HavenHillJay

Love the antler handles. I have not seen leather tankards before.

Very beautiful! Never give up, never surrender!

Scotty, I'm not a veteran but am interesting in the same thing. I just ordered a product from www.frenchpaper.com called parchtone. Getting 200 12.5X19 so I can make large journals for my wife and daughter completely from scratch. Shipping was king of high but if I like the paper I am going to buy in larger quantities to cut the cost per page down. Should get here sometime next week, maybe not in time for Christmas but oh well. Hope that helps.

Thanks for the tip Tony and the kind words.

Nice stitching, did you use pricking irons or over stitch wheel?

Thanks for sharing, that is incredible work. How long did it take you?

I just got done with the tooling on one of the gifts I am making this year. Thought I'd share. Had to make due with the pear shader I have, which was a bit big for the petals on the bloom. It's my best tooling job so far...

They look pretty good. You have an etsy shop or anything?

I've seen these done with Chicago Screws too.

Welcome to the forum, there are a lot of helpful crafters here. Those look great!

Welcome elkevo, been at it about a year myself. Glad I started, there are a lot of generous people here willing to help (as I'm finding out)

I just want to say thank you to everyone who posted replies, thanks for taking the time to put detail into them. I find instruction in all of them. Tony, you are pointing out that the most wiggle room I have in pricing is in what I value my labor hour to be worth vs. how much I'm willing to discount that in order to grow my "brand". JLS and NVLeatherWorx, from you I am reminded that from the consumer's standpoint, my overhead costs are immaterial, and that the uniqueness of my work and it's quality are what the consumer will be judging in addition to their personal need/want for whatever product they are buying. Just like everything else in life. Big Sioux you, I agree I do have to remember that my time is valuable no matter what are the surrounding circumstances, and thanks for the well wishes. CaptQuirk and Tony, thanks for the side note on hand stitching, I didn't realize that hand stitching produced superior results. I know that as my skill [hopefully] grows, what I produce will increase in what it can command in the open market. If I missed anyone's point, and you feel inclined to do so, let me know. Funny side note, I ended up giving her a price that was a little lower than what I wanted. She got back to me with the comment that it seemed high and then proceeded to ask me about repairing a bag she has had for years. lol

Halitech, thanks for the input. I've seen checkbook covers on Etsy for much lower than I would want to go. Thinking the same thing on setting an expectation. I'm still working on coming up with a maker's mark so I don't really have a recognizable brand yet though I would want positive word of mouth. Tony, thanks for the clarification, lol to hoping friends won't give stuff away for you. The lady who wants the checkbook cover came into my son's workplace and had a crafted leather pouch with some kind of design on it and my son mentioned I do leather work. She gave him her number to give to me. He is my most active salesperson so far! Ha! Again thanks for the helpful advise!

Thank's for the feedback Tony. I have no machine costs, my skills are still developing, and I see the value of word of mouth advertising. Much appreciated.

I have a question about pricing. I have someone wanting to buy a Celtic Knotwork checkbook cover I made. I was wondering how you would price that out. I have calculated my cost per square inch for the various materials After some mark up it comes to about $20 to charge her in material costs which is about what Tandy would retail the unfinished kit for. I will actually be using a piece of Craftsman Oak I purchased and would make a little money on that. If I figure 2 hrs labor I would be asking about $60-$80 for a customer checkbook cover. Is that in line with what you are seeing or have charged?

Well done! Thanks for sharing.

Wish I could claim the stitching as mine but the journal kit I bought was already stitched. Will be doing a small journal for one of my kids soon, will be using a tooling side I bought from Tandy. Will see if I can do a passable job of stitching on that one. Thanks for the tip on using a circular motion for the initial application, will give that a try.

Thanks for the tips and the websites. Good second life for the Seafoam leather! Looking forward to see the finished product.

Probably not. They were both project kits from Tandy that I purchased at different times of the year. Thank you!

Very cool!

Thanks for the nice comment on my newbie post. Making shoes is a skill set I'd like to explore. Any recommendations on places to look for information?

I dyed the inlay part, buffed it out once dry and then applied antiquing gel over it with a scrap of sheep wool. I did the same thing to a checkbook and got a even coloring effect over its surface. Not sure why this one came out a bit uneven other than it being a larger surface area.

Very nice looking work. What are the two cylinders in the second picture?

Hello everyone. Just started to work leather last Christmas when I decided I wanted to make my wife a handmade gift. Went to Tandy, picked out a journal kit and away I went. The last time I was in Tandy was in '89 when my wife and I were making costumes for a Renaissance Faire. If I had only had a clue when I was a younger man, I would have gotten into it then! I love it and wish I hadn't waited so long to get started. In addition to the journal, I have done a money clip wallet, two check books, a set of coasters, and couple of suede pouches. I am going to attach some pictures of the journal with this post. I didn't dye it right away because I ran out of time before Christmas. After I did the first check book, my wife liked the color and asked me to dye the journal the same way. She is happy with the finish but I feel like it could have had a more even tone. Any advise would be appreciated.