SUP

@fredk LOL. Agree with the 'mental' part. What you say about Weaver makes sense. The fragrance was probably subtle. Anyway, their stock on display was not as much, per sq foot of the space as the Tandy stores I visit here. The sheer volume must surely make a difference. On a slightly different note, how do you keep your leather sealed? I live in a very humid area and am always worried that my leathers will get mildew or mold. So checking and airing each week is a chore, pleasant until now but could become tedious over the years as my collection grows. It is so humid here that the Damp-rid I place around the house, supposed to last 2 1/2 months, barely lasts a fortnight. (Damp-rid is, I think, rock salt in a hanging bag made of a thick paper through which water vapor can permeate. Attached to this bag on the lower end is a plastic bag into which the water drains.)

@Mulesaw, @Sheilajeanne I wish I knew how horses smell at different times of the year. Not been exposed at all.. evidently I missed a lot. @dikman I am familiar with black powder (gunpowder?) because of fireworks during festivals - smoky but wonderful! Hubby agrees. When I left Weaver Leather, I wondered, at first, why I felt dissatisfied. Then it struck me. I felt like I had been to an anonymous, large, beautiful store, not a leather store. Like a bakery without the fragrance of bread and cakes. We unconsciously associate scent with so many things, don't we?

@Handstitched that is so true. My father smoked and it never bothered me. He stopped soon enough and since then, I cannot stand the smell. Noses are fickle indeed. @BlackDragon, my sympathies!

@Handstitched everyone likes that smell, is it not? It is rather relaxing. Maybe it's because I find leatherworking relaxing as well. Or maybe it is something primal to which we all respond! Continuous exposure evidently decreases our sensitivity to that fragrance. I hope that takes a while yet, although the loss is probably gradual so I will not notice it. If one is away from leatherworking for a while, does the ability to smell it come back? Or is this loss permanent? I wonder.

Visited Weaver Leather Supply last week - Hubby had work in Ohio and I tagged along. Then we realized Weaver was just an hour away, so dropped in. Very friendly and helpful staff, knowledgeable as well. It was a pleasure talking to them. Best of all, they gave me whatever information I needed but did not try to sell me anything. So I could relax and browse. The showroom is beautiful, large and airy but, surprisingly, it did not have any leather fragrance at all. Hubby noticed that as well, since our home is redolent with the fragrance of the leather that I keep everywhere. They probably have some sort of air filters that freshen the air but also remove that familiar fragrance. I really missed it. Somehow, a leather store not smelling of leather leaves an unsatisfied feeling. Tandy on the other hand has that fragrance in spades. Just walking in is a delight as one is assailed with it.

@FarfarsYxa are you the seller of that pattern on Etsy? It looks very nice.

I'm glad all's well that end's well with MC. These days it is impossible to survive without a credit card however much one might want to do so. Is it possible that your card was hacked earlier and only used after a few days to take away suspicion from the person who hacked it?

It might be a good idea to get that card cancelled and request a new one without the tap feature. Better safe than sorry. Often, there are entire gangs involved in credit card fraud - once, mine was presented in Seoul, when I was in CT. I have no idea when the information was stolen and passed on. So you never know who will use it and when.

However, I am completely inexperienced in things electrical or mechanical, so it is not advisable, I think, to do something without some guidance. At this point, just the leatherwork is taking up all my time. So all other things are best left to others and I work with what I can get from outside. It is nice to get a proper caution like @fredk gave, as I sometimes think I am superwoman, as my daughter teases me, and try to do everything, which is not always advisable. It is very nice to get advice in every way from all of you. Back on topic, I have my soldering iron but still use the stove as it is faster and my daughter's birthday is next week, so rush orders! After that, I will relax and learn to use the iron and brass burnisher which I should receive by then, for the next project.

I know that this thread is several months old. But thought I would mention this: I have not had vinegaroon bleed earlier. But this time, used some old Tandy leather and tried to dye it with vinegaroon - a Herculean task as it just goes a bluish grey. Had to dye repeatedly, drying completely each time. Finally I tried dipping it in strong tea first. That helped a bit but when I wiped it clean after the vinegaroon and a water rinse, the color bled. It is possible that the result of the chemical reaction between the tannins and iron acetate does not stay absorbed in some leathers.

@chuck123wapati true. Thank you for that.

Sure I will. Only it will be a little while, as I have a dozen half-done projects which are all needed tomorrow - birthdays etc. Once those are completed, I will make this - it will be a fun, relaxing thing for myself.

Actually, I like the idea of the snaps. I will try that. The sticks, I have discovered, can get tangled and the bands - scrunchies or whichever is used, often pull put hair when getting them off. Then, getting the hair off them is a pain, never mind the loss of hair! What do other women do, I wonder.

@fredk thank you. That is a reasonable price. I found the same on Ebay US and will be ordering it today. You are right about them becoming more difficult to get. Just one or two sellers selling the brass ones; the rest sell the wooden ones. Same on Amazon.

@fredkI'm afraid I am completely ignorant about things electrical, mechanical etc., so cannot modify anything. But the soldering iron I just bought has a lowest temp setting of 80 so hopefully that should work. Besides, it has bad reviews that the temp soon stops going higher than about 90 so it would, hopefully, work for me. Let's see. Until then, the stove and lots of hand cream. I would love to get a brass burnisher like the one above. My search for this evening.

@fredk I do not use edge paint much either but this is soft chrome tanned leather and it just does not get burnished. So I have to paint the edges. I did not think of a pyrography instrument; do such machines have low enough temperatures? I will investigate that. I have just received my soldering iron. I did not have one earlier. Will try to use that too but I did wonder about using the stove. It makes everything so easy and fast and the leather does not have to be firm or medium-soft. Firm or even medium-soft leathers , of course, can be burnished, which I much prefer. That is a beautiful brass burnisher by the way. Is it yours?

That is pretty! Yes only someone with long and thick hair will be able to do justice to it.

Has anyone tried to warm painted edges gently over an electric stove set on low? I tried it today and it seems to work. The temperature was set so that I could hold my hand over the stove comfortably while I held the leather for a couple of seconds. To make sure the paint gets absorbed into the leather, I hold it at an angle and move it around. Anyone have an idea if it will cause any problems? I cannot think of any issue as long as I don't burn it. I have ordered an infrared thermometer gun to check the temperature, so will be able to do that soon. Much easier than heating a creaser over a spirit lamp and then using it.

@Wepster very true.

@Wepster Wow. The thing is, everything is code written by people. So depending on how that is written and co-relates to everything else, systems work, or they don't. I was in tech myself as is my husband, and sometimes, seeing how there is such a 'will do' attitude to the code being written or being passed for release, I have nightmares. Everything seems to be held together with a lick and a promise. Add to that the increasing number of hackers and spammers worldwide. This AI craze is crazy as well. AI is as good as the code written by humans - who are fallible. Too much science fiction, too little common sense. As dumb as those google glasses a decade ago. Sorry..one of my hobby horses. Off it now.

@MtlBiker not finding that pattern. I know it was some sort of bookmark. But when I search, there are so many, I am at a loss. @Northmount exactly. Spammers and hackers have so many ways of causing harm! I never download anything from emails that I receive. and I check the raw message to see where most emails arrive from as well. Hackers are so good these days that they can create very authentic looking emails and logos of well known companies, banks for example. This was something that I was not even looking for.. a bookmark that looked like a fun thing. Now when I look for it to send @MtlBiker the link, I cannot find it. The default damage happened to one of my earlier printers a long time ago, maybe 10-12 years - that I could reset. Simpler world then, I guess and easier solutions.

@MtlBiker It does happen. I have heard of it happening which is why I am usually careful with downloads. This one slipped through. I will try to remember where found that pattern. I promptly deleted it so will need to search for it. The thing is, I would have thought my old printer just broke down but in between 2 printing jobs, and not within one? The dieselpunk.ro one had 44 pages printed, in Poster format! They all printed perfectly and then this one, a couple of pages, were all out of kilter. Too much of a co-incidence to be a sudden printer failure, I think. @fredk you were lucky to find repair people who knew what to do. I thought that would be the solution too. @MtlBiker I will look for that pattern and send you the link if I find it. Anyway, I got a nice new printer.

@BurkhardtYes I got it from Etsy. @toxo I was wondering about that too. Other seller give a couple of free patterns too but only a few and very simple ones. This site gives many of them, of larger more difficult projects and I wondered if there is a catch.

@MtlBiker like @fredk said, I suspect there was a computer virus. Luckily it was an old printer so don't mind too much replacing it. I did not bother to take it to a repair place, too old for all that. So asked around, checked with techie acquaintances and then just replaced. I know it was that download because just prior to that, I had downloaded and printed a dieselpunk.ro pattern which was fine. Then this pattern and suddenly everything went wonky. @Chakotay I will try that. Better to wait for a physical pattern than get such problems. This was directed from Etsy though. But I have bought and downloaded other patterns from Etsy and not had any problem. I am going to remain wary of free patterns though. Not getting anything from that site. I would like to make my own patterns and am at the point where I am able add my own details to the patterns I buy. I hope to make my own pattern soon, I have some ideas and the leather for it as well. Thank you all, for your guidance and suggestions.

I came across a site which offers many free patterns and tutorials. Has anyone tried anything from this site? @leatherbagpattern3574 A google search will take you to the YouTube site - no individual videos so could not embed here. I ask because some weeks ago, I downloaded a pattern from Etsy from a seller who has been around for a long time and had very good ratings, but the download damaged my printer settings. Could not get it corrected and had to replace it. I don't want a repeat with my new printer. I would appreciate any information on this.