Leatherwork

This is a listing of hopefully helpful Advice on this Arts and Craft

Casca Eruoy on Sewing with Rabbit

Rabbit is a pain in the ass to sew with. Handsewing is definately preferable to machine as machine rarely gives enough control with rabbit as it creeps exponentially worse than any velvet, and additionally, rabbit will fluff on you and can easily and quickly muck up a machine that way. Also, keep in mind that it will stretch on you and it tears easily if strained. Plan to cut your pieces from the center of the hides right along the spine, avoiding the belly when possible, in order to get the most stability. Additionally, you must keep in mind the direction of the fur at all times when planning your cutting layout, and also the variation in color from skin to skin must be kept in mind as well for the smoothest transitions at seams. Once a seam is sewn, use a pick to pull out the longer hairs that got trapped under the thread. This technique will make seams less obvious as well.

When you cut it, cut it from the flesh side, not the fur side. Also, cut it with an exacto knife and not a scissors, and only cut it deeply enough to go through the leather. Do NOT cut through the hair itself. This will keep you from cutting off the folicles halfway down the shaft, which gives ugly results along the edges of your pieces, and it will also make clean up easier. Only cut somewhere where clean up will be easy: no carpeting, no airflow to blow rabbit dander around, no pets or children to play with the skins while you are working. Also, a very light misting of water helps keep the fluff levels down. Brushing your pieces after cutting with a fine, soft bristled brush will trap a lot of that excess dander and keep it from effecting your work later.

Also, on account of the bulk of fur, do no count on being able to get a tight, tailored look. So, plan your garment's style accordingly. For instance, mittens would probably be more practical than gloves, or a trim at the wrist on a glove that is predominantly some other material would work well.

Casca Eruoy on Uncracking Paint Jobs on Leather

This technique was originally concepted by me, but then was fleshed out by BlackRose of Neverwinter and then finally perfected by Sir Medryn of the Iron Mountains and myself. What you will need is acrylic paint (cheap ones like Folk Art brand are fine, so no need to bust out the Vallejo brand ones), water (filtered if you have crappy tap water), textile medium (found right next to those Folk Art acrylics in your local JoAnns or Wal-Mart), and (not a necessity but really nice) Future brand acrylic floor finish.

Mix your paint and textile medium together, a 2:1 ratio is good, and then add the floor finish, a 10:1 ratio is plenty. The textile medium makes the paint flexible enough to not crack off of belts and such, and the floor finish, which is an optional item, just adds a dose of durability. Depending on your personal preferences, this is where you would add some water. Too much water and you’ll be painting many coats, which of course, can be a good thing if you want to layer colors for interesting effects, but it is also time consuming. Too little water and the paint will go on thick and densely.

When you’ve finished painting, seal the leather with any leather finish you like EXCEPT for Neat-lac, {Neat-lac is not able to flex and that would defeat the purpose of doing all of the above.) and maintain the leather over time as normal with occasional conditionings. Personally, I like to stay with an acrylic sealer or I will often go with Aussie.

Now, there is an alternate method of adding an additive to your acrylic paint to keep it from cracking. This alternative is less complicated but also less cost effective. That is: just add Tandy Antique Leather Stain Reducer to your acrylic paint in approximately a 3:1 ratio, then paint and finish as above. The down side here though... That product was discontinued in 2007, so finding it for yourself may be rough.

Now, this technique will make the paint stand up to everything the leather can stand up to. That being said, it is useless if you do not take care of your leather. Condition all of your leather products twice a year. Do not leave them in freezing temperatures. Do not leave them in extreme heat. Do not leave them in direct light. Basically, do not expose the leather to anything that you would not want your skin exposed to because the damage you are causing to your leathers is the same with the downside of leather can't heal itself like skin can.