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Cow TalesCow TalesCow Tales September 2015

Presidents September Introduction

Next meeting will be September 12th 1:00 pm at Tandy Leather Store, in the Training Room upstairs. The store is located at 1900 SE Loop 820, Fort Worth, Texas 76140.

Hi everyone!

First, congratulations are in order to Aaron Heizer. In Jim Linnell’s words, “An awesome workshop was held at Elktracks Studio. Aaron Heizer led an enthusiastic group of leather workers through the making of a custom holster. Everyone had success. Watch for more workshops like this in the future.”

On a different note, as most of you know we are at the time of year that the IFOLG Show is very prominent in our minds. Bob Alexander and Pat Spencer along with others have been working very hard on getting this year’s display ready. AND GUESS WHAT! THE CORE PORTION OF THE DISPLAY IS DONE! What’s left? The member item portion!

At this month’s guild meeting we will be putting the display together and working at positioning the guild member items on the display. Then we will all have the opportunity to see the completed display before it is disassembled to pack for sending to Fort Wayne. I have heard lots of good comments from Bob and Pat so I too am looking forward to seeing the completed project.

Also, if you are planning to enter competition items and are sending them through the guild they must be to Darla or the guild officers at this meeting.

We will be holding an abbreviated business meeting this month in order to have ample time to work on the assembly and positioning of member items. This should be a fun filled meeting. We will be having a special fundraiser this month with one of Clay Millers Swivel Knives as the prize. If you were at last month’s meeting you saw this beautiful swivel knife. Good luck to everyone this would be a real treasure to own.

If time allows there will be a demonstration by Pat Spencer, but only if time allows.

In closing, Darla sent out an email recently about LSLC shirts and patches. If you have plans to acquire any of these items you need to commit to Pat Spencer. This effort to acquire LSLC shirts and patches will close soon.

Finally, if you subscribe to Leather Crafters and Saddlers Journal or re-subscribe please let them know that you belong to Lone Star Leather Crafters guild. They provide a commission to us that always helps.

Thanks everyone, look forward to seeing you on the 12th,

Cartie

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September 12th— Monthly Meeting

1:00 PM at Tandy Leather

In the training room

1900 SE Loop 820

Fort Worth, Texas 76140

We will be working on the final touches to the guild display art the meeting.

September 28th— If you have an entry you would like to send to the

IFOLG Competition in Fort Wayne, we can get it

there safe and sound by one of our guild members.

Have your piece completed, packed securely in a

Box, with your completed entry form and your entry fees ready NO LATER than September 28th. If you

miss the date, you’ll miss the train.

Contact Darla Sellers if you want to your item taken

to Fort Wayne.

October 2nd and 3rd—27th Annual Boot and Saddlemaker Trade Show

The MPEC

100 Fifth St.

Wichita Falls, Texas

October 16th through 18th

Classes start on October 14th

Annual IFOLG Show in Fort Wayne Illinois

Guild News

A Note From the Board of Directors

The Guild is going to an all digital distribution of newsletters and/or

correspondence due to rising cost of mailing out a hard copy.

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Our Guild The Lone Star Leather Crafters Guild was established in Fort

Worth, Texas in 1986 by a small group of leather enthusiasts.

Today, our Guild has grown into an international organization with members in the

United States, Austria, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Taiwan, and The

Netherlands. Our skill levels range from novice to master, hobbyist to professional,

with all members willing to share their ideas and skills with other leather enthusiasts.

If you are interested in learning more about our Guild, we invite you to visit a

monthly meeting which is held on the second Tuesday of the month. Membership in

the Guild is $20 for a single membership, $30 for a family membership, or a one-

time $150 for a lifetime membership (U.S. funds). Dues are payable in January.

All submissions for the Newsletter should be submitted to the address or e-mail to

your left. Submissions must be accompanied by the name and address of writer and

are subject to editing for clarity and/or length. The deadline for submission is the

25th of the month prior to publication.

2014 ~ 15 Officers

President Cartie Yzquierdo

1st Vice President Bob Alexander

2nd Vice President Pat Spencer

Secretary ~Treasurer Darla Sellers

Activities Tobin Tucker

Lone Star Leather Crafters

P.O. Box 122252

Fort Worth, TX 76121-2252

www.lonestarleathercraft.org

Email contact: djstx@flash.net

Leather Stamps by Clay Contact Information

Email: cdmiller@msn.com

Phone 254-654-4906

If you would like to order a Guild shirt with the Lone Star Logo, there will be an email coming soon with descriptions of the shirts available and the costs involved.

Pictured to the left is Cartie, our President with his new shirt.

As soon as you decide on the shirt or shirts you want, please contact Pat Spencer as soon as possible.

Pat’s email is pdoneit@prodigy.net

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222 Blackburn St

Rhinelander, WI 54501 USA

Tel: 715-362-5393 Fax: 715-362-5391

e-mail: info@leathercraftersjournal.com

Complimentary Guild Subscription Program

The Leather Crafters & Saddlers Journal and the International Federation of Leather Guilds have come

together to offer a special complimentary subscription program to all guilds to help bolster guild membership. The

program is made of two parts as follows.

Part 1

New members to your guild are eligible for one free ½ year (3 issues) subscription to the Leather Crafters &

Saddlers Journal, compliments of the Journal. A guild officer is asked to be responsible for submitting the names and

addresses of these new members on a regular basis to the Leather Crafters & Saddlers Journal, attention Brian (see

mailing address or e-mail address above).

Part 2

When a current member either subscribes for the first time or renews their subscription to the Journal, $6.00

for each year of the subscription will be paid to the respective guild from the Journal. A one-year subscription will

produce a $6.00 payment and a two-year subscription will produce a $12.00 payment to the guild. The member

needs to make the Journal aware that the guild is to receive credit for the new or renewed subscription. The Journal

can provide preen coded flyers to the guild which, when used by the members, will ensure that proper credit will be

given to the guild.

If the guild is a member of the International Federation of Leather Guilds, the IFoLG will also receive $6.00 for

each year of the paid subscription (for new subscriptions only).

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Brian Stelzel at the Leather Crafters & Saddlers Journal

at 715-362-5393. Thank you for your interest in this program.

Sincerely,

Brian Stelzel

Circulation Manager

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Just a few of the finished holsters

Aaron’s holster

Aaron Heizer Holster Class

Fifteen people assembled at Jim Linnell’s

Elk Tracks Studio to learn how to make pancake holsters for various sizes of handguns. Aaron did

a great job of walking everyone through pattern making and complete assembly. Tobin moved his Cobra sewing machine to Jim’s and so the class

was able to complete the holsters.

A big thanks to Aaron for a job well done.

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A Leathercraft Guild Pioneer Louis C. Roth

On a normal day in the mid 1940’s in the Los Angeles, California area something special began. Louis Roth, an accomplished furniture business owner and designer, was taking his

son to a hobby store for some supplies for copper tooling. While in the store Louis became fascinated by a rack of beautiful looking tools. He asked the store manager, James Gick, what these tools were used for. He was informed that they were used to decorate leather, he

then showed Louis some examples of carved leather. Louis was so fascinated that he purchased several tools and some leather without any direction on how to use them. Louis did not ask questions about how to prepare the leather, so he encountered some initial

disappointment. He returned to the store where James Gick informed him that the leather needed to be moistened prior to carving, Louis later took a class on basic leather carving at

the store. This was his initiation into leathercraft. His first class was taught by Al Shelton and later another teacher Dr. Mathies. With his background in architecture and furniture design Louis soon found that he could draw patterns for leather that other students could

not. The other students would often ask if he would draw patterns of animals and floral for them. Louis was a quick learner and soon was asked by the store manager, James Gick, to

take over teaching the class. Louis was always looking for ways to improve on how things were done. During the class

time he would analyze the process with the intention of improving and making things easier and faster to accomplish. This is common practice to most of us, but Louis and later this group of students took this to a whole new level. One step that he always noticed was the

amount of time needed to transfer the pattern directly to the leather. Louis knew about tapoffs but figured that there was a simpler way. While working on another project, a horse

head with floral trimming on a copper engraving project Louis Roth created a by-product, a plastic sheet with a raised pattern. He quickly realized that this would be a great aid to his students in transferring pattern designs to leather. Louis showed this technique to a few

people. When Dick McGahen saw the template he quickly recognized the potential profit possibilities and suggested that a group form a corporation. Louis Roth, Jim Gick, Joey Smith, Dick McGahen and Al Stohlman formed this corporation and started making these

templates, this was around 1947. Did you guess, this was the birth of “Craftaids”?

This core group of students at the hobby store evolved and became a close group of friends who would regularly get together and discuss their leathercraft hobby. From this group

other leather products evolved, but that is for future writings. This same core group went on

to start the “Leathercraft Guild” about which I recently wrote.

In reading about these individuals it has fascinated me how what starts with fascination

about a hobby that is shared by friends can evolve into 1500 member guild with simply outstanding accomplishments. I can only hope that today, we who are captivated by this

craft/art form can leave a modest mark in history, as well as how we can find ways to share

the craft/art form with other leather workers.

Cartie

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AUGUST Guild Meeting Our first meeting at the Tandy Flagship Store

in Fort Worth

Here is what the Tandy Classroom looks

like before and after Lone Star invades

it.

Great job on the belt Trevor

Bruce Coonrod’s completed Robb Barr Indian

Head carving from Jim Linnell’s class

Billy Coonrod shows a completed buffalo clock, also from one of Jim Linnell’s classes.

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August Guild Meeting

Billy’s completed Robb Barr carving from Jim’s class Red’s carving of a Jim Linnell pattern

Have you ever wondered how some people get their folios to fold flat, and stay closed? Then how the same piece will stay open? In the first of TWO demos at the guild meeting, Cartie showed us how to use a gouge and French edger to remove material so the piece will open and close with ease.

Watching the demo on the big screen

First mark the center

Using a U gouge, cut along the center line and on both sides

French edger

Remove the material between the gouges

REMEMBER

Keep your tools sharp, and before

you start,

practice, practice.

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August Guild Meeting

In the second demo of the meeting, George Hurst gave everyone a detailed explanation of the use of the Tandy water based dyes, paints and antiquing materials. He also passed along a few tricks he has learned.

GREAT DEMOS BY CARTIE AND GEORGE

These are some examples of different techniques used to get varied effects on your tooled pieces.

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During George’s demo, we learned a

really great trick. In the photo on the left,

you can see that the grains on the wheat

stalk have been painted white and the

paint is outside the actual shape of the

grain. In the photo on the right, which is

the same piece, you can see that each

grain is very well defined. As George

applied the white paint, he did not go

outside the edges left by the tool. The

piece had been resisted with Super

Sheen and allowed to dry before the

demo. He then applied an antique to the

piece which stayed in the tool edge

impressions, defining the grain and

hiding the excess paint, defining the grain

and making all the stems come to life.

The start Antique applied Antique removed

The start Antique applied

Antique removed

Antique being removed

A closer look

Antiquing a couple

of belts to high light

the tooling .

All the time our demos are

going on, there’s a professional camera focused

on the work table. This allows us to see what’s happening on

the big screen TV.

The new Tandy class room is a

fantastic place to meet.

August Guild Meeting

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PATTERN PACK INTRODUCED

The Lone Star Leathercrafters of Fort Worth, Texas is proud to announce the publication of their first of a series of pattern packs for leathercraft. This 18 page pack features patterns for figure carving as well as floral carving. For each design a carving and tracing patterns are shown. These patterns have been created by Jim Linnell, Kathy Flanagan, George Hurst, Don McCown, Bill Gomer and Gene Kirkendall. They include patterns for album covers, billfolds, checkbooks and an assortment of

corner patterns.

There will be a limited number of packs available for our members at our meeting. We have not yet established and retail price, however we can offer

them to our membership for an introductory price of $8.00 each.

PATTERN PACK INTRODUCED

The Lone Star Leathercrafters of Fort Worth, Texas is proud to announce the publication of their first of a series of pattern packs for leathercraft. This 18 page pack features patterns for figure carving as well as floral carving. For each design a carving and tracing patterns are shown. These patterns have been created by Jim Linnell, Kathy Flanagan, George Hurst, Don McCown, Bill Gomer and Gene Kirkendall. They include patterns for album covers, billfolds, checkbooks and an assortment of

corner patterns.

There will be a limited number of packs available for our members at our meeting. We have not yet established and retail price, however we can offer

them to our membership for an introductory price of $8.00 each.

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WEBSITE www.hoosierleatherguild.com/old-fort-leatherfest

Complete information about the show including,

competition rules and entry forms.

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Here’s a few last photographs around the edges.

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