Fred's ramblings

[Handstitched]

On 9/7/2022 at 11:59 PM, chuck123wapati said:

you ever think of making little leprechaun hats and filling them with candy coins for St. Patricks day? 

@fredk  How about making them big enough to hold a  stubby (small bottle) of Guinness, for the grown ups of course   Only mentioned that as I'm enjoying one as I type, damn good   too 

So, would that be considered  doing a ' shoey ' ??  HA !! 

HS

 

[fredk]

Another grand idea. Thanks. I'll look into 'miniatures'. Not shure bout Guinness but the whiskeys usually do them

Here, as aside; about 230 years ago Guinness introduced a specially shaped bottle. It was called the 'Soldier's bottle'. It was specially designed to fit into one of the pistol holsters that the Inniskilling Dragoons had a pair of on their saddles.

Allegedly, and according to legend, just before the battle of Waterloo an officer complained to the Duke of Wellington that the Inniskilling Dragoons had only one pistol, the other holster had a bottle of drink and most of the men were drunk. Wellington is supposed to have replied 'Sir, I'd rather have the Inniskillings half-armed and half-cut and here than not here at all'

Also, during the battle, Wellington continuously rode up and down his lines. At one point he stopped by the the Inniskillings and said to a sergeant ' This work makes me devilishly thirsty. Give me a drink of your porter you have in your holster' The sergeant tried to deny having the drink, as it was against regulations but Wellington said 'Come man, I know you have it. Don't deny me it' Allegedly he got his drink, and rode off with the whole bottle!

Edited September 11, 2022 by fredk

[chuck123wapati]

1 hour ago, Handstitched said:

@fredk  How about making them big enough to hold a  stubby (small bottle) of Guinness, for the grown ups of course   Only mentioned that as I'm enjoying one as I type, damn good   too 

So, would that be considered  doing a ' shoey ' ??  HA !! 

HS

 

we call them Beer koozies over here.

[fredk]

We have no name for them here as no one uses them. I made some, tried to sell them, ended up giving them away, afaik they ended up as desk top pen pots

[Handstitched]

Stubby holders here in Oz .

@fredk That wellington was a pr*ck !!   Stealing the sergeants drink....geeez !! 

HS

[fredk]

dems iss niiiiice !

[fredk]

Just over a month ago Gezzer posted up a thread on a hatband he'd made

In that thread I suggested getting some false fingers to put on the hatband

I got the fingers. They are polythene plastic, not real ones (aww!) They were painted, very terribly, so I repainted them. They are about 50% bigger than real ones

Now to find a use for them

 

[Handstitched]

18 hours ago, fredk said:

Now to find a use for them

Prank someone? family, friends, ...the police perhaps??  Bwahahaha   Geez, the fun I could have with those....?? 

" hello, police....? I think I found a severed finger...." .

Endless potential  

HS

[tsunkasapa]

Here is a link to a Cheyenne medicine man's necklace. Looks like these were made just for that.

Necklace of Human Fingers. Cheyenne Medicine Man. (world4.eu)

[fredk]

Sometimes the subject comes up ' does chrome tan leather affect steel' ?

Today I got out of my EDC pouch a small pair of snippers. I'd made them a small sheath out of some chrome tan leather to cover the blades. The snippers have been in the pouch for months, unused until today. The bare metal blades had some mild corrosion on them

[fredk]

I get advertising emails from 'Ivan'

I just got one about a range of hole punches;

https://www.ivan.tw/products/craftplus-professional-drive-punches

Interesting shape. And I wonder if that wider chute on the smaller sizes will make it easier to clear the punches of the plugs?

Edited October 12, 2022 by fredk

[chuck123wapati]

On 10/10/2022 at 11:57 AM, tsunkasapa said:

Here is a link to a Cheyenne medicine man's necklace. Looks like these were made just for that.

Necklace of Human Fingers. Cheyenne Medicine Man. (world4.eu)

very cool story! the first governor of Wyoming wore shoes made from the skin of Big nose George to his inauguration, he was an outlaw that killed two deputies, he was lynched in my home town after trying to escape.https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/big-nose-george-grisly-frontier-tale

On 10/12/2022 at 12:55 AM, fredk said:

I get advertising emails from 'Ivan'

I just got one about a range of hole punches;

https://www.ivan.tw/products/craftplus-professional-drive-punches

Interesting shape. And I wonder if that wider chute on the smaller sizes will make it easier to clear the punches of the plugs?

those are nice!

[Burkhardt]

9 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

very cool story! the first governor of Wyoming wore shoes made from the skin of Big nose George to his inauguration, he was an outlaw that killed two deputies, he was lynched in my home town after trying to escape.https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/big-nose-george-grisly-frontier-tale

those are nice!

Nice read, can't beat the stories from the outlaw days.

[fredk]

On Sunday I finally got round to making my 'severed fingers' hat band

On Monday, today, I wore it. I was quite surprised that only two people spoke to me about it and just a few children, maybe 3, stared wide eyed at it. It was like, seeing 'severed fingers' on a cowboy hat is just an everyday sight!

I'll be wearing it out around Belfast tomorrow, Tuesday

[chuck123wapati]

55 minutes ago, fredk said:

On Sunday I finally got round to making my 'severed fingers' hat band

On Monday, today, I wore it. I was quite surprised that only two people spoke to me about it and just a few children, maybe 3, stared wide eyed at it. It was like, seeing 'severed fingers' on a cowboy hat is just an everyday sight!

I'll be wearing it out around Belfast tomorrow, Tuesday

Very cool Fred your last name isnt Kruger is it? lol.

[Gezzer]

7 hours ago, fredk said:

On Sunday I finally got round to making my 'severed fingers' hat band

On Monday, today, I wore it. I was quite surprised that only two people spoke to me about it and just a few children, maybe 3, stared wide eyed at it. It was like, seeing 'severed fingers' on a cowboy hat is just an everyday sight!

I'll be wearing it out around Belfast tomorrow, Tuesday

OUTSTANDING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Does kind of make you wonder when there was no more  " shock value " , puts todays world in prospective  I guess .  Very nicely done Sir

[fredk]

Thanks for responses chaps

Out round Belfast yesterday. Very similar to Monday's outings.

Just a few comments, from a child 'Thats a funny hat mummy' said to parent. From a lady 'Cool hat!' and the best to top it off was from an elderly man on the bus (yes, there seems to be men older than me!) (Note; that it was raining heavy at the time) 'Thats a handy hat to have today' Hardly anyone else noticed, but one young teenage girl did. She was with about 5 or 6 friends, she stopped in her tracks and stared wide-eyed at my hat and kept staring as I went on past her. Some of her friends bumped into her having not noticed she'd stopped walking

A couple of ideas for some of youse to take up maybe

1. I spotted this motercikle crash helmet in an alternative clothing shop in Belfast. I asked and was given permission to take these photos. Cost of helmet is £350. I think the false leather is just glued to the helmet although there appear to be some basic type poppers along the front and rear edges. The spider's web design is just drawn on the 'leather' Those spikes can be bought for about 10 to 50p each (15c to 50c say)

  

Something to do for / on bicycle helmets maybe?

2. I can't show a picture of this item because I cannot find one at all! I traipsed around Belfast and other places recently and my search returned a big fat 0, nil, nada,

Round stiff hat boxes. To store your good going to church/going to a wedding hat in.

All I could find are fold-up felt ones, which will keep the dust off but do not protect the hat from crushing

It used to be, and I'm not talking of so very long ago, that when you bought an expensive hat you got a stiff round card box to keep it in. But I cannot find these available anywhere. Enquiries at hat shops; hats are given to the customer in a plastic or paper bag. It might be different in the USA / Canada / France

A woman will spend £200 plus on a special hat for an occasion. I actually met a woman who spent £1500 on a hand-made hat for wearing at a Royal event. And what do they get to keep the hat in? a paper bag!

This is something we as leather workers/crafters can make quite easily. Its just a dice cup with a lid but really, really big. And easier to make

Two pieces of 3oz / 1.2mm veg or chrome tan, flesh side of each stuck to a piece of cardboard for the wall. Using Gezzer's method of dropping in a round base (very clever that), again a disc of relatively thinnish leather, two pieces laminated with thicker cardboard and repeat for the lid, slightly larger diameter and shallow.  Add leather strap handles, job done.

The fold up felt hat container sells for about £16. We could get much more for a nice quality leather one, and it could be tooled to make it even more unique 

The reason I got into this is I was looking for hat boxes to keep some of my hats safe. Its now a 'winter' project to make a few hat boxes

Discuss in 10,000 words or less and have in to me for marking by end of Black Friday

 

[fredk]

With Halloween over it was time to change my hat band.

Well, not really a 'had to' but I decided to change it.

Many years ago when I was involved in a history presentation group I used to make and sell a children's 'medieval' play set; a leather 'Robin Hood' hat, a wood sword and leather scabbard, a wood shield and a decorated leather belt.

The other day whilst sorting through old stock I found 8 of these belts. Not all decorated. These belts are about 18 years old now (Happy Birthday to you . . . )

mmm, I thunked a think and tried a tryer, and guess what? all of them will fit my size of hat as a band so I used one of the concho decorated ones

But this was only a place-saver whist I got my 'Crocodile Dundee' inspired hat band made. Using antler tips because obtaining croc teeth or using them is illegal in N.I.

I need to work on and do better on my joint at the rear; its just the lace through some holes in the band. it's ok but not real good

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 9, 2022 by fredk

[Handstitched]

On 11/2/2022 at 6:42 PM, fredk said:

I spotted this motercikle crash helmet in an alternative clothing shop in Belfast.

I found a pair of knee high black   'goth boots' with huge 5-6 "  platforms at an op shop ( charity shop)for about $10 bucks, in good nic too  . I have  a heap of huge 40-50mm  rocket spikes, studs  etc. so I'm thinking of 'spiking them up'   with extra ' bling  & buckles etc.and whatever else I can think of,  ...purely just for the fun of it , and perhaps for a display at markets. By the time I've finished with them , they'll be a lethal weapon  

HS

[fredk]

@Handstitched      like it!    

[Handstitched]

57 minutes ago, fredk said:

 like it!

I'm taking a break at Christmas , so this will be  my ' Christmas  project'  , it'll be too hot to work outside. 

HS

[chuck123wapati]

4 hours ago, Handstitched said:

I'm taking a break at Christmas , so this will be  my ' Christmas  project'  , it'll be too hot to work outside. 

HS

i just got this image of you driving that old tractor with 6" spiked goth boots and a santa suit LOL. 

[fredk]

[Handstitched]

17 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

i just got this image of you driving that old tractor with 6" spiked goth boots and a santa suit LOL.

Don't tempt me   But I do live in a small town...perhaps not , people might I've gone a bit strange 

[fredk]

Last week a chap on another forum recommended getting one of these heated over-jackets -

 

It needs a separate rechargeable power back

Has anyone tried one?

My apartment never gets so cold that I would need one regularly but I'm tempted to get one anyways