spring flowers and good food

[chuck123wapati]

On 2/12/2026 at 6:04 AM, Handstitched said:

@chuck123wapati  all foreign  territory  to me reading those  posts, but sounds expensive, but I have to remember  how incredibly  cold it gets over there  I have a solar hot water system on the roof.   Nothing  technical,  just a booster switch  for the winter months, but the water in our town can be quite salty and high in calcium,  so the brass fittings pressure valves etc  and element , and the tank  corrode resulting  in periodic ex$y replacements. Our local plumber gets plenty of work 😆 Needless to say  i never drink the tap water unless it's boiled,and bottled water is very  popular. 

Keep warm 

HS

You're lucky i wish we could be a little milder in the winters !!  We have decent water, but I still have a three-stage filterthat takes out all the added chemicals  plus one of those  black light filter things. 

[Darren8306]

8 minutes ago, chuck123wapati said:

Very cool, I've seen some folks using them, it's a dandy idea, especially for logos and such.

I suppose hand-carved may have some value there too, but my skills aren't ready for market in that arena yet (in my opinion)

Wallets have sold from at least 2 of the three shops I'm stocking, and in the case of the airline shop, I'm quite surprised. Didn't really think it would fly alongside some of their other branded items.

At the airline shop, they are currently just sitting on shelves for display. (pic showing 2 black wallets) I'm starting to think I may be able to do something better to show them in-store. Going to think awhile on it though, since my lumber stock is currently under a couple feet of snow.

The biggest gallery has them in a glass display case, very near the checkout. I am a bit flattered, because it does look like a very good spot in their store. 

The last (smallest gallery) has them in a small shelf cubby, along with some other leather goods. Not optimal, but we'll see how they do with sales. On the one hand, there is other leather there, but on the other, I think mine looks like better quality.

I also have been closing in on another leather worker in town. He sells at some of the galleries too, and has very good designs and skills, though he machine sews. His inclusion of sealhide will surely catch more eyes, but bigger pieces are a bit tougher to sell, and tougher for a tourist to fit in their bag to go home...I'm now given to understand that he wears military fatigues, and looks a bit younger than me. I may decide to send him a message to go snoop around his shop, or lure him to mine with some whiskey or such. Be good to know someone around me who pursues this. Most 'artisans' selling here have shifted focus to production. While this leathercrafting lad may do the same, he still seems to be small and experimenting.

 

Lastly, the young man from the airline suggested again, that more story would sell them better. I should write something, since he is probably correct about that. Not sure why I hate the idea so much, but I guess it's because I wanted the work to be the only thing being judged...

 

[Sheilajeanne]

1 hour ago, chuck123wapati said:

I'm glad you're warm and safe. They can clean those condensers, so if it's still a sealed and working system, there would be no need to replace it. What sucks and i dont know about Canada, but here, a heating tech can red tag your heating system and pretty much make you replace it. I'm lucky that I have the knowledge to keep mine up and running lol its old but in good shape still, I keep some spare parts. 

Well, that's good news! 

A heating tech can do the same thing here, but only if the problem is bad enough to be a danger. I can see an unscrupulous HVAC person doing it to force you to buy a new system, but I knew when I hired this guy that he was a good person. He replaced a furnace for very little cost for someone whose furnace was totally broken and not repairable. Conditions in the home were so filthy that he told me he burned his clothing when the job was done. Other heating techs who had been to the home had refused to work there due to the unsanitary conditions. A community group had a fundraiser to help pay him for the work he did. 

1 hour ago, Darren8306 said:

In the end though, it may not have outpaced your sensitivities anyway.

Darren, the condensation drain hose for my furnace was clogged up. The furnace guy fixed that on his first visit. My allergies have 90% vanished since he did that!   I can't explain it  - may be the problem was mould, not dust!

[Sheilajeanne]

1 hour ago, chuck123wapati said:

We have decent water, but I still have a three-stage filter that takes out all the added chemicals  plus one of those  black light filter things. 

When I moved to this town, I'd been on well water for quite a few years. The smell of the chlorine in the water here just turned my stomach. I bought a water cooler, and at first was using spring water. Then, I found the Home Hardware store sold water without any chemicals in it and it was only .98 cents to fill a 5 gallon/18 l. jug! You could also clean your jug at the time you refilled it! 

Someone told me that the water I was getting from them was exactly the same as what the Coca-Cola company sells under the Dasani brand name, charging $1.98 for half a liter! (That's half a quart, for you non-metric folks.) Bottled water has to be the world's biggest ripoff, unless you're travelling somewhere where the local water isn't safe to drink. 

[Darren8306]

5 hours ago, Sheilajeanne said:

Darren, the condensation drain hose for my furnace was clogged up. The furnace guy fixed that on his first visit. My allergies have 90% vanished since he did that!   I can't explain it  - may be the problem was mould, not dust!

Some years, I get weird allergic reactions for a week or three, that locals blame on 'snow mould', or other phrases. Usually well before anything pollenates, or even having the temperature up to zero.

Glad your furnace doesn't need more, but that reminds me, I have to schedule some inspection/maintenance on mine. I still don't do everything myself, so try to book this stuff when the lads aren't busy.

[chuck123wapati]

17 hours ago, Sheilajeanne said:

When I moved to this town, I'd been on well water for quite a few years. The smell of the chlorine in the water here just turned my stomach. I bought a water cooler, and at first was using spring water. Then, I found the Home Hardware store sold water without any chemicals in it and it was only .98 cents to fill a 5 gallon/18 l. jug! You could also clean your jug at the time you refilled it! 

Someone told me that the water I was getting from them was exactly the same as what the Coca-Cola company sells under the Dasani brand name, charging $1.98 for half a liter! (That's half a quart, for you non-metric folks.) Bottled water has to be the world's biggest ripoff, unless you're travelling somewhere where the local water isn't safe to drink. 

iT IS THE BIGGEST RIP OFF, and it's our governments doing it. We pay taxes to have good water. If that isn't happening, then we aren't getting what we pay for from our city. No one should have to buy bottled water anywhere in the modern world.

I can't believe people though they go to the grocery store and buy water from a machine that's hooked to the very same water running in their taps at home. If you live in the same town that bottles Dasini its the same water. All those water stations are just filters, just like you can buy and install in your own house. Probably nowhere near as good as a home filter and i can tell you not as well maintained as a home filter would be.

[chuck123wapati]

12 hours ago, Darren8306 said:

 

Nice looking stuff and some good locations IMO. Those seal skin fobs should sell well i would think they would make good souvenirs at the airport.  Market them as zipper fobs for coats in the winter lol. 

[Sheilajeanne]

4 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

I can't believe people though they go to the grocery store and buy water from a machine that's hooked to the very same water running in their taps at home

Chuck, this water is filtered to remove all chemicals by reverse osmosis. So, there is NO chlorine, and the calcium and other chemicals that make your tap water hard are also removed. I know this for a fact, as the water cooler doesn't get mineral deposits in it the way my teakettle, cookware and other items do. Believe me, it tastes and smells a LOT better than the tap water! 

[Darren8306]

5 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

Nice looking stuff and some good locations IMO. Those seal skin fobs should sell well i would think they would make good souvenirs at the airport.  Market them as zipper fobs for coats in the winter lol. 

Thanks! I am getting good treatment. Which I think means the retailers see possibility.

I never did continue with the fobs. Made a bunch, but haven't yet made a batch to figure out exactly how much they cost. I got the die-cutters to use scrap more than to make stuff. I think the stores would like it plenty, but I have to run through enough of them to understand how many hours etc. they take. 

Plus I haven't yet figured out just how to use more sealhide. The stuff would sell better, for sure, but to me it looks wrong. So far.

I do make traditional mittens, and THOSE look good, but I don't really want to compete with those anyway. They go for about 350 for a plain set, so it pays well enough...but I guess I like tooling leather better, even though I don't tool so good.

[chuck123wapati]

7 hours ago, Sheilajeanne said:

Chuck, this water is filtered to remove all chemicals by reverse osmosis. So, there is NO chlorine, and the calcium and other chemicals that make your tap water hard are also removed. I know this for a fact, as the water cooler doesn't get mineral deposits in it the way my teakettle, cookware and other items do. Believe me, it tastes and smells a LOT better than the tap water! 

yes and you can do the same in your home. dissolved minerals and chemicals are two diferent things and so need the correct filtering media for your water. That's what I am saying, they are just filters for the very same water you use but someone actually tests the water and uses the correct filters. Its isnt majic lol. They don't pipe in special water for grocery stores.  I have been filtering my home water for years.