twinklestarchild

Beautiful work! The nicest cue case I've ever seen. I really enjoy the multi-colored flowers.

There were a couple of guys at the Oregon Country Faire that were selling those obsidian knives, very impressive craftsmanship. Knapping those blades takes a lot of patience and know-how. They had some top-rate sheaths for them, but I think yours top them. Kudos!

I knew a punker girl named Little Debbie with a beautifully done rendition of the Little Debbie logo, and another girl with the Morton's salt label done as a half sleeve. Somewhat off topic, but two of the most memorable logo-related tattoos I've seen.

Age maybe for you, but I'm 26 and I still think that there are few things that rival the joy and comfort of a pair of "freshies". Just my copper.

It's a shame that you won't be doing that again. All of your kilts look fantastic, but this one really caught my eye... has kind of a gypsy kilt look all patched together from remnants. I think that something like this might even sell better here in the eclectic pacific NW than an all-one-color kilt. We're kind of a gravy-people...throw a little bit of everything in the pot!

This may seem too obvious for mentioning, but CRAIGSLIST!!! There is always so much free stuff in our local area, or a short drive away. Sometimes free leather couches, screws, tools (haven't found leather specific, but definitely general use), or the hot tub to soak in after a long day of tooling. By the by, while the availability of leather stuff for free may be somewhat limited, you can definitely find stuff on the cheap, especially if you put out an ad describing exactly what you are looking for. For example, when I decided that I wanted to get into working leather I put up an ad that I was looking for old tooling and garment leather, tools, books, etc... There was this really nice guy that responded and said that his dad had been a leather worker for 20 years, and that his mom had worked for Tandy from the 70's until the 90's. His folks had since passed away, and he had been holding on to this stuff since. I got the impression that the guy himself was of an artistic bent, but that leather just hadn't been his thing. Anyway he says that he has all of his dad's studio stuff, and that he would be willing to sell it to me for a very reasonable price. Over the next couple of weeks we sent several e-mails back and forth, including pictures of the stuff all laid out on a table. I was blown! Hundreds of stamping tools (I am still figuring out how to organize them!), every kind of wood-handled awl and bevel tool, 20 or so swivel knives, punch boards, border cutting attachments, extra blades, 8 mallets (nice ones), six boxes of books and patterns, hardware, and more stuff than I could possibly list. I told him that I am of limited means (very true), and that I could not probably afford what would be a fair asking price for all of this stuff. He says, "well, how about $400 bucks?". Again, blown. So, when I had the $400 I drove up to see the guy, and in addition there are 5 big black trash bags full of leather sides, scraps, half-finished projects, whole buckskins, and another trash bags worth of tandy wallet and purse kits. I again checked that the guy was sure that he wanted to part with this stuff at this price. He said definitely, and that he would just be glad to know that it would go to good use. I assured him that would be the case, expressed my gratitude again, and then proceeded to pack the van to the roof with all of this stuff. I am still in the process of organizing all of the stuff that I got, and I have to say that my education in leatherworking has been greatly benefited by this man's generosity. It may seem clicheor cheesey, but when I am working in my shop surrounded by the tools and patterns of a lifelong student of the leather arts, I kind of feel his presence guiding me. A posthumous "Each one teach one" has been my education. Thank you craigslist!

No problem, it's funny that you made the request because I meant to post that here and forgot. Going to be starting on one myself this week!

So funny, I just ran across this posted on a steampunk Live Journal community. It's for making a Jack Sparrow hat, but could easily be modified to whatever specific pattern. It is a .pdf. What would you do with a drunken sailor? http://www.houseofanoria.com/CaptainJack/C...arrow%20Hat.pdf

I should have specified, I mean to use the powder dye, about half a packet. Works great with every color I've tried so far. The scarlet I was recommending looks particularly cool with a coat of Fiebing's British Tan over it, just found out. The water is really just to start breaking up the powder, and the spirit is the main carrier. Cem told me about it, and I've been experimenting. The Scarlet just turned out a particularly nice dark shade of red. Used it on a Yule door bell hanging thing for my folks, turned out really well. Wish I had a picture to show you, I'll see if I can get one.

Take half a package of Scarlet RIT Dye, pour it into a jam jar with a tight-fitting lid. Mix in a tablespoon of HOT water and let turn into a paste. Add methylated spirits (denatured alcohol, available in paint section of local hardware store or wal-mart) until the jar is half full, or about a cup. Put lid on and swirl until powder is dissolved. Good mix costs about 2 bucks. I get a good rich color, can antique with antique gel if you want an aged look.

Very helpful, I hadn't thought about starting micro and then going macro with the patterning. Starting with a doll head is not a technique I have heard of anyone using before. I am trying to acquire a good face-form, I think that will help my process alot. The tips for stitching the pieces together (getting the rough incision scar style stitch lines, cannot think of a better way to describe) will be veryuseful, I really dig that style. Many thanks!

There are numerous scientists on both sides of this issue, there is extensive evidence to support that many synthetic compounds emitted into the environment are harmful, but there is also a lot of geological evidence that the planet heats up and cools down in cycles and that what is being detected as a global temperature increase is just part of this normal pattern. Global warming is really just one aspect of the greater issue being "addressed" by these laws. The problem with these kinds of laws is that they take away the ability to work with these compounds from hobbyists and small businesses, but do nothing to address the use of these kinds of compounds in far larger amounts by large corporations. The vast majority of individuals are going to be responsible, i.e. not dump them down the drain, in the yard, feed them to the dog, etc... Large corporations tend to not have much in the way of scruples, dump their leftovers everywhere, and primarily have regard for their bottom line. I grew up in Baltimore, MD and remember there being the most beautiful sunsets over the city (purples, oranges, pinks, greens?). This was caused by the chemicals released into the atmosphere by the local factories, cars, and port. From the mountains of West Virginia the city appeared as a brown bump on the horizon. That's from 4 hours drive away and was not caused by an over-abundance of amateur leatherworkers. Drano is a volatile substance specifically sold to be poured down the drain, and to my knowledge is far more noxious than the alcohol base of a spirit dye. Personally, I am going to take the middle path, experiment with the eco-flow dyes if they are going to be what's available, but hedge my bets by experimenting with home made dyes made from natural AND synthetic compounds. The fiebing's and eco-flow dyes are more expensive than RIT and methylated spirits (thanks again cem!) or coffee and berry dying. There's my copper.

Great advice, thanks for the tip. Seems like common sense, I'm just still learning what qualifies as "common" sense when it comes to leather.

This reminded me of Braveheart... the girl hands little Gibson a thistle after his dad died. Very cool work, especially for a first piece, top rate!

Bob I skived the end where the fold was going, still learning how far down to cut, but I think I got it pretty right on this one. I was concerned about casing for the fold because I didn't want to make the color inconsistent, but it's good to hear that will not be an issue. The leather I am working with is kind of old, and has had some exposure to changing temperatures, so I think that may be the source of the problem. Thanks alot for the suggestions! I've learned more on this forum than in a dozen books.

So, your suggesting making the fold (but not the rivets or other hardware) while it's cased, and then dying... that makes alot of sense.

To be honest, almost all of the leather I work with is old, and I was afraid that might have something to do with it. Generally I bend the piece to check for stress factors pre-casing. I think that the neatsfoot oil might solve the problem, I was mostly concerned with when to apply it, and whether or not it might mess with the Neat-Lac. It seemed that after dyeing seemed the logical time, and I am glad to have that confirmed.

I was working on a belt, tooled it, dyed it with fiebing's spirit, antiqued it with eco-flow, sealed it with Neat-Lac, and then let dry. I was in the process of bending the end loop for riveting the buckle on, and the grain side of the leather just cracked. There's several hours of work (fairly complex tooling design) down the drain. Now, here's my question, and I'm guessing I could figure this out with enough experimentation but ya'll are awesome: What can I do to prevent this amount of brittleness? I have a bottle of prime neatsfoot oil, for conditioning, but can I use that before dyeing? before tooling? Cased or un-cased? Post dye, pre-finish? I've been scouring my books, but they don't really indicate what's up with this process. Also, should I condition the flesh-side? I've also noticed that my projects have a tendency to curl. I figure that this is because of the causticity of the Neat-Lac, but I've heard that is the product to use if you really want something that has a good seal against water, and most of the projects I am making are intended as everyday wear and I want them to hold up. I also really dig the high-gloss finish. I think that when I have a little bit more cash I'm going to invest in some super-sheen as well and try that, but for now all I have is the Neat-Lac. Help?

I think it was cem that I saw the post from. I've been using the powdered dye, mixing it with some boiling water, and then the methylated spirits. Generally I use a half packet of dye, a few teaspoons of water, swirl it together into a sludge, and then cut into 4-8 oz.-ish of the metho. Like I said, the RIT seems to dissolve fine, although there will be some sediment settled at the bottom of the jar after a couple of hours. I just avoid this by using the top of the jar, but even swirled up there does not seem to be too much of a particulate content, which as cem suggested could be re-used. I've tried out the Cocoa Brown and the Scarlet so far with great results, though as I said there is a greater need for buffing. I am curious about using the liquid as it may prevent some of these issues altogether. The Dylon is another story. Does not seem to want to dissolve at all, although I have not yet tried out all of the colors I got from the store. Does infuse some color into the spirit, so might make a good stain, still doing test strips. P.S. - RIT dyes on sale right now at Jo-Anne's, bringing what is already a highly cost-effective dye solution to $1.79 US plus cost of metho for 12-16 oz.-ish, beats the hell out of $6 for 4 oz. bottles of fiebings. Plus I love the mad scientist element!

I have been trying to find where I saw this posted, but someone suggested using RIT dyes mixed with methylated spirits as a spirit dye. While I had thought of using RIT dye, I had not known what to mix it with, and had been hesitant to experiment. Having someone say that they had already done this and had success was enough of a butt-kick in the right direction. So far I have been having lots of luck, expanding my palette on the shoe-string budget I am operating with. Smooth, even, colors on the cheap. The only comments I would make is just that these dyes require alot more in the way of buffing. I am currently experimenting with Dylon dyes, and have not had quite as much success, but I think that they might make great stains. Just wanted to say thank you for another useful piece of info from this forum! Namaste.

I have been trying to piece together a steampunk inspired maskof a similar fashion to a couple on your flickr page, and as I am (elbows?) deep in the process right now, I must tell you that I am very impressed! Beautiful work all around.

I don't have any sort of personal experience to support this, and I'm kind of curious as to the answer myself, but I would think that a tooled piece of leather would take the ink. The whole idea of the needle is to get the ink under the outside layers of skin, and I would think that the swivel blade, or even the tears from a shader would accomplish the same effect. Might work as more of a paint than dye? Just my two cents.