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Oscar Saves the Day

At SLC, the love for humorous narrative is as essential to our business as leather! Kevin has always loved telling fanciful stories that highlight how interesting the world could be with a touch of imagination. These days, he doesn’t grace us with as many as he once did, but we got lucky this week. 

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Each week, Kevin personally picks out a Flash Sale item for customers. This week, he decided on an exotic pack that has such wild patterns, he just had to tell a story. Keep reading to see just how a brave little corgi was able to save the world. 

While on vacation in the wilds of Arkansas, Oscar and his owner, Emma, stumbled across a potential disaster for mankind. While sniffing around the local nuclear power generator, Oscar disturbed a large herd of extremely poisonous mutated lizards! Being intelligent, as well as being a natural herder, Oscar realized the danger and quickly scurried around and began herding the rascals toward his owner who was across the valley on top of a hill. 

In a flash, Emma realized what was taking place, and quickly used her cell phone to notify Kevin and Rusty of the need to save mankind. Kevin and Rusty promptly hopped in the SLC helicopter and rushed to the scene to find a very tired Oscar herding the dangerous reptiles in a circular manner. With their Leather Disruptor Stun Ray Guns set to “terminate” they quickly dispatched the venomous critters as they raced past and provided Oscar with a much needed and much deserved rest. 

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Rusty came up with the brilliant idea of skinning the large Reptiles, and after skinning and tanning the hides to their surprise discovered that they had in their possession some of the strangest, uniquely patterned and beautiful lizard skins imaginable!!!! Anxious to make these rare and valuable skins available to leather crafters across the country, they quickly directed the crack marketing team of SLC to offer them to the public at prices that are just too good to pass up!

Now with all of that being said, there’s another story about finding a bunch of these things in part of the warehouse that hadn’t seen the light of day for a couple of years, but it’s not as interesting.

– Kevin

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Do you have pieces of all those beautiful colors on your home page and if so, how do I order it. Also, I make leather earrings, are the colored pieces suitable for hand cutting?

Hello there! Which leather are you referring to? Anything on our website’s homepage should be something we have in stock. Some listings for colorful or patterned leather and suede will mention that some folks use them for jewelry but plenty of things could work! Let us know which leather you’re referring to and we’ll see what we can come up with. 

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I’m new to the leather world and was wondering what kind of stains and dyes to use on what and when. When do I use stain instead of dye and vise-versa?

That’s a pretty broad question!  To make a long story short, if you’re new to this, I’d start with stains. They’re easy to use, give good results, and they’ll make you smarter. 😉 

I’d start with either Hi-Liter, or Goof Proof, and then try some Fiebings Antique Stain.  Once you’ve used those, then move on to dyes.  Stains are very forgiving, dyes are not.

You can also check out this blog post that goes over all of the different ways to color leather. It covers some general tips for each method and videos demonstrations and instructions all in one place! 

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Hi there,first I would like to said thanks for your great work on making helpful videos. I’m beginning doing leather work so my question is how can I make a piece of 12 “x 12” 3,4 or 5 oz veg tan leather solid like a hard board. Is there a specific product that will do it? I want to make a cover for my journal only with veg tan leather,but the natural veg tan bends easily and I saw a nice book with a leather-only cover and the leather was hard like a board.

Making it hard like a board is usually done at the tannery.  But you can make veg tanned leather pretty hard by soaking it in very very hot water, and then drying it in hot sun.  you can repeat if necessary.  Drying in an oven also will work, but that becomes very tricky…

If you’d like to stamp or carve the leather, you’ll want do that part first. After you’re done, you’ll need to let it dry.  Then use the hot water.  I think that you need to experiment first, and I think that you’ll need to allow for some shrinkage.  You may have to try drying it in an oven, but you’ll have to use low temperature, and watch the results carefully, otherwise the leather can become brittle.

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How to Use SLC’s CarveRite Craftaids

We are so excited to finally announce the launch of our CarveRite craftaids! These poly patterns will make an impression on your leather and your customers. These handy aids make hand tooling your work a breeze with raised designs that work like a pattern in a convenient two-step process! Durable and reusable, they’re a crafter’s dream and now available from Springfield Leather Company. 

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Get your Billfold Pattern CarveRite here 

Today, we’ll be showing you the quick and easy process of getting started, plus all of the things you’ll need to get your finished product. Each CarveRite comes with a page of instructions very similar to the ones you see here. 

Supplies: 

Instructions

Step 1 – Wet the leather 

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Lay your leather flat and use a spray bottle to moisten the surface. The amount of water you’ll need to add depends on your leather among other things. It takes some practice to figure out how much water you need – just be careful to not get the leather soaking wet! You can always add more water later. 

Step 2 – Line up the CarveRite

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Place the CarveRite on your leather ensuring that the textured side is facing the leather. 

Step 3 – Make an impression 

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Rub a modeling spoon or another burnishing tool evenly across the back of the CarveRite, making sure to cover all of the design’s lines. This will press the design into the leather. 

Step 4 – Trace Your Design

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Remove the CarveRite and use your swivel knife to carve the lines imprinted on the leather. Finish up with standard tooling magic methods. 

You can get your own CarveRite at our website. You can click the links above to get all of the products you need at SLC. To learn more about tooling, you can browse what we have on the blog or check out tooling videos on our YouTube Channel.