don't ever do this-

[Boriqua]

the hair dryer and box works great if you have to push the drying.Couple of things I learned. I poke the hole in the box for the nozzle but point the nozzle at the back of the box. I put the object on a rack so its not sitting on the box floor. small racks can be had at 3 for a dollar at the local dollar store. Now here is the important part. I poke holes in box over by the piece and I never point the nozzle at the item. I dont use it often but if I just gotta gotta gotta push the drying this has worked great and gently. Sometimes depending on the object I will tape in a little cardboard divider between the hair dryer nozzle and the object.

[TRHLeather]

Boriqua, I love the idea of a drying box. Without the dryer blowing directly on the leather, it should dry evenly.

When I was starting with leather I tried to expedite the drying in a warm oven. The shrinkage wasn't the worst part. When I tried to bend the bracelet around my wrist, it cracked. The oven had hardened the leather so even the one bracelet I had salvaged had crack marks all along the edges.

Live and learn.

[Oldtoolsniper]

Um I've never done anything I've " learned" from..

Go to the thrift store and find a dehydrator for a couple of bucks. Cut the plastic with an old soldering iron (outside) or a dremel tool and modify it to your hearts content. The round ones seem to be the easiest to find, that means as you find more you can stack them higher to get different temperatures. They are hotter lower and closer to the element.

[TexasJack]

I've done the microwave AND the oven mistake before! Both were on pre-made sheaths (before I started doing leatherwork) and, as others have described, were incredible failures!!

If you're not making mistakes, then you're not trying hard enough to do new things. A Greek philosopher once said, "I love my mistakes." You CAN love them if you learn from them.

But here's the way you get out from under the embarrassment of screwing up a piece: You simply tell anyone who sees it that it was a "prototype".

[Eccho]

People often ask why some of my items are so "cheap" compared to the ready available market. I simply tell the truth....."you are buying one of my mistakes, when I get it perfect You will pay 5 times that amount". They usually get a laugh and buy it anyway. We are....and should be....our own worst critics. The Good Lord's sun is still the best dryer in the world.

[RedwoodJen]

Thank you for the good laugh!

I just got half my work returned from my client because you could see everywhere I marked the back with a Sharpie. I couldn't find my pen, so I used a Sharpie. Who would've thought that would be a $600 dollar mistake?

So thanks for the laugh. We all make mistakes.

[LoneWolf1973]

I don't have any advice but reading these posts I am l try.earning. That is how we learn...either read or do. Never know if it is going to work until you try.

Edited April 8, 2015 by LoneWolf1973