REGULAR GUILD MEETINGS; NORMALLY
HELD THE THIRD SUNDAY OF EACH MONTH 1:00PMTO4:00PM
SEE OUR WEB PAGE FOR
DIRECTIONS, PITTPOUNDERS.ORG
Greetings Folks,
A few weekends ago my
wife, Jennifer, went on a retreat with the youth from our church. As any good
husband would, I had my to-do list all made and ready to go. Friday night when
I got home form work, right after a quick dinner I jumped right into it. After
completing two of the task, I was putting some tools away when I walked past my
leather workshop. Feeling good about what I had accomplished so far, and
knowing that I did have some leather time on my list, I was quick to pick up
that project that I had started years ago but never finished. Before I knew it,
it was hours past my bedtime!
Saturday morning I
was up early and quick to go at the to-do list again. By lunch time I scratched
a few more items off. Then I thought I would spend just a bit of time doing
leather before I got back to the important stuff. The project had been going
well so far, especially considering that I was trying some old techniques in a
new way. That is, it WAS going well until I got to this one piece. Again I
wanted to try something a little different. Something that I believe would be
an improvement. But the first attempt didnt work. Neither did the second or
third. Dinner time had come and gone, so had the day.
When was the last
time you got so caught up in your project that you forgot all about everything
else? Isnt it amazing how time can fly by when we are totally engrossed in
what we are working on? And yet when we are done, most of the time, we feel
more relaxed. Perhaps even energized and satisfied with what we have been able
to accomplish. Weve all been there, right? Isnt that a big part of why we
work with leather?
Folks, this year our
guild has two great opportunities to share that enjoyment and satisfaction that
we get from working with leather, with countless others, both young and old.
First there is the Three Rivers Arts Festival. This eighteen-day event
attracted over 500,000 people last year. We will be there Friday Sunday, June
9-11, demonstrating, sharing and teaching in a tent provided by the Arts
Festival. WE NEED YOUR HELP! The show hours are 12:00noon
-9:00pm each day. ANY help
that you can give will be greatly appreciated! For those of you whohave
to travel a ways to get to Pittsburgh,
perhaps one of us locals could put you up for the night. Please do consider
giving of your time, even if you dont feel like you have a lot of
knowledge/talent to share. If you have a love for working with leather, share
that.
Of course the second
great opportunity we have this year is the co-hosting of the International
Federation of Leather Guilds Annual Show. Besides attracting up to several
hundred leatherworkers and numerous vendors, if we get the word out, we could
also have hundreds of folks checking us out just to see what working with
leather is all about! And once we get them there, we need to be ready to show
them! Again, WE NEED YOUR HELP! Here are just a few of the areas where we still
need help:
Raffle table Chairman & workers, entry check-in, entry
photographer, pie & cider social, show check-in, hospitality room, judges,
and demonstrators.
You can check out
last months newsletter or go to our website for more info on areas where you
can help. Or just call me and we can see where your talents can be used the in
the best way! And let me say Thank You in advance.
Thanks also to Carol
Higgins for the fine job she did in lining up a terrific group of Seminars
& Mini Workshops. If any of these whet your appetite, make sure you sign up
for them early. Some have size limits and all are on a first come, first serve
basis. Applications can be found on our website and can also be gotten at the
meeting.
SEMINARS:
October 11th 12th, 2006
Classes will be held each day from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Edd Lucas Box/Presentation Cases
Frank Zaharek, Jr. The 2-Shews Experience
MINI WORKSHOPS:
Friday, October 13th from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
1.Paul Burnett
Mastery of the Swivel Knife
2.Steve Derricott
Four Strand Braided Bracelet with two different knots
3.Dale Grabowski
Leather Covered Picture Frame
Saturday,
October 14th from 8:00 a.m.
to 12:00noon
1.Jim Linnell
Introduction to Leather Carving
2.Jeff Mosby Fine
Tune your Floral Carving
3.Allan Scheiderer
Creative Stamping
Saturday,
October 14th from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
1.Charles Crenshaw
Make 12 Bowl with 6 Bottom
2.George Hurst
Carving Oak Leaves
3.Ron Ross Tally
Book Folder
Just two other things I need
to mention. First, dont forget about the Anything Goes II show being hosted
by the Calumet Area Leathercrafters, April 28-30, in Michigan CityIndiana.
If you need more info you can call me or the show Chairperson Monica Nibbe at
219-963-1548. Secondly, because we will be participating in the Three Rivers
Arts Festival this year, our picnic with the good folks from the Buckeye
Leather Guild will be a little later in the year. We will keep you posted as
plans are made.
Folks, I hope to see you at
the meeting this month, but if you cant make it, please give me a call or drop
me a line. Let me know what you are up to and lets talk about what you can do
to help your guild. Thanks!
Your Friend,
Christopher
Kevins
Column
The
turn out at our March meeting was substantial, but if you were not there you
were truly missed some great bargains from Dave.He brought with him a large selection of
tools and leather remnants. Also, he shared with us his knowledge of craft show
experience.He told us that he does at
least 12 craft shows a year and setting up a booth can be a time consuming
ordeal.He expressed concern regarding
after setting up your crafts there is always the possibility of theft.You almost need eyes behind your head to
ward off non buying customers, but if we remain cautious and keep our eyes
open there should be no problems.Also, he
indicated that he is very particular on what type of shows he participates in.He told us that he refuses to do any flea
markets.We appreciate his advice and as
always when he joins us at a meeting he keeps us entertained.
Speaking
of craft shows, we also discussed the Art Festival this July in downtown Pittsburgh.Chris feels we need at least 4 people a day
to work the booth.We are hoping for
some more volunteers, dont forget as we discussed before, this is a great
opportunity to bring in new blood to our Guild.We are hoping for a great turn out and this is our chance to show our
talents and share what we know.
Hope
to see you all at the April meeting we are looking forward to your comments and
concerns and as always open for suggestions too.
Thanks
you,
Kevin
Cohn,
GUILDVICE
PRESIDENT
April
2006 Class
This month we will continue to
work on the small purse we started a couple months ago.We will be working on tooling the purse using
one of the patterns shown in the Tandy book, Creating Nature Tand Designs.
To do this work, you will need
the normal tools and items used for stamping, and you will need the following
specific craftools:V707; P368; C431;
S348.You will also need a set of dividers
or some other item to scribe a guideline around the edge of the leather, something
to trace an outline on the leather to cut the shape, and a cutting board and
something to cut the leather.We will be
practicing on a couple pieces of leather approximately 3 x 5.This will provide enough leather to cut the
outline of the purse flap for you to practice.Save these practice pieces, because we can use them at the next meeting
to practice the block dyeing technique before we try it on the actual
purse.It is best if you can cut the
practice pieces from the same piece of leather you will use for the actual
purse to see how the leather takes the dye.
