Just tried the leather project kit, here are my before and after pictures.

[b]Yes, kits & written instructions (even with photos!) are useless to me. I always learn best with one-on-one instruction when attempting anything spatial. A good example is tatting. When I was about 4, my maternal G-mama taught me to tat (make lace with a tiny hand shuttle). I picked it up instantly. Then we separated for a number of years, & I didn't have a shuttle, so it fell out of my memory. Eventually I was reminded of it, & wanted to do it again, but I just could not recall how it was done, even though it's very simple! I bought tatting books & a shuttle. Long story short, it just wouldn't "take" in my head again. I wish G-mama were still alive, or that I could find another tatter to show me again! Darn! Uh...no pun intended.... Maggiepie[/b]

I saw your discussion earlier on doing this. The only time I worked in leather was in school and I wasn't very good, so I didn't continue..But I would like to see what you did, so I replied..

Interesting! It looks very nice, I am happy for you! I wish to unwind to make some art projects when I have more time, I am just going to work and getting off work at the moment and it rather hinders creativity! *laughs*

I did leather work for quite a few years. I discovered that the directions aren't always clear. First, when you "wet" the leather, you only moisten it. As I soon found if you follow those instructions you will end up with either a dry piece of leather or one that is horribly soggy. Remember that you can always re-moisten the leather but it takes hours for a soggy piece to dry out. As you work on the leather you will find that if you periodically re-dampen the area that you are working on it will make it easier. What you want to do is your design cutting first, then the tooling around your design. Work from the center out. The leather may stretch a bit (especially if you over moisten it...)When you finish the outline of the design, then you do the stamping of the shading. After that I would do the centers of the flowers and other minor details, like cutting the detail lines in the leaves etc. After doing all of that I would stamp the background in. When doing the background, you don't want to stamp too hard as it will definitely stretch the leather. It sounds like you might not be re-moistening the leather as you work on it. You only want to moisten it enough so it will dampen the top layer of the leather. As for the dying, I would use a fine point brush and then do the outlining around the design and then use a bit larger point brush to do the background. I would even out the dye by using the larger pointed brush with a touch of water to "move" the dye around so it would blend evenly. I usually wouldn't dye the design, but just the background as it would give such a wonderful depth to the finished piece. If you want to do the design, then you would put the dye on the dauber or lambskin and go over it lightly rather than soaking the design. I would go lightly until I reached the color I wanted. I used an old towel to buff the leather after I finished dying and coating the leather. You don't want to dye both sides of the leather as it will cause the dye to be uneven. (The dye will seep from the back to the front) Also, you don't really "POUND" the leather, rather you will tap the tool firmly but rather lightly. Another wonderful product is TAN COAT, which would add a bit of a darker color to the design and even darker to the background. I hope I've helped you some. Leather work is so much fun to do, and to this day I still love the smell of leather. One day I might even buy myself some more tools and start doing it again. If you need more help, feel free to ask....

That's a good project you made. Yes I have tried doing some readily available kit from artwork store and most of the time I had tries figuring out how to assembly the items if the instruction is not that clear or if its very confusing.