MendellLeatherOK

Tom, So sorry I haven't been on in awhile! I use Weldwood contact cement. You can find it at most hardware stores. I buy mine from Ace. -H

Hey everyone! Wanted to share my "tutorial" on how I prep and inlay my beads.There are probably many better ways to do this, but this process has been what has worked for me. Part 2 will be coming shortly on how I actually sew the beads into the leather. I had some camera malfunctions and had to split this into two parts. I ramble a bit and I apologize. It had been a LONG week at the office!! Please feel free to message or comment if you have any questions or have a better way to do things! -Hannah

I honestly use whatever fits at the time. The basketstamp is a RBS stamp that measures about 1/8" long. Its such a fun tool to run. Most of my stamps are the old Crafttool, but Im slowly upgrading to all Barry King.

For a first project...this is fantastic! I can tell you my first projects looked no where near this! Great Job!

This is a FANTASTIC summation of machines. I went through the whole Ill buy this machine to save some $$ and 3 machines and a million headaches later, I finally got the Cobra. I honestly couldn't justify spending the money at first or why people were always trying to talk me into buying one, but now that I"ve used it, I don't see how I operated without it for so long. It is very quiet unlike the Boss who imitates the same CRASH-clickBANG CRASH click-BANG as Matt mentioned. Don't let us talk you into something you don't want, but be informed before you make a big purchase of any kind and look at your big picture.

Thank You! I only do the leather on these. I dont have the patience for beads! Haha! My partner in these is amazing though! Thank You so much! I had to quit carrying one when my husband said..."honey, stop petting your purse"

I came up and bought a Cobra 4 about 2 months ago but I need to come back up there soon!

Mike's website at learnleather.com is absolutely awesome. I've taken a few of the online classes and they are superb. Another person on youtube to follow is Don Gonzales. He has great video as well as pattern packs to accompany.

Welcome aboard! There are some incredibly talented people here that will help in any way they can!

I stitched on a Tippmann Boss for a few years, the Cowboy Outlaw is basically the same footprint of the machine. The hand operated machine is good for someone who works while traveling or who is doing small pieces here and there honestly. I felt like my productivity went way down when I was using it because it took quite awhile to get the item stitched. Granted, I do mainly belts and such items. Another issue I had with it was the throat size. If I was doing a portfolio or something like that I had the constant issue of having to roll or bend the item to get it to fit in the throat of the machine. I have since sold it and am now running a Cobra Class 4. As BDAZ mentioned above, it has paid for itself several times over. Don't be intimidated by a motorized machine. They are so much simpler than you would think Before you buy either machine, sit down and make a list of the pros and cons that you can think of. The boss or the outlaw may work perfectly for you, but dont be afraid to save a little more and get a machine that you really need rather than save a few pennies and have to sell/buy again in a few years. -Hannah

Thank You!

Thank You! These are all Springfield supplies too! Besides the beads! I for sure had a few errors when I started inlaying them! Ha!

A few items that have come out of the shop recently! Lots of beaded belts along with lots more things. The hair on/Tibetan lamb clutches are super popular right now also. (You can find the pattern on dgsaddlery.com, they are by Don Gonzales). Been super busy lately!

Just a couple finished bands.

Thank You! Yes, I do all the tooling on mine. On that band in particular, it was a tiny basketstamp. Ill post some photos of some past ones with floral tooling.

Thank You! Everyone seems to really like them! They say they are comfortable and easy to wear!

You are so welcome! I'll be doing another one soon about inlaying beads! As far as the deer hide goes, It may be a bit thin but use your own judgement. Since the liner wraps around the adapters, you dont want something so thin that it will stretch or something that will wear out easily. There will be a bit of tension on it all the time because people like to cinch down their watchbands, and then to really pull at them when they are trying to buckle it on.

Hey Everyone! Since Apple Watch Bands are the new big thing, I had quote a few people asking me how I was making them. So I went ahead and made a pattern pack and a video to go with it! One thing I forgot to include is punching holes. I usually use my rotary punch, and using my smallest punch, I start 1/2" from the bottom of the band and punch 5 holes, each being 1/2" apart. Video is below as well as a PDF of the pattern pack below the video! Please feel free to message me any questions you may have and I'd love to see the bands you guys make! Hope this helps! -Hannah AppleWatchBands.pdf

I grew up riding and working with horses and I got tired of either sending gear off when it would break or dealing with poorly made stuff to begin with.So around the age of 18, I acquired a few tools from my grandpa (who did leatherwork while in the Navy in the 60's) and started tinkering. I was absolutely hooked! I now make anything from tack to belts, portfolios, fire gear and the list goes on. Working on a portfoilo now to send to Canada which is my first international order, as well as, partnering with a lady who beads belt strips. Its such a fun ride and I love meeting new people who either ask about my work or who are fellow leatherworkers.

Thank You! He seriously has the best patterns! I've bought all I can from him! One reason I put the border on like I did was to accommodate all the extra space, kinda a fluke deal with that! I had to put something there cause of all the space it had. it came together pretty well! I actually used Word on the letters. I found a font I liked and fit it to the size I needed then traced it on and carved like regular beveling the outside like I would anything else. I usually paint letters but I used my dye on these.

Hey! Glad you decided to join!

I need to find some plexi glass pieces to use with my smaller stuff!

Thank you very much. I use packing tape on the back of everything as I'm tooling. It keeps the leather from stretching especially on belts, K Adam Tanner even glues his with rubber cement (easy to peel off) down onto plexi glass as he is tooling. Surprisingly this is the first time the left to right has happened to me!

Funny story on the opening, didnt even realize it did that until I was finished. Was certainly NOT going for that, ha. If it was for a customer, I probably would have re-done it. The tooling on each panel took me around 8 hours each excluding the knife work. I would say in total, I have probably 60 or so hours in it. That is from very beginning to very end. I work in the shop after my regular 8-5.

Firefighter kid, wife and niece here...I think the plait is a great idea, you don't see many that are "out of the box" design wise. As for the plait braid itself, I do think it will be okay as long as you get it tight and flat enough, otherwise, you will have a lump in the strap that no one will want to wear because its not comfortable. It may make it a bit thick, but you can always think about lining the back or just lining over where the strap will be sitting on the shoulder. I think the reason no one has done this is the time consumption, but it would be a great project to lace on between calls, depending how busy you guys are. I say go for it, if anything, you have a cool strap that hangs for decoration, or you might get lucky and everyone wants one.