new guitar strap makin' member

[KimRulien]

Hi my name is Kim!

I am in Wisconsin and have begun working with leather just this year...wow what a road its been (why did I not find this forum sooner?) I am making guitar straps with beading on them...I love it but really need to start to sell them and find all the best ways of working with cutting of leather, punching, dying tips, piping etc.

I was a seamstress working on fabrics when I had this bright idea to go into leatherwork, (have sewn my fare share of Renaissance Fest costumes over the years)

Well I love this leather work, but I still need lots of advice!

The local Tandy store guys have been helping me so far (thanks guys... Maplewood MN)

I spend a lot of loving hours on my work and am just starting out, so be kind. I have a website up, and need to get pricing and ordering info out there still. If anyone here has helpful hints, pricing ideas or whatever please let me know. I plan to be a regular on this forum!

here is what I do;

www.ruliens.com

I had to learn to make a website as well! Ya just never know what life will bring!

Thanks to the people running this forum for all the great stuff you let everyone post on here, Kim

[rdb]

First off...Welcome to the Forum. Your enthusiasm and talent will be appreciated here. All those things you want to learn will be found here also, along with many friendships.

Great looking site, and straps you have going there! You wont have any problems selling those! Don't forget to show pix of anything new to us...We love pictures!

[KimRulien]

First off...Welcome to the Forum. Your enthusiasm and talent will be appreciated here. All those things you want to learn will be found here also, along with many friendships.

Great looking site, and straps you have going there! You wont have any problems selling those! Don't forget to show pix of anything new to us...We love pictures!

Thanks for the compliment! I see you make guitar straps as well...my next move is finding a music retail store that may want some on consignment. I am not sure how else to really get them out there. I sure love making them. Any hints on promoting something like this?

I will post pictures as soon as I figure out how to do that...I take quite a few along the process of making my straps.

So far the main owners of my work are friends and family...tho' I did sell one to a woman in England, all custom and it was a good experience doing it long distance.

[CitizenKate]

Nice straps, Kim! The inlaid stones are a beautiful touch. I just forwarded a link to your site to a musician friend of mine.

Kate

[KimRulien]

Nice straps, Kim! The inlaid stones are a beautiful touch. I just forwarded a link to your site to a musician friend of mine.

Kate

Thank you Kate! I can use all the advertising I can get LOL especially in trying to improve my personal economy!

The stones are just so fun to do but time consuming, all hand sewn... but the leather part has really been a learning curve for me! So happy to have found this site!

[ArtS]

Great designs and leather work Kim!

Glad you're here. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your art.

Welcome,

Art

[badger]

Hi Kim,

Nice work.

Love the contrast of the Amber stones on black, beautiful.

You'll like it here, I'm new myself. Everyone's so friendly and generous.

Cheers,

Karl

[BruceGibson]

Beautiful work, Kim! Welcome to the Forum!

[pete]

Hi my name is Kim!

I am in Wisconsin and have begun working with leather just this year...wow what a road its been (why did I not find this forum sooner?) I am making guitar straps with beading on them...I love it but really need to start to sell them and find all the best ways of working with cutting of leather, punching, dying tips, piping etc.

I was a seamstress working on fabrics when I had this bright idea to go into leatherwork, (have sewn my fare share of Renaissance Fest costumes over the years)

Well I love this leather work, but I still need lots of advice!

The local Tandy store guys have been helping me so far (thanks guys... Maplewood MN)

I spend a lot of loving hours on my work and am just starting out, so be kind. I have a website up, and need to get pricing and ordering info out there still. If anyone here has helpful hints, pricing ideas or whatever please let me know. I plan to be a regular on this forum!

here is what I do;

www.ruliens.com

I had to learn to make a website as well! Ya just never know what life will bring!

Thanks to the people running this forum for all the great stuff you let everyone post on here, Kim

fantastic work! I would order one from you but I already have made all that I need for all of my instruments!

I doubt if anyone here would steal your designs so how about a tutorial on how you attach the stones!!??!!??!!!!

They would make great wallets and gear bags for musicians too! Sell them as a combination package.

pete

[KimRulien]

I doubt if anyone here would steal your designs so how about a tutorial on how you attach the stones!!??!!??!!!!

They would make great wallets and gear bags for musicians too! Sell them as a combination package.

pete

okay I will work on putting up pictures to show how clever I am! Each stone is hand sewn on and some have over 1,000 pieces of amber or agate etc...

I am making some now that I hope will generate interest among musicians with money! LOL!

I put many hours into the designs and work, plus a bit of moolah into leather and stones, so I am hoping to price them in the $300-$400 range eventually. I am not trying to do it factory style, I am looking more at the straps as pieces of art, since I love each one so much.

My work is getting better, so price is gonna go up(I hope)...so far I have been making them to match specific guitars for friends, so I need to begin to market them some place.

I will try to get pictures up later today to show how I do it! (but promise to pass on my website to all the guitar players you know...hint hint)

[Greybeard]

Hi & WELCOME!

Very nice Straps.

I especially like the little figures.