RiverRat

valuable post, thanks much....I'm using the Boss and don't know how it will work for that.......I love the beauty of hand stitching

Thanks ya'll. I'll try the super glue first.

Does anyone glue thread ends rather than burn them? What kind of glue do you use? I have noticed, especially in holsters, lots of makers glue the thread ends, I assume because the burning is only unnoticeable in blacks and dark browns. Thanks.

I will try the Angus, thanks Claire. I do have some of the Tandy water based, but haven't been able to get good saturation, yet. Another issue with it has been surface cracking with flexing and use. I have a method using Fiebling's, but I have not been real successful with with multi-coloring with combinations. I called them and their recommendation was an oxblood with yellow, which comes out more of a flesh biege. I just need about 10 years of experimentation. Here's where I am with pink with the Fieblings alcohol based dies, just need to get the combinations going that are more consistent from project to project, The color is very hit or miss with no whites or shading controls other than my wash; Thanks much for the input. Cotton

Curious if anyone has a good method of making a pink dye for tooling? I have come up with a couple of methods, but they have limitations when trying to use with multi-colors. The white dyes are a total waste of money and effort and do not mix with either the alcohol based or oil based dyes. The pink paint doesn't cut the mustard. Thanks.

I made myself a BBQ belt and someone bought it off my body before I got it out of the house. Made a matching holster with their initials. Also included my version of the Governor's LCP coyote holster for fun. I notice the marketing is 9/10 the battle in holster making, and feel totally unarmed. Thanks to everyone for sharing their art on here.

I have been following your site for a while, just haven't had time to join in the fun. Right now with the startup, I'm running on fumes of time. Hopefully, sometime in the future. Hey Colter, I'm looking forward to doing a lot more TEXAS stuff in the future. It is fun. Too bad I have to work to eat most of the time. Cheers, Cotton

Thanks for the welcome, I already feel like I know a bunch of you from reading the posts for so long.

Hi All! I just figured out that I have never posted on here before, but have been here regularly absorbing all I can about leather work the last couple of years. I'm in Austin, TX, married three kids, two grandkids, one dog and one cat. I live in a cabin on the Colorado River, hence RiverRat. I have just taken my custom holster building to a commercial level Tex45 - Cotton's Custom Leather and started selling them in mid January. I have set up a website; www.tex45.com (I should say sort of) and have been busy every since. Thanks to all for the information and data. It has saved me countless hours of research and mistakes. My interest at present is in unique gunleather, not production. I don't have the equipment or facility to do very many at a time. I'm working out of room off my garage. Here are some recent ones; I just broke down and got a Boss stitching machine in yesterday, so I'm in the midst of figuring out how to sew with a machine. My poor old fingers can't take the strain anymore. The forum has been a wonderful resource, Thanks Much.