Rank Amateur

[Wayland]

I found this great site while looking for ideas for a new project.

I'm a real amateur when it comes to leatherwork, I make everything the wrong way, use scrappy old bits of leather but things generally work out well enough for my own purposes.

I started off making my own kit for my living history work.

I teach people about history and ancient skills.

And I sometimes add my own metalwork as well.

But these days a lot of my stuff is made for bushcraft and outdoor use. More functional than pretty.

I don't do much tooling or patterned work but just like the leather to speak for itself which is why I often use knarly old bits and pieces.

I'm sure I will learn loads here but I doubt if there's much I'll be able to teach you guys in return. There's some really wonderful work here.

[Sylvia]

Welcome Wayland!

I love your fire kit. I stared at it baffled for a minute trying to figure out what the metal piece was then it dawned on me. lol

I'm sure you CAN teach us something. Some of us are interested in many of the old ways of doing things. So feel free to share anything you think we may find interesting. I read somewhere about using the fleshy husks of black walnuts to make a deep brown dye. Any thing like that would be interesting and helpful to know.

Sylvia

[brianthelion]

Hello Wayland

I am a new member as well, just amazed at the amount of knowledge on this forum , and quality of workmanship. Your work looks very interesting, I had a peek at your photography which I think is wonderful.

All the best

Brian

[Wayland]

Thank you for the welcome.

Sylvia, I've heard of walnut shells used for dying but never seen it done unfortunately.

There is quite a bit of info on the net but I guess your own GooleFu will have found that already.

If not you might be interested in:

Practical Primitive or CasCity

In the UK we get a slightly different variety of walnut tree so I'm not sure how well it would work here.

I'll ask a couple of people I know and see if I can come up with anything better for you.

[Sylvia]

Practical Primitive or CasCity

In the UK we get a slightly different variety of walnut tree so I'm not sure how well it would work here.

Wayland. CasCity is fhere I read about the black walnut based brown dye. Thank you for the other link as well, because I do quite a bit of tie dying in the summer and am interested in natural dyes for that purpose as well.

[Tenpoundsledgehammer]

Hi there, Wayland. Don't fret about not doing things the "right" way. If it works for you, and you get results out of your finished product that you like, then it IS the right way for you. I'm mostly self-taught myself, so I was concerned that I'd get flack around here for the same reasons. Not so much. More often than not it's more of a "Huh. Well, have you tried doing it this way?" type thing. I really like your workshop area, by the way. AND the Mjollnir around your neck. Out of curiosity, what's the triangular piece hanging up above it? Oh, and what all kinds of metalwork do you do?

[Wayland]

Hi there, Wayland. Don't fret about not doing things the "right" way. If it works for you, and you get results out of your finished product that you like, then it IS the right way for you. I'm mostly self-taught myself, so I was concerned that I'd get flack around here for the same reasons. Not so much. More often than not it's more of a "Huh. Well, have you tried doing it this way?" type thing. I really like your workshop area, by the way. AND the Mjollnir around your neck. Out of curiosity, what's the triangular piece hanging up above it? Oh, and what all kinds of metalwork do you do?

It's mostly silver work I do now but I used to torture a bit of steel from time to time and for a while I worked as an armourer.

The talisman hanging above Mjölnir is Veðrfölnir, not often seen as a pendant but it turns up frequently in artwork.

I don't worry too much about the way I do things but I suspect I do have a few bad habits which the old hands would frown at.

I've never met anyone else that preps a thread for saddle stitch the way I do but it seems to work.

[Sylvia]

I've never met anyone else that preps a thread for saddle stitch the way I do but it seems to work.

Ok fess up... how do you prep your thread?

[Jazznow]

I want to know it too :)Btw I still consider myself an amateur and I'm doing this for some years now. It's ok, I'm afraid I'd stop learning at the moment I think I am a pro now :D

My very first pieces were made of scraps too and they definitely looked more awful than yours^^

A little hint: on the fair I visited with my stuff a visitor who looked at my stuff at the first day came back the next day and gave me a piece of old leather. He used to upholster those gym training facilities (we call them horses in Germany, they are basically a big body with four wooden legs) before retirement and he still had this piece of leather that was stressed beautiful and had a cool look (apart from the pen marks that sayed xy was here or Xy is with yz and the like). Gave it a good wash with Leather soap and conditioned it. It looks awesome after that.

Maybe you can find someone who is doing this kind of work (just ask at a school) and voila there u go with a niece source of used and old looking leather.

Greetings and have fun at this great forum

[Wayland]

OK,I'll try to explain it if I can.

I start with a thread half the thickness that I will need for my finished work. The stuff I usually use is a barely twisted linen yarn which has just six strands.

I cut a piece twice the length I need and I wax it up with a lump of beeswax. Because it is half weight I can then use a much finer needle than a full weight thread.

I thread two needles onto the ends of the thread and then tie those ends together with a fisherman's knot. This gives me a loop with both needles on it.

Now I take the knot and fold it to the opposite side of the loop and pinch these point together. Draw the needles to the other ends of the two loops now formed.

Give the thread a quick twist and I now have a 12 strand thread with tiny needles at each end.

The advantages as far as I can see are no great thickness just behind the needles and just a very small knot in the middle which is easily lost between the leather.

I also don't have to worry about the thread slipping off the needles unless it actually breaks, which is a very rare occurrence.

I hope that makes sense, it's much easier to demonstrate than explain.

[Sylvia]

I also don't have to worry about the thread slipping off the needles unless it actually breaks, which is a very rare occurrence.

I hope that makes sense, it's much easier to demonstrate than explain.

Let me see if I can paraphrase. If your project requires 24 inches you use 48 inches of thread. thread both needles on the waxed thread then tie the ends with a fisherman's knot.... so you have two needles floating on a loop of thread. Then you bring the knot to the middle opposite of it's position and hold these while sliding the needles to the ends. Then you twist the thread (in opposite directions?) so you now have a thread twice the thickness with your two needles on the ends.

Is that about it?

Now.. which fisherman's knot do you use? I know about 6 depending on the application.

This one?

http://www.walleyehunter.com/knots/knotuni.gif

Edited May 8, 2012 by Sylvia

[Wayland]

That sounds as if you have it straight.

The knot is this one.

It's called the English Fisherman's Knot in Ashley #293 but on this side of the pond we just know it as the Fisherman's knot, though technically it's a bend.

[Sylvia]

That sounds as if you have it straight.

The knot is this one.

It's called the English Fisherman's Knot in Ashley #293 but on this side of the pond we just know it as the Fisherman's knot, though technically it's a bend.

Ah! I'm familiar with this one too. I use it to make adjustable leather thong necklaces. Thanks!

[Wayland]

It holds very well, even in well waxed thread and is compact as well.

It was the best I found for the job.

[Tenpoundsledgehammer]

Wow! I had never thought to do that! Thanks Wayland! I'll have to try that out here soon.

[Tenpoundsledgehammer]

That's awesome. So do you smelt and do castings, or more hammering and etching with your silver? (forgive me if I use the wrong terminology, I know practically nothing about metal working) What kinds of armor have you crafted? Was it more for costume, fighting, or show pieces? I'd really like to see your handywork.

Ah, okay. That explains it. I've never seen one of those as a pendant either. Did you craft those yourself?

[ericluther]

very cool work, looking forward to seeing more! welcome!!

[Wayland]

That's awesome. So do you smelt and do castings, or more hammering and etching with your silver? (forgive me if I use the wrong terminology, I know practically nothing about metal working) What kinds of armor have you crafted? Was it more for costume, fighting, or show pieces? I'd really like to see your handywork.

Ah, okay. That explains it. I've never seen one of those as a pendant either. Did you craft those yourself?

I adapted a casting made by someone else to make it into a pendant. My own silver work is mainly hammer, punch and chase work like this:

At the armoury it was mainly helmets for re enactment use until we started getting in to film work which was a bit of a grind.

I left when it started getting a bit industrial. Sadly I don't seem to have many pictures from back then. I hadn't gone digital at that stage.