# Leather Belt = collar??



## FurryFox (Aug 21, 2008)

Hiya everyone, I saw this leather belt just lying around that noone uses, and once I saw it I thought I would be able to turn it into a collar by shortenning it and I had a few questions about how to ... yah know ... make it ... look better =3

1. How to you poke holes through a leather belt??

2. Is there any way to color leather??

3. Where can I buy faux fur?

Any help is appreciated =3


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## Nylak (Aug 21, 2008)

1. Use a leather hole puncher. They're used for crafts or for riding tack (I originally used them for customizing saddles and bridles, then found them to be useful for furry crafts). You can find em at a crafts store or at a tack shop, or something like a Farm and Home. 






 <-- leather hole puncher.
2. There are a large varieties of leather dyes that can be found at crafts stores, or you can use a darkening agent in the form of a conditioner (find at a tack store/farm&home).





<-- tons of colour choices.
3. You can get faux fur anywhere. I use eBay for small lengths (you can find GREAT deals), or Jo-Anns fabric/crafts store for longer lengths for stuff such as fursuits. you can also google "faux fur" or "fur fabric crafts," &c, to find a large variety of online fabric stores that sell it.


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## FurryFox (Aug 21, 2008)

Wow! I didn't know they actually made "Leather Hole Punchers" and "Leather Dye" ... THANX =3


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## xiath (Sep 3, 2008)

FurryFox said:


> Wow! I didn't know they actually made "Leather Hole Punchers" and "Leather Dye" ... THANX =3


oh yes.  Leather crafting is a craft with many tools and such.  I was planing on going somewhere with leathercrafting, but I never had the time or money to take classes or anything.  I have some tools, like: leather hole punch, mallet, x-acto knife, dyes, finish, stamps (not like stickers, they are metal tools that are a small metal rod and attached to the end is the negative of an image which you press against the leather and tap the other end with the mallet), leather strip cutter, etc...

 Though, I still am planing on making myself a blue dyed collar lined with ether, faux fur, pig skin, or (ONLY if I can find just enough for only that one project instead of a full skin) lamb skin (the stuff is expensive.  I think like $8.00 a sq. ft. [and {at least where I get my stuff at} you have to buy a skin that averages 8 sq. ft.])  I don't know what the price for faux fur is like.  I never payed attention when I got dragged into the fabric store by my mother before I know what fursuiting and the furry community was.

as for making it (sorry if you already did it, I just now noticed this is kind of old).  This is how I would go about doing it:

1,  measure your neck with a measuring tape and write down or remember the number.

2, take the belt and measure from the tip of the buckle and run the measuring tape down the length of the collar and make a mark at where you measured earlier.

3, now that you have a mark.  I would add about two to three inches to that, or what ever amount of hang-over you like, and make a mark of it.

4, now that you have your length figured out,  cut the belt in 2 at your last mark (the farthest one from the buckle).  Just a flat cut will do, but if you want the end to be pointed like most belts are, you will just have to use a piece of paper and draw the shape you want and cut it out so you can trace around it onto the leather. 

5, take the belt and punch/cut a hole at your neck size mark.  I don't quite know what you can use other then a hole punch,  but I guess you could use a knife if you are skilled enough.  A knitting needle will NOT work for this.  The hole punches for leather are just like the ones for paper, as in they take a plug of leather out, not just punch a hole in it.

6, now, what I would do is to make four other holes.  The position of those hole should be spaced about 1/4 of an inch apart and there should be two that are smaller (closer to the buckle side), and two that are bigger (closer to naked end) then your neck size hole.

as for dying.  I think most belts have been treated with a water/dye proof finish, so I don't think you can dye a factory made belt in most cases, sadly.  Even if the finish isn't fully dye proof.  It would most likely not come out right anyways, due to the leather being dyed already.   The dye penetrates deep into the leather and does not just sit on the top.  So the new dye color would mix or be darkened by the existing dye, or so I would assume.


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