ruthless

Anyone?!

She's from the pound, so your guess is as good as mine! She's chipped as an American Staffordshire Terrier, but she's no papers.

Hi, I'd like to learn out how to make a rolled leather collar and also how to make lined collars. Can anyone suggest any good books or online tutorials? Also, where can I source dog collar specific hardware, such as martingale chains and breakaway buckles, etc.? Thanks

Thanks Ian! That seems to be the general consensus. Hopefully I can convince my local leather shop to stock a range of colours for me! Hi Linda! Thanks for pointing me in the right direction

Hi, I know Kanga from a dog forum and she suggested I join up here. I recently started taking leather classes as I'd like to eventually make and sell dog collars and leads. I've made four collars, but I've only photographed one! Here's a few pics of it, modelled by my Amstaff, Trixie I've had no end of dramas with it. To give you some background info, I started with a piece of natural hide. I dyed it on both sides and then gave it several coats of hide seal. It was incredibly stiff so I brought it back to class and asked them if there was anything I could use to soften it. They told me to soak it in Laceol [sp?]. This worked wonders, so I finally started using it as Trixie's everyday collar. She's got awful skin problems. I think they're seasonal, but after wearing the collar for a few days she came up quite red around her neck. After her walk, if it's hot out, she'll jump in the paddling pool. We noticed the dye from the collar was coming off on her neck, so we stopped using it. I went back to class on Saturday and expressed my concerns and the teacher said to give it several coats of hide seal. As I'm doing this, the dye is coming off on the rag. I asked her was that normal and she said to ask the girl that runs the shop. She said she didn't like hide seal and would recommend that I use top coat instead. In fact, she said in future I'd be better off starting with a piece of pre-dyed leather. Sigh. I'd already given the collar several coats of hide seal, so I just dried it off, wrapped it in newspaper and brought it home. When I got home I was taking all my stuff out to show my OH and he asked me to take it outside because the chemical smell from the hide seal was so overpowering. I left them out in the garage until today thinking it would go away, but I just took them out and they still stink. Do I wash them? Do I condition them? How do I make them wearable? Ideally, I'd like to make and sell collars and leads some day, but I really need to work out all these issues I'm having first. Is there anyone on here who specifically makes dog stuff that would be willing to help me with some advice? Cheers :D