rodneywt1180b

What is the charity? If you can make them relate to the charity there's a good chance you'll sell more.

Being mostly a woodworker I refer to my failures as "firewood". Some pieces are more interesting than others. My failed leather work so far would be small irregular shapes with a bunch of contact cement on the back. Not much to look at there.

You might want to take a look at some embroidery sites. That might give you some ideas that can be adapted to leather. This is one I've used. https://www.needlenthread.com/

It looks like it will be awesome. Really neat and creative work.

One thought since it is rigid would be wood flour and super glue. It would be basically a quick drying sandable filler that takes finishes well. Come to think of it, if the gaps are small a gel superglue and accelerator might do the trick. One example of the wood flour: https://www.google.com/shopping/product/16293151009935572791?q=wood+flour&client=firefox-b-ab&prds=paur:ClkAsKraX91Q0maBoMf37-KbaOivhmg0wtFJG6N3LS19BbOpv0lCVM7dr-H2d10s0Av6ypcSJYl0PshKAqL-rVjk6Ri1PEJXEP9gCDImkN-p-f1Dui6FORqfQBIZAFPVH70CkBeEuw8C8AYPY3oy8g0pZq-CRw&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjg7JejwNvbAhUzHzQIHZABDBIQ8wII1gI A tub that size would last you basically forever.

So the store has good designs. Your wallet parts look good too. I think if it was done and sitting next to theirs I would take a closer look at yours first. What's the problem?

Only once. I sold off my childhood coin collection to pay some bills. Rodney

You probably already know this. http://www.govliquidation.com/ EDIT: I just checked. They moved sites and IMO it isn't as good as before.

Another fun topic. Is Google killing art? I don't think so. It may actually be helping in some ways. There is a world of inspiration at our fingertips. I think for every person who is satisfied with copying someone else's work there is another person who sees that same work and is inspired to create their own. I use the internet for design references all the time.but I don't make direct copies of what I see.

It's a good clean looking seam and stitching to me. I would be pleased with it.

Your sheath compliments the knife beautifully.

I should say I am. As near as I can tell it pays better and artistic license can be used to cover a lot of mistakes. Truthfully the best artists IMO are also excellent crafts people. They have the technical skill to back up their art. Realistically I'm more on the crafts person side of things. I put function first.

I tried masking tape but not to full thickness. I also tried upholstery vinyl. The vinyl gets me kind of close but not quite there. I'm sure a lot of it is just practice. As I go along I'm slowly learning what works best for me.

Mattsbagger that's good to know. I have a project coming up where I will most likely be drilling the holes. Thanks Chris. I like the look but for now I think I'll stick with a baseball stitch. My handles are all a little different from one another. I haven't had much success-at least not yet- in being able to make a pattern then cutting the leather and having it fit correctly. I end up gluing the leather on a little at a time and trimming it in place. That doesn't lend itself well to taking the leather back off to machine stitch it then put it back on. I don't think I would be able to get the leather back on correctly. I'm still working out my methods. The stitching chisel does help but I find myself using it more as a pricking iron for laying out the holes instead of punching clear through. For baseball and X stitches a round or square diamond shaped hole seems better than the elongated diamonds used for saddle stitching that this chisel makes.

Great tips! Thank you!

Beautiful job! Thanks for letting us follow along.

Very nice! More shots of the bike as you make progress wouldn't hurt either.

I'm not trying to sell myself short. Affordable doesn't mean poorly made. Canes won't allow it. At the very minimum they need to provide additional support for the people who rely on them. Keeping things simple and using less expensive woods help keep things affordable. I gather and harvest most of the woods I use myself. They're not lesser quality, just less expensive to acquire and I have fun doing it. I look at my work from when I started to now and I see the improvement. But still I look at it and think: "That joint could have been tighter." or "I should have sanded it more." or "That shape could be refined a bit." They're things that won't detract from the function of the cane and a lot of people probably wouldn't even notice them but to me they're things that I can (and should) work to improve. I do agree that things don't have to be perfect to earn a wow. I would even go so far as to say sometimes it's the imperfections that set an item apart. Poor workmanship isn't one of them though. A lot of my canes feature the imperfections in the wood. Things like knots, old wounds and worm holes become features. I use a lot of spalted wood. Spalting is basically the early stages of rot but it can create some beautiful patterns in the wood. I think the leather working equivalent would be using brands, scars and the raw edges of hides as they come from the tannery as features.

Thank you for sharing your experiences with starting your own site. It indicates I made the right decision for me. I'm borderline computer illiterate. I can turn one on and type but not much more than that. After checking out various selling sites like Ebay and Etsy I decided that I would use Etsy instead of trying to manage my own site. They take a cut but it's a manageable one and it's easy. Are there things I don't like? Yes. That said I believe that for me the pros outweigh the cons.

Great topic. The very definition of the Wow factor means that not everyone can achieve it. Would I like to reach that point? Yes. Will I? Probably not. The good news is there is plenty of room for makers like me who don't reach that lofty standard. Good, serviceable work has it's place too. I'm still a complete novice when it comes to leather. No "Wow" there and there won't be for quite a while, probably not ever. If I ever do get a wow on my leather work it'll be along the lines of "Wow. How did you manage to mess that up that badly?" That doesn't keep me from trying. Canes are my main focus. As far as my cane making goes, well, no "Wow" there either. I try to get better with every one I make and I can see the improvement. I'm still a long way away from equaling the work of makers I admire, but then, maybe that's not my biggest reason for making them. Canes are different than some things. Canes tend to be more needed than wanted. Nobody wants to have to use a cane. I see this frequently. A good cane has a profound effect on the user's self esteem. They give a a little bit of the person's dignity back to them. It's something your typical drugstore cane just can't do. That's an important reason why I make them. My goals are simple. I want to make nice looking canes that are comfortable and that get used. In fact I want my canes to be the ones my customers reach for first. I also want them to be affordable. If someone wants one of my canes I want them to be able to have it. I generally make a few lower priced ones too just for that reason. I would love the ability to make a truly high end cane. I envy the skill and precision of those makers. On the other hand if that's what I made maybe I wouldn't be able to achieve my other goals as well.

It's an interesting technique, similar to a ladder stitch in fabric sewing but fabric has a flap that's turned under. The needle and thread doesn't need to be buried in the material on the back side. I'm pretty far from being an expert but would it be possible with a very tightly curved needle and a matching awl? Reading the article you posted this looks like a rare technique. Is there a practical reason why the bag must be done this way? Authenticity for re-enactment, something like that maybe? Also, (purely selfish here) do you have more pictures? I would like to see more of it please.

Great looking job!

If it was me I would try a little automotive buffing compound on the table. It might be enough to blend in the shadow if the finish isn't lifted. Try the compound somewhere inconspicuous to make sure it's ok first though.

Looking at the wood it's very dark, like many of the oilier tropical woods. Try your oil on a different type of wood. If it's still a sticky mess it's the oil. If not then it's a reaction between the oil and the wood. If it's the wood a thorough cleaning with lacquer thinner or acetone will strip the oils off the surface of the wood and the linseed oil will be able to stick to it.

If the wood is an oily tropical it won't take a finish well. OTOH oily tropicals don't really need a finish. Just polish it up. A little gasoline might take the oil off without needing to buy any solvents. I use tung oil all the time. To get it off my hands while it's still tacky I use cooking oil and dish detergent (Dawn). Since it's not set up that might work too.