Any question answered...

Looking for somewhere that's not fast fashion to buy Mrs M_V a dressing gown for her birthday, anyone got any ideas?

She likes the stuff from Rapanui but they don't do anything like dressing gowns, neither do the 4 or 5 other places I looked at in the google results for 'sustainable clothing'.

Some kind of towelling thing from a cold water surfing place? Finisterre?

https://www.anorakonline.co.uk/collections/dressing-gowns

https://www.loveyawn.com/collections/dressing-gowns is my preferred supplier

Hmmm, the heart is saying sustainable, the wallet is saying otherwise!

How about a cutting machine?

Thanks, I had no idea those existed. Probably much less smoke than a laser

I've never used one but they list leather as a material they cut, presumably thinish. Your local Hobbycraft probably has them and might be able to do a demo.

Laser cutting leather will make your home / workshop smell like an abbattoir, so a CNC cutter has some advantages.
However, a laser can also engrave, all the way from barely changing the colour down to removing a significant thickness ready for flooding with paint - perhaps not what you want immediately, but it could open up a few more possibilities.

Indeed. I'm trying to think what projects I might do after the current ones. I like working with leather. I'm slowly getting into painting it and sewing it. But I have a history of not finishing what I start. Whatever machine I buy has a high chance of becoming a white elephant.

I've worked in an abattoir. Not that keen on bringing back the memories with burning animal stink, although it does serve to remind one that creatures die for our fashions.

I like your idea of removing the top layer and filling it with paint. So I think the laser is winning at the moment.

The perfect time to find a vegan leather alternative and get a laser.

You can get some laser cutters which also have a knife attachment so that might be the best of both.

👆

Rly? Can you point me in the right direction?

creatures die for our fashions

Technically, creatures mostly die for our dinners and the inedible scrap gets recycled into shoes, clothing, luggage etc.

vegan leather alternative

You mean plastic? That stuff which everybody complains is destroying life on the planet?

xTool M1

https://eu.xtool.com/products/pre-order-xtool-m1-worlds-first-desktop-hybrid-laser-blade-cutting-machine-1

Michael Klements used one in one of his videos - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFsaBlha1sA

Nah, there's others now, although it's nothing I've looked into, pretty sure plant fibres, maybe banana leaves, although I think I'd find the smell of bananas about as bad as cow flesh.

Leather production has a high environmental cost. It’s not as simple as recycling the inedible scrap. Animal agriculture is by and large a hugely inefficient and environmentally damaging industry on its own.

non animal leathers have moved on from being plastic based. There are actually some promising and viable alternatives.

Anyway, I’m mainly just suggesting it’s not as simple as your comment suggests

it’s not as simple

It never is. So far I've only used old leather from dead jackets. I'd rather not buy new.

it’s not as simple as your comment suggests

Which was my point too 🙂

Looks like a belter of a machine, but 900 euros is out of my league. £220 gets a nearly new 40 watt Atomstack A5 Pro. (Not including the petrol to collect it.)

Hmmm, the heart is saying sustainable, the wallet is saying otherwise!

I get what you're saying but realistically how many dressing gowns do you go through in a lifetime? I think mine is about 15 years old now and doesn't look like it's on its way out at all.

I want to use some 3M VHB double sided tape to mount my V3 eps interface (plastic) to the underneath of my garmin mount (metal). Which is the best version of the tape for this?

I still can't envision this being true. I mean I don't doubt you. But still.

Hence it's popularity as a fact I guess! There's a handy visual here that shows how the increase in distance is invariant of the radius/diameter