wolvenstien

Welcome home..... And not too far from me... I am in Chattanooga.... We will have to chat some...

yeah, the blue painters tape can be found anywhere they sell painting supplies including Wal-Mart....

Yeah, with a sewing awl.... with the thread in it... I took one side and laid out the holes with the 4 hole punch, then added the center spacer with glue, and allowed it to dry, then added the top piece with glue and pressed together to let dry, then I used the fig/awl and mallet to go through the holes on the back through to the front to mart out he holes, then flipped over and lightly hit the 4 hole punch into the top and then sewed it up.... I then put the edges on the grinder to even them out and make them smooth... it wasnt easy... but it did the job... the glue I used was the white cement.... kinda like a thick elmers glue...

A friend from out west made it home here for about a month and brought with him a butcher knife that he has turned into a ceremonial knife and wanted me to make a sheath for it. Well, I did, and here are some pix of it....

Oscar.... I feel like an idiot now.... sorry.... bet you figured I was off my rocker.... LOL oh well....

Welcome home, Pull up a chair.... Johanna makes a good coffee....

Hello, and Welcome Home! As for sewing machines: http://www.leatherworker.net/forum/index.p...wtopic=1024&hl= Good Luck to you.....

Sweet!

Thats it.... I knew I recognized her....

I like that.... and I like that it is on wheels too....

Best advice I can give is to find a few counter top manufacturers/installers in your area.... and just go there.... get as far into the back as you can and check out the small stuff.... if no one comes out to greet you, go find someone in the back and talk to them. thell them you need a good clean piece to hammer leather on.... if they are cool, and have scrap there, they will show it to you and not screw you on the price..... it is scrap, and very unlikely they will find an application to use the scrap for and will end up needing to pay for it to be removed.... I paid $10 for my piece.... I was hoping to get it for free... but he very well could have asked for $50 or $100 for it... I would have had to walk away.... but I was lucky enough to get a guy to come out and greet me who was not trying to get rich off of one sale....

Yeah..... Dying after tooling..... Do a sample piece.... Wet a piece, stretch it and mold it, and then dry it with the heat gun, and then see about dying it..... see how it works... I think it would work great.... I like the idea about taking a shower and then using a heat gun to speed up the drying process.... I might very well do the same when doing a corset soon.....

LOL, well... I did remove a few items that I like to keep close at hand on the work top.... but they add to clutter.... not mess.... And I forgot to sweep below the work top before taking the pic..... I opened to pic to see if i took a picture of a mess or what before responding.... and see some mess on the floor...

Here is a pic of the slab I got.....

Electrathon is right, they do have to pay for the scrap to be hauled off.... I am a member of the local freecycle group on yahoo groups here and there is a local business here that uses marble and granite and posts regularly for peple to come and pick through the scrap pile so they dont have to pay for it to be hauled off..... I have went there two or three times and there was nothing I could use for a tooling block.... but it would be worth a try to check with all "rock" places around town.... and try to talk with the folks in the back....

Welcome Home.

Kathy! Awesome!

Ok, with it being an apprentice of your husbands.... It falls upon your husband to hear your wishes and have a talk with the apprentice.... If you are more involved then you might be able to..... I dont know your situation.... either way, it needs to be made clear to him.... he is getting a free education in turn for doing things around the shop, and one of those things that he is being taught is how to keep a clean working enviroment....

LOL, well, in my absence fromt he site, I was able to pick up a very nice piece of granite from a counter top installation/sales place here in town.... I called and stopped by alot of the monument places here and no one would admit to having scrap.... so as I was driving down the rode and saw this place I made a U turn went back and pulled into the lot, they has all kinds of scrap against the back fence, and when i got out of the car a sales guy came out and asked if he could help me.... I told him I needed a largish piece of granite to tool leather on... we went over to the scral that they had all lined up sitting on their edges and the first piece he showed me was 2 1/2' by 3' by 1 1/2".... i said that it was perfect and asked how much, expecting him to say 50 or 100 but he said it depends, do i need them to round off the edges (three edges were rough from where it had been cut from a larger piece, and one edge along the longer side was rounded) and I said no.... it is perfect the way it was... then he asked if $10 was too much.... Hell no... here is $10 cash.... wanna help me load it? LOL. We loaded it, and I gave him a card and told him if he ever needed anything leather, to call me, I would hook him up.... I got it into the house and cleared off my desk... put it on the wooden desk top and it was just wide enough but over hung the desk top by about 9 inches which i dont mind because it gave me a larger surface to work on.... I have been using it ever since.... I love it....I will get a pic to post here if I remember......

What movie was the first one from? I recognize her... but cannot place her.... You did the leather work on that? or just created the poster with the slogan on the bottom?

Yeah.... Allowing the customer a choice is always a good thing as long as you dont over do it and allow it to become a burden..... I sell everything I make that is production with the option of it being plain without carving, only a color and finish.... or carved and more intricate... for a higher price.... You will not loose the customers for the lower priced items, and you may gain a few more or convert a few of the lower paying customers with the higher priced goods...

How many people besides you and your spouse use the workshop? Are they paid employees? If they are paid employees and not your spouse who is wrecking the place.... Tell them point blank.... here is the garbage... use it. If I have to come in here to clean up, I am charging you for it.... cleaning up behind themselves is apart of the job. I personally am a very cluttered but an anally organized person.... oxymoron right? LOL, I want everything to be organized to perfection, but I find that I spend way too much time organizing than doing the actuall job that needs to be done... so I allow myself to be cluttered.... I did a custom sheath for a friends butcher knife and while I was doing ti every tool I used was on my work top and in the way.... I knew that if I stopped to clean up, I would go from putting the tools up to cleaning the floor, and organizing the leather, and patterns and books and it would be the next day before I was able to get back to the sheath so I left everything the way it was until I was finished..... However, if I am working for someoen else or in someones house doing work.... I am anal about cleaning as I go.... Go into the shop on a closed day, clean it to the way you want it, and when everyone comes in the following work day have a meeting... Dont single any one person out and tell them point blank.... You are not their mom, or their wife, and you will not clean up behind them any longer.... if they do not clean up you will let them go. Cleaning up as they work is apart of the job, and if they cannot fulfull the requirements of the job, they will not be needed.....

First off.... if you are going to boards and posting and getting flamed.... screw em.... It is totally up to you as the artist. It is your creation and you do it as you see fit.... The customers who buy your products and pay your bills do not complain.... you are doing it right.... I am like whinewine, it depends on the item I am making.... some items get dyed and finished as I am making it, others get done once it is put together.... a picture gets nothing on the backside.... a knife sheath gets nothing inside it, or in the belt loop.... but a box, or whatever would... just depends on the item and the application.... Attached is a pic of a box I made to hold a set of dominos I made last Christmas for a friend... I dyed and oiled it inside and out.... now when i do a collar for a pet, i do not do the inside, but if it is for a human... I do... just depends...

Welcome Home.

Where are the pix? You have the seat and the tank to do yet...... and a tool bag on the front forks with the INDIAN logo carved into it....