DwightT

One of our granddaughters is in to Irish dance, which requires two pairs of dance shoes. She had been carrying her shoes to classes and events in just a general bag, so my wife and I made her a tote bag out of leather: The colors in the photos are off because of crappy lighting, but it was made using burgundy chrome-tan for the main bag with veg-tan died with Feibing's burgundy die for the center piece and the name plate. There is a zippered pocket on the back, and another pocket in the inside liner for things like her dance socks or shoe waxes. The Celt-ish design on the center piece came from the design that is on her dance costume. I traced over a photo of her in her costume and turned that into a carving pattern. It was an interesting project from coming up with the design to trying to figure out the process of putting the pieces together and there are lots of things we would do differently if we were to do it again, but overall we're happy with the results, and our granddaughter loves it. /dwight

Probably personal taste, but I don't like those clips. I've had a couple instances where the case would push up and off of my belt when I sat down. Now I just use a belt loop, maybe with a snap at the bottom so that I don't have to undo my belt to add the case. /dwight

Well thanks all. I decided against antiquing, but I cleaned it up a bit with some Fiebings cleaner/conditioner, mounted it on a backer board, and hung it over my workbench. It looks good to me.

I made this leather panel some 30+ years ago for a briefcase that I used to carry. The briefcase eventually fell apart, but I saved the panel. A while back my wife pulled it out of my storage, and she thinks I should hang it on the wall in my work space. I might do that, but since I tooled this way back before I knew anything about stains and antiquing, it's just plan with a little dye in the background. Before I hang it I'm thinking that some antiquing might make it pop and maybe hide some of the stains and watermarks that it has acquired over the years. Or maybe I should just leave it as is? What are your thoughts? /dwight

Thanks. I tooled it before molding, using the Dragon's Scale stamp from Sergey Neskromniy: https://leatherstampstools.com/regular-series/72-tool-for-leather-craft-stamp-62-dragons-scale-size-12x14-mm.html When I molded it I just laid the damp (not wet) leather over the knife and worked it down with the bone folder, being careful to not pull too hard. I also made release cuts around the bottom as I was going. I think that helped to minimize the stretching. Here's what it looked like while it was drying: /dwight

Thanks. That's Fiebings Pro dye. English Bridle for the main body, and Dark Brown for the edging. Plus Tandy Hi-liter to bring out the details. /dwight

Looks great. And thanks for the detailed description of the process. I often learn something new from your posts. /dwight

Thanks all. Yes. A little bit of both. First I stamped them, then I went over them with a beveler. Gives them a little more depth that way. /dwight

A friend of mine received a knife case for Christmas, and his wife asked me to make a case for it. I didn't get it done before Christmas, but I did get it done yesterday. Now I just need to get with them to deliver it. As always there were a few mistakes along the way, but hopefully only the people in this forum will notice. Overall I think he'll be happy with it. The inside of the case is lined with glazed pigskin to protect the knife from the hardware. And yes, I managed to forget to attach the belt strap until after I had glued the lining on, so the stitching is exposed on the inside. Doh! /dwight

Looks sharp. He'll love it.

Nice! A multi-pouch for a multi-tool. Ingenious. /dwight

I think if you are making one you could make it any size you want. The author of that page even mentions that you could scale them to any size, just keep your pin circles the correct size for your pins and spaced appropriatly. /dwight

A while back I was looking for a center finder and stumbled on this site: https://www.instructables.com/Homemade-center-finder-tool-quick-cheap-easy/ I haven't actually made one yet, but it looks like it would be easy enough to do. /dwight

My wife just pointed out that I shouldn't give one to my son. I should give it to his wife. /dwight

FWIW: I've made a couple guitar straps for friends and family. I used Crazy Horse leather for the liner, then just burnished the edges as normal. The Crazy Horse and Veg-tan burnish together just fine. /dwight