Pitt Pounders Leather Guild
October
2008
PAUL BURNETT
CLASS IN ZELIENOPLE, PA
As
we announced last month, Al Stohlman Award winner, accomplished artist &
excellent teacher, Paul Burnett is coming to Zelienople to teach and all day
class on how to carve and paint a Kestrel Falcon. The date is Saturday, October
25th, from 9:00 -5:00,(or as long as it takes). The cost of $70 also
includes detailed written instructions. There is a limit of 12 people for the
class and you do not need to be a member of this guild to participate. However,
because we don’t get this type of opportunity often, and because we don’t want
any of our members to miss out just because money is a little tight right now,
the guild is willing to pay up to half of the tuition for any of its members.
We are asking that if you can pay the full tuition, please do, so that perhaps
we can bring other Masters in to teach a class. But PLEASE don’t miss this
chance to spend a day with some great people while expanding your skills &
talents. If you are interested and/or have any questions, just give me a call
between 5:00 am & 7:00 pm at 724-816-3901, Chris. A list of tools &
supplies to bring can be found at end of newsletter.
The International Federation Of Leather Guilds Annual Show has come and gone, and it turned out to be as good as
expected. The best part about these shows, to me anyway, is the people that you
get to spend time with. Whether it is someone that you have know for a long
time but only get to see at these type of shows, someone you just met, someone
you’ve “know” via the internet and are just meeting in person for the first
time or even one of the Master Craftsmen that you have the pleasure of taking a
class from, the vast majority of these folks are happily enjoying themselves
and are willing to talk and/or help you in anyway that they can. And this show
was no exception.
And even though the
items that we normally put on our guild display were temporarily missing,
thanks to Dave Briggs & Jeff Carnes, our display looked rather good. Thanks
to all of you who answered the call for display items. You can pick up your
items at this months meeting.
Besides a nice
display, our guild had a good showing as well. There were at least ten Pitt Pounders
there, many with Spouses and/or family. Included in that number was our newest
member: Nancy Shaffer and her husband Dave from Adrian, PA. Also
included was long time member who hasn’t been able to attend meetings for
years, Kathy Johnson. It was great to spend time with each and everyone there!
I do hope that everyone left the show as happy as I was that they made the
trip, and as excited to get to work on their next leather project!
As I write this I haven’t yet seen a published
list of the competition winners. So we’ll all have to wait until it’s published
for the complete results. To whet your whistle I’ll let you know that members
of our guild won all types of ribbons, including a number of 1st place,
Best of Category and a Best of Division. Way to go Folks!
See pics from the show here:
Competition Room
Guild Displays
Kevin Cohn
President
412-837-2159
Johanna Schroer
Web Master
Chris
Kearns
Guild Contact 724-816-3901
Next meeting:
October 19, 2008
What to bring:
Swivel Knife, strop, tracing film,
pencil, stylus, 4/5 oz or heavier leather aprox. 5X7
New
look.
With our longtime friend, funnyman and
newsletter editor, Gary Draper, stepping down and moving on to other passions,
we will be going through some changes as we adjust. Please give us your
feedback. We would like this newsletter to be both informative and easy to
read. We would also love it if it contained your input in the form of patterns,
tips, ideas or just stories of your experiences. Just send whatever you have to
Chris & Johanna! Thanks!
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.
Making Tap Offs
There's a method that I
learned from a Chan
Geer video for designs you
intend to use over
and over. It also saves time
in the long run. It's
called making a
"tap-off". Basically you carve
your design as a mirror image
(do not tool it,
just carve it), let it dry,
and then use something
like super sheen or other
sealer/water proofer
on both sides of the leather.
When it dries it will
be quite hard and
water-proof. You can then
just turn it carved side down
onto your cased
leather for the new project,
and tap it all over
with a flat hammer, and your
design transfers
over onto your cased leather.
It transfers in
the correct orientation, and
saves you the time
of tracing your pattern over
and over.
It transfers your design as
raised lines, which you carve as if they were traced on.
Pretty neat idea for those of
you doing the same stuff repeatedly. (Hilly)
A letter from Kevin:
Hello Fellow leather guild
members,
As your President I
want to remind you all about your dues, if you have forgotten about them.
I thought we had a
very nice meeting. It was good to get back to leather again. Everyone there
told me that they had a very good summer.
I want to take this
time again to thank Mr. Dave Briggs for all he has done for us lately: Taking
over 34 leather items to the Portage County Fair in Ohio, where there were
quite a few of us who won 1st & 2nd place ribbons,
which I thought was great. Plus taking our guild display to the IFOLG show and
making sure it was set up and looking good. Thanks Dave for all of your hard
work in helping your guild members and for promoting our craf!
Take care, your friend,
Kevin
What to bring to Paul’s class: They will need to bring a
hand towel, mallet, swivel knife, modeling spoons, a fine hairblade, bevelers
(fine checked) and 898-900 matting tools. They should have a #3, 5 and #8
good quality round brushes: Lowe-Cornell 7000 series or Royal RG250
series or
others comparable in quality. I will have some with me for sale but not
sure of price just yet? They will probably be cheaper than what they can find
at the typical craft store ie. Michaels etc. I have made arrangements for
leather and paint, so I will furnish them along with paint dishes and brush
baths. I may be a good idea to have a few pieces of scrap
leather from
practice or such. There is also a modified tool that would be required which it
would probably be best that I modify them and bring them with me and charge an
extra $10 or $12 dollars (not sure just how much the
Craft tool will cost that I will have to order to modify)
Membership
Roster
Included in this
newsletter is our latest membership roster. Please look over it for any
corrections that need to be made, then let us know. We apologize in advance for
all omissions & mistakes.
Portage County Fair results:
Joyce Wedge: 1- Red
Chris Kearns: 1- Red
Kevin Cohn: 3 – Blues, 1 – Red
Lois Silvis: 3 – Blues, 1 – Red
Debra Collins: 1 – Blue
Shannon Hildebrand: 1 – Blue
Dave Briggs: 3 – Blues, Best In
Show
Ron Parison: 2 - Blues
Congratulations to
all!
Upcoming Events:
Extreme Leather Workshop
Asheville, NC March 27 – 29, 2009The Extreme Leather Workshop in Asheville, N.C., will
once again host Master Leather Carving Instructors, each teaching 3 days of in
depth classes on Custom Tooled Leather. Al Stohlman Award Winning Instructors;
Chan Geer, George Hurst, Bob Beard, Bill Gomer & Pete Gorrell will instruct
Beginning to Advance Leather Carving Techniques such as Swivel Knife Control,
Basket / Geometric Stamping, Sheridan Style Carving, Pattern Drawing and
Layout, Embossing, Two Tone Lacing, Filigree & Leather Coloring.
Skills learned during this Leather Workshop can be used on any Tooled Leather
project from Custom Leather Wallets / Checkbooks, Notebooks, Embossed Floral
& Scenery, to Custom Hand Tooled Saddles & Holsters. All
classes are $190.00. That is only $63.33 per day for Hands On, Personalized, Custom
Tooled Leather Instruction.
“Back At The Ranch” Spring Show
hosted by Prairie States Leather Guild, April 24-26, 2009
“Ride Your Hide” to Indianapolis
for the 43rd Annual International Federation Of Leather Guilds Show,
September 23-27, 2009
One, two & three day
seminars will be offered Wednesday thru Friday. Half day & mini workshops
will be offered Friday & Saturday. With a schedule chock full of award
winning Master Craftsmen and Craftswomen, we are asking each Master to offer
something that hasn’t been offered at other locations. Much more information to
come!
You can always check the
calendar at leatherworker.net
for more events and classes.
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