Workin on some orders...

[YinTx]

Finally seem to have hit on something folks like, so I have a couple of orders!  Hooray..... now to get them made...

 

YinTx

[YinTx]

BTW, nothing to show off, just happy to have orders!

YinTx

[Wedgetail]

It's a good feeling, right! 

Looking good, will be nice to see the finished products.

[OneCrow]

Not to mention the best part of working on orders... Working on Batches.... Working on one piece at a time can feel so slow in comparison. It is amazing how fast the work goes when you already have the tool in your hand. :-) 

[RockyAussie]

Are they finished yet? ha ha keep havin fun.

[YinTx]

Yes, haha.  took me two weeks to get to that point in the photo.  Didn't even get to touch them today.

Maybe tomorrow....

I was assuming making more than one thing at a time would speed things up.. the last one I made took me a little over a week to complete, so to get this many to this stage in 2 weeks seems to be a faster way to go.  It is also a faster way to screw up more leather.... I had made two layer W&C bodies (for lack of a better term... the large back piece of leather that becomes the outside cover...) only to discover I didn't like the way they folded in half.  So a lot of leather to waste.  Ended up using 2oz W&C on the outside of the cover, and 1 oz Hermann Oak with black dye on the interior side, bonded with contact cement.  looks much nicer, but sadly I have 2 square feet of W&C leather wasted.. not sure what I will use it for.  Right now it's in the "Awwww dangit!!!! not again!! " pile.

 

I have finished these, tho, Aussie... including the dark one on the left with the double layer of W&C for the outside of the wallet.  You can see the wrinkles in the center.

I want to make "T" pocket style card holders, but everyone wants this style.. drives me nuts.   These are hard to make in comparison!

 

YinTx

[RockyAussie]

Glad to see the progress YinTx and I quite like the pocket and angle on the right (rounded preferred). In your bridge section that is showing the wrinkles I would try before putting in, folding over in middle and rolling back and forth on itself to get an even crinkle effect or use a leather that does not wrinkle when folded in on itself. Lastly if you want to use a stiff bridge put several slicker lines top to bottom evenly spaced and that looks good if done right.

Speed I found in numbers is mostly because it is worth spending more money on Knives for clicker presses and edging machines and so on. If you time me on one and then again on 50 it will often show I bored and going slower so keep in mind you may get faster and faster but if you have to train staff to be fast it aint easy. I doubt if you went with the T pockets it would affect any sales. A shape like this \____/ on card pockets other way up works well and is way easier.Do what you do better than others and it will show in the end.

[bikermutt07]

4 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

Glad to see the progress YinTx and I quite like the pocket and angle on the right (rounded preferred). In your bridge section that is showing the wrinkles I would try before putting in, folding over in middle and rolling back and forth on itself to get an even crinkle effect or use a leather that does not wrinkle when folded in on itself. Lastly if you want to use a stiff bridge put several slicker lines top to bottom evenly spaced and that looks good if done right.

Speed I found in numbers is mostly because it is worth spending more money on Knives for clicker presses and edging machines and so on. If you time me on one and then again on 50 it will often show I bored and going slower so keep in mind you may get faster and faster but if you have to train staff to be fast it aint easy. I doubt if you went with the T pockets it would affect any sales. A shape like this \____/ on card pockets other way up works well and is way easier.Do what you do better than others and it will show in the end.

Those are some great tips, Rocky.

Yintx, they look great. Congratulations.

[YinTx]

Some more progress today:  got them glued up, started to get the edges burnished..and managed to get one to the completed stage.  

Using Horween Leather (light brown) and Wickett and Craig leather (dark brown).

Comments/critiques welcome, and thanks for the tips.  I don't have any clicking presses or edging machines, or staff for that matter, so all handwork.  A bit slow going due to that.  Maybe if I get orders for hundreds of these things, I'd go that route, but not just yet.   have to walk before I can sprint in the Olympics.

The Wickett and Craig didn't wrinkle when I folded it backwards, until I contact cemented two pieces together, then the results that you see occured.  I think you are on to something that could help me out, but I'm not quite sure I'm clear on your description.  What do you mean by putting several slicker lines top to bottom?

 

And finally, just some shots of today's work....  Played around with some orange thread, I think its an ok color combo...

 

 

YinTx

[RockyAussie]

They look great and very saleable I think. The slicker lines I don't have anything handy that I have done that way at present but there are many methods to achieve it the slowest is with a bone slicker and ruler and rubbing in with even spacings. The prototype watch band in this poor picture shows what I mean as it was done this way. This was improved dramatically when I had the embossing plate for the name made up to include these lines. I hate sweaty watch bands and this gives airflow. The best width of line onto veg I found to be .25mm. These lines are done before gluing and attaching. I have done them on larger products one line at a time in an embossing press but multiple knives meaning clicking knives attached together and sanded down would be a lot faster again. I do this method on some things when I want the line around in a hurry. Get a clicker press you wont be sorry.

[bikermutt07]

I just started jls's pattern today for a friend. I think Aussie is saying to put relief lines on the inside of the spine. I'm going to try it on mine. That way when you fold them over you have created a relief on the inside.

[RockyAussie]

Hep that"s it. A controlled wrinkle instead. Looks way better.

[MADMAX22]

Looks good TX, did you by chance try folding in on them a little when you glued the inside layer to the outside layer. Probably wont help any (cant remember if it did or not), then once the glue is set do the stitch around the perimeter. I could be way off on this, its been a while since I did any type of journal item.

Rocky that is a good idea with the clicker setup like that.  

[RockyAussie]

Good point MADMAX22, I would always set my bridge area down on around a 90 degree rounded angle if doing this but it looks like the type of leather more so a problem to me. Any patterned leather would work better generally though. Re the clicker set up for line marking, I am doing a new one for 45mm (1 3/4") belts this week and will make up a how i did it pdf file and post. Previously I used a roller line marking machine and each one would take over a minute to do well and now they take between 15 and 20 seconds each.

[Boriqua]

CONGRATULATIONS on the orders!! Its nice when people are willing to pay for your handiwork. What will you do with the windfall? Did you get your first is it ready yet email?

alex

[YinTx]

I think I get it with the controlled wrinkle thing.  And I did give it a partial bend when I glued it, which just meant it stays partially bent now, and when I fold it the rest of the way... wrinkles.  The 1 oz liner is really working much better.  I will try to give one of the error versions some controlled wrinkles to see if I can rescue them.

Thanks for the congrats, Alex.  To be clear, this isn't my first order, I have sold some belts and purses and such in the past.  Just that this is the first time I have sold more than one of a particular item, and to more than two people!  Almost everything has been custom one off's, except for belts, up to now.  So finally get to make a "run" of a single design.  Still some customizing, with leather types and thread colors, etc.  I know some folks sell 3 an hour or day or even a week, I don't typically get that kind of traction.  More of the 1 every month or two, so I am happy folks are voting with their wallets and saying they like my work well enough to carry it instead of a cheap Wally world item or a more expensive Coach or Louis Vuitton, when they could more easily do either without waiting for me to build and deliver.

 

The "windfall" may go into a new round knife since I've discovered its the quality causing me to have to strop every 30 seconds, not my sharpening skills.  Not a big enough windfall for a clicker just yet, maybe down the road!  If a 100+ folks call with orders, I'll be lookin for one for sure!  not holding my breath just yet...  plus I'd have to quit my day job to do that many orders!

YinTx

[venator]

What do you use for the inside of the pockets?  Those look really wonderful.

[YinTx]

Venator,

I used pigskin for the pockets... wanted to use duck cloth, but ended up here for now.  Gets pretty thick with up to 8 layers of leather in certain places, and makes controlling the awl really difficult.  Last one I stitched the other day came out horrible, so depressing, the last line of stitching and pretty well ruined 2 weeks of work on one of them.  That set me back mentally, so I'm trying to regather my nerve to attempt again so I can get better results.

Thanks for the complement, hopefully I can get that last line of stitching nice enough to warrant it.  

YinTx

[bikermutt07]

So, I tried the controlled wrinkle. 5 vertical lines down the inside of the spine. It looked great too. Right up until I went to line up the pockets. That's when I realized I had the bottoms an 1/8 different from the top. Crap. I decided to try and burnish the whole area. The cruddy Tandy leather needed it anyway. I pulled out the tragacanth and went to work. The inside looks much better, but you can still see the lines faintly.

Just thought I would share.

[YinTx]

A bit more progress...  sorry bout the 'blurry, my camera has decided to go on the fritz.

 

YinTx

[bikermutt07]

They are looking great.

I'm totally curious about the card pockets. I read above how you said t pockets are easier, but I'm not sure how you are constructing these slots.

Any enlightenment would be appreciated.

[YinTx]

Biker,

I'll try to get some photos of the construction of the pockets.  meanwhile...

Work in progress...

YinTx

[bikermutt07]

2 hours ago, YinTx said:

Biker,

I'll try to get some photos of the construction of the pockets.  meanwhile...

Work in progress...

YinTx

That is a really great picture. Like front page of the website good picture.

[YinTx]

Biker,

Thanks for that.  I think it was a bit of luck happening with the cell phone camera, but as they say, I'll take luck over skill every day.

Here are a couple of shots of the credit card pockets in construction.  pretty basic, I think some others have done similar styles here before.  But a lot of skiving, gluing and stitching.  I think I'd prefer the "T-Pocket" design for simplicity and clean looks.  However, paying folks seem to want this style, so this style it is for now.

The slots are just two holes punched and then connect the dot with a sharp knife, and burnish the resulting inside edges.  10spi on the pocket liners with a really fine linen thread to keep the bulk down.  skive all edges to keep thin.  Glue to main leather of pocket and stitch one at a time.

TBC.. not letting me upload images...

YinTx

 

 

[YinTx]

Don't mind teh crooked stitching on the pocket liner.. that was a reject pile item, but it shows the layout anyhow.  imagine it flipped over, and glued and stitched to the back of the slotted leather piece, then one more piece to cover the whole back, the skived section is folded over it and stitched.

 

 

YinTx