Presidents July Report - lonestarleathercraft.com · Presidents July Report Next meeting will be July 14th at 7:00 pm at Olive Place Baptist Church, located at 3283 ... Smith, Bob

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Cow TalesCow TalesCow Tales JULY 2015

Presidents July Report Next meeting will be July 14th at 7:00 pm at Olive Place Baptist Church, located at 3283 Olive Place, Fort Worth, Texas 76116.

The 4th of July what a wonderful time of year to reflect on the history of this country. As individuals we can contemplate on wars, conflicts and any of the many other issues the

people of this country are faced with now and in our past. And we should always be aware of these issues and the history. But it is also very beneficial to stop and consider the many good things that we as individuals experience in our daily lives.

As an example, the last guild meeting at Elk Tracks Studio. What a wonderful environment to see current and past great leatherwork. Jim is always such a gracious host and his demonstrations are always amazing. And I can truly say that I learn something new each time I see Jim at work. The pattern that Jim worked on for me is quite challenging with all the turn back, but lots of fun to carve and stamp!

We had a great turnout of around 21 members and spouses and several visitors and a couple of returning members. Aaron Heizer and his wife Brittany are back from their military deployment, they both stated that they are very excited to have the opportunity to attend the guild meetings and be involved in the activities. Welcome back Aaron and Brittany! Did I mention there was LOTS OF GOOD FOOD!!! All of it very, very tasty! Thanks to everyone for such a great spread.

We had several of our members attend the Sheridan Show. Tobin Tucker and Dave Smith both had this privilege. They both have talked about what a great event this was and always is and what a great showing of great leatherwork is always exhibited. Talk with them I know they would love to share their experience. And be sure to ask anyone about Jim’s embossing class, looked like a great turnout and the one image I have seen is just great.

From the Presidents perspective it is also very exciting to see the progress of the many activities that the guild has working. I am very excited about the guild display for Fort Wayne. I met with Bob Alexander and Pat Spencer and they shared the vision and the progress of the display. The display is developing nicely. They also shared how we as members will be getting our chance to add to the display. Stay tuned.

As for the next meeting George Hurst has volunteered to give the demonstration. George will be demonstrating the process of making a belt buckle. George is always great about showing the little details that are so easy to overlook and that make his buckets look so great. Look forward to your demonstration George.

There is always a lot of admin stuff but we will save that for another time.

I look forward to seeing each of you at the next meeting,

Cartie

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The Trophy has COME HOME to LONE STAR

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July 14th—Guild meeting at Olive Place Baptist Church

Meeting Time 7:00 PM

George will be doing our demo on making leather buckles

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

If you are a subscriber to Leather Crafters and Saddlers Journal, you may recognize the picture below. Jim Linnell carved this for their “Swivel Knife Finesse” section in the July/August issue. This photograph is of Jim’s original piece.

Guild News

In case you haven’t heard, Tandy is closing their Camp Bowie store and moving it

to Watauga.

The new address is: 6900 Denton Highway #101

Watagua, Texas 76148

Phone # 817-503-2318

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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: [email protected]

Leather Stamps by Clay Contact Information

Email: [email protected]

Phone 254-654-4906

Temple Texas

Lone Star Leather Crafters would like to thank Clay Miller for donating several items for our guild meeting raffles. Those gifts go a long way in helping with our operating expenses. Several of us also use Clay’s tools and highly recommend them to you. Check out his Facebook page for more information.

George Hurst will be demonstrating his techniques

for making leather covered belt buckles. You can really get creative with this type of buckle. You can

add conchos, insert an exotic piece of hide, add an

initial or name on them.

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Early Leather Craft History

A start: 1949 The Leathercraft Guild

Introduction: As I became more involved with leathercraft, making a variety of items and discovering all of the unique patterns and what I consider art, I found that I wanted to know more about how this all developed. This is a start into my endeavor to share my findings.

In 1949 a group of individuals, many of which were business people, in Southern California decided to get together on a regular basis and discuss, develop and share with its members their knowledge and skills and to promote the development of leathercraft. This group named itself the Leathercraft Guild. What makes this guild so interesting and unique and a true “Golden Spike” in leathercraft history is its members, their business backgrounds and their desire to promote and share their leathercraft skills.

It is worth mentioning these early officers and committee members, these are the 1950 officers. President Don McChesney, VP’s H.E. Chapman, Marion King, Louis C. Roth. Secrertary/Treasurer Dr. A. J. Matheis. Board of Directors Don McChesney, Dr. A.J. Matheis, R. H. McGahen, T.J.

Smith, Mrs. Marion King, James Gick, Louis Roth, Robert Moss. Program Committtee: Robert Moss, chariman, Marion King, Louis Roth, Al Stolhman. Hobby Committee: Dick McGahen, Louis Roth, Farrell Burton, James Gick, James Spence, Al Stohlman.

This reads like a who’s who of leathercraft.

Many of these individuals went on to write instructional materials, make movies related to leathercraft, design and make leather tools, make pattern packs and teach the art and skill of leathercraft. If you are like me you have read and re-read as well as have many of these books and instructional materials.

In this first installment of early leathercraft history lets just mention some of the Leathercraft guild individuals of notability:

R.H. McGahen, James Gick, T.J. “Joey” Smith, Al Stohlman, Louis Roth, Christine Stanley, Al Shelton (who recently celebrated his 95th birthday). I recognize that there are many more but this should give you an idea of the depth of skill and knowledge that the guild had.

These members adopted as a platform the mission to educate, share knowledge and skills with its members and to promote leathercraft to the general public with the intent of gaining members and promoting the advancement of documentation and tool development. One of the methods used was giving public demonstration of leather craft skills by guild members. This was done in a variety of manners, one of the main venues was a yearly Hobby Show in Southern California, the show was open to the general public and was very well attended. This show presented many different types of hobbies. Many of the Leathercraft guild members would demonstrate their leather skills, as well as silversmithing skills. These demonstrations varied from saddle making skills to embossing pictures in leather and everything in between. The members listed above were all very active in these demonstrations as were many of the other guild members. Some of the demonstrators were: Joey Smith, Bob Brown, Al Stohlman, Al Shelton, Bob Moss, Soren Sorenson and many more.

All of these and many more have played a tremendous role in leathercraft as most of us know it today. All of these individuals had a great influence in distributing the forming secret knowledge of leather. Many of these artisans have introduced us to the many styles of leather craving.

In my research I hope to capture some of this style development and to share as best they can be described and where these styles became popular. This is just a start. As I read some of the newsletters I was amazed at the involvement of the members and their willingness to participate in this guild effort. I hope to give much more detail and insight in future installments.

Cartie

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Guess who had a birthday!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARLA SELLERS

THANK YOU DARLA

for all you do for the Guild.

July Guild meeting held at Jim Linnells Elk Tracks studio

Always lots of good food around when we meet.

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It’s always great to see husbands and wives at our gatherings.

And these are just a few.

It was great to see our friend and former Lone Star Member Aaron Heizer and his wife Brittany. Aaron is retired from the military while Brittany is still on active duty at Fort Hood. They are now living in Killeen Texas.

Jim showing a piece he was given

by Chuck Smith

July Guild meeting continued

For some reason unknown to the Editor, the photographs from Jim’s demo will not convert to the PDF Format required to send the newsletter by Email. Our apologies

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Only at Lone Star can you have two demonstrations in one day, given by two Stohlman Award Winners. Both Master Leather Crafters George Hurst gave a Back To Basics swivel knife lesson for us. He covered how to hold the knife, how to strop it, and basic cutting techniques.

Next, Jim Linnell demon-strated how to go about carv-ing the pattern we published in the June.

This is how NOT to hold your swivel knife.

This is right way to hold your knife.

Several people had a chance to carve a little leather under George’s watchful eye.

Demo Number one - George Hurst

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Here’s a few last photographs around the edges.

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