Back in the Saddle Again

The particular synapses (finally) started firing again Saturday morning. I'm back at work at Otter Necessities!

I cut out about a dozen pouches, mostly soft ones, and have the majority to the point where they need the latches installed and to be laced together. Yes, that does sound like most of the work is yet to be done, but not really. In some ways there's more work involved in doing all the marking and punching of holes than in the final assembly. Lacing is something I do almost on auto-pilot, getting things to that point requires more thought.

Now that I've started doing further work on the pouches laid out with silver Sharpie, I realize that I should have done said silver marking on the back side of the leather. The solvents used in black and silver Sharpies are the same, so the black doesn't so much cover the silver as dilute it. Not a big, fat hairy deal, more a live and learn.

Working on pouches Saturday and Sunday was complicated by the fact that I had misplaced a bin of tools. A lot of tools, in a small bin. Saturday we searched high and low without success. Fortunately, I have another set of dividers, so I wasn't brought to a complete standstill. Yesterday I poked into a couple more places I thought it might be hiding. On the way upstairs to bed last night, I found the bin. On the stairs. Where it's been sitting for several weeks. In plain sight. We're all idiots.

This also means that I can continue with the two iPouches in the works, which are to be hand-stitched together - *all* the important hand-stitching setup tools were in the not-missing bin.

On a lesser idiocy front, a number of the pouches I cut out were from scrap, which Robin consolidated with some not-scrap when cleaning. But did I remember that I can run the pieces for the smallest soft pouch through the splitter, to make them thinner/softer? Nooooo, at least not until it was too late (all fiddly bits cut out and most holes punched - at which point they *might* go through the splitter ok, but they also might not, I'm not brave enough to find out if various holes, slots, and cutouts would tear out). Oops. This is what happens when you take extended time off.

Ron has made a set of beads that we think are good enough for sale, once they've been annealed (just need a kiln...). Half are doughnut-shaped, ivory with light-blue speckles. The other half are cylinders, light blue with ivory speckles. IIRC there's one more of one style than the other, so you can alternate them. Pictures forthcoming, hopefully.