Handstitched

G'Day, It was our local country show yesterday, Saturday 23rd, and as always, I enter some of my wares in the 'Handicrafts' section in the exhibition shed. I'm the only leather exhibitor. ( I'm the only leather worker in my town and the next). I normally only enter 2 exhibits, I entered 3 this year. This year, I entered a carved Ladies fashion belt, with a Rose design on a black background, , and machine stitched with white thread. The second entry, is a handbag, modified to the clients requirements,a tri-weave tooled design with Oak leaves & acorns with simple lacing, and a gilt clasp. The third entry , was a re-creation of a custom cartridge belt that I made earlier this year. The owner was kind enough to let me borrow it and enter it in the show. To my surprise, the cartridge belt came 1st, and with a blue 'Most Outstanding Exhibit' ribbon. draped over it. The handbag came 2nd, and the Rose belt came 3rd (it. actually called "Highly Commended", same diff) . My only...,'gripe' , was later next day with a comment from one of the stewards, in regards to the cartridge belt. "O'h what such lovely machine stitching" "It was all handstitched !!!!" " It was also clearly stated in bold lettering on the entry form!!" They only need to look at the back to see where I've gone a bit off course a few times with my awl, .....and the odd blood stain. ( 'Humanity stitches' I call them) I was a tad insulted. geez...some (uneducated) people eh ??... Anyway, apart from that I came away a very happy man, and the owners of the bag & the cartridge belt are VERY pleased. All the best ,HS

G'day fellow creatives, , Anyone remember that custom cartridge belt I made?? Well well well, at my local country show , that was only just yesterday (23-8) , that belt won me a 1st and a blue ribbon !! "Most Outstanding Exhibit" Woo Hoo !! And indeed, the owner is VERY pleased. He probably won't want to use it now . Perhaps I should have charged him double eh?........now. All the best, HS

G'day Tallbald, Over ten years ago,I started off as a beginner, not knowing a single thing about leather. But thanks has to go to the only library book on leather' Leatherwork For Australians, by John Vader & Michael Redwood, ( in my small country town in the Central Wheatbelt in Western Australia ) , then the yellow pages, later the internet, and indeed, this website. This forum is very community minded & very helpful for a beginner or the advanced, and theres no such thing as a 'silly question' on here. The questions you ask could save you time money ....and headaches. Ten years on , my hobby has now turned into a 7 day per week small business, and I am now also a Judge for the leatherwork section at a major show in WA. I will always turn to this website, for ideas, inspiration, have a chat or if I get stuck on something. All the very best. HS

G'Day I've just found another good use for my KC knife. Scoring the skin on my roast Pork for the crackling. My Mothers carving knives couldn't quite penetrate the tough skin,( they obviously need sharpening professionally) so I used my KC knife. I put new clean blade in first. It was 'super duper' sharp and worked perfect. (My apologies for being off topic) HS

G'Day, This is something I admit that I don't always get right. I have often heard the remark " you don't charge enough" or "you're too cheap" . If I charge too much, I won't sell anything. But, I have been doing this for 10 years now, and I've learnt to 'read' the customer, and I also know the areas that I operate in. But I have learnt to come up with a simple method to ensure that I at least cover my costs, and make a profit. I don't charge for labour. I do multiply materials x 2, or depending on what it is , materials x 3 , mainly on my 'bread & butter' products, like plain belts etc. A plain belt using 4mm D/S ( up to 44") $30 . 44" & over $40. A carved belt, around $60-$70 A plain belt using 5 - 5.5 mm harness, $60-$70 . Tooling/carving extra. Any fancy custom made stuff is ' price on application' . Hope this sort of helps. HS .

G'day, I have just got myself another air brush. Airbrush #1. As I knew very little about airbrushing , and didn't want to spend a lot of $$$, I got myself an airbrush from a hardware shop. It was rubbish !! It didn't do very much , apart from make me swear & curse !! It was a siphon feed, with changable pots, and the flimsy hose perished quickly and no accessories etc. and little instruction. Money wasted. Lesson learnt !!!! Airbrush #2. So,almost a year later, I got myself another one, but MUCH better. Double action ,gravity feed, with assorted needle sizes , various other accessories etc. and the instructions were much better. Its not a known brand, I got it from an auto accessory shop . I also got a good quality braided hose to go with it. I paid around $70 ( Aust.) in total. I hooked it up to a household / handyman compressor, with regs,and a moisture trap. I set the pressure, and after playing around with it, it wasn't long before I finally got the result I wanted....yey !! A 'faded' or 'graduated' effect. (see pics) It works well, and I'm happy with it. The bag was just something I knocked up quickly to experiment. I use the other spray gun for the sealer. To apply sealer by hand could risk smudging the dye....and making a mess. Another door has opened All the best. HS

G'day, I'm not sure where to put this, but I have just heard in the news that one of my favourite western actors Eli Wallach has sadly passed away at 98. Ever since I started working with leather, I have spent a lot of time looking at western movies, closely looking at the holsters & gun belts , the saddles, harnesses and so on. And in particular' The Good, The Bad & The Ugly' ( that I watched just yesterday ) , and indeed many other westerns, and including the Clint Eastwood westerns. A sad day indeed. RIP 'Tuco' HS.

G'Day, I guess every leather worker has their own personal preference of tools , but the knife that I prefer is a Kingchrome folding knife. (see pic) God gave me small hands, so this knife suits me just fine. I can get into all the 'nooks & crannies' of cutting a pattern. Its sturdy & can take a lot of pressure cutting heavy leathers The blades are safely & easily changed, and, I have also noticed that the KC brand of blades seem to last longer than some others. I do sometimes use a stone to extend their life. I have tried using a round knife, but I just found it a bit too big. HS

G'day, I know this is just a silly little thing, but every time I use the 'Ecoflo Super Shene ' it smells exactly like a bottle of 30+ sunscreen that I have in my cupboard. I wonder why that is? Just don't get the two mixed up I guess? At least your leatherwork won't get sunburnt All the best, HS

G'day , I have an old Pfaff 60, and although it was originally a domestic machine, I have sewn up to 2.5 mm veg tan ( albeit slowly) . I use a Guterman upholstery thread, that goes through the machine quite nicely, with a leather point needle. I mainly use it for wallets, thin leathers and anything requiring a soft leather, or upholstery type leather etc. Not sure if I'd put my faith in one of those plastic machines though . HS

Thank you very much for that Dwight. Thats very informative. I wonder if there is any difference overall in strength? I've always had the belief that a quality fully tanned piece of leather would be much stronger than the 'blue hide'. Thank you once again. HS

G'day, I recently had the job of replacing some girth straps on a saddle, as the ( 2) straps on one side of the saddle would not pass gear check for a comp this weekend, and the owner needed them repaired urgently. There was a split between the adjustment holes, and the other was showing signs of cracking. The straps on the other side appeared in good condition. The saddle was a very popular Australian ( and ex$y) brand of saddle, and looking well looked after and still new-ish looking. But I was surprised to see that the girth straps were the 'wet-blue' type , or blue hide leather, as I call it. I'll attach an example pic. I would have thought that being an expensive brand of saddle, it would have been fitted with a good quality harness leather on the straps. And why didn't they? And thats what I replaced them with. I do have a blue hide scrap, and I tried dying a piece, and it wouldn't take, and what did sort of take, looked pretty awful. Even the dye on the old original straps looked a bit 'wishy-washy' I've never worked with blue hide, a nor have I ever had the need to use it. In the pic, theres an example of the thickness. Just some general opinions, and what people have been using it for would be helpful. Thanks HS

G'day Once again, I'll ask my brothers friend to take a pic of him wearing it. And to be honest, I have no idea how much it weighed, but it certainly had a bit of weight to it. Perhaps anyone that goes shooting using a 12g shot gun may have a rough idea of how much a full box of shells weigh + the leather. I'll have to find out. If I remember to do so, I'll also take a pic of what I use to do all my handstitching. Thank you once again for the feedback, its very encouraging HS

G'day Thank you to Rohn, Sixer & Peter T for the great feedback. I forgot to mention that the 'strip' at the top to keep the cartridges in, is also 1.2mm veg tan. Although I've oiled it, its still little stiff , as is the rest of it, but that will all soften up with use. Obviously I had to take a few breaks here and there during stitching , as my fingers and hands were getting a little sore...as they do. The centre of my right palm was bright red, which is to be expected I guess. Yeh yeh...I know, I can use a pad but I don't, I just....well... I just get on with it But I do love the end result. Thanks once again HS

G'Day, My brothers friend asked me to make this. This cartridge belt is based on a picture that he saw on an auction site. Quote in the blurb : " RARE Antique Old west cowboy double buckle 44 S & W Cartridge Belt Circa. 1860-1880's " So, after putting my thinking cap on & taking some measurements etc. I started work on it. I had to make some modifications as the original was for a 44, and I had to adapt this belt to take 12g shot gun cartridges. Thankfully , I managed to fit 27 cartridge loops . Bit of an odd number I know, but I had to fill some space somehow. I could have machine stitched the whole thing to save time, but to at least give it some "authenticity" I hand stitched the entire belt. The original buckles looked a bit flimsy, so I fitted some stronger 45mm roller buckles. The leather is 4mm veg tan DS , 1.2mm veg tan on the back, and 2.5mm veg tan for the loops . A few coats of oil and Dyed with a few coats 'Saddle Tan ' and sealed. This was one of those jobs that 'lingered ' in my workshop for a bit too long imo, as he said, "theres no rush for it.....just take your time on it" . So in between other customer orders, making stock, fixing horse rugs etc. it took around 4 months . So nice get those jobs out of the way eh ? . I just hope it fits after all ths time. The last few pics ," double buckle gun belt " are the originals taken from the auction site. HS

G'Day, Well well well, how time flies. It doesn't seem all that long ago that I was Judging leatherwork for a prominent show last year . I'm very honoured to be picked again for the job this year. I must have done a good last time for them to ask me a second time. Hopefully there will be some whips for me to Judge this time around, but this time I have a head start thanks to me buying a whip & practising and the helpful info on here. All the best, HS

G'Day and thanks for the reply , Thats good to know because I'm just in the process of making some more as I sold some at the weekend. I suppose I should really approach the companies to ask their permission out of courtesy , but if they say 'no', I'd respect their decision of course, but I think I'd be quite upset as I really enjoy making them......and they look good and people like them All the best, HS HS

G'day, I guess the same would apply to 'beer can art' . As in, artists using beer cans to make assorted items from recycled cans. This is one example: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i_AovfzNXgQ/S1PM7IoScNI/AAAAAAABCs4/j7oAcwP3IJo/s400/asdfg.jpg I also see what I do with leather as art, not just a way to make an income.( as we all do) Of the many items I make from leather, I also put recycled beer can logos ( amongst others) into leather . ( see pics) But would'nt that also be free advertising for the company? And would they see it as a recycling initiative?. Depends on the company I guess? A long time ago, I did ask a beer company rep, of many beer brands ,in person, about using the beer bottle tops that I incorporate into leather, fridge magnets etc. (also a good way to use up scraps.) He said quote: " we're fine with that, so long as you don't alter the logo" . He seemed appreciative that many people use and sell their logos in an assortment of art & craft and wasn't concerned about the legal aspect. But other companies may not be as understanding. But I would have thought it would be very impractical and costly,( as well as bad PR) to issue legal letters to every single person across Australia that uses a logo or brand of some kind, in art craft etc. ?? HS

G'day, and thank you for your replies. I'll have to take a photo and/or draw a diagram of the simple technique that I seemed to have taught myself, and works for me. Its only a silly little thing, but it works for me. It may not suit everyone, and with the deepest respect to Bruce Grant, everyone has their own technique that they too may have taught themselves. I have always believed that there are no set 'rules' when it comes to leathercraft or leather work. If you have a method or technique that suits you and works for you, and you're happy with the end result, then so be it!! We also talked briefly about handstitching. What she was told, and the way I do it are completely different, but the end result is the same. But thats another story. All the best, HS

G'Day from a very hot Western Australia. Sadly, I see that some parts of the US are experiencing the complete opposite. Well, in the last few weeks, our little town in the WA wheatbelt had a lovely visited by an artist from De Vry University in Atlanta ,Georgia.( hope I got that bit right) I won't say her name for obvious reasons, but she was a lovely lady that was the 'Artist In Residence' in our town. Not only did she meet many people and have a lot of fun with many activities around town, she also wanted to learn how to do some leather plaiting. And someone in town said " O'h theres a leather worker outta' town......" etc etc . Well, you may know the rest. ( I'm the only leather worker in town btw ) . I was happy to oblige. She did have a good read of Leather Bradiing by Bruce Grant , ( 4 strand round plait) previously , but there were some things that she couldn't quite get her head around. So I showed her what I learnt...from that same book, ...........that took me hours to learn. (I consider Leather Braiding by Bruce Grant my braiding "bible". One of the best books in my collection.) But then I showed her my own technique that I taught myself . She picked it up and was plaiting literally within 5 mins. I also taught her the secret plait, talked leather and so on. One very happy lady . What goes around............. Not only that, she also bought a few things from me, Cane Toad skin bangle, a roo skin, local leather souvenirs ( made by me) toy kangaroo ( my Mother makes those), mainly Aussie and local stuff to take back home. I had no-one to teach me, all self-taught, with books, and lots of them word-of-mouth, practice practice practice , and a lot of mistakes, so I'm more than happy to pass on what I have learnt. HS

G'Day, Every time I go on the Tandy (Aust) leather website, I can't always get my head around their leather thickness measurements. Its either in fractional inches, or ounces. With deep respect to Tandy Australia, we are a metricated system down here . So, for those who prefer millimetres, here is a helpful conversion table that I found on the interweb ( saved & printed for future use) http://www.pinterest.com/pin/140948663310162519/ All the best, HS

G'Day, This may not be the problem you're having, but I adjusted the tension on the shuttle case on my Seiko STW 28-B ( very similar to 226R). You can just see the tiny tension screw just to the right of the slot where the thread comes out in the 'shuttle pic' , also my shuttle wasn't sitting in the right spot. The little square bit ( you can see on the right in the B&W pic). It has to be sitting in the square 'notch' on the needle plate, otherwise it will spin around. It took a lot of frustrating fiddling about to get it the way I wanted, but I now have it going really well. I use mine for horse rug repairs. Its quite a strong machine, I'm surprised of what it can sew. Just a few self taught things I've picked up, thanks to LW.net Hope it helps. HS

G'Day and thank you for your reply. My obvservations were way off eh ? OOPS! After reading your post, I now have a much better idea . After some searching I found the auction site where it came from and the info attached to the pic, and its a '44 S & W Pistol Cartridge Belt' , which more or less confirms what you said. Thanks for that. BUT , (theres always a 'but') My client wants me to do a similar belt for shot gun cartridges ( 12g) . He's supplied some samples for me to work with. SO, as they are much longer and fatter , I'd be safe make the belt 3 inches wide, and that front piece 4 - 4 1/2 inches. I'll use my 'artistic licence' for the width of the buckles. maybe 1 1/4" or 1 3/4 " Thanks for your help Handstitched.

G'Day, I've been asked to make a double buckle cartridge belt similar to the one in the attached pics. The pic was taken from an auction web site. Although the description says is approx 2" wide, it looks more like 3" almost 4" ? looking at the cartridge in one of the loops. The billets & buckles look about 2" ? And the front piece look approx 6" from top to bottom.? Some pics can be deceiving , so I just need a bit of help on the dimensions. Thanks for any help Handstitched

G'day Peter T, Today was the big day. I had a 3 hr drive from the bush to the Show grounds, after having to put up with a lot of idiots on the city roads. ( I hate the city with a passion ) ( I was also looking quite dapper, if I say so myself, I scrubbed up real good ) Anyway, I found the pavillion after 2 attempts in finding it. The stewards were lovely, kind & helpful, mainly oldies, but lovely & sweet none the less. After a few neatly cut ham ,cheese and lettuce sangas ( and I bet they too were Judged) and a cuppa it was immediately down to work. The quality of the exhibits was very good, but not as many as I expected going by the classes & criteria . There were only a few that I simply could not put a place on. For example, I spotted a big mistake on a belt before I even cast my full judgement on it. A nicely carved , oakleaf/acorn pattern belt, nice tri-colouring on black b/ground with a nice single pronged polished brass buckle. BUT....there were no holes on the billet to do it up!! OOPS!! Its just a strip of leather with a nice carved pattern on it.If only they put a few holes in it, it might have got a place. The one item that I was really looking forward to and hoping to Judge, was whips. THERE WAS NONE !!!! Damn, Bugger & Blast !!! After all that effort in buying a good quality whip, practicing my cracking, there were no whip entries!! I was soooooo dissapointed !!!! I was so looking forward to putting my (self taught ) tuition into practice . Acording to the steward, there were none last year as well. Now that surprises me, because there are some prominent whip makers here in WA . But all in all, I think I did very well. O'h well, thems the breaks eh mate? I now have a lovely whip and some experience in cracking it, so not all is lost in that respect. Maybe next year....if I get the gig again. But I really really enjoyed it. its all experience for me , its another 'notch' on my belt, and my name has gone onto a register of Judges....I also received 2 free tickets to the show .... you lil' beaudy!! All the best Handstitched