Members LeatherNerd Posted October 16, 2015 Members Report Posted October 16, 2015 Dave here. Been working leather for about 5 months, so I guess I've pretty much learned all of the leather things, right? :-) I got started working with leather back in May. I saw a very simple journal in a movie (5oz oil tan wrapped around a notebook with a thong on the back and a concho on the front to wrap it around) and I thought "hey, I could probably make that!" So I headed down to my local Tandy Leather store... BOY did they see ME coming! I went in thinking I'd spend $20 on leather and a concho and just slap it all together. I walked out of there with half a hide, needles, thread, drive punches, stitching chisels, glue... and oh yeah a whole fistful of conchos. The more I fiddled the more I loved it! I love that I can sit down and plan out a big project (for me, I mean) and work it through the stages to completion over a week or more... or I can just sit down and knock out a bottle cap label or a key fob and just relax. Most of my stuff is small (journals are about the biggest and most complicated items I make) and to be honest right now I think over half of my projects have been building storage and cases for my tools... I really enjoy doing things I don't know I'm not supposed to do. I stamped and tooled on my first journal (made of oil-tan leather) and while of course it looked nothing like well-tooled leather, I did get good impressions permanently stamped in. I took it down to Tandy and they said "Whoa... you're not supposed to be able to do that... but that looks awesome." Over the past months they've learned my face and name, and now they're pretty good to say "you know there's an easier way to do that, right?" Last week I was looking at waterstain vs. oil dye, and I asked the store owner if oil dye could be used to dye oil-tan leather. Hey, it's got the same word in the name, so I just kinda figured... She started to say no and then remembered who she was talking to and laughed and then said, "Well, I guess you CAN put it on oil-tan leather and it WILL change the color... but what color you get and how long it will last is anybody's guess though." I bought a bunch of waterstains and have mostly stuck to dyeing veg-tan... mostly. :-) I love trying experiments and new techniques, in doing things wrong to understand why doing things right works the way it does, and in doing things right to end up with beautiful pieces. Looking forward to hanging out and getting to know you folks! Attached: a friend asked if she could borrow one of my journals for a harry potter "slytherin student" costume. I said sure, and over about 5 evenings and a full weekend I put together this real, working journal. It's made me happier than anything I've built to date, and this excites me because I can look at it and see dozens of mistakes, so I know there's plenty of room to improve. Quote
Members Wild Bill46 Posted October 21, 2015 Members Report Posted October 21, 2015 Welcome to our lil corner of planet earth . glad your found something COUNTRY that makes you happy. If you have a question ask , were here to help ! Welcome to the forum !.--- Wild Bill46 Quote
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