Anybody know where to find white leather?

[Cuha]

Would anyone know where I could find a large sheet of white leather in Australia for fairly cheap?

I need alot of it for a scabbard i'm working on.

Any help will be appreciated. :)

[waenlotien]

Have you tried going to a upholsteror? or maybe even a furniture making business?
I don't know what you have down under, but that would be a good place to start.

[Christophe of Grey]

Cuha,
Most leather suppliers will have white leather. It's usually chrome tanned but for a scabbard that's OK. There is a white leather dye on the market but I have yet to find one that really makes the leather white - like nurses shoes. You could, of course, use white acrylic house paint. For a non-bending project such as a scabbard that would work. Unfortunately over time, though, it will begin to crack and peel. Be sure you put a final over coat on your project so the white won't wear off on your clothing.

[iggyp]

Try ebay, very good source for all sorts of leather colors.

[VikingLeather]

I have several white hides of white leather. If you want the chrome tanned white, I can sell you that, but it is not a bright white. The white, white leather is a bit more expensive in that most of the manufacturers have stopped making the white pigments, damn EPA. If you are interested in purchasing enough leather to do your scabbard, give me a shout and I will try to help you out. Email is sales@vikingleathercrafts.com

[Christophe of Grey]

VikingLeather,
Liked your comment about white leather and the EPA. My wife does illumination. Most pigments in period were based on or had lead in them. Illuminators typically "tipped" their brushes by licking them. My wife and I agree that this "tipping" method is probably the cause for some of the designs one sees on illuminated manuscripts (mostly creatures et al in the margins).

[VikingLeather]

Christophe,

Looks like this is your specialty. Mine too. I read through several of the posts and it looks like you are the go to guy in this forum. Great work. I like to see folks trying their hand at the leather arts. It is a craft that is trying to make a comeback I hope. I find it both enjoyable and relaxing.

VikingLeather

[Christophe of Grey]

VikingLeather,
Thanks for the compliments. I find leather working to be very satisfying. It is my goal, when I make things for other folks, for them to actually use the item. That brings me the greatest pleasure.

Thanks again,

[Firebow]

Christophe and Viking,

Nice to see leatherworking making a come-back isnt it? :-) I also do a bit of leatherwork, tho perhaps not as much as either of you. I work with Maspien, and lately I've been doing smaller projects here and there just to keep with it. I'm trying to get some of my work photographed (by the various folk who have it) and get it up on my personal site. I'm very fond of wood-graining, both dyeing and carving it in, and love the leaf motifs. I haven't had the chance to do a quiver yet, but have several ideas based on a quiver I had made [for me] years ago.

*sigh* if I had the leather to do all the ideas I had... *L* Need a job first... Unemployed = time but no money....

And yeah, I'm a SCAdian as well. East Kingdom. :-)

Oh....Christophe, I had PM'd you regarding a question you had about Legolas quiver...did you get it? If not, I can just post the answer on the board here

I've seen Viking's site (nice) do you have pix up anywhere?

[Indiana]

Since your an australian, Kangaroo might be good. I know that there is something about a shortage of hides and prices are getting higher, but those are big hides and fairly cheap too.

[Christophe of Grey]

Firebow,
With all the movies coming out with historical(?) armor I think there will be lots of leather working for the forseeable future - Troy, Arthur.

I'm working on a personal site. As a former corporate programmer who has worked on some seriously large, seroiusly complicated programs I now refer to myself as a "recovering programmer." As such, I tend to shy away from computer geek stuff, read here, creating a web site for myself. I can do it, it's just............ OK, I'M BEING LAZY!!

I just finished two more quivers. One is a hipster style - basically a leather pocket that hangs off your belt. The other is modeled after a 15th century Italian quiver. It's a side style which was also used by the Moors. And as I do Moorish during the summer and the Moors could not include anything living in their art work due to religion, I put a geometric pattern on it. I'll post pictures 1 - if I can get Picture Post to work, and 2 - when it's finished.

Life is a bummer! When we are young, we have the enthusiasm and energy, but no money. When we are not employed we have the time but not the money. Hmmmmmmm, I'm seeing a common thread here.......... Now how can we get paid for NOT working??

THIS FOR INDIANA - East Kingdom is not Australia, it's basically North East USA. As you are interested in all this stuff, go to SCA.ORG and check it out. It's great fun for those of us who enjoy the stuff we talk about on this forum.

Kangaroo is great hide for making whips. It's thin but very strong. Not very good for tooling/carving but very good for the same type of projects we might use deer hides for. One thing they sell a lot of in Australia which is sort of interesting - Billy Bags. A pouch with no seams. Think on it and you'll figure it out.

Legolas quiver - Yes, I got the PM. Thanks. It answers a few questions I had about the construction of the quiver. To get the "milk bottle" shape of the quiver I had thought about making a wooden form to sew/form the leather on. I've actually done this with tankards that have plastic beer mugs inside - the tall, slim wasted ones. It's one of my favorites due to the graceful shape of it.