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Thread: Mission Completed.

  1. #11
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    Sep 2013
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    yes - lots of cowboy-esque gun holsters being made on the leather forums I started down the casing, stamping, dying route but after much trial (and much error!) have ended up doing it all rather differently, seems to work though. Fingers crossed my odd methods will work on the bridle, as have heard sedgwicks leather is great quality. If it won't take the stamp then have a feeling i will need to dig deep and get hides custom dyed... *the sound of money sliding through fingers....* followed by *I hope I sell enough bracelets to justify this....*

  2. #12
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    Thank you Peter and Melanie for your advice and suggestions.

    Melanie, I tend to buy from Le Prevo Leather as they are inexpensive and have a low minimum order. As you see, their black is OK and their red is quite jolly. They also have a good chocolate brown, but the mid brown is a bit yucky.
    If ordering it is best to do so on the phone, as that way they send it faster. I am still looking for a mid blue, but there must be a reason I can't find one. regards, Dennis.

  3. #13
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    Sep 2013
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    Shropshire
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    oooh - can see they have a few browns - that'll be another phone call for samples in the morning then - have also found that the leather world responds much better to the phone than to e-mails

    Do you find their leather can take a curve without wrinkling badly on the underside? That's my main gripe with our current lot, as it wrinkles awfully when curved into a bracelet. Know none-wrinkly leather exists as was sent some beautiful samples which didn't wrinkle one bit, even when bent in two, but they don't have the elusive mid-brown I am after. When I was playing with dying leather I found angelus dyes, which gives a really bright colour, pretty sure they have blue dyes. Fiebings have blue dyes too, and their dye does penetrate more, but I found it hard to stop the dye bleeding without so much sealer that it stopped looking like leather.

  4. #14
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    Well, when I skive and cut it into narrow strips for belt loops, I have not seen any wrinkling. I have an offcut about 25cm long in the darker brown. I could post it to you if you like, just PM me.

    Also the boss of Le Prevo will chat to answer your questions and advise. Dennis.

  5. #15
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    Mar 2013
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    Northeast UK
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    First off, those buckles look great Dennis, love them.

    Leatherworking ( book binding, belt making ) is an area I'm really keen to get involved with but as I'm still very much a novice with the jewellery side of things then its very tempting to get involved in too many things at once!

    I often dig up old historical buckles and am amazed at how beautiful and intricate some of them are. Some serious workmanship involved and makes me wonder how the hell people achieved such results without our modern day equipment.

    Dennis: You've said that you're mainly self taught right? Can you recommend any good books for getting started in leatherworking ( specifically belts ). I'm wondering if there are any books that are the leatherwork / belt equivalent of the superb Anatasia Young books in jewellery making?

    Unfortunately I dont have the time, or the time off work to attend leatherworking courses miles from home so the self-taught route would also be my preferred option.

    Cheers,

    Nick

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Romsey
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    http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Leatherw.../dp/0304345113 ; This may be a newer version - http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Leatherw.../dp/1844034747
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Leatherwork-.../dp/1861267428

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Hand-Sew.../dp/1892214911 (very prolific, some good books on making cases of various types by the same author).

    Depends on the focus; belts & bridlework share a lot of the same techniques, although most of the bridlework books are very traditional on the tools, whereas the more craft-centric ones take a less zealous approach.

    Bookbinding is a very separate discipline - not all that many shared tools AIUI.

  7. #17
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    Sep 2014
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  8. #18
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    Thank you Nick and Sarah.
    In answer to your question Nick, I have never looked at a book on this, but looking at the sites of the USA suppliers, there is lots of information on belts and related tools. Dennis.

  9. #19
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    Sep 2013
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    Thanks Dennis - have spoken to them and got a couple of samples on the way, as well as some from Abbey and J & FJ Baker - hopefully one of them will do the trick

  10. #20
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    Good. Looking through my bookmarks I was also reminded of Artisan Leather so here is another link for you. You might be interested in their narrow straps, or ready made wrist bands on sale:

    http://www.artisanleather.co.uk/. Dennis

Bookmarks

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