More Missing Tools

And while I'm on the missing-tool subject, where the heck have the big C-clamps gone?!? We have 15, if not 20 of the things, so why is it that Robin could only find 9 on Saturday?

(Most of the hard pouch molds get 5 clamps, I know we've had 3 molds in use at once, and I want to say we've done 4 at once before).

I've looked around the living room and dining room, but since those have both been cleaned up in the recent past, I don't think the clamps are there. I suppose this means I have to brave the basement. I expect they're somewhere on the workshop side.

I'd really like to be able to mold more than one larger pouch and an iPouch (only takes 4 clamps) at a time. I've got leather casing for a third iPouch, but since I haven't even finished the prototype yet, and I'm not sure they'll actually *sell*, I don't want to go overboard making them. (although they're small enough they're damn near scrap-consumers). What I want to make is shields and the medium hard squares. I'm *out* of those. I have one shield molded and drying, and another piece of leather casing to mold tonight, but they're a consistently good seller, so I want more.

I don't think I've mentioned it before, molding is definitely the throttle-point in making hard pouches. I only have one mold of each style, and it takes about 48 hours of time on the mold for a pouch to be fully dry - if I take them off while still too damp, they'll shrink. And the leather needs to case for a good 6-12 hours before molding. "Casing" the leather before molding is wetting it down, then letting it sit in a zippy bag or Rubbermaid container that seals up tight, so the moisture level can even out throughout the leather, and the fibers soften up.