Grey Drakkon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_Mondrian for those who are unfamiliar with the style. As a graduate from art school, I have to say you definitely have an audience for that kind of belt, an they would be tickled by it. It does reduce your audience size, but I think that will be made up for by the fact that they will really grab onto a belt like that which means you can ask for a decent price.

That is absolutely wonderfully done! The only area where it's weak is how it's strung onto your horse's head, but I assume once you have a bridle on that you would have a better system to hold it in place.

The texture of that bag looks so soft, and it keeps that soft look in the straps which is really nice. I had to really look for something to pick on, and that would be the ends of the straps stand out a bit. They don't look untidy or anything, but I'd be tempted to paint the ends black (or if you want to add some flash, make them red!) I guess they stand out to me since everywhere else ends by being curved and tucked under, and they just kind of stop. Like I said though, I had to look hard to find something to pick on so I doubt anyone else is going to freak out over it.

Well that had the stench of a chain letter all over it. It would have been just a cute little made up story if they didn't try to stick in a real tragedy, as 25b mentioned. If you want to read about some real-life good deeds though, look here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=937158 There's some touching stories.

He hasn't replied to any messages or calls. Hopefully for a good reason and not because of something sketchy.

I know many a bibliophile that would snatch up that heart strap!

That is a great idea to use up small scraps! Also, very clean tooling and edges. The only thing I'd pick on is the lace, seems really bulky for something that small, but some people would like that so that's more of a personal call.

Wow that tooling looks awesome! What thickness of leather did you use?

I think on the second page of the pattern's thread, Tboyce posted an enlarged version of the pattern.

That is fantastic all around, the hops, the sidecar, the coloring, just fantastic.

Awesome, great job layering the colors and really pushing the mask to be dimensional.

Love that you used yellow stitching with it, very Tim Burton Batman.

I'm pleased with the backgrounder and the vine, too. You can see my cruddy edges though. Now I'm finally at the stitching point. I actually wound up removing a bunch I did because I realized after I started that I had a different thread I'd rather use, artificial sinew, instead of the waxed cotton I had been using. Whoops. Ah well, it gave me a bit more practice, and I almost feel like I know what I'm doing with a saddle stitch at times. Using a dixon pricking iron and awl, and I'm dropping the awl far less than I was when I started. (fortunately I'm sitting on the couch so it's only plopping onto the cushion or jabbing my leg instead of falling onto cement and ruining the point). Here's the shoulder strap, which according the the instructions is supposed to be wrong side out. Here's the opposite side, on the inside of the quiver. Not perfect , but fairly good for a newb.

So I bought a few Tandy patterns and decided to finally get going with a large back quiver. I've already screwed up in that I burnished the edges before dying, whoops. Guess I was too eager to use my new burnisher. I'm posting pics in order, hopefully I'll have the whole thing finished up soon. I designed a celtic-knot style arrowhead, didn't want to go too crazy with complexity but wanted something interesting to go below the pouch. Used a backgrounder around the arrow and along the edges of the quiver, the leather has some flaws in it that I hope will be disguised at least a bit by that. I wanted to try out some more of my stamps though, so I made a "vine" by going back and forth with a thin scallop edge tool and stuck some leaves on each of the joins. Thought it turned out better than it had any right to, really. Then the dying, I almost went with green but figured I'd save that for another day. I like how much the arrow pops out now.

Huh. If you had a lot of patience and a steady hand, you could cut around the veins with a sharp blade, lay the skeleton down on the leather and then spray over it. Wouldn't be too bad with maple leaves since their armature is fairly strong.

Looks like it's not quite that bad, according to the Australiangovernment website: http://www.agriculture.gov.au/travelling/mail/cant-mail if you look in the animals/animal by-products, it's RAW leather that's not allowed, which makes sense because cured leather (the stuff we work with) can't possibly infect anything with the chemical bath it sits in. If it's say, just salted hides though, that would be forbidden.

I noticed a HUGE difference when I put my marble slab on my kitchen floor as opposed to the desk it was on, even with it being placed over a supported area. Of course, that means I ended up sitting on the kitchen floor stamping away...

At a guess, I'd say a first coat of dye is put down and the leaves are placed on them while still wet (possibly laying down a coat of dye on the leaves so the creases hold more dye, then pressing them onto the leather) then spraying dye on top of the leaves so the uncovered areas end up darker. I could by wildly mistaken though.

Hey that looks like an awesome picnic/beach bag!

Annealing the shaft (putting it in fire until it just barely glows, then letting it cool down slowly like they instructed) will soften up the metal and help avoid chipping.

Definitely start putting a watermark on your pictures. Sure it doesn't look as nice, but it makes it a LOT harder for scumbags like this guy to rip people off using your good work.

Excellent choice with the coloring, it's far more subtle than the bleached out look or the pitch-black version.

I'm kind of stumped and would like some input. I'm making my first large back quiver based off a Tandy pattern I bought, and it calls for a pouch that gets folded at the corners with a zipper going up the center, something like this: The thing is, I don't particularly care for a zipper, it just doesn't suit my recurve bow and wooden arrows all that much. So what options do I have? I like the fact that it can be opened from the center, so I can grab whatever little things are in there. Should I make buttons and loops to hold the flap shut? Grommets and lace it? Something else I haven't thought of?

Those look like they'd hurt like hell to get kicked by. Very nice work there, I especially like the curve of the leather over the arches.

Huh, I never thought of riveting a d-ring to leather, and I see them every day at work at the frame shop. http://www.amazon.com/Extra-Heavy-Triangle-Picture-Hanger/dp/B000OMMI9U is another type of plate with a d-ring that has possibilities, and they come in all different sizes too.