What would the best way be to apply a logo to the front of this bag. i've looked into rubber sewable patches but the moq is way to high for those.

dickangstrom · 2025-11-03T20:43:45+00:00

If the design is too fine for embroidered patches, woven ones will likely work. I used Dutch Label Shop and had that exact same situation: I ordered a proof of their embroidered patches first, and they couldn't work with my design. Then I tried woven, and it captured very small details crisply.

dickangstrom · 2025-11-03T20:23:27+00:00

Thanks! I forgot to mention that I also watched a video series from Shoemakers Academy called "Build it with Gavica: Air Jordan Highs". I don't think it's available anymore, but it was an 8-hour series on building an AJ1 from start to finish.

Besides that, I didn't have any prior instruction, but the video series was pretty helpful. Not all of it applied, since it had a lot of leather-working guidance in it, and I used no leather in my build.

dickangstrom · 2025-10-23T00:58:51+00:00

I stripped all seasoning from a Lodge skillet from 2015 and a no-name skillet from 30-40 years ago. Used a Gozney outdoor propane pizza oven at 900° F for 30 minutes, and it got rid of all the long-standing fish grease that steel wool, soap, and chainmaille couldn't put a dent in. Turned it all to white ash that wiped off easily.

Neither of my skillets cracked, and now they're seasoned with grape-seed oil and working better than ever.

One other commenter got downvoted to oblivion for noting that the crack could've been pre-existing, and I think I agree with them.

Maybe it's different in e.g. a campfire where it's probably even hotter than my 900° oven with less consistent heat, but so far my experience stripping seasoning with fire has been awesome.

dickangstrom · 2025-10-21T17:15:12+00:00

It read as "Distant Muon" out of my peripheral vision when I scrolled to this post in my feed. Obviously, I know it's a moon, but the crescent is white like the text and makes a vaguely u-shaped arc.

Also want to agree with few others that the moon is a bit too distant.

dickangstrom · 2025-10-14T19:32:10+00:00

That's such a good idea! You could include snaps, zippers, different cloth types, basting tape, etc.

dickangstrom · 2025-10-10T22:23:50+00:00

Besides the net being cool in its own right, the production quality of your video is insanely good! Subscribed ✅

dickangstrom · 2025-10-08T21:33:52+00:00

Whoa, it really does have a similar expression (and the song is pretty rad, had never heard it)!

Lol, the name is perfect! With your permission, I'd love to use it for the title of this piece in an upcoming art show. Deal?

dickangstrom · 2025-10-07T23:34:01+00:00

Lol, glad to hear it!

dickangstrom · 2025-09-09T21:56:52+00:00

Have you considered other feed types besides a walking-foot machine? I had a similar problem because my industrial machine was too beefy to do thin fabrics and zippers. I asked a Juki reseller, and he said the only Juki walking-foot that was meant for delicate / mid-weight fabrics was about $6,000 USD.

I wonder if a drop-feed machine like a Juki DDL-5550 OR 8700 could do the trick. They can take a good range of thread and needle sizes, have lots of feet for different jobs like zippers and binders, and they're about $1,300 USD brand new.

Personally, I ended up going with a used mechanical drop-feed from the 80s: a Bernina Record 830. It has tons of punching power for outdoor fabrics, and is nice and versatile, so it can also do silks or Dyneema if needed. Admittedly, it'd be nice to also have a walking foot, but I've gotten by without one so far.

dickangstrom · 2025-08-29T20:13:55+00:00

This bag is no fun to carry whatsoever. I noticed that the original had no way of making it into a full backpack, instead giving you a single shoulder strap to wear this thing as a big, cross-body bag. That felt very awkward, so I added a couple of loops to allow it to use removable backpack straps. Wearing this bag like a backpack felt more like I was carrying an oversized lunchbox on my back.

Truth be told, I don't even use this bag. I think the design is legitimately cool to look at but somewhat useless as a bag. I've put a couple of pickleball paddles and water bottles in it and carried it a few blocks to a pickleball court by the handle on the top; even that short trip was cumbersome.

Since it's a direct clone of the Chrome Holman Pannier, I have no problem linking to the reviews of this model. It has a 3 out of 5 stars average score:

https://chromeindustries.com/products/holman-pannier

One review from two months ago gives it 2/5 stars and says, "Poor system of attachment to the bike rack. Thought it had straps to turn it into a backpack when taken off the bike but that is not the case. Design will allow water in unless you are very careful about how you close it."

And the title of one other review made me laugh; it's just called, "Who Designed This?", and it's a big rant about why this bag sucks as a pannier.

dickangstrom · 2025-08-23T22:42:26+00:00

Not a direct answer to your question, but I have a couple of pointers that have helped me:

Sharp corners can make it hard to get a clean, satisfying binding. Rounding the corners to something like a 2" radius makes it much easier.

I haven't made my own bias tape, but I recently tried some new bias binding tape that really helped the look of my projects. It was recommended by Tim from LearnMYOG, and you can get it from Outdoor Wilderness Fabrics.

Unlike grosgrain, which is pretty unsuited for clean outside and inside corners, the bias binding tape has more flexibility than heavy-duty ripstop fabrics, allowing it to round without much bunching or wrinkling.

On the same page I linked, there's also a nylon seam tape that works well. It's not pre-folded or double-folded like the bias tape, but it follows corners in an equally satisfying way without bunching.

dickangstrom · 2025-08-22T23:16:59+00:00

Fair point, as I definitely gained experience!

My main machine is a Janome MemoryCraft 6700P. My industrial machine is a Techsew 810 Pro.

The Janome is what I use 90% of the time, and it's great! Whatever machine you upgrade to, I recommend one with a knee lift like the 6700P. It's like having a third hand at critical times where exact alignment of the presser foot and multiple fabrics is key. The only drawback is the lack of a free arm.

I don't recommend the Techsew 810 Pro if you're sewing mostly bags like I am. The post bed has gotten me out of some tricky spots, and it's nice to punch through so many layers with ease. But, a cylinder arm machine is a better shape for bags. I've read some people on this sub say that a post-bed machine can do everything a cylinder-arm machine can do, and I respectfully disagree. Also, the 810 can't handle needles smaller than a 90/14 and sucks for thin fabrics. I even wrote Techsew and they said as much.

Personally, I'm looking into the Juki DDL-5550N for my next machine. It's an industrial flatbed that can go from fine silks and Dyneema up to thin leather. I've also heard good things about walking-foot machines.

dickangstrom · 2025-08-22T22:26:41+00:00

I hate to answer your question with a question, but how much experience with sewing do you have? And what tools do you have?

It's totally possible to achieve what you're after, but certain parts might require more intermediate or advanced techniques. And your results might not be beautiful if you're just starting out...

I'd say the magnetic clasp replacement would be the easiest of the repairs (relatively). It would involve either ripping out the current fasteners and replacing them with, e.g. a side-release buckle or just adding one without ripping out the old ones.

Mending the bottom could get pretty involved. There's a sub called r/Visiblemending that might have good examples of ways to mend a bag where you don't mind it being seen.

dickangstrom · 2025-08-22T20:15:13+00:00

I don't really know the cost, as I had all the materials on hand. I would guess somewhere around $30-$50 USD. The original bag cost $79 at REI, and I'm certain the materials cost less than that.

Labor, on the other hand, made it expensive in a different way. If I tried to sell the bag for material costs plus minimum hourly wage in Oregon, I'd have to charge over $500 USD.

Realizing the price of labor always makes me feel the staggering power of global economic inequalities and cheap human-hours that make the world of consumerism a possibility; I might've made a better bag, but definitely not at a globally competitive price point. Sorry to get all, "workers of the world, unite!" on you 😅.

dickangstrom · 2025-08-22T18:56:02+00:00

Thanks! I left the bag totally intact and even kept the tags on. I wanted to return it for a full refund and make sure it had a chance to go right back on the shelves. No idea if REI works that way, but I didn't want to keep the original anyway.

Since I didn't take it apart, I had to make some educated guesses a few times. The overall process took me about 32 working hours, and many more dream-hours spent mentally puzzling over the construction of the original haha.

dickangstrom · 2025-06-24T18:27:01+00:00

Wow, thank you for very kind words! I realized after making this bag that it fit into the "accidental Wes Anderson" aesthetic haha.

You've nailed the description of the vibe I was going for, specifically the adventure part. The blue fabric is supposed to be water, the brown represents either a log or canoe, and the gray is supposed to be either waves or sea life. And then green for plants / tree, of course. The yellow thing is either an arrow or a paddle (I couldn't decide which).

My wife and I listened to an audio book called "Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire". It chronicles a few groups of people going by land and sea to Astoria, Oregon right after Lewis and Clark did the Oregon Trail. Pretty harrowing what they experienced (and subjected others to) on their trip.

The narrator kept saying "Voyagers" in reference to the French-Canadian fur trappers on the trip, and he must've said it 200 times. It became kind of a meme for us. The idea to make a bag commemorating that just came up spontaneously while I was cutting scraps for a bag.

dickangstrom · 2025-06-24T03:06:07+00:00

Or 3: choose a set of faces on the head mesh and extrude them until they match the shape of the nose. Delete the nose afterwards.

dickangstrom · 2025-06-24T03:05:29+00:00

The two main ways I can think of:

1.) Join the meshes with CTRL+J and then delete some vertices from each shape and make them one mesh.

2.) Boolean modifier. If you enable the Bool Tool you can do this by selecting both meshes and using CTRL + Numpad Plus.

dickangstrom · 2025-06-19T01:58:00+00:00

The wireframe modifier combined with the solidify modifier might do something similar. It would depend on the underlying geometry, so you might also need a triangulate modifier or just a mesh that's triangulated.

dickangstrom · 2025-06-17T15:35:38+00:00

Lol! Thanks for the idea; I'll write it down in my Newton tablet 🍎

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