So in view of getting back into the groove of leather work (I spend all summer riding / doing outdoor stuff) I have decided to do some practice work first - Meaning building a pair of chinks for a friend. These will be square bottomed, 'buckaroo' style out of a glove tan leather in a tan color.

My biggest challenge with leather work is floral tooling. I'm reasonably artistic, however, I have never drawn a floral pattern I really liked. With that being in mind I purchased Cary Schwarz's floral layout and carving DVD's. They are very good and help to understand how to achieve flow etc. I find that its not to hard to draw a flower or a leaf but to get it all to flow in a cohesive pattern is a nightmare...These DVD's have helped quite a bit.

For the yokes on these chinks I created a floral pattern - I have one side carved - The design incorporates my friends brand - The '04'. I'm still not very happy with the pattern but it is probably one of the better ones I have come up with to date. Clearly still need practice though.

Here is the yoke for the right side.

The other reason for building these chinks first is to get the hang of my new Cobra Class 4 Sewing machine a little better - This machine works great - However I have never used sewing machines prior to this - So there is a definite learning curve.

R