Leather Parts List- Updated

Zam I Am

Well-Known Hunter
UPDATED 2/27/07
This is just a leather parts list that I came up with. If anyone knows if a part listed that has a specific property, ie, what of it's weight/color/dyed/painted please add any insight. Oh, please let me know if I forgot anything. If we all come to similar conclusions, I will edit this list for easy referencing.
Edit** I will be putting down recommendations for leather from the tandy catalog, and ebinger brother samples that I have used on my suit. I am sure you can buy the same material from Siegle of CA . Remember these are just recommendations, not definates. You should always go to a leather store to compare for yourself, I hold no responsibility for your mis-purchases. DCB recommends using 4 oz leather for all the 6-8 oz. skirt squares.


Brim of Helmet: 6-8 oz. Premium tooling and carving single or double shoulders or economy single shoulders (same as skirt material) (The lower 6-7 oz. weight seems to be better)(tandy) approx 1.5 sq. foot

Veil and mock hood: predyed suedepigskin.(tandy purp predyed pigsuede)

Vest: 1-2 oz white lambskin (ebinger), approx 18 sq. feet ~ 3 lambskins

Vest lace: 4-6 oz leather dyed purp.(Tandy)

Skirt lacing: 1-3 oz. calf tooling leather; Cardboard cut out depicts 1/4" lace width. approx 9 sq. feet. (tandy)

Chestplating Border: sheepskin skivers/dyed or predyed skivers

Stomach Plate: Skirt leather bottom layer, 1-4oz top layer.(tandy)

Upper gauntlet cuff: sheepskin skivers or predyed skivers matches chestplating

Gauntlet trim: sheepskin skivers dyed or predyed skivers matches chestplating

Gloves: Gray lambskin?/airbrushed purp

Cumberbun/belt: 1-2 oz. white lambskin airbrushed purp, or vinyl. Same as vest material(ebinger)

Skirt: 6-8 oz./purp dyed/ 2 1/4"H x 1.25W" to 2"W Squares/ approx 18 sq. feet.
(Same as brim of Helmet leather)(The lower 6-7 oz. weight seems to be better)(tandy)

Holster:6-8 oz. tooling leather single shoulder and 1 1/2 oz. tooling calf, with larger oz. leather strips. Dyed brown? or cardovan? (tandy)

Shin Gaurds: sheepskin skivers dyed purp, or smooth side of really thin pig suedeskin predyed, smooth side out, or predyed skivers.

Shoe uppers: 4-6 oz. tooling leather single shoulder dyed dark brown, for the single strip(tandy), 3-4 oz white chapsides airbrushed purp. (ebinger)

Lace/straps for small greeblies: straps 1-3oz. tooling calf cut from skirt lace leather dyed purp. Laced, 4-6 oz leather dyed purp.(tandy)

Other possible cumulative leather purchases:
* Shin guards, chest armor, boots, gauntlets:
sheepskin skiver 14.5 sq. feet
* Vest, cummerbund, gloves:
Garment pigskin white/White lambskin 29.7 sq. feet
* Laces and top layer of belly leather:
Petite tooling calf 6.8 sq feet
* Skirt, Holster, Helmet:
Tooling cowhide premium import 6-7 oz 18.75 sq.ft.


Tandy customer service phn# 1.888.890.1611
site: http://www.tandyleather.com
Siegle of CA phn# 1-800-862-8956
site: http://www.siegelofca.com
Ebinger brothers: phn#1-800-343-8120
site: http://www.ebingerleather.com/eblchome.htm
 
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So, lemme confuse the situation a bit... I zoomed in on the cumberbun, white leather dyed purp or painted purp? or other options? It just lookes funny in this pic.

Leathercumb.jpg


Edit** nevermind, the leather guy, Ron, said that it's white leather spray dyed with some white filler.
 
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The list sounds good to me, with the exception of the skirt lace. After much experience with making braided Jango belts, I found the best lace you can possibly use, is to cut it yourself! There are really only 2 kinds of lace that I've ever seen at Tandy, stuff that's too thick, and other stuff that's way too thin.
 
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This was a great idea zam i am!! :)
The list sounds good to me but then again, I don't have a whole lot of experience with leather ;)
 
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Hey, anything to speed up the Research and development. We need to get this zam party started! By the way, Sith C is totally right. The skirt laces from the card board cut out measure 1/4" and Tandy only sells 5/32" laces. I am going to cut mine myself and have it all dyed. That way, it will be dyed on all sides of the laces.

Hey sith C, any recommendations on good tools to use for leather cutting? I looked at the back of the tandy catalog, but it seems you have to have a huge cutting table too, am I right? I mean, is there any recommendations on what you think might be better for certain cuts?
 
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There are 2 options that I use. Without looking at their cataloge or website, you can use either a belt cutter (comes in a limited use wooden version, and a longer lasting metal version, maybe around $50-60?), or a small cutting wheel (looks like a razor sharp pizza cutter).
If you've going to use the rotary cutter, you'll need a cutting mat. If you use the blade over any other type of surface, you'll ruin the blade. Using a cutting mat will lengthen the life of the blade for a long time.
Personally, for a job like this, I'd use the belt cutter. No table or anything is needed. Just throw your hyde on the floor, and slide the cutter down the side of the hyde! The tool is adjustable, and you can literally cut belts, all night long, in seconds.
If you guys can't find these tools, I'll look them up later tonight.
 
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When I Pm'ed sith Camaro and was talking about cutting leather, I was talking about non-lace leather like the shoe trimming and small parts. He recommended the leather scissors. He was thinking for the squares of the skirt, and anything that needed straight lines with that link above (rotary tool and strap cutter).
The lace cutter--that's a must in my book for the laces, and they are cheaper than another site we looked at. The replacement blades from tandy don't look like they match the lace cutter though. So you might wanna get replacement blades from
http://www.rudedogleather.com/classes/lace/lace.html
 
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ok - i ordered the lace cutter and the metal pro strap cutter :D weee... i love getting fancy new tools that i'll end up only using once in my life time! ;)
 
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Wow, I calculated the leather cost and it comes up to around $350 if it is all bought at once. Not including any tools. Lots of extra leather too. I am going to wait a couple of weeks before investing in the leather and tools. I am still unsure about the veil material if the tandy stuff listed is suede or smooth. The velvet suede seems sorta thick. I am also unsure about the lacing, I think it is a lighter oz. weight than the skirt leather. I mean, it's thinner than the skirt definately. Mebbe the top layer of the stomach plate and the lacing is the same oz. leather. I will have to pay a visit to the local tandy store ;) (Zam I Am drags along her cardboard cut out for the Third time...) I would assume that siegal of ca has the similar hides in weight. Haven't done any comparisons. After I have the leather and cut it, I plan to have it dyematched two shades darker than the neoprene. :)

Edit** anyone have any leather questions? I will try to go to Tandy next Saturday. I might order half of the leather next week- probably the leather having to do with the skirt and vest.

Edit*II** Just emailed the lady at RudeDog Leather concerning the laces she said
1/8 and 3/16 are the only sizes it cuts. No it will not do 1/4". Janet Rude Dog Leather http://www.rudedogleather.com
So I guess the lace cutter is only good for the vest laces.

Edit*III** Not trying to advertize for tandy, but trying to save some peeps some money. Tandy is having a sale for the month. I talked to the customer service rep, make sure you print out the online prices cause their stores sell at retail prices.

Edit IV** That customer service rep doesn't know what she is talking about, I just bought the lace cutter, and the top notch is for 1/4" laces. And, Sith C. has one too.
 
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HA! :lol: I went all the way to tandy and forgot my zam cardboard cut out. I took somethings off the list, cause I thought, there is NO WAY I could get that 1 oz. petite tooling calf to really fit onto the trim on the chestplating etc. That stuff is so thick and hard... Please someone tell me if I'm wrong. But I really think it should be some thin pigskin or something. Something especially soft and thin that could stretch over the sintra or plastic casting... Ya know?
I think that Ron (my neighborhood leather store guy) thought there wouldn't be anything underneath like as if the leather should stand on its own. Then that would make sense, but definately not for trim of the chest plating/gauntlets etc. Wish I coulda milked more info outta him. Yeah! I bought the lace cutter,replacment blades, and the belt strap cutter and shears. Wish the strap cutter came with directions. Bought the 10 oz leather and the 4-5 oz leather for laces.
 
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Man screw it. I'm just gonna go for what passes well for a look in person and not get everything AS IT WAS USED in the movie, but still give it the same look and get just as good results. I'm not gonna get what was the best leather they used closest to the movie with the exact thickness and texture properties as the movie. After a while you gotta draw the line and say to yourself, "This is ridiculous" and just get what works and still has the same look to it, just being more cost effective about it.
 
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If that's what you want that's cool. You don't HAVE to have everything with exactness. No one said you had to... It's just nice that everyone on here is searching together for what's closest to the real thing, and that's part of what makes us come together as fans, the search for the most accurate costumes. The searching, sometimes tedious, is also the fun of it all. I didn't think I would ever pull off the neoprene, but I kept on searching. I called over 13 companies trying to find one that would do the job. And over 7 lycra companies to find the perfect lycra.
I just put this list up because it helps to make a conversation list for people to readily find the right types of leather. If a person doesn't "have" something that is almost exact, that's ok. No one said you have to. It's just nice to have. And, this leather list is to help people not buy the totally wrong types of materials. The more people input about what they've used or not used,or saw and not saw, helps us find something that is more adequate, and not wasting their money on something totally wrong. For example, using raw 10 oz leather for the vest is totally wrong.
 
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yeah...

Well I'm not cheaping out on a lot of stuff, but I think I can come up with something that looks exactly like the actual stuff. If I have to I'd certainly buy the real stuff if need be.

The undersuit needs this material without question. It is the most seen thing in the whole outfit. I'm gonna see what I can pull together and hope for the best. But I'd always go ahead and get the real stuff if I needed to.
 
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I posted something about airbrushing the suede veil in the general forum, if anyone can help me out, that would be cool.

EDIT ** THANK YOU SITH CAMARO! :D That belt strapcutter cut the leather like butter! Man, good thing I went back and bought one, I was dying after useing them darned shears. I finished the skirt squares in one night. Thank GOD for you, my piano teaching hands aren't bruised anymore.
 
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It's tool time with sith camaro: :lol: so, if I buy the 1/4" slot cutter for the skirt holes, which hammer/mallet should I use to punch the holes outta the skirt? And how heavy should it be? My skirt leather is 9-10 oz. leather. Oh, and which cutting board would you recommend? (GO figure, I said I was going to have that store guy do it, and not buy all these one time tools-Sith Cam, you got me hooked man!) So, pick a mallet...
http://www.tandyleather.com/products.asp?dept=65&pagenumber=4
http://www.tandyleather.com/products.asp?dept=65&pagenumber=3http://syvtsiegel.siegelofca.com/html/mallet01.html

DCB, If you want to merge this under skirt, that's cool...
 
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You can pretty much use any rawhide mallet you get your hands on. The lighter it is, the more hammering you may have to do on a single hole. I have two. One is a lightweight one that I picked up from their warehouse, and the other is an interior lead weighted one, from harbour freight.
I prefer the second one, simply because it is slightly heavier. It provides a stronger drive than the lighter one.
 
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