Somewhat off topic but I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and have memories of seeing divers bring giant pacific octopus up to the surface for pictures across the street from where I lived as a child. They are still one of my favorite things to see at the aquarium.
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I wondered where the idea for it came from, an octopus is a rare subject for jewelry.
Again, thank you for sharing your time and effort with us!
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Gorgeous!!!
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Way cool and creative. I too love the colors 
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Saw these the other day while wandering through Michaels (I work right next door to them and with 50% coupons, I buy things one at a time) 
But I had no idea what these were used for. Now to investigate how well they work with leather!
This seemed like a pretty great site!
http://lilylionlabyrinth.com/index.php/2015/07/08/how-to-draw-on-leather/
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So @Kallisti, would you care to give an update as to how the Copic coloring has held up so far?
@Christopher (just my opinion here) Best. Markers. Ever.
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Seems to be doing quite well. My daughter hasnât worn it every day but sheâs worn it a lot and I see no noticeable damage.
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I read somewhere that vegetable tanned is the only leather you should use with a laser.
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Yep! Me too! 
(Fortunately Glowforge is going to sell it as Proofgrade, so we should be good to go.)
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I really hope that the postage prices are kept down for us overseas buyers! Proofgrade looks so wonderful but I have a horrible feeling that postage prices would make it too expensive.
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Yeah, if i was overseas, Iâd do my level best to find a local source. Shipping prices are murder everywhereâŚdifferent country would be much worse! 
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I have a friend who runs a business making leather costume pieces and the first thing he asked was if it was a laser safe leather. My understanding is most leather is tanned with chromium and you donât want to burn that.
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In India and other places with a large tanning industry the very poor will burn the castoffs from the tanneries for cooking. The large amount of smoke they breathe probably has negative health effects. The small amounts incinerated by a laser, and then vented or filtered is unlikely to be a health concern. The main problem with non-veg tanned leather is it doesnât cut well. There are probably some that are okay just like there may be some veg tanned that doesnât cut very well.
While the majority of leather is chrome tanned itâs because the majority of leather is used in the global garment trade. Individuals who do home leather work use a lot of veg tanned because it can be molded, embossed and carved - things you canât do with chrome tanned. So there is plenty of veg tanned leather available, particularly in stores aimed at this market.
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I wonder if we have any forum members who hunt & tan their own hides?
TMI.
looks down at lunch portion of Beef Strogonoff
Not sure how hungry I am anymoreâŚ
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I would be shocked if there were no hunter/trappers at all in the forum. I just have the sense that more and more people donât butcher their own kill anymore, 'cause you donât have learn how to it right, and bringing it to a processor is often faster and cleaner for those who are sport-hunting as opposed to actually relying on it. I would imagine the number of people who donât tan their own hides is much higher still. The people who are still butchering their own meat and tanning their own hides are more likely to be living in places where they would not be spending lots of time on a forum. The folks I knew in Co who hunted, tanned, sewed, and wore their finished products were in a much lower economic bracket than the ones who hunted, dropped off the carcass, and picked up nicely wrapped cuts.
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Sorry, I deleted the post. After being in this isolated environment for a decade Iâve kinda lost my sense of what is normal. Like I said, not my thing.
following suit
you were fine @rpegg. My lunch was not worth the removal of your post. It was quite informational and actually something I had heard before but from a book I read as a kid, your bringing it up from a completely different context gave some credibility to it.
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