' here , all cast iron, same diff. I don't have one,but they're easy to get in different sizes. They can produce some of the best stews etc. Light fire, dig hole, put in hole, put hot coals on top...and wait patiently Can't be any easier than that . Thanks for the recipe idea, sounds morish . Bacon adds a nice smoke to the meat HS

I use an assortment of templates for curves, corners etc. Anything from coins to cardboard tubes and spools that my lace comes on, to the round cardboard piece that comes with a supermarket pizza, depending on the size of the curve /corner . I've also used the base of my glue tin as a template. When making knife cases, the part where the press stud goes on the flap, I use my belt tip cutters for a nice neat shape & cut. HS

Some people do , but Roo is available at our supermarkets. ' Roo burgers' & Kanga Banga's' ( sausages) are also available . Kangaroo tail soup is an Aussie fave. Hearty (but lean) broth . Yeh, you're right about the grill, its well 'seasoned' . It get cleaned quite regularly , as I'm always doing marinated or satay beef/lamb or chicken skewers . Thats messes up the grill a bit. It must make my neighbors jealous though, all these aromas wafting across. Love cooking outdoors

What an awesome view . The last time I dipped my toes in sea water was...?....? The ocean is over 3 hrs away from me. You're making all of us envious, well done safe travels HS

Here ya go my friends, @Frodo & @chuck123wapati Kangaroo steaks were on tonights menu . For those on a low fat diet ( not me) with high protein & iron , these are ideal . Hardly any fat. Just a little salt and pepper seasoning , cooked for 3-4 mins on each side...and thats it. Just like beef steak, they can be seasoned with your fave herbs spices etc. or marinated. Best not to cook for too long due to the low fat content. We are the only country that eats their own national emblem . I have eaten Emu steaks ( pronounced ' eemyoo ') , so tasty, but harder to find and more ex$y. They have a strong game flavour. (My trusty BBQ is about 28 years old , all cast iron, glad I kept it. The newies these days are cheap & thin) HS

Geez that looks so damn good . Yep definitely a recipe book in the making here. Theres an assortment of black pudding recipes , the Scottish recipe is my fave. Not too fatty, but still plenty of flavour, not too spicy either ( like the Irish recipe ) . We're at the tail end of Summer here, April can still produce some warm days , but the cooler nights are making themselves known ... a few months then its our Winter...and its home made soup time , & curries ....YES *fist pump* A bit off topic here, but the best thing about living in the bush ( central wheatbelt WA ) , is the beautiful changing seasons , don't see that in the busy cities. People are too busy to pay attention. HS

@chuck123wapati do you have black pudding ( blood pudding ) over there ? Its an acquired delicacy , but yum

Thats just pure genius. How was that made ? Are you going to market them?

I have a pair of those. Theres a vintage tool association that has attended many fairs etc. I've picked up quite a few leather related tools from them over the years . I think I paid no more than $20 Aust. , that was some years ago . I guess they could be worth more by now . The word ' warranted' would indicate around the 100 year old mark . I have a few of G/B tools in my little collection HS

There was some anxiety for me here in (west) Oz during our lockdowns*, and not knowing when I can get anywhere near my supplier in Perth again ( 2hrs away) . But I was able to get through it with the hardware I already had . *It also gave me a chance to finish off some unfinished projects. That period seems so long ago now . HS

Wow !! What a beauty. Thats one machine on my ' bucket list' , perhaps not as tall as that one though. HS

Yeh I agree. I'll be stocking up on leather & supplies in the coming months as theres so much uncertainty with costs, fuel, freight etc. , I'll stock up while I can get it. Our shop shelves are still mostly empty too. HS

@Spyros Just ordered x 16 black roo hides from Packers Qld. It was a " last chance offer" . Some are o/runs, and some are rejects. Don't need them right now, ...but... ....they are good for soft phone & assorted cases, bags , repairs , etc. and black being a popular and common colour . ' Black goes with anything' . HS

One method I have used in the past, for a carved piece for eg. flowers, I use a small brush on the flowers ( only) with a super sheen sealer, perhaps a few coats, let dry fully , and then apply the antique dye on the main body and over the now sealed flowers using a swab, but quickly wiping off any excess with a slightly damp cloth. The outside/main body is dyed, but the flowers remain natural . There might be a little dye on the flowers , but hardly , and thats it. Its fiddly I know, but it works. Another technique I learnt from somewhere on this site in the early days: I used to put my antiques directly on dry leather, with varied ( and unsatisfactory) and blotchy results. Then I started to put some oil , like neatsfoot, or phane oil over the stamped/ carved pattern , let soak in , and then I apply the antiques and cut back with a damp cloth. All the antique dye stayed in the stampings/carvings with much better results . I've been doing that ever since. HS