GregS

I saw a Weaver Leather video where he did some finishes and it seems that things like Resolene tend to be more water resistant than the waxes and such. Sorry for that empty quote down below, I was going to reply with a quote the other day and I can't seem to figure out how to get rid of it.

Exactly why I put that I know the answer is to do what I like. I want to avoid things that blatantly don't work. I also want to start with what works for others and experiment off from there. As for the flesh side, I did a chocolate on this piece, I dyed the flesh side to ensure that I didn't have a dark finish outside and the unfinished flesh side visible inside. I just felt that it would look better and would cover anything that came through the holes. Thanks to you both for the responses.

Sorry for the very newbie question But what is the purpose of reducing dye? Sounds like it could help with keeping a consistent color across the entire piece.

I know that the "real" answer is to dye it the way that I like to do it. But for a newbie like me, that's not very useful. I don't know what I like yet. Anyway, I'm looking for advice on how I should be dying my leather for projects. I don't do much tooling, but I've been using this leather to make my projects because it's a neutral color and relatively inexpensive, so I don't feel so bad if I mess something up. I've been using Pro Dye exclusively because I've read that it's a really good product and doesn't dry out the leather or make it hard. But should I dye before cutting out the pattern? Should I dye the flesh side? This pattern has me use hole punches for the stitching holes, do I dye before or after? For my current project, I cut and punched everything first, then I dyed. I had a bunch go through the holes, so ended up dying the flesh side as well. Once it's dyed, how do I get a nice semi-gloss to the leather? And will leather dyed with Pro Dye be kind of water resistant? It's a Dopp kit, so will get wet, I don't want it looking all splotchy and nasty. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Maybe have a family member or friend that lives out of state buy it and send it to you. Of course, I suspect if it's outlawed in CA, it's illegal for them to send it to you as well.

The right one looks like it's probably a flashlight, but what's in the one on the left?

So would this be the same sort of leather? Or is this something entirely different?

I plan on punching the holes as he does in his video. I haven't made any of his patterns but I have bought a couple of them. I really like how he does his patterns. I've discovered that it doesn't matter that it's set up for A4, selecting actual size prints just fine on letter sized paper. So I'll be making a few more of them.

Timing is perfect, I just printed out DieselPunk's pattern for the dopp kit. I'm not sure what color I'll be dying my leather yet, but I'm leaning towards a chocolate brown. So that's the "small" and "large" pattern? I've always wondered, why is it called a dopp kit?

Pretty cool punch tool.

I stop in the local Tandy store about every 2 weeks or so. Being new to the craft, I need to see the leather in person to figure out what I want to get. When I look online, I see the various types and weights listed, but it doesn't mean a lot to me at this point in my leathercrafting career. I also like to browse the hardware trying to figure out what I want to use on a project. The guys that work the store have been really helpful picking stuff out. But there's a new guy that tries to push me on to things that are WAY over priced, and even I can spot this. I hope that they don't start closing stores, I would never have gotten started if I didn't have a Tandy store that I could stop in to see what's available.

So I used these for the first time today. I used Tandy rivets and needed both medium and large sized. Looks like the only difference between these is the post length. Am I right to assume that the caps on the medium and on the large are identical? Just thinking about organization. If they are the same, I'll keep the caps together. Another question is what's the best way to remove them without damaging the leather? I attached some leather in the wrong order and had to get the rivets off. I ended up prying them enough to get the cap off then used cutters to cut the shaft. But if this wasn't on a project for me, it could have been a problem.

Great work, I love that eye. I'm going to have to give that a shot

I'd be interested in attending one as well, but didn't know they existed anyplace. And these guilds you speak of, is there a directory of them someplace? I'd attend one of those if there's one in the Baltimore area.

Cool, congrats.

Looks good. Good job

So where does one buy soles? Care to point to some resources that you found helpful?

Great job. I have no idea where to start on making boots.

Looks like this one is gone. I land on a GoDaddy landing page. I'll put another vote in for DieselPunk on Etsy. I have a couple of his patterns and they are well documented. Only thing I don't like is they PDFs set up to print on A4 paper. I haven't built them yet, but have looked over the plans several times and as soon as I get my butt to an office supply store for the right paper, I'll get to work.

Cool, I'll check it out. I like the Weaver Leathercraft videos. They make it all simple.

Yep, I think I get it. It's just the looping of the thread over the needle to form a "knot"

Thanks for sharing. I'm looking to make a backpack and this will likely be the way I do it. I do have a couple of questions. The pockets. So they are stitched to the body of the pack on 3 sides? You have a pocket behind the actual flapped pocket? The lining. I've never lined anything. Do you just glue them together and treat them like a single piece of leather? Thanks again.

I get what you are saying except for this part. I'm not sure what it means to cast your thread.

I'm pretty new and have been making plenty of smaller projects. Of course I'm hand sewing everything at this point. I always measure out my thread about 4 or 4.5 times the length of the area I'll be stitching. But I'm currently working on a portfolio thing that holds a note pad. If I measure out 4 times the length of thread, I'll be sewing with about 8 feet of thread. I was just looking at a large backpack that someone hand sewed and it got me thinking about even longer stitching runs. How do you guys deal with hand sewing longer runs of stitches? Do you just keep a close eye on your thread so it doesn't tangle? Do you split the long runs into multiple runs? If so, what's the best way to hide the change over to a new thread? Thanks in advance.