TinyL

I've seen them with both. If the pan is thin, you have to use the shortest rivets possible. I found the rivets to be more effective but the staples will work if the leather is really thin.

It's beautiful Roo

I just got my burnisher in the mail and it's beautiful! The problem I have is my dang battery in my cordless drill has about as much power as a newborn. I'll be picking up a corded one tomorrow. But it looks like it's going to do a fantastic job. Gary let me know when you've made up the one's for the dremel because I definitely want to pick up one of those. Chris

I just ordered one from leatherman1. Check out this thread http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=24457

Hi David, Your work is truly exceptional and I consider it to be the standard that I would one day like to achieve. I have a couple of tech questions. How long do you wait to buff after airbrushing your dye and how do you apply your "sealer"? Is that airbrushed or applied with a cloth, rag, etc. If you don't airbrush your top coat, how do you keep the effects of your airbrush pattern intact without it crocking? Thank you for the inspiration and instruction Chris

That is beautiful. Your lettering is superb! TinyL

Hi Dirkin, Your best bet is to read every thread in the motorcycle section here. That's what I did when I ventured to make my first seat. Every one of your questions can be answered there. I know, because they were all the same questions I had. 1. Foam-closed cell neoprene. You can buy in sheets in different widths and build up to the height you want. 2. I use an electric knife (used to carve turkey) to shape and a mouse sander to smooth it out. 3. Depending on the type of seat, usually rivets. Pros like David just use lace since the braiding keeps the top and bottom pieces of leather together. But he works with generally one type of seat. Beezachopper does the weird shaped two seaters and such. check out both their sites. You can access them from any thread they have responded to under their names. 4. Make vinegaroon. The recipe is on this site. No crocking at all. Do a search on the board, you'll get lots of info. Hope that helps. Believe me, this is the most comprehensive site for the info you're looking for. Have a great weekend! Tiny

Thanks Bree for the info. My friend knows someone that got it done but he's being tight-lipped about how and where. I guess I should be more specific too. It would be just 4 initials in a vertical fashion. I guess another alternative would be to get the letters made as regular patches, attach to the leather shape then attach to the vest. Whew, that's a workout! But I guess that's a viable option. Thanks again! Chris

Thanks for your replies guys. I guess I'll have to do more research.

Hi everyone I wondered if someone would be able to give me some info. I know someone that would like to get patches for a motorcyle jacket. He'd like the patch background to be leather so I imagine that to be some type of garment leather. Can anyone make any recommendations for this. It will be machine embroidered, the kind you use a computer with and it does the design for you. Thanks for your help, Tiny

Hi flyingcuda - In December last year my husband was thinking of getting a custom leather seat. He was quoted $900 for a plain seat no tooling. He said screw that, looked at me and said "you could do this." I hemmed and hawed about it and said I would have to research what it took before i did anything. Well here it is, May, and I have 4 seats, 3 pillions, and a multitude of bracelets and cuffs under my belt. This forum turned out to be the best in information out of everything on the net. As soon as I found this forum, I read and reread everything I could about dealing with leather. Everyone is so nice and helpful so you can always post a question. That $900 saved in a seat is probably only half of what I spent in supplies and such (including leather), however, the money I've been pulling in has been going back into the business. I would first start out with tools. If you cruise ebay, you can find vintage/used leather tools for a decent price. I bought my first set of tools for $60 there. It was chock full of stuff. If you're serious about doing it on the side, join Tandy's wholesale club. You can pick up stuff here and there cheaply as you learn more and more about leathercraft. I have a full time job, so all my free time is spent on leather. I have 3 seat orders right now to fill and I plan to have them all finished in 4 weeks. Each has varying factors in finish time. On one seat, the design part will be the longest. I submitted sketches to the customer for likes and dislikes and am waiting for him to get back to me. I have a feeling I'll be back at the drawing board again to finish a final drawing and that will take time as well. I just completed the final design on another one but the customer is cutting down some of the foam on the padding so I can't make a pattern in leather until that's done. The last one, I just started doing the design which is straightforward, but just needs finalization before putting to the leather. Sorry so long, I just wanted to give my induction into working with leather and encourage you that it can be done. You need to really arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible before jumping in. But I've found it to be a wonderful and now definitely lucrative hobby! TinyL p.s. - be careful though, coz once you start making stuff for other people, then hubby begins to want one of everything you make ( and more, ie. tank bib, saddle bag, tool bag, leather grips... you get the idea )

Troy that looks fantastic! What type of dye did you use and how did you seal it? Also is the skull tooled? It looks like pyrography. Beautiful job! TinyL

That's gonna look cool! and it doesn't look like SH%^ at all. TinyL

Roger The seat looks awesome. I read in a previous thread that you hand sew these. How do you do it? Do you sew the leather then stretch it around the seat or the reverse? Plus what thread do you use? Chris

Ray those bracers are lovely. What oz. leather do you use for them? And where can one find that cool braid stamp? I love how that looks! Chris

wintermte the seat looks great. I love the design of it. what top coat did you use? it's very shiny which is something that you don't see too often. Your braid is really tight too. love it! TinyL

I think it's awesome. I love silver and black. It looks really finished with the stitching too. TinyL

Ray I think they are beautiful. They seem very rich looking to me, both in color and design. Thanks for the inspiration. TinyL

Try Zack White's. Compared to Tandy, it's an amazing step up. I've just received an order from Siegal's of California and their leather is really nice as well. If you spend more than $75, the shipping is free. They were running a sale on veg tan shoulders and they were beautiful. Definitely good enough for a motorcycle seat. You don't need a tax number for either one and you won't be disappointed. I've been successful ordering online and putting a request in the note box for "as blemish free as possible". I definitely got more than my money's worth. TinyL

I'm in the process of starting out. For your workmanship, which is wonderful by the way, you should go $600 to $900. However, it's difficult to get customers to understand the true value of custom. Sometimes you can only charge what you think they will pay in order to get your stuff out there. I'm in between lowballing competition and charging what it "should be for custom". When I quote a price and get the job, I wonder if I should have charged more. Right now, I just want the jobs, so despite what people close to me say, I'm okay with doing it for a lower price ( for now anyway). On another note, if people are familiar with your work ( which is not leather), and you command a certain range in price for that work, you would want to be in the same comparable range with the leather pricing. Some people are leary of too good a deal and will pass on it. Go figure! Good Luck! TinyL

It's gorgeous!

I can try. I'll tell hubby to take pictures. You know how you get sucked into a project and ignore everything else? That's me.

That's really cool how you did that! How di you lace it to the black thingy?

I dig it rickeyfro. It has a cool, well worn color that highlights your tooling. I really like it. Is it the pic or is it raised a little on top of the seat?

Kustomizer - that's super! what type of lace did you use and is that mexican basketweave? TinyL