SUP

Let's get back to leatherwork here and away from other non-related matters. @toxo are you planning to stitch around the edges like the one on the right? It would be a pity if they opened up, after all your hard work and care for detail.

Well said. Trying to be as truly good a person as possible is all that matters.

Hee hee, I rarely use gloves. Too uncomfortable. So I go around with stained hands, although most dyes come off if scrubbed with those yellow scrubbies. Last week it was vinegaroon, no idea why it dyed around my nails. That stayed for a while.

@toxo That is a lot of work! You have got all the lines so regular and straight and even. It certainly looks worth it! The final 'fabric' is bright, beautiful and cheerful as are the keychains. Good work, my friend.

@Aventurine That is an interesting idea. Hold in whatever moisture that is present while preventing more from entering into the leather and damaging it.

@Aventurine I did not think of that. Something else then. Will need investigation.

@Aventurine I think it would be helpful to get an idea of how long the mix works for. Even if you cannot find the recipe, I'm sure there will be people here who will want to work with those ingredients and come up with something so effective. SO in place of cherry gum. something like gum arabic should work, isn't it?

@Aventurine Could you post the pics here of the items that you do have? If you can find that recipe, it would be great see it here. A mix that is so effective, is, I think, a leatherworker's dream. Also, what is cherry gum, if I might ask? When I search for it, all I get is chewing gum in cherry flavor or something about wood.

Yes it is, isn't it?

@AventurineThis thread is active and will remain active as long as I and, I believe, @fredk, keep a check on the pieces of leather we conditioned with the oils with which we are experimenting and report on it a couple of times a year. Such experiments take time. Your observations on cedar oil and myrrh are very interesting indeed. Do you still have the items on which you used them? How have they aged with those treatments? It would be interesting to know. I especially like the idea of your wind barrier skin balm. What proportions of the ingredients did you use, if I might ask? Good to hear the information about leather care in the past. Yes, different oils and lubricants would have been used, over different times and all over the world. Naturally, it would usually have been whatever was available at hand. I need to determine the leather conditioners used in the East a well. However, this thread was not started with thinking about what was used where and when to care for leather. If you read it from the beginning, my question was about mineral oil and I am satisfied that it does not damage leather in any way and we have come to the conclusion that most oils work fine. Rancidity and odor are not issues either. Now it is just a matter of seeing how the leather weathers over time, with those different treatments. If you would like to join the simple experiment, you are welcome. Even contributing what you have in the comment above, provides further information about oils on leather. Thank you for that.

@Zanshin That is a beautiful desk. Would you share how you made the leather top?

Thank you @sparctek. I'll try that when using chrome tanned leather.

@alfordjennifer producing raw mycelium leather might be environmentally friendly but if the process of making it ready for the market requires treatments that utilize synthetics like PU, it is hardly remains environmentally friendly, isn't it?. Besides, sustainable choices, are sustainable only when there actually are useful alternatives uses for what they are replacing, is it not? What would be the alternative use of the animal skins produced by the beef industry? Instead of people the world over trying to come up with replacements for leather, if they worked to come up with ways of being more humane when slaughtering animals for food, it would be so much better. Ways to decrease their fear, for example. It is so sad, you can actually smell the fear. I have passed areas where there are abattoirs close by and passed trucks carrying animals for slaughter and you can smell that fear. I can't help feeling that mycelium leather fits into the same category as google glasses, self driving cars and other 'nice to have' items that are actually not practical at all. A waste of money that could have been used for things that are actually useful! Sorry! that is the pre-coffee me, so grumpy. @alfordjennifer no offense intended.

Yes, it does. I've not tried pounding it but I've creased it, dyed it, and folded it and it remains transparent.

That looks very nice. And Startso dyes do last. We have been using our dyed shoes non-stop for several years now and they look as fresh and new as ever. I knew nothing about leatherwork then, else I might not have used them, and lost out on a good thing. Sometimes shortcuts work very well.

@Mablung I'll try that. I did rub it down of course, but it was probably not sufficient. I am beginning to suspect that virtually any sticky tape will either leave a residue or take off a bit of the surface of the leather if it is transparent. I don't know about the opaque ones.

@Mablung I tried scotch tape but it keeps coming loose. Must try it again. @DJole My aim is not to protect the pattern. It is to protect the outside leather, what will become the scraps. Sticking the pattern all around prevents it from moving as I punch or cut and the paper gets loose. I usually don't use a pattern more than once. If I can add something between the paper and the punch, the paper will not tear and I can stick it down in only a few places. So something like what you describe. Thank you for the idea.

Very magnanimous of you indeed. It's a pleasure to talk to people with such big hearts. Popcorn anyone? Seriously, if anyone does know about the type of tape I am asking about, I would love to know. All others who are feeling combative, go out into your yards and kick a few rocks.

@TonyV Thank you for your help. You have not looked at any of those videos, have you? I create my own patterns too and one certainly can't do so if one does not know how to create the stitching holes for them! And I learn new techniques as well, from those who are experienced enough to make patterns and teach along the way. Great way to learn. I hope I never reach a point where I think I know everything and there is nothing more that I can learn. How horrible that would be for me!

@TonyV have you seen the patterns available online, along with the instructional videos? I suspect, not. Please do look at them - they are on Etsy. Most of the videos are free, You will get an idea of what I am talking about. When I say that the leather is sticky, It does not indicate a 'sticky mess'. it just means that some of the glue remains behind. A bagful of sticky scrap does not mean a sticky lump; it means scraps of leather which have glue somewhere or the other.

See, when I make my own patterns, I usually design it on paper, trace it on cardboard, mark all the stitching holes, cut and then use that as the template on the leather. Sometimes, I do not even make the cardboard template, like for knife sheaths, which are individual for each knife. When using paper, the paper weights work well or taping to the back, as you both suggest, @Littlef and @DJole. And both work well. Since the pattern is my own, I have an idea of where the stitching holes will be and don't need to punch through the paper. I need the transparent tape for when I purchase patterns - I do that to learn different techniques from sellers who have good video guides for the products, like dieselpunk.ro. I end up with a completed project and have learnt something new at each turn. But he, like others, has patterns that need to be stuck onto the leather and the stitching holes punched through. Punching through paper without the sticky tape layer really can cause the paper to tear. So it is needed. That is where it becomes a problem. I have a bag full of leather scrap that are all sticky. Ergo the question here.

Oh. That looks like it could work. Thank you.

I need translucent tape because I cover the stitching holes with it and then punch through it. Directions from all the pattern sellers, at any rate. Prevents the paper from tearing,

I'll do that. thank you. But I need it to be transparent or at least translucent. Isn't green tape opaque? That is why I have been using masking tape but it makes a mess, especially on veg tanned leather. Cleaning requires saddle soap and scrubbing which, of course, ruins the surface. I've tried every other transparent/translucent tape I could find around here but like I said earlier, they either do not stick of leave residue.

I often purchase patterns to make leather items. I need to stick those patterns onto the leather. with sticky tape and then take it off once the pattern is cut. That is when the problem arises. The tape invariably leaves sticky residue behind. I have tried several different types of tape but they either do not stick well or they leave a residue. I have clearly not tried the correct tape. What would be the best brand to use for this?