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Has anyone used Spunlace ? What do you think ? Thanks, Mark Clark

This is a further on to my thread on glueless linings. Using HeatnBond I am able to bond any lining material to Veg tanned leather. Using the lamination process I have tested and now use fabric instead of dyeing or suede lining some of my products. Quicker, cheaper and less messy and predictable. I thought it might be nice to find a fabric with some Book of Kells printing on it from some of my Celtic items, but nothing available that would work. I thought I would see if I could print my own. Turned out to be a piece of cake. I cut an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of white duck fabric, tacked a slightly small piece of HeatnBond to the fabric, trimmed to the HeatnBond and then printed the fabric in my Canon ink jet printer. Once dry, I sprayed the image with a Krylon glossy artists fixative and then removed the release paper and bonded the fabric to my leather blank, 30 seconds at 250F. I then built the item for testing. I used scrap offcuts leather which was a bit spongy, and also tested stitching closer to the edge than normal. Because the leather was a bit spongy, the stitching is a bit uneven this close to the edge with a standard presser foot. I then oiled the case and applied Resolene to both the leather and lining and finished the edges. The printing seems to be stable and should hold up well under use. Off the shelf ink jet fabric is also available which is coated for printing and produces more vibrant color. This is a lot cheaper! Bob

Ok since starting back up on my chainmail I have been running into a few clients, more every day it seems, that have metal allergies. Some are allergic to copper, some nickel and two clients that are allergic to all metals expect sterling silver and gold (my favourite clients as its top dollar lol). I have been telling a few of them that I will be branching out into leather work soon and wondered what kind of items they would like to see and or buy, once I feel the products that I am making are worth selling. A few want collars (for humans not pets with four legs) and a few said bracelets to match the chainmail bracelets that I already make. So my question is what would be the best kind of lining to use on the back side of the collars and bracelets to cover up the back of the rivets, snaps, conchos and the like? Keep in mind that these items will be worn against direct skin for the most part, especially the collars, so would I need to treat the back with something just to help preserve it against human sweat or should I just leave it be? I was thinking pig skin might work nicely as a backing. All thoughts and ideas are greatly appreciated! The pic is just a small set of chainmail bracelets that I do, might even lay them down on top of some tooled leather once I figure out how I want to attach them.