Sparks Report post Posted June 26, 2010 Thought I'd take a moment to introduce myself. I live in Boise, ID, and do some Colonial style reenacting these days. I have been doing a few projects since being introduced to leather craft in the 70s. Mostly just getting my feet wet until I started doing historical reenacting and needing some leather goods. Many of the goods were not outside the scope of my abilities, and I did pretty fair. Then, on another forum, I got to know Luke Hatley. Luke gives me tips and has answered my questions. Luke would probably agree my ability has noticeably improved since he started 'mentoring' me. He introduced me to this site, and now I have gone and introduced myself! Every new project seems to have some of the basics (stitching, cutting, patterning, etc.) along with something new (setting snaps--first one I ever set on a project was the snap on my cell phone case in the gallery). I've done knife sheaths, shooting bags, and bullet bags--among other things. I've never been one for tooling leather, other than edging and diagonal lines. I've married a fiber artist who likes doing things the 'old way,' including drop spindle spinning flax and cotton, using spinning wheels (we own three--last count), knitting, dyeing with traditional chemicals, etc. She even used to get the oldest printed knitting books she could find and then do facing page pairs...one side the way it was written originally and the other the modern 'translation.' That's more chore than it sounds, because the language for such basic tasks as 'yarn over' has been called and/or described at least five different ways over the years. An extra added challenge is that women would write up the patterns, but the typesetters didn't know sic-um about knitting. So they'd drop lines of text and sometimes even paragraphs that the editors couldn't catch because they didn't know sic-um about knitting either. She solved that by knitting the patterns as the description as things went along until it didn't make sense, then skip ahead to where it made sense again and then look at the pattern and see what was missing. (She's got all the engineering skills in this household!). Our two hobbies dovetail nicely, with her knowing textiles from materials to sewing styles and me knowing the firearms histories of the Colonial/US 18th century. Sparks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
abn Report post Posted June 26, 2010 Sparks, welcome to Leatherworker.net. It sounds like you have an interesting hobby in Colonial reenacting. Living here in Virginia, I get exposed to a little of that at Colonial Williamsburg and other historic sites. It's nice to step back in time at these places, though it's best to do so in the winter so you can actually imagine life at that time -- without being surrounded by large groups of loud school children! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
horsewreck Report post Posted June 26, 2010 WELCOME Sparks, find your place at the table and have a seat. We hope you enjoy this as much as we do..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Luke Hatley Report post Posted June 26, 2010 (edited) Sparks Welcome to The Great World of Leather Work.I thank you for the kind words. as you have read so far there are a lot of fine folks on here.and any of us will be more than happy to share our knowledge with you. Edited June 26, 2010 by Luke Hatley Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sparks Report post Posted June 26, 2010 abn, Thanks so much for the tip on when to go to Williamsburg. I'm a member of their organization and get their magazine. I went to high school a couple years in Prince George County (VA), and while living there visited Wmsbrg a couple times...both in late spring I believe. That was about 1967. One of these days we'll get back there for a visit, and I appreciate your tip on timing. Sparks Sparks, welcome to Leatherworker.net. It sounds like you have an interesting hobby in Colonial reenacting. Living here in Virginia, I get exposed to a little of that at Colonial Williamsburg and other historic sites. It's nice to step back in time at these places, though it's best to do so in the winter so you can actually imagine life at that time -- without being surrounded by large groups of loud school children! Horsewreck and Luke, Thanks for the welcome. Sparks WELCOME Sparks, find your place at the table and have a seat. We hope you enjoy this as much as we do..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UKRay Report post Posted June 26, 2010 Welcome to LW, Sparks. I hope you find everything you are looking for here. We don't get too much colonial re-enactment over here in the UK, although I hear it is gaining popularity. It would be good to know more about your involvement and the sort of things you and your wife make. Pictures are always very well received! Oh yes, and don't believe everything Luke says about me... Ray Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Luke Hatley Report post Posted June 26, 2010 Welcome to LW, Sparks. I hope you find everything you are looking for here. We don't get too much colonial re-enactment over here in the UK, although I hear it is gaining popularity. It would be good to know more about your involvement and the sort of things you and your wife make. Pictures are always very well received! Oh yes, and don't believe everything Luke says about me... RAT KILLER....RAT KILLER.. Ray Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
