Are girls allowed? :P

[RedDun]

Beautiful work!

[JMixx]

Love your work, and your Chi is too cute for words!

Jennifer

[karlova]

Wow thank you all for your feedback I am making a backpack for myself because the canvas backpack I had previously (also made by me) was unexpectedly sold and it's gone to Norway LOL the guy wanted it so bad I couldn't resist... 

so here is the new one being made out of Katahdyn Crazyhorse 3.5 oz - just managed to cut the main parts out and sew the pockets... actually I didn't know I can make such nice pockets before I made these.... LOL

I also managed to punch my finger with a harness needle, I didn't know that was even possible cause they're dull... The rivets are made bad intentionally - I screwed up one of them and said "wtf" and banged the soul out of them all. It's going to be mine and I don't really care. :D I will call it "rustic" hahaha

the pocket flaps have natural edges so will the main flap!

Edited May 23, 2018 by karlova

[karlova]

Also was experimenting with leather oblong eyelets, need to make something like this on the new backpack, I guess it'll work fine. Gotta be a bit more accurate tho LOL

[kyrrk]

On 5/21/2018 at 12:09 PM, karlova said:

 

 

This is nice, I've always wanted to try this.

[kyrrk]

15 hours ago, karlova said:

Wow thank you all for your feedback I am making a backpack for myself because the canvas backpack I had previously (also made by me) was unexpectedly sold and it's gone to Norway LOL the guy wanted it so bad I couldn't resist... 

so here is the new one being made out of Katahdyn Crazyhorse 3.5 oz - just managed to cut the main parts out and sew the pockets... actually I didn't know I can make such nice pockets before I made these.... LOL

I also managed to punch my finger with a harness needle, I didn't know that was even possible cause they're dull... The rivets are made bad intentionally - I screwed up one of them and said "wtf" and banged the soul out of them all. It's going to be mine and I don't really care. :D I will call it "rustic" hahaha

the pocket flaps have natural edges so will the main flap!

Did you make the patterns yourself?

[kyrrk]

On 5/22/2018 at 2:18 AM, karlova said:

Such a happy day today, I got two shipments - a Katahdyn Crazyhorse side (dry-split to 3.5 oz), another one from BuckleGuy with whole bunch of solid brass hardware and a strap cutter!

I have already tried the latter - how could I ever live without it?? It's just a little wooden piece of happiness. 

Feels like Christmas LOL

 

You buy leather online? Where do you get supply? If you don't mind me asking.

[battlemunky]

I think your work is great and I am honored to have yet another female that I can learn from on the forum! I don't discriminate, I'll learn from whoever I can.

Welcome and thanks for sharing!

[karlova]

4 hours ago, kyrrk said:

Did you make the patterns yourself?

Yes, sometimes even just by eye, I should become more organized and save them but I can't LOL!! seems so boring!

4 hours ago, kyrrk said:

You buy leather online? Where do you get supply? If you don't mind me asking.

Yep, online is my only opportunity to get nice leather These hides I get from Acadia Leather, occasionally buy something on Etsy or Ebay but just small stuff (goat or lambskins mostly) 

3 hours ago, battlemunky said:

I think your work is great and I am honored to have yet another female that I can learn from on the forum! I don't discriminate, I'll learn from whoever I can.

Welcome and thanks for sharing!

Wow thanks a lot I am still learning myself!

[karlova]

Just finished my new backpack, took me 2 days, everything hand stitched lots of rivets, solid brass hardware, veg tan pads, I think I love it :D 

So far this is the most complicated leather project I've ever done and I thought it would take much more than just two days. 

Sorry for bad photos, I will take better pics when there's daylight, just can't wait to share! 

[karlova]

and that was a subtle reminder that rotary cutter is really, really sharp LOL but thanks to constant stitching the skin was too thick to cut through this time. Ouch.

 

[kyrrk]

3 hours ago, karlova said:

Just finished my new backpack, took me 2 days, everything hand stitched lots of rivets, solid brass hardware, veg tan pads, I think I love it :D 

So far this is the most complicated leather project I've ever done and I thought it would take much more than just two days. 

Sorry for bad photos, I will take better pics when there's daylight, just can't wait to share! 

Where did you order this kind of leather? If you dont mind. 

That has some character in it. Its really cool. Ive been making leather goods more than a year but still I havent made any bags yet. Lol

[karlova]

8 minutes ago, kyrrk said:

Where did you order this kind of leather? If you dont mind. 

That has some character in it. Its really cool. Ive been making leather goods more than a year but still I havent made any bags yet. Lol

Thanks!! This is Katahdyn Crazyhorse from Acadia Leather, dry split to 3-3.5 oz. It is pretty similar to Old Town Folklore which I am expecting soon from them to compare, I would say this one is better for small goods it has a pretty firm temper and waxy finish.

Making a bag is like diving, you just have to do it once and then you discover it's not as scary as it seems. Just a bit more stitching LOL

[karlova]

I gotta mention that I am so happy to be among all you crazy leather stitchers and to know that I'm not alone in my passion!  My friends are a bit tired of me speaking about leather and bags all the time LOL

 

Edited May 24, 2018 by karlova

[AlexFJ]

This backpack seems to be more suitable for man's cave stuff . I like it. However ideal and shining buckles etc. seems to be not too suitable for rustik style, sorry.  Maybe "fusion" would be better?

[karlova]

speaking about the patterns - hm well I used this LOL

this is mostly how I work

[karlova]

1 minute ago, AlexFJ said:

This backpack seems to be more suitable for man's cave stuff . I like it. However ideal and shining buckles etc. seems to be not too suitable for rustik style, sorry.  Maybe "fusion" would be better?

These are shiny cause they're new, this will improve after a couple of months on a sailboat LOL!

I don't know if you ask me seriously what style I am working in, maybe I would call that intuitive Karlova style

[kyrrk]

4 hours ago, karlova said:

Thanks!! This is Katahdyn Crazyhorse from Acadia Leather, dry split to 3-3.5 oz. It is pretty similar to Old Town Folklore which I am expecting soon from them to compare, I would say this one is better for small goods it has a pretty firm temper and waxy finish.

Making a bag is like diving, you just have to do it once and then you discover it's not as scary as it seems. Just a bit more stitching LOL

If I were to make bags, I'd probably make a sort of messenger bag

I've been doing small leather stuff like wallets. At first I was focusing on tooling, but a friend ask me to make a wallet then word of mouth and now recently I shipped wallets to US.

 

[karlova]

well helloooo again everyone, what are you up to? Today I decided to make a tiny organizer for my needles and small stuff, so here it is. Also I found out that I (AGAIN!!!) forgot to reinforce the area on the backpack where the straps are attached so I had to slightly disassemble it (detach the flap and tear away 6 rivets) and add the reinforcement inside - a piece of heavy veg tan leather. Photos will follow. I finally took it out to the dock and took decent pictures. so here's the tiny organizer

 

 

[karlova]

[kyrrk]

3 hours ago, karlova said:

well helloooo again everyone, what are you up to? Today I decided to make a tiny organizer for my needles and small stuff, so here it is. Also I found out that I (AGAIN!!!) forgot to reinforce the area on the backpack where the straps are attached so I had to slightly disassemble it (detach the flap and tear away 6 rivets) and add the reinforcement inside - a piece of heavy veg tan leather. Photos will follow. I finally took it out to the dock and took decent pictures. so here's the tiny organizer

 

 

Oh thats nice and functional. Would you mind if I copy the design?

[battlemunky]

That backpack turned out really nicely. It reminds me of a well worn pair of jeans. It looks great and your pockets are super cool. The flaps on both pockets and the main flap are really well planned with the raw edges like that.

You nailed this. The only thing I don't care for is the type of rivets, I prefer the burr type, but it is quite awesome regardless.

[karlova]

2 hours ago, kyrrk said:

Oh thats nice and functional. Would you mind if I copy the design?

Thanks No problem if you're not going to sell them LOL! Can you please post the pictures here when you make it? I am very curios how it will come out! 

1 hour ago, battlemunky said:

That backpack turned out really nicely. It reminds me of a well worn pair of jeans. It looks great and your pockets are super cool. The flaps on both pockets and the main flap are really well planned with the raw edges like that.

You nailed this. The only thing I don't care for is the type of rivets, I prefer the burr type, but it is quite awesome regardless.

Thanks a lot! Yep I totally agree about the rivets, I like the burr type so much better but I received them when the backpack was almost ready

Also, when I got them, I discovered that I have quite a big problem setting them - it all goes fine until I have to round what's left of the post. I don't know what I'm doing wrong there, or maybe my hammer isn't bug enough, but I couldn't achieve any good results I am really willing to figure that out! 

[Old Coach Saddlery]

Lovely work. Thank you for sharing.

[battlemunky]

13 hours ago, karlova said:

I don't know what I'm doing wrong there, or maybe my hammer isn't bug enough, but I couldn't achieve any good results I am really willing to figure that out! 

Youtube is your friend! There are some good videos about setting and finishing them. Also, those posts are bad little posts and need to be beaten into submission. I love the rivets but I hate the racket I make while doing it. It's a pleasure to me but I imagine my wife sees it as more of a punishment. Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap x20, nope, not done yet, tap, tap, tap, tap x 20, nope, not quite there, tap, tap, tap. Part of my problem is that my bench isn't super solid so I make a ton of racket beating them into a nice place.

Grab a scrap piece of leather and beat on one until you get it figured out. It's deceivingly simple but you gotta get through the first one.