Wedgetail

What about buying a solid brass one with plaiting, then stripping the plaiting? Gotta be a solvent out there that will do that... then just polish on the mop. Sounds like an experiment! With regard to comments about not wanting to pay that much... it totally makes sense. Personally, I would pay multiples of the price if I know it will last for heirloom quality leathergoods. When spending up to a few hundred bucks worth of leather, plus time, an extra 10 bucks for hardware is nothing to make sure it will still work and look good after 30+ years. I think many others are the same, though I also understand that people will shy away from buying more expensive hardware when they don't have specific requirements, or a paying client, and are just adding to their hoard for 'maybe' projects. In that way, it is understandable that expensive brass or stainless steel hardware will be much slower moving than lower price items... and since businesses run on selling stuff frequently, it makes sense why nobody carries them! Just sucks when trying to find something better than average.

Very nice! Good design, and functional too. Well done.

Beautiful work! Well done.

Lol not wrong about that mate! That is the steam punkiest bike I have ever seen, awesome stuff! I love the pipework too, really cool. It's the leatherworking equivalent of "just one more bite and then I'm done"

Great job! He's going to love it for sure!

It is called spotting. Abbey england has an article on leather care that mentions it, from their blog page. Recommends applying a wax finish regularly, as well as avoiding solvents or ammonia, to HELP prevent it... but nothing will make leather fully waterproof. Can't say you didn't do all of that in this case, but good tips for all of us regardless. How does it look now that a few months have passed? Blog post is here: http://abbeyengland.com/Blog/top-tips-for-taking-care-of-your-leather

I've got a border collie with the typical black and white colours. His neck is as pure white as white can get (unless he's been in the mud!) I make my dog collars, that I sell, almost exclusively out of latigo for its weather resistant properties. And I just make sure to tell customers exactly what to expect from the latigo, from my own experience. In Charlies case (my border collie), the latigo did bleed the first two-three months. Mostly when it got wet, but also with a bit of rub off. I did take him swimming a couple of times during that period, and left his collar on while he was in the water. During that time it did colour his neck hair a fair bit. But it was not permanent, and I have not seen it bleed or discolour his neck since... despite swimming several more times. On a side note, I haven't treated the collar at all in about 2 years. And lets just say that Charlie is not a gentle animal, nor one to stay clean and dry! I have updated my collar design though, but his doesn't show any signs of giving in to the harsh treatment any time soon. Which means he will be keeping his old collar rather than getting one of my new design for the foreseeable future! (Or maybe Christmas if I am feeling inclined) My point is, make sure to set customer expectations up-front. If they know to expect it, how long it will last, the reason, and the benefit (durability, wear resistancs, etc) then they often won't care about a bit of temporary colour rub off. And if they do? Then a latigo collar is not for them... but a nice harness leather one just might be!

Oh, and for hardware you can't go past Adelaide Saddlery and Leather. They are my go-to for buckles, keepers, rings, dees, and pretty much anything else. All good solid (or even cast) brass stuff.

Thanks mate, depends where you are at. If you are like me and live a fair distance away from a tannery or wholesaler, then tandy can be a good option. That is where I got the latigo for these collars from. But if you're around Brisbane, Packer Leather, Crispin leather, and Maclace i think they are called would be good options. East coast leather is quite good too, like a kid in a candy store at that place. Located at Mt Cotton. Toowoomba saddlery were recommended to me too, but I havent had a chance to get up there uet. They have stuff listed on their site (ozsaddle) you can look at. Getting anywhere on a school day is hard for me, and some of them aren't open on weekends... so i do order from Tandy quite a bit.

Would be beautiful in Essex! Fringe Is a great idea too, I've never done a fringe before. let me know how you get on with it it you make one! Oh and one more thing... Because it is thicker leather (this one about 3.5mm or 8-9oz) I needed to gauge and dampen the areas where it bends. I don't own a V-gauge but used a stitching groover and a ruler to make a few deep score lines both on the sides and the bottom. That helped it bend nicely! @Mattsbaggerif you're interested I have a video on YouTube going through making a couple of these from softer leather.

Thanks guys! No glue needed, just rivets. But i did use little bit to help everything stay together while it got assembled. I would love to use copper bur rivets for this, i use them in most things... the rigidity of the bag makes it hard enough to get even single cap rivets in though... For hole punching I had to use a drill, and for the rivets I basically had to hammer it down on my benchtop from the inside.... if I get a nice anvil i could slide it over to face up instead, that might be a different story! #lifegoals Mrs wedgetail is much better! Turns out she needed surgery after baby was born to repair a lumbar shunt she has had for many years. The shunt literally snapped in labour. Crazy! But she's healing well, and getting ready to go back to work soon. This one was a bit of a "back to school" gift too.

Tried making another riveted handbag, this time from thicker veg tan. A few things to adjust and then I'll be happy enough to sell some. for now though, Mrs Wedgetail seems pleased with it

Hey guys, just a couple of wallets I made on commission for some groomsmens gifts. 6 pockets, being 4 cardslots and two stuff pockets. Initials were etched on my laser cutter. I used veg tan leather for these, dyed with fiebings pro oil dye dark brown. Stitching is black SLAM thread, and is 10spi. Decided it doesn't need to be that fine though. Also my tandy pro fine diamond chisels keep bending one or two prongs even through thin leather and fu..., I mean 'messing up' my projects. So i am going to try out some different chisels from GoodsJapan. Took me an age to skive the leather down to the right thickness evenly, because what I had was about 1.7mm and what I needed was about 1mm...tried passing it through my bench skiver but was too stretchy at that thickness and size, so I resolved that from now on I shall buy the right thickness of leather for this type of project. And in line with that resolution, I now make this pattern out of Kangaroo. Anyways, hope you like 'em!

Nice thanks mate, I'll give those a go. I'm with you there, water based stuff is both less toxic and thinner... both good qualities for a liquid you intend to atomize.

Oooh that's a nice red! Wot dat? My airbrush gets a "workout" too (pun intended), good for nice even coats on just about any projects, or for making a nice patina finish.

Off to a good start!

Hey @Vaelloc, I use one of those cheap chinese KC40 lasers for making acrylic templates, rubber stamps, and etching on leather. Can probably offer a few of my learnings. First up, I dye before lasering. As you found out, dyeing sort of washes it which lightens it... and can make a hell of a mess too leaving debris over your piece. In the same way, i like to use Frisket film (low adhesive clear contact film) to protect the areas that are not being etched from the smoke, and from the debris from vaporised material when you brush it out. I like to use a semi stiff brush to brush out the debris... not one of your good horse hair ones though because it will get super dirty with the charcoal. What else.... make notes about your start and stop position for things using the same layout. Like when I do coffee sleeves I have a piece of cardboard I traced an outline of my coffee sleeve shape on, and the start coordinates. Now making one is just a case of slipping in my cardboard template hard up against two edges, placing my sleeve on, loading the laser template, and placing the image I want... comes out like below, centred every time

Thanks guys, hardware is from Adelaide Saddlery and Leather. Good range, cost effective (as much as stuff can be here in Australia)

Just knocked out a few more collars for the web store I am launching soon. I had a mate take some photos for me, as is his hobby. These are his 'messing around on Sunday Arvo' shots... which are instantly better than anything I have done! Lol Anyway. Burgundy latigo, about 3.6mm. Edges are hand burnished. Riveted with brass saddlers rivets. Hardware is all solid cast brass. Enjoy!

Hahaha, that's cool. The shake reminds me of master shake from Aqua teen hunger force

Nicely done mate! She'll love it.

Hey guys, I made a tutorial about this bag on my YouTube channel. If you're interested, here 'tis!

@Grumpymann and @MikeG hope you guys can follow this for now? Otherwise it will take me a fair while to get it into a printable format... I like to cut my patterns from poster board. Basically though, the whole thing is a big rectangle the whole width and length of the piece (585mm x 320mm). Then a smaller rectangle inside it (495mm x 244mm) defines the width of the finished bag, and the amount that it comes in from the outer rectangle defines the bags approximate depth (38mm). Then a triangle at the top peaks in the centre of the big rectangle, with the sides meeting the top of the smaller rectangle.

Bahahahaha I like it. People tried to tell me what parenthood was going to be like, but it was just unFATHERmable to me.