8thsinner

Thats an awesome job, Love the pattern, finish, everything. The only thing I can see for critique is the edge dying on the flap looks off centre or something. Though it also looks like that might be intentional as part of a shading theme... And there might have been a spot of dye on the outer spine near the top. picture 3

If your gonna do anything to it, might I suggest relocating it's position. Lower it so it sits below the address path of where you are sits. That way it will be slightly more visible when you scroll down. I do believe as the logo os on every page you don't look at it very often so separating the link from this area might help.

Nice work there, great colouring, and I love the little claw spacers between the letters.

One of my gifts of skill is the ability to come up with new designs using my existing knowledge. Unfortunately MY knowledge is sometimes not as comprehensive as it can be, Also given that I was taught you gain nothing from asking no questions I have no quams about asking for someone to share their designs. And when it comes to reversing the argument, I happily will give away my designs (But I hate them being stolen) and spend countless hours trying to figure out how to help people, I am generous like that as I believe knowledge should be freely shared, I also believe if this was the case world wide we would all be a little smarter. And we would get to where we are going a lot more quickly. In any case, Designing is something I do constantly, I am always trying to figure out new ways of doing things and applying the skills and tricks I have discovered or read about. So why shouldn't I help others utilize my skills, It's part of what this forum is for is it not. Showing off your work is fun and pictures are always welcomed, These things are what inspires us to create and expand our own knowledge and ideas, and challenges our concepts of whats possible and opens the mind. This to me is a great thing. But to steal and not ask is just plain wrong. Sorry to be philosophical but, well I am...

I usually come into the sign in page and then click view new posts, I have been meaning to change this to go straight into the new posts as I am never away long enough to need to sign in, Which I have just done so. I have to admit I do not often go to the main page but the recent Verlane thread has made me aware of it again. I think I always knew about the link though.

Wow, that was faster than I expected, and thank you.

I think I am soon to be in need of a new belt. The only thing I know is what normally goes with it. I am looking for some ideas, But first heres what I normally carry and where. Bandanna frog - Doubles as a Khukri frog when camping - Left hip Leatherman - In front of the frog - Left pelvis Leatherman bit sheaths - One on each side of the small of my back Phone pouch - Right hip - Really don't like the one I have it's way too bulky Zippo pouch - Right pelvis Buckle snaps are used and I want to continue with this as I have a gorgeous brass and blackened dragon buckle. I know it's an awful lot of crap to carry. But I want to make it as easy to carry as possible. I would like a design that incorporates edge lacing, and carving of some description, even if it's using inlay windows, in fact using ovalular windows edge laced on might be kinda cool. I can't do the carving myself and have little to no money to have something done now so smaller patterns are better. So if you think you can help or have seen some good designs I can use please let me know. thanks for any and probably little feed back, I usually go for the hard to find stuff. lol 8th

I just got a new leatherman charge TTi a few days ago to replace the juice Xe6 I lost a few months ago. I ordered the bit kit of 42 parts and the hex extender. The bit kit comes in two seperate plastic holders and a nylon sheath, the probmle with the sheath is it just takes up too much space, I already carry a zippo, bandanna frog, phone pouch, and obviously adding the leatherman. I am using the belt clip attachment for the leatherman, but to add a bulky nylon sheath would be pushing it. So I sat in the pub as usual and worked out a few ideas, I decided to opt for the occums razor of designs and add to my belt itself. I have a few others and am holding off on doing a more proper system until I remake my belt. Anyway, heres what I came up with. The stitching is extremely badly done, I hate hand stitching but had no lace to work with handy. But it works well, holds tight, is discreet, takes up very little space, and I can't feel it when worn. Of course it does mean I have added another 300 or so grams (leatherman included) to my EDC weight. lol

We seem to be verging away from your showing off, so this is the last thing I say on the topic of knots. When it comes to knot and braiding talk, you will often come across the term ABOK followed by a number, This is a reference to one of the most comprehensive knot books ever written. Ashley book of knots. If your developing an interest in knots you can always buy any old knot book, But ashley's is the vade mecum of them, and if your interest developed you would eventually end up getting this book I am sure, so really buying the cheaper and smaller ones becomes a waste of money. Anyway heres a couple of links if your interested. Book http://www.amazon.com/Ashley-Book-Knots-Cl...591&sr=8-10 CD http://cgi.ebay.com/Ashley-Book-Of-Knots-A...1QQcmdZViewItem I had never heard of the cd before, But it makes it easier to carry around. It's a heavy book. Sorry again to take the topic in a different direction.

Making lanyards is really easy, as is the sliding knot. First a few methods on sliding knots. 1) Use a 4x5 turks head followed by a gaucho knot. Simply done, wrap over three times, then under one over three, under two over three etc, Make sure you always finish with an over three sequence, until You have U3,O3,U3,O3, and snip it off. I use these because I still haven't managed to reteach myself the pineapple knot. This method is a little more abrasive on both the inner of the turks head and the length of lanyard. 2) Another method is to use a thicker piece of leather inside out maybe 3-4oz or so 2mm at most. Then add your braided knot on top of that. You can also use a plastic bead if you want just shave or sand the edges all rounded smooth. 3) A method I use for closure systems on bags, eg two strands going through side by side. Make a 10x11 or larger to suit turks head out of 1/8 lace. Take the outer edges of the knot and join them up inside the turks head with lace, you need to keep all of this loose until each and every bight has been joined up, then tighten it all evenly. You end up with a turks head finish inside and out all hair side...It can also be used as a braided belt keeper. Once that's done put your braided cords through, and make a braided knot in between the two cords over the turks head keeper. Make sure the braided knot over the centre of the keeper is long enough to provide the needed friction on the cords. Hope that last one made sense. The lanyard itself... Again there are loads of methods. Heres a tutorial by bud brewer http://www.frayedknotarts.com/tutorials/BrewLanyard.html You can make some easier ones though which need less braiding and more knot work. If you need further ideas on styles and types mail me.

A reef knot is just a (bend) used to tie two cords together, you have probably tied hundreds. It's also called a square knot. If you yank one side it will become a sliding knot, and a (Thief) knot is a knot visually designed to look like a reef knot but not tied the same way, A granny knot is a wrongly tied reef knot. The reef is tied by wrapping left over right and tucking followed by right over left and tucking. The granny is a left over right followed by another left over right. Sorry you asked? I can understand what you mean though, carving is an art as much as a craft, I have had little interest in drawing in my younger years but had an interest in knots, I guess we simply understand what we want to. The closest I have come is to take a digitally enhanced dragon image, stencil it on to leather and solder the shape in with it, It worked well enough I suppose but it's two dimensional. I used a solder cause it was thin leather like. I can never get round how you guys take a flat image and give it depth and life...

A reef knot is just a (bend) used to tie two cords together, you have probably tied hundreds. It's also called a square knot. If you yank one side it will become a sliding knot, and a (Thief) knot is a knot visually designed to look like a reef knot but not tied the same way, A granny knot is a wrongly tied reef knot. The reef is tied by wrapping left over right and tucking followed by right over left and tucking. The granny is a left over right followed by another left over right. Sorry you asked? I can understand what you mean though, carving is an art as much as a craft, I have had little interest in drawing in my younger years but had an interest in knots, I guess we simply understand what we want to. The closest I have come is to take a digitally enhanced dragon image, stencil it on to leather and solder the shape in with it, It worked well enough I suppose but it's two dimensional. I used a solder cause it was thin leather like. I can never get round how you guys take a flat image and give it depth and life...

Crystal, your very talented, love this cover. Some of you carvers make braiding look like a reef knot, I hate you all.

Not that I like I pods, but the case is very cool looking. What did you use to finish it, it's extremely shiny looking?

I would strongly recommend not using a lining for the cups, or any part of it, Leather breathes by itself remember any additional layer creates a gap between them which will only act as insulation and heat up creating a not so comfortable fit. Just me chiming in

Hi and welcome I love the style of your work. they would make great little medicine pouches for anyone, I am not sure I like the yarn all that much but your style seems to lend to it. The blue stone, I am fairly sure thats lapis, it often has gold flecks and is often very vibrant. We will be using that in our lucky charm range of chokers and bracelets, it's a lovely stone and three - four times more expensive than a lot of other more common stones.

I think your molding work is excellent and I love your sheaths and frogs. Nice work

Here's a few pics of my new mini whip. First the spec for braiders and any other interested parties. Triple layered Braided inner core Braided outer core 16 strand overlay reducing to 6 strands Pig skin, cut to 2mm, a total of 38 strands measuring over 30 metres. 22" long with a crack and fall adding 17 more inches. The top is only 3/8 of an inch thick reducing evenly to approximately 3/16. The cracker is made from a linen thread twist braid. The 8 bight turks head on top gives the impression of a much more intricate braid on the handle section. The reductions are calculated to that there are 2 strands dropped in regular intervals with the tapers set evenly throughout the entire whip. I use a back braided fall knot sheath from the whip leather itself, This is the first time I have ever heard of this being done and it's purpose is to add a little extra weight to the end, but also this is a novelty whip which certainly will last a long time but will obviously not get as much wear as a regular whip. This whip is Extremely impressively loud, a vertical figure 8 crack in front of me is enough to deafen for a few seconds. Overhead figure 8's send an echo through my building. The strands are obviously not pulled as tight as a full whip so the break in time will be reduced, but currently it's fairly solid. I would very much like the general opinion on this.

As soon as you click that link near enough you are given this text. I would suggest two things because of this. Johanna, given that at the current standing the information given to you was to help leather workers, And the link posted is set up for the same purpose, You would be adding a personal entry to said site, sharing information which bears no connection to this site. Given also that regardless of the nature of putting the information onto the main page can be related to possible infringement issues, again I point out that putting a sticky on this thread, or perhaps one similar with numerous links to FREELY accessible tutorials will not cause problems in any legal fashion. You cannot be held legally responsible for opinions and links to other sites which even some time down the line may be legally charged. If you could every one could be charged with some sort of connection to every crime going. Recently there was a thread with lots of links well organized with leather stuff, perhaps we need to redo that thread or start a Favorite websites page and sticky it. I could post a dozen excellent tutorial links right now without going through my thousands of book marks, I am sure there are more like me in that respect.

32mb of some of the handiest and complete set of tutorials I have come accross yet, Great find. I would get this stickied, and or provide a link to all of them zipped in RAR files to make it easier to download the lot. In my experience, stuff this good should be saved straight away, cause you never know when it will become unavailable.

They look cool as hell, nice find, and a great tip otherwise. Thanks for sharing.

Use a mouse mat and some different grades of wet and dry. Just tape strips of wet and dry over the mat, and use only enough pressure to shape the steel evenly. To clean up the rust and reshape the steel use 2-400 grit. Then go up a few hundred grits, and sharpen at 90 degrees to the original scratch marks. keep going up the grits until the punch is mirrored, about 1200 or 1500 grit.

Thanks for the response. You do make a valid point Bree concerning the running of all this. But some of the ranges are so similar they could be the one range. We don't expect to start of selling in thousands. Nor would we want to. We are starting small. The business plan has been taken care of. We are currently working on different marketing and advertising methods, even if we haven't gotten very far. We are not going to have the site up and running until we are ready, we also have a deal with one of our local shops so we can take our time with that first. Realistically we are not going to be ready for maybe even a couple of months. But I am hoping to get individual products up on eBay before that. Tho other thing Johanna, The site will be set up as a place where craft products are sold at the highest quality found. And we think that embroidered cushions are not all that far away from hand crafted jewelery. There certainly is a difference, and we are not starting with all the ranges, the most we will start with is three. The furnishings will probably be the last ones on the list. Personally my favourite, and the range I am most excited about will be the second to last probably, due to the initial costs of production. And the fact that it must be started as a range rather than a product. I suppose your right about the codings, but the customer would be unaware of these codes unless they analysed the site thouroughly, lots of coded patterns are found all over in page and picture references online so....they Shouldn't notice. I like the idea of several sites to deal with different ranges, we can pass each one of the other then for more effective SEO, however the running time of all that will be considerably higher, And probably is beyond us. And theres a lot more things planned, I have had ideas running round my head for at least the last ten years. And surprisingly all but one of our range is new. LOL We will diverge into the adult products at some point however and that will definately have to be seperate. Thanks for some food for thought.

That's by far the most impressive leather craftwork I have ever seen. Absolutely incredible

I meant to post this the other day but if your short of storage space try using these methods. If you have lots of punches and flat stuff, but also a smaller selection of larger stuff like mallets, it's possible to do a two tier version, with the larger stuff coming down first, then the smaller one after it. You can make them as wide as you want really, so putting them so they only come down : On one side One on each side Two beside each other Is all possible, they are also fairly cheap ad easy to make.