Your first projects

[Suze]

After reading and looking at the many projects on this forum that are in the OMG catagory (and the "how can I ever hope to get to that point)

I had an idea - it is something we do once in awhile in our histroy group.

We ask all the people who are our teachers and such to bring in some of their "first projects" warts and all. To show that you CAN get better with practice and learning...(gives the rest of us the drive to keep at it)

anybody willing to show off some of their first projects? You know the ones that you gave Mom for Christmas and would love to have back so that you could burn it.......

[Bree]

Swivel knife project Numero Uno.

Never did a thing with a swivel knife before this. Quite frankly, when I was finished I was in a state of utter disbelief at how nicely it turned out compared to my expectations when I first saw the task. Nowadays I attribute all good things to Chan Geer!!

[budd4766]

My first project actually turned out kind of nice...which led to the leather addiction, and hence, several other projects that weren't worth wasting a match on. Overconfidence can be tricky sometimes.

I got into braiding to have something to do on rainy days, and thought, as a first project, I'd restore my dad's old hunting knife and give it back to him.

After that, it went to cell phone cases. Did some that came out really crooked and I didn't want anybody to see those, so I don't have pictures.

I waste WAY too much leather doing trial and error jobs. I finally got smart and started making patterns first from old manila folders...that's cut down my scrap a lot! Live-n-learn..

[TrooperChuck]

I don't remember what my first project was, but this was real close to the first. It's a pocket knife case. I made it about 5 years ago. I made it with some scrap leather I found somewhere, molded it around a piece of wood, and stitched it with cotton package wrapping twine.

I've learned soooooo much about leatherwork since then, but I've worn this knife case almost every day for 5 years, and it's still doing the job.

Last year I decided I needed to make a new case so I could retire this one. I took great care to make it really nice. I stamped it with a basket weave pattern and added a horse to the flap. I burnished and dyed the edges. I put three coats of Satin Sheen on it. It turned out really nice and... I almost never wear it. For some reason, I always grab this one. It's kind of like a a good friend... you know it has a few faults, but you make allowances because it's always been good to you.

[HorsehairBraider]

This is not my first project but I made it MANY years ago - back when I was a teenager in fact, and I'm not saying how long ago that was...

I used to work at horse barns and the other trainers would always steal my hoof pick, claiming it was theirs. I got sick and tired of buying hoof picks only to have them stolen, so I finally bought one and braided baling twine on it. Baling twine was all I could afford at the time... I was losing too much money buying hoof picks... Well, once I braided it, no one could steal it. I was the only one who knew how to braid, and for that reason I still have this hoof pick decades later. I use it all the time. As you can see it's pretty hammered but it still works! And no one will ever steal it... especially now that it looks so bad...

[ArtS]

Mine was a cigar holder for a friend. Pretty bad.

Art

[Crystal]

I'm going to post two firsts.

First try at tooling:

During that attempt I determined that swivel knives were evil and there was no way they could be used by the average citizen. I decided that I would never try that "tooling" stuff again!

Since I was never going to use a swivel knife again, I moved on to this:

This became a failure because the flaps cracked and split on the bend and the straps also cracked and spilt. I have learned so much since finding this wonderful place full of talented folks. I would redo that set of bags and do them the right way except I just can't bring myself to punch all of those holes and do all of that lacing again!

Crystal

[CitizenKate]

Since I was never going to use a swivel knife again, I moved on to this:

This became a failure because the flaps cracked and split on the bend and the straps also cracked and spilt.

Oh, hohohohohoh... wwwwOW! Nice work, that puts any of my "firsts" to shame. But you're applying conditioner after the dyes, now, right?

I think there has been a thread on this topic before, and I may have already posted this... just can't remember, for sure. (My apologies if this is redundant for some of you.) Here are a couple of pieces I did early on upon resuming leather work after about 30 years.

This is one of the first Chess boards I made. You may recognize the corner ornament I used for this design. It's from the 76560 craftaid corner pack.

And this is the same design I did about a couple of years later, after getting a few dozen projects under my fingers. (Not to mention a lot of great advice from others in the craft who were willing to share.)

Kate

[ClayB]

Ok Suze, I had hoped you would forget about this topic when we talked about it, but it looks like you didn't. Most of my earlier projects were given to my parents, and it looks like they have kept them all. I know there were some coasters too, but my mom must have realized that NOBODY should get to see those!!

These may not have been the very first projects, but they are all 30+ years ago, or close.

This scrapbook cover was one of my first figure carving projects. Notice all the dye spots on the carving from trying to dye the background. The back has a spot the size of a dime spilled on it.

This one is a legal size notepad holder made for my dad. I'm glad I learned to splice lace since then.

I don't even remember making this billfold. I shouldn't have to list all the mistakes made in it.

And finally, a picture that I carved for my grandfather. Lots of lessons learned on this one too!

[Crystal]

[quote

This scrapbook cover was one of my first figure carving projects. Notice all the dye spots on the carving from trying to dye the background. The back has a spot the size of a dime spilled on it.

Clay- Now if you hadn't mentioned the spots, everyone would have thought they were there because they are antiques, not from mistakes.

I've always been a fan of that last picture. I don't think you can say "cowboy" any better than that. I think it's great that all of those pieces are still around. Thanks for giving us a peak!

Crystal