karl

Hello fellas, here is my latest embossing project. Its a Pony Express Rider on the Oregon Trail in Western Nebraska riding by Chimney Rock monument. It stands out about a little over 1/2 inch and is done on an 8X11 inch piece of leather. Karl

I've used this for a long time and dyed it and hand painted projects sprayed witih this formula and haven't had any problems and plan on using it until something better comes along. Karl

Rawhide, I have some lexol and I think I will mix up some and try it out. YOu mention better burnishing and that mix I use works good to for that, but I will try that and see how it works, Thanks Karl

Hi everyone, I was just kind of reading about how and what various people use to case their leather. Here is a formula that I found on a forum someplace and I started using it and I love it and it works great and makes your leather easier to carve also. I've been using this for severial years and I love it. 3 Cups water 3 teaspoons neatsfoot oil (pure) squirt of Dawn (dawn, joy or ivory) dishwashing liquid As the instructions stated, the dish detergent or soap acts as a "surfactant". According to the Web dictionary, "a surfactant is a surface-active substance, such as a detergent or soap, that lowers the surface tension of a solvent (usually, water)" . Basically, it makes the water "wetter" and it soaks into the leather quicker. Plus the soap or detergent also acts as a lubricant, making the leather cut smoother. The Neatsfoot oil helps to keep the natural oil in the leather and keep it from drying out and I think also adds to smoother cutting and tooling. When it has been setting for a while and I want to use some more on my leather I'm working on, I found shaking it up to mix it makes a lot of soap bubbles on top so to kind of mix it after it sets a while, I just swirl it around a little and then turn the spray bottle upside down and let it remix that way and cuts down on the bubbles. The Neatsfoot oil kind of darkens the leather noticably but when it dries, it comes back to its almost natural color. Karl

thanks guys, and Josh, I'll fly one right over there. I just drew a pattern of a guy and his dog Pheasant hunting here in Nebraska and I have trees in the scene and also Chimney Rock in the back ground that anyone from Nebraska could pick up on and realize It represents Nebraska. I have tooling all done but I have a couple of things I want to do before I dye it and sew it up. I'll post a picture of it when I'm done with it too and thanks for the compliments. I've also started drawing another pattern with a dog jumping a log and chasing a rabbit and will do it also. Karl

Hello everyone, here's a billfold I just finished with a duck hunters pattern. Just thought I'd share it with you. Karl

Rawhide, Thanks for the information, I think I'll try it out on a small project and see if it like the results. Karl

Hennessy, I don't know how wood putty and sawdust woiuld work, I've never tried it or heard of anyone trying to use it either. It has to harden up but has to be plyable enough to do tooling on the fish, deer, horse or whatever you are doing, and also when you cut around parts of the figure and raise it you have to use the leather putty which is the same color and texture as the rest and moldable when you fill in an area and can also add some detail to it with a exacto knife or special stamping tool for feather or scale texture and have it hold the pattern. The only thing I could say is, what have you got to lose and start out on a small project and not on something large enough that you've ruined a sizable piece of leather, and if it works let us know. Tihe lighting on the fish photo was lousy and no flash and the picture looks just like the evening sun setting with the dark shades from a somewhat cloudy and stormy type clouds but the color photo didn't turn out that good but the natural colored leather photo's I took of it before painting look fine. Go figure. I guess it is the gloss of the acrylic paints after antiquing the background doesn't show like it does in person. Oh well, It looks great on the wall and the detail in the bass and scales are just right. Karl

Thanks a lot Greybeard, I think it looks like the ole boy caught the bass just about the time the evening sun is setting and reflecting on the water. Oh, by the way, thats a real fishing lure and lline in the mouth of the bass. Karl

Hi Fellas, It's been a while since I've posted anything on here cause have been off work with a little trouble with the old "ticker" and Rhuematoid Arthritis to so, haven't had time or felt like doing much of anything lately. Here are a few pictures of an embossed bass I did and just finished. Karl

Tracy, I bought that DVD from Hide Crafters and it was done by Rob Barr,God rest his soul he really knew his stuff. Karl

My fellow leather crafters, I have a few things to do this week plus my regular job but I will do a tutorial in my own words and pictures this week end if I can get my camera to take photos without blurring, and I do love to make leather feathers and also now that I am embossing several different peoples faces and animals I may do the same thing with them. Karl

Hi Fellow leathercrafters, Here is a photo of the embossed photo of General Custer that I painted. I tried to take photos to show the detail from a side view but they wouldn't come out clear, but it stands 3/4 inch high to the tip if the nose. Karl

Clay, I bought an expensive digital camera a few months ago and the photo printer that goes with it, but I have to program them into my computer and haven't done it yet, but here are a few more close up photos from the old camera and a couple are blurry but you can see the distance the ear and moustache and I did them like the rob bar instructions on the deer antlers. You'll be surprised to know that the photo was a slight angle view to the right so I did the nose like the cuts on the eagle head and beak and used the embossing filler and actually even up close it looks pretty good and you can't tell that it was done unless you're into embossing. If these don't download all on this message, I will attach them on another message. Karl

Good Morning fellow leather crafters, Glad to see the net up and running, thanks to Joanna and everyone else that helped, and I personally say Thanks for the dedication and hard work. Well here is another embossed photo I did this weekend and am posting for your comments. I did one of Sitting Bull and thought it only fitting that I do Colonel Custer also. Karl

Thanks Cecil, I love to do figure carving and after doing some embossing, I am a happily married man, but I fell in love all over again and by golly It's fun; and the more I work with it I am learning more and more, Like when you are embossing on the head, when you emboss the eye openings, you have to make them smaller in order for them to come out right and not look like the eyes are bugeyed or wide eyed open. I am going to do a few more people and animals to get use to it a little more, then I will try it from pictures of people like wedding pictures or graduation or grandma or something someone wants. How does that sound? Karl

Clay, I love the way it turned out. I put some X-! by fiebings on it and want to do some achrylics on ot but I think, "Doubt Breeds Fear" and I don't want it to look like a blind drunk painted it. The original photos I took were better quality, but were to large to download and took up more room on my camera, so I used the lower quality and they were ok to download. I tried and tried but between the camera and the computer I can't figure how to shrink the photos down and lock them so that when I try to upload them they go back to the original photo size and take up the room of a football field. LOL, and I am going nuts trying to figure out how. Karl

Hello again fellas and ladies. Here is an embossed picture if Chief Sitting Bull for you to view. I don't know whether to paint it or not, haven't made up my mind yet. I thing I'll try another one of someone, don't know who yet but they're fun to try. Karl

Hello fellow leathercrafters, Here is the final pictures of the embossed Eagle that I have been working on. Karl

Clay, you're talking about drakes X-1 and I have a quart of X=1 I got from Tandy and wonder if that's the same thing you're talking about? Since Tandy went to that Echo flo stuf I don't see that X-1 or other familiar named dyes and/or finishes, so you say to put the X=1 or how about supershene on the project first. I dont know wheather or not you saw my saddle, but wouldn't it be a blast if you could emboss a saddle like the eagle with loose feathers etc.. but unfortunately you couldn't ride the thing for fear of tearing up the ornate detail on the saddle like feathers, raised beaks and horns or tines of antlers,,, or well it's a thought,,, maybe someday when I get rid of my rhuematoid arthritis, LOL. Karl

Thanks Tom, I hope it turns out as good as the other embossed pieces I've seen done. My albatross is the painting and blending of the colors, and to top it off, I'm my own worse critic. But so far,,, so good! Karl

Yeah Clay, I gonna put a leather diamond in or on it. Karl

Clay, I have a frame I got with a clock kit several years ago and it fits the leather perfect. I just hope I can do it justice with the acrylic and make it look decent. After this I am kind of undecided as to tackle the deer the pheasant or the fish. I don't have a DVD on the fish but I have the article in Leather Crafters and Saddlers Journal, but first things first, I gotta finish this and then scratch my head for a while. Any tips? Karl

Hey Clay, That's a great riddle for people and I've been married for quite a while now and you gave me an Idea and saved me a bunch of money for a wedding ring. When I first saw it, I figured it out by looking at it and now my little wife is happy,,,,She now has a wedding ring. LOL Karl

Hello fellows and gals, Happy 4th! Here are some pictures of an eagle head I am doing and still have a couple of little things left to do and then paint it. Karl