Handstitched

Mmmmmnah! Neither would I TBH . I had to remake some "leather" belts that were marketed and sold by a large Oz company as ' vegan leather' , needless to say they fell apart , and the majority of the material was synthetic . The customer wanted me to reuse the twin prong buckles . I remade them with actual leather . Customer was happy . There is a company in the lower south of West Oz that specialises in fish skin leather, damn fine products too , long lasting and durable . I also have some fish skin leather in my collection of 'stuff'. I've always had a saying , if it breeds and bleeds you can turn it into leather Man, thats just beautiful, so serene *sigh* HS

If you're uncertain about the belts, perhaps they can be replaced with the proper belts , as it sounds like they were replaced at some point (?) , I have to wonder why if that is the case. Otherwise, if everything is moving freely and the hook is working fine , they may be worth getting, just a good clean and service and some TLC. Good luck in whatever you decide HS

Likewise. They paid a fortune on feed , but rarely spent time with them . Puzzled by that. Perhaps people get a horse because they have ' grandiose' ideas of riding, or breeding them and later lose interest, who knows, ...dunno. My apologies to @Teddyi for hijacking her thread HS

Also , if you need to case (dampen) the leather, the water may not soak in , depending on how it was treated or if it has a sealer on top. HS

G'Day, welcome I'm from WA as well, Central Wheatbelt. That machine looks like it just needs some TLC . HS

So I guess the last person you'd want to have along with a date, is the Pope, lol HS

Its extremely late to answer this, but I would have thought Al Stohlman covered absolutely everything and every style of leather crafting , embossing/stamping, carving stitching using dyes , paints etc , too much to list, from beginners to advanced. But could you be more specific? HS

Timing and tension came to mind first . @Wizcrafts may be able to help, as a well as a few pics to pin point the problem HS

You just 'broke the internet', as the expression goes , I like to think so anyway And besides, cows are vegan, they eat grass, hay, grain etc. , I don't ever recall a herd of cattle sitting down to a Lamb or Pork roast with a nice chardonnay , picture that Although, they do 'drink' ( eat ?) beer, silage and grain from breweries. HS

Likewise. I like to make the cases so its easy for the phone to slide in and out easy and so it doesn't interfere with controls on the side . Rather be a little bit loose than too tight. HS

Get dimensions of phone, make a wood mold, simple. Or, if it one of those thin things that break easy, , perhaps one or two pieces of leather thick enough to match dimensions will do the same . I've been making phone & knife templates for years. I have a whole box of them now. HS

I recently worked with vinyl, does that count ?

I am not an upholsterer , only know from trial & error. Is there any piping involved? If so, you may need a piping foot on your machine, it helps . I used the old pieces from swabs/seats as templates, and allowed enough for seams etc. The springs have to be free from rust, and not broken. They also need to be tied together in a certain way so that they don't move around . A good source of info is ' good 'ol Uncle Youtoob ' HS

I just knew I should have got the popcorn out After reading that, you're probably right , lol Some animals still need to be cared for, whether they get eaten or not, especially sheep , common breeds need to be shorn . I've seen sheep that have been left behind, the fleece is so over grown they cant see out, and so heavy they can hardly walk. ( google ' shrek the sheep ' ) Thats going to stick with me now HS

Fungi ? Whats his name ? lol, sorry its late , almost my bed time. Shhhhh... just don't tell the vegans So love to try an Elk steak with mushrooms and onions on the barby , with a nice red wine HS

They look great Brass and leather go so well together . Thats a mess?? not on my bench, thats neat & tidy for me. HS

Now theres a bit of irony. I wonder how much land has been cleared and how many trees had to be removed or destroyed in the process to grow the fruit & vegies in the first place , and to build the factories to process & package the fruit & vegies ? Shall I get the popcorn out?? , lol HS

Yup, 'leather' crossed with ' vegan ' = " Leagan" ...wha...?? lol Theres a UK TV series called " Worst Jobs in History" hosted by Tony Robinson that shows how soap was made in the early days, animal fat mixed with lye , quite fascinating . It didn't lather like modern soaps, but it did the job . These days, soaps are made with so many chemicals with names I can't pronounce . HS

https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/101110-spring-flowers-and-good-food/page/12/?tab=comments#comment-723526 "But no part of the sheep was wasted,everything was used. " I recently used some ' blood 'n' bone' ( fertiliser) in the garden , that came from an abattoir . Just sayin' HS

I know its not possible for everyone, but I much prefer to pick my hides up directly from my supplier, even though its 2-3hrs drive to the busy ' big smoke' . I'll be getting some on Friday . I let them know what I need , I'll let them know before my arrival, they'll have the hides rolled out for me to pick & choose when I arrive . " Yep, I'll have that that that & that" . Rarely have I rejected one. After buying from the same supplier for many years, I have a good rapport with my supplier, that helps. HS

We'll make an ' Aussie' out of you yet , LOL If only that was all you needed on your passport to get into Australia . Something tells me you had a great time , the pics are awesome I've just been doing a few things in the back garden, get it tidied up , put some ( annual) plants in, re-planted all the hanging baskets with anuuals, and even planted a heap of herbs in large pots ( ground is too hard and dry here) . I know absolutely nothing about gardening , Mum was the expert on plants, so what I've planted is from what she told me , what she liked and a good dose of guess work. I've remade all the shade clothed areas , it gets incredibly hot in the late afternoons in Summer, now its starting to look a bit like a tiny shade house . A lot of my herbs, especially the Sage has gone nuts. I love using fresh herbs in cooking, taste better too. I'll have Capsicums ( peppers) in a few weeks , and strawberries in the next week or so. More work to do yet, but one step at a time That had me in stitches , f**k me Alcohol was involved?? Never !!!!! Why did they go to jail? Because the 'Moose' didn't have a drivers licence? HS

I think I saw a report in one of our newspapers regarding' mushroom leather', I only saw the headline with a pic , but I looked at it with a huge dose of skepticism and a sideways glance. Like you, theres not ' mush-room' in my line of work for that, I'll stick with the real stuff . HS PS: legs of lamb were on special today at our supermarket lol HS

Going a bit off topic here. I hear ya . For a few years a while back I was looking after my neighbors 4 horses , feed water etc. I did it as a favor . The owners lived in another town and rarely spent time with their own horses, to my annoyance. I was the most human contact they regularly had and we formed quite a good bond, they all waited by the back fence for me to greet them every night, with carrots One of the horses, ' Penny' was an absolute gem , the most friendly kind and gentle horse I've ever had the pleasure & experience of being with. But the the owners decided to sell her . Like having my heart ripped out . After that, our "friendship" was wearing thin, and the favors were about to run out. I got annoyed with their behavior and for their lack of care and understanding of the horses, and for the lack of interaction with them, and I no longer looked after their horses, much to my heartbreak . They eventually sold all the horses. I couldn't understand why they had horses in the first place. In hindsight, I should have bought ' Penny' myself, she would have been no trouble at all to look after. HS

You're man of my own heart . I so love doing the ' Celtic' / Viking patterns, they are in my top 4 fave patterns . They are fiddly at times, and make me go a bit cross-eyed , but so effective as you have shown . I can't fault that . well done HS

As a former pipe smoker myself , I quite like that. Perhaps make a few to sell , Christmas is coming up , just a thought , lot of Dads out there that smoke pipes HS