Pitt Pounders Leather Guild

 

 

 

 

November 2008

 

            The Paul Burnett Class in Zelienople, PA, was a huge success if you can go by the fun had, techniques & knowledge learned, and all the good looking finished products! Everyone truly enjoyed themselves and walked away with a nice, almost finished piece. (We didn’t have time to finish the background.) The project was a Kestrel Falcon, a small, colorful, bird of prey. Paul brought leather donated by Wickett & Craig for us to use, and as always, this is NICE leather to work with. The paint, donated by Tandy Leather, was their Eco Cova Color. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this paint and good results we all achieved with it. Of course, having a Master Artist tell you when, where and how to use it sure helped! If you were one of the members who got to participate in this class, please bring your Kestrel to this months meeting so that we can all compare and learn from one another. Also, a few photo’s from the class will soon be posted on our website. So be sure to check that out.

            If you’ve ever had the opportunity to take one of Paul’s classes you know that he has a great way of showing/teaching you the principles & techniques that will help you improve your skills and get the most from your leather work. As Paul mentioned at the class, and we’ve mentioned in the newsletter, Paul offers free tutorials on his website. The latest of these is “Understanding and mastering the walking tools.” This is a great resource and I encourage everyone to get this and all of the back issues of his tutorials while they are still available.

            One other note about Paul’s class:  Although it would have been great if a few more folks would have participated, it was well worth everyone’s time & effort to be there. So the question is: Do we want to start to plan another class, taught by one of today’s Master’s, for next spring? If so, who? Do we ask Paul to come back or would you like to learn from someone else? And what is it you would like to see taught? One person told me after the class that they like to see the same thing taught by different people, to see the different techniques used. And for those of you who don’t attend the monthly meetings regularly if at all, but would come to a class, your input is important too. Please email or call me and let me know who and/or what you would like to see.

 

Kevin Cohn

President

412-837-2159

 

Johanna Schroer

Web Master  

 

Chris Kearns

Newsletter Editor

Guild Contact 724-816-3901

 

 

Next meeting:

November 16, 2008

 

Meeting Place:

Harmony-Zelienople United Methodist Church

123 N. Pittsburgh Street

Zelienople, PA 16063

 

What to bring:

Swivel Knife, strop, tracing film, pencil, stylus, 4/5 oz or heavier leather aprox. 5X7, mallet, bevellers, including your pointed bevellers, pear shaders, matting tools and tooling surface.

November Meeting

          This month we will continue to learn about realistic leather carving with our chipmunk pattern. Actually, we will start all  over on our chipmunk because of the techniques learned doing the Kestrel as well as Paul ‘touching up’ the chipmunk pattern while he was here. For those of us who already carved the pattern from last month, consider that practice. Please see the list of what to bring on the front page. And feel free to bring along anything you need that I forgot to mention.

 

Canceled Meetings

            I cringe at the thought of it, but it is getting into that time of year where we may have to cancel a meeting due to weather conditions. Because so many have to drive a good distance to attend each meeting, we will not take any chances when the roads could get bad. If they are calling for bad weather and you aren’t sure if the meeting will be canceled or not, first check your email to see if we sent out a notice, then call me, Chris, at the number listed on the front, or give Joyce Wedge a call at 724-538-5853.

 

December Meeting

            We certainly hope that we don’t have to cancel our December meeting, but we normally do move it up a week so that we aren’t getting to close to the Holiday. Does that sound good, moving it to December 14^th? And will it be a regular meeting or will it be a social with finger food and guests welcome? If you plan on being there, you get to decide.

 

Membership Roster Corrections/Additions:

 

Dennis Schilling

 

Frank Zigon

 

Please add:

David Theobald

Hamilton, Ohio

 

Please welcome our newest member:

Carl Breidenich

Port Huron MI

 

 

Tip Of The Month Brought to you by our friends at Leatherworker.net. Where “Education, Entertainment & Fellowship” is what you will find in the world’s largest community of leatherworkers & saddle makers.

How to make Twisted Fringe

The easiest way I've found to twist fringe is to use Shoe Stretch instead of water, it's really a diluted mixture of rubbing alcohol except Shoe Stretch costs about fifteen dollars a gallon and rubbing alcohol is dirt cheap in the grocery store. Soak your fringe in that instead of water, twist each fringe tight, put your finger on the base of the fringe holding it tight against the bench so you don't pull a weak one off and pull the fringe tight, hold each one for a few seconds and release it, it will relax some but by over twisting it to begin with once it relaxes a little you'll have about what you expect. Just let it dry and it will stay twisted. It's pretty fast this way if your hands don't cramp up you can do a pair of chinks in a little over an hour if you don't weaken. (JRedding)

 

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