rodneywt1180b

Beautiful job on the chest!

I haven't tried any. I tend to be on the skeptical side when it comes to easy money. Check out people like Fuzzy & Burch (sp?) on YouTube. There is a lot of good free advice out there to check out before you spend money on it. I did my own research for my canes. I sell them as a hobby and a little side income. I'm not trying to make a living at it. I decided on Etsy for my sales platform due to it's big enough to be known and low startup costs. It has it's downsides but to me is better than most. It runs around 9% of total sales and shipping in fees. Don't forget shipping in your costs either. Shipping can get spendy in a hurry. I recommend staying with small, light, easily shipped items. Canes almost qualify. Another option would be electronic sales. No material or shipping costs at all that way. I researched shops selling canes similar in quality to mine. I got a good general idea of what was selling, what they were selling for, and how many sales I could expect a month. The busier shops that had been at it a while were selling around 3 a month and that worked out to what I averaged to. I've started working at a part time job recently and have had other projects for the last few months so haven't been making as many lately. My sales have slowed to match the lower inventory in stock. If you're using Etsy 20 or more listings will give you better exposure than just a few and good key words so the search engines can find you are a must. I recommend doing your own research on what you want to sell. Don't run up a lot of unnecessary start up costs and don't quit your day job just yet. Also don't compete on price. There is always someone who can and will produce the same item cheaper.

Looks good to me.

I really like that. Maybe I should try one for my Leatherman...

Fun!

I use Ritza 25 Tiger Thread, primarily 1.0 mm these days. Here's a link to my supplier. https://www.etsy.com/shop/EgyptianLeather?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=240430964 The owner John is a good guy with always fast and helpful service. He sells up to 1.4 mm thread which is pretty much rope compared to 1 mm in a variety of colors. He also stocks John James needles. Ask him which size he recommends for the size thread you want to use. Hope this helps.

If you give the people here a chance they're more than happy to help you out. Your question seems simple but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a magic bullet for it. There are too many variables for a simple answer. A clear photo of your equipment, the holes your chisels make and an example of your stitching is going to go a long way toward getting your questions answered. Leather type and thickness also plays a part. It's not unreasonable to ask for this information. Why location? There's probably a member near you that can help, also suppliers are different in the UK, Europe, other parts of the world than the USA. I'm still figuring out what I like for thread/needle/hole too. For saddle stitching I'm using a 3mm stitching chisel from Goods Japan and 1mm Ritza tiger thread (flat woven) The 3mm chisel has spacing that I like but I feel the holes are a little large. I use a home made round awl for other types of stitching. Most of my leather work centers around covering cane handles and crutches so I'm not doing that much saddle stitching. First off I recommend you get the John James harness needles. The correct needle does make a difference and they're not expensive but you may have to go online to find them. From what I've seen around here (WA state) you're not going to find as good in a craft store. For 1mm thread probably a 002 needle is about right (at least for Ritza tiger thread). 1mm threads through the eye without much effort but the needle is still fairly small. Your 4mm chisels are probably too big (cutting too large of holes). Either get a high quality chisel or get a pricking iron instead. You can use your chisel as a pricking iron to just mark the holes instead as well. Use a leather awl (the blade type, not a stitching awl with the thread in it) to actually make your holes. There's a much steeper learning curve to using the awl than using the chisels but you have total control that way. If you're not doing it already, you can tap down your stitch line. That will help close the holes back up some for a neater appearance as well.

Your illustration is thumbnail size when I click on it. Actual pictures of what you're using and what your stitches look like please. Also what leather you're using. Pictures are worth at least a thousand words in this case. It will give the guys who know what they're doing a better idea of changes that need to be made EDIT: About the John James needles Wizard of Tragananth mentioned. I've only used John James needles for leather. If there are better out there I'll never know. I don't feel any need to try any other brand.

Another thank you for the link.

Chechaflo is my go-to for covering things. Watching his videos shortened my learning curve a lot. A lot of good info on making patterns for odd shapes.

The term might be fusible interfacing or fusible web. Heat n Bond (sp?) is one brand.

Hi Neil. Still available? If it is, I'll take it. PMing too. Rodney

Looks like you ended up with a nice setup. Nice job of getting things setup the way you want it.

Onion juice? Never heard of that for an odor remover.

Beautiful work!

Correction to my post above: Nigel Armitage, not Neil.

The knives and sheaths are both beautiful!. I love the rounded detail at the back end of the blade. Very unique and has an organic feel to it.

Any monkey can make a saddle stitch. A good saddle stitch is a different matter. Good looking stitches take consistency and a lot of practice. It takes time to achieve that. I'm still working on "good". Watch Neil Armitage's videos and keep practicing. You're off to a good start. Also keep in mind that what seems like huge imperfections to you are actually pretty minor and won't be noticed by non leatherworkers.

The far east is capable of producing quality products. The problem is the people who import those products don't ask "How well can you make this?" They ask "How cheap can you make this?" instead. Quality costs more no matter where it's from.

I think JLSLeather said it pretty well. Not going to quote-too long, why clutter up the space? I've been selling on Etsy a couple years now. I still like it. I've looked at other hand made sales sites and so far I haven't found anything even close to them. There are a couple with good ideas but they don't have the presence that Etsy has. I'll admit it's been a while since I last checked but I don't think anything has changed. If I'm going to sell on an obscure site it might as well be my own. Yes, there's junk on Etsy but don't compete at that level. You can't unless you live somewhere where a dollar a day is a living wage. I get around the "I bought it on Etsy" thing by putting a big label with my shop's name on the boxes I send out. That way my shop's name is the first thing the customer sees when they get their package. I don't know if it helps but it doesn't hurt. The alternatives are basically your own site or Facebook and Instagram.

Nice to see I'm not alone. I've had it happen once. I tried contacting them every way I could (through Etsy and their provided email) multiple times. I never refunded the money. I figured that would at least get them to reply back. Nothing. It's like they fell off the face of the earth right after they ordered. Now I put a warning at the top of my listing stating that not telling me the size they need will result in delays in shipping their order.

Those will be some well dressed dogs.

That doesn't look like beginner work to me. I think it's great.

You do consistently great work. You can go as far as you want in leather work.

Great looking collar!