AlZilla

Maybe in your 2nd post, you'll share with us some pictures of the projects you've made with this mushroom leather.

Very nice. Thanks for the picture and explanation. Looks like a slightly steeper angle on the shorter end. I've made a couple of drop holsters for my every day regular gun belt. For some reason, drop holsters just ride better than regular belt holsters.

Well, thanks for taking one for the team.

@Thadrick, I'm curious about the rise/angle up from the holsters. Did you wing it, was it a pattern, maybe a specific angle or rise (so many inches in a foot)? Thanks for whatever info you can provide.

Interesting. Between this post: https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/118068-western-purse-work-in-progress/?do=findComment&comment=749613 And this one: https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/118068-western-purse-work-in-progress/?do=findComment&comment=749627 The flower petals turned white. But apparently, they didn't. The surrounding background turned brown. Fun lesson.

@Cattleman, is the white on the flowers dye, or paint? The antiquing definitely brought out details in the flower petals. It's a pretty versatile but unpredictable thing, in my limited experience.

That August 3rd deadline isn't looking so unlikely, after all. The dye is really going to make that tooling pop!

Definitely like those. Looks like 34 rounds of ammo plus 6 in the cylinder. With my girth, I could probably fit a box on the belt alone with room to spare!

Perfection is boring. Embrace the splotchy. I've struggled with uneven dye jobs. I found that "dip dying" is much more even. You can return the excess back to the original bottle. Also I find that dampening the leather before dying can help. Maybe I'll try the neatsfoot oil idea. EDIT: The bottle in the picture says "2 tone". Did the manufacturer have a recommended application method? It's funny how it seems to have both absorbed more in that dark area and resisted in other areas. Could something have contaminated the surface?

Here's a thread that seems like a great place to start learning about the machines and it's capabilities: Off the top of my head, people generally prefer cylinder arm machines for bags. The little I saw at the above link seems to indicate the Pfaff 145 is a well regarded machine. Stay within it's capabilities (max thread size and thickness it'll sew) and you should be able to sew lots of things.

Now I understand the support strap you mentioned and the low mounted belt clip. So this is a sporting rig, not a concealed carry?

Fun seeing how each step builds on the last. Is this a standard pattern for you that you've tooled before?

Really? 13 minutes between laid out and finished cutting? (time stamps on your posts) Nice work.

Oddly, I was just zooming in and lamenting that my basket stamping always looks like it was stomped out by a herd of cattle. Stampeding. Drunk. I'll take obviously crafted by a skilled hand over die-straight machine stamping any day. I'll be following this one.

Well, it's all written in plain english. Seems like it ought to be pretty comprehensible.

https://smith-wessonforum.com/gun-leather-carry-gear/724748-al-stohlman-holster.html Yeah, I guess you have to be logged in to see them. Oh, well. Annoying, but it's not my board. I won't post links there any more. whatever that means ...

Wayne, Oh yeah, I could see just what you were doing to hold it down. Starting in the middle is a good point, though. I think it'd be easy enough to tip the blade if you wanted a more traditional skive, too. Most ingenious.

As I was reading your post, I was thinking "Yeah, but how are going to hold it taught?" Cool solution. Thanks!

I struggled a bit with where to put this one. On another forum there's a post about a genuine Al Stolhman holster. Carved in his familiar floral style and sporting his makers stamp. I don't know if these are common, uncommon or what, but it's the first one I've seen. Maybe others will find it interesting, too. https://smith-wessonforum.com/gun-leather-carry-gear/724748-al-stohlman-holster.html?posted=1#post142025031

Only 6? Pretty high level work for a "rookie" ... !

How would one make shoes with more supportive insoles? I'd LOVE to be able to make my own shoes but I need a Nike-like insole. I recently wore some boat shoes or something for a few days and my low back went to crap for a month. It still aches.

Here's an extensive page dedicated to Tornister bags. Maybe it'll inspire someone. I like the leather/canvas combo. https://www.militariacollectors.network/forums/topic/5377-the-german-tornister-backpack/

I see it. The provided link here 404's on me but if I enter it manually, it works. So, past all that, it's very strange how it seems to sew in circles.

That's a spammer.

I'd suggest making a video of the problem, maybe the machine sewing where it's not feeding, and post it to youtube. Then post a link here so people can see what's going on. It's just hard to visualize what you're talking about.