Recent commissions and a round up.

  I have been so busy something has had to give and that has been my blog. I have been tweeting and facebooking but not blogging. So to rectify that situation here is a round up of recent commissions and events.

  I shook hands on agreement to retain my workshop in Ashby de la Zouch. That has given me a little more security. A small but steady stream of handbag repairs and bag strap alterations keep popping up. I had a little flurry of shoes repairs.

One of my customer's competes in full contact Medieval "sport" i.e. clouting each other with assorted metal weapons.. He wore out the soles on his boots. I was asked to resole them but also to add treads. Whilst not historically accurate you need to have a secure foot whilst beating the b'jesus out of the opponent. His son likes the medieval scene so I was asked to repair a pair the shoes for him. The shoes are so nice and I had such a lot of feedback on social media about them I am working on making some from scratch. When that will be I have no idea at the moment!

Mark as Savage Opress

A commission I competed sometime ago came back in to be "distressed". The costume is Savage Opress, a character from the Star Wars Alternative Universe franchise. I had to dismantle the eighteen pieces of the armour to get all the hidden areas and backs of the plates. It took about ten coats of paint to get the base down. Then another ten passes, in different colours, to create the mottling random enough. I put it all back together again and another couple of passes to get the overall look a bit more uniform, if random can be uniform. I delivered the outfit back the Mark at the Colletomania at Milton Keynes. My good lady came with me and was delighted to see the actor, Paul McGann, in the flesh. It made her day. Mark's day was made with the suit. He had to try it on. I have to say I am pleased with the result although I was not at all certain fo the outcome whilst executing it.

   Another Star war piece was Chewbacca's Bag. The customer had some very definite ideas about what they wanted. I am happy to report the finished article exceeded his expectation so now I have another commission from him....which is nice.

Boba Fett's ammo belt

 I got a photo from a customer who has now finished his costume. Here is Adam sporting his Diamond Awl ammo belt.

Steampunk ditty bag

 I was given carte blanche by a customer to create a small ditty bag to go with her Steampunk outfit. The only guide was that there needed to be somewhere for her lipstick. So with that in mind I made a wet formed bag, finished in contrasting thread AND a small pocket on the front for the lippy.

E-11 Blaster Holster

The E-11 blaster holsters continue to be a steady seller. I got some feedback on them when I crewed for the 99th Garrison at the Nottingham Car Show on the 1st June. The feedback was that they were expensive but really well made. It seems the holsters have become aspirational buys for the well kitted Stormtrooper. I am glad I held my ground on the price. I knew they were worth the expense.

Click HERE to see what he good people at the 99th Garrison do. The collection at the Nottingham Car Show raised about £280 for Dreamflight. Click HERE to see what Dreamflight do.

Crazy busy for Easter

   Getting the launch of the training session at the Mill organised has been a great deal of effort. I think I am paying for it. Work is coming in but I still have a back log. One of my commissions has caused me a great deal of aggravation but I believe I have resolved the issue. The work has been varied the last month. The Star Wars character piece, Darth Revan armour bridge, a strap for a Steam punk purse, a strap for a Radley bag, a repair to a pair of boot for a medieval reenactor and an order for a pair of slippers.

  Easter Bank Holiday weekend in the UK approaches. I have my pitch arranged for at Papplewick Pumping Station steaming days which are Sunday and Monday 20/21st April from 10.30am. Papplewick is an amazing place. High Victorian engineering at its best.

  The engines will be steaming and there will be a couple of traders besides myself, a chap doing some wood turning and not least Dave the Blacksmith bashing out Unicorn shoes. I think the model boat club will be there too. There is something for everyone in the family.

Click HERE for their website. See you there?

Woodend Mill Studios Spring Exhibition

   I has been a bit hectic but we are pretty much there. Jason is covered head to foot in paint and dust but we are ready to take our part in the Woodend Mill Open day and Spring exhibition.



The open day is on Saturday and Sunday 5th-6th April from 10am until 5pm.
Woodend Mill, Manchester Road, Mossley, OL5 9RR

 visit https://www.facebook.com/woodendstudios for details.

   Besides the resident artists opening their studios there will be craft stalls, children's activities and workshops. Lots to do for all ages. For my part I will be making a bag over the weekend in the workshop and chatting to folks about what I do and how you can learn it too. Jason will hopefully scrubbed the paint off and will be in Open Day's reception area manning our stall.

  The tea shop "the Flying Teapot" will be open for a respite from all the heady excitement.

Oh, I nearly forgot.....admission is FREE! 

New website, New venture

   Regular readers will have spotted that the blog has been missing for a few weeks. Well........a lot has been going on. I hooked up with a digital marketer, Jason, who is mad about leather work. We have formed a joint venture to provide leather skills courses. We call it Diamond Awl Workshops. Click HERE for the website. The courses will be run from Woodend Mill near Saddleworth in Lancashire. We have had a lot of support from the Mill owners and artists in the mill as well. Jason has just about fitted out the workshop.

The courses are one or two day duration. The one day courses start with small pieces that contains many basic skills. The longer courses are various bags. The bag are still pretty basic in design but they extend the basic skills and introduce design of the manufacturing process.


 A new website was required to go with the Workshop. Jason worked his magic, behold a super website Click HERE for the website.

Thank you to everyone for their support and encouragement.

New links

   Whilst you are on this website take a few minutes to look at my new friends on the "Links" page. They have lovely stuff.

Click HERE for the Links page 

Greyhound collar

   This chap comes up to me at the Papplewick Pumping Station Christmas Fair with two dog collars. The dark one had been well used and the red one is light in construction and relatively new. The chaps asks me if I can de-construct the red collar and fix it to the bigger brown collar. The red collar has sentimental value to the chap. The red collar is about the same width and a little shorter than the brown collar which is stoutly made from two thickness of leather. The brown collar has seen better days especially the billet. That is the bit that has the holes in it and goes through the buckle. I give it a good clean with saddle soap and rub in some Neatsfoot oil. The chap had already said he would like the red collar tapered so it was a straight forward, if tricky, to mark out the red collar for cutting. Once I cut down the red collar I bevelled the edges then dyed them then burnished them.

   I carefully line the up the two collars and made sure the motif on the red collar was the right way up. The collar is worn as a tight circle so one has to be careful when setting the pieces out for stitching. When completed the red collar will have a greater radius than the inner brown collar so the stitching has to be done with the curve of the collar. If the pieces are stitched together on the flat the stitching will be strained when the collar is bent to be buckled up. It is not terribly difficult. It just needs close attention. I used 18/3 linen thread and gave the thread a good waxing before beginning stitching. The wax lubricates the thread making the stitching a smoother process. When the stitching is complete I gave the stitching a vigorous buffing, with a soft cloth, which pushes the wax and stitches into the the stitching holes and gives the exposed thread a lustrous shine. One of the last jobs was to burnish the edge of the old brown collar. The leather was in poor condition but I managed to get a fine finish. The very last job was to cut back the billet as agreed, then redo the stitching round the billet end. And that really was the end.    

Happy New Year

  The New Year fast approaches full of promise and excitement. I hope the New Year bring you health and happiness. Thank you all my friends, customers and supporters for a providing encouragement in starting my new venture. The truth is I did not have much choice in the matter however your encouragement has been invaluable. I hope 2014 will be at least as interesting as 2013.

      I wish you all a peaceful and prosperous New Year