Grey Drakkon

I imagine it's wet formed around the "stone". I tried looking it up fast but couldn't find anything on it, but I'd probably thoroughly soak the leather, put it over the form and press down around it. Once it's got some good form slit side to side with a sharp blade, but not so far that you go all the way to the edge of the stone. Use your tools to push it further into place. I'd say be careful about marking, but with it being fleshy I bet it would look a lot better with wrinkles and creases in it rather than being super smooth.

Hah! That just goes to show you how different people will grab onto different things. I think what set me against the twisted rope was when you used Neptune, if it had been a greek key pattern I'd have been all over that. That's part of what I like in the waves, they look like old school Mediterranean stylized waves. Like I said though, they aren't bad at all, just not what I was thinking of. I can't blame you for not wanting to go with anything but that dye, it looks beautiful. With silver leaf, you use sizing (a type of glue specifically for metal leaf) paint it on where you want the color to be, let it set, then carefully-while-holding-your-breath put tiny pieces of leaf over the sizing, rub it with a scrap of silk and then brush away the excess with a small paint brush. So it could be done over your dye in only key spots, but I'd definitely test it out on something like a key fob or whatever just to see if you like how it looks. That's exactly it with the sea serpent, it looks almost Anime instead of old style simplistic. It's a hard thing to nail though so I wouldn't kick yourself over it, just try carving out some more to see if you can figure out what you need to push. The problem with putting a few scales on is the temptation to cover it completely in scales, and then it ends up looking too busy for the entire thing. If you don't have a Deviant Art account you might want to think of setting one up and putting your armor up on it, there will be tons of "Oh I wish I had the money for it!" but there's also a fair amount of convention/renfaire goers on DA that have money to spend on things they really like, and I bet this would be snatched up eventually. Plus, DA is free and you don't have to keep re-posting it like some sites.

Is it a weight belt? Looks really sturdy!

Monica's idea for pouches is a good one. A soft finished leather like what you have is good for things like that, it will give you practice with stitching and you can use all sorts of scraps to make them different sizes and shapes. Since that leather can't be tooled you're limited with what you can do with it but you could find workarounds. For instance, by itself the leather would be too floppy for drink coasters, but what if you cut them out nicely and glued them to disks of wood?

First off let me say that I'd snatch that sucker up and be running the instant you took eyes off it. The scales are awesome for a watery theme, and the storm over the ocean carving is fantastic. I really like the grooved lines in the abdominal plate, it reminds me of charting lines on a map. I'd like to see that taken onto the back, probably in the spot that's about the same height where you have scaling. (obviously you're not going to change it now, but it's something to keep in mind) The thing I'm not a huge fan of is the twisted rope. While rope is obviously a nautical thing, it's also a celtic thing and it doesn't quite mesh like the rest of it. If you have thinned it out and made it kelp-like, or maybe added in rope texture (way more work of course for both of those) then it would really gel with your theme. Last quibble is the head of your sea serpent. It doesn't quite fit in with how ornate the rest of the emblem is, it's almost blank looking. I'm not sure if putting some texture on it would help, or just rounding out the shape of it. Like everyone is saying though, incredible work! (edited to add, I think it would be even more awesome if you added in some silver leaf to the lightning bolts, but I'd carve a practice piece with that to test that out first)

So I bought a quiver pattern pack from Tandy's online library since I'm in need of a back quiver. However, never having followed a pattern before I wanted to test out my abilities with some crummy thin leather on the smallest quiver pattern, which is a child's hip quiver. I also had a scrap of some nice soft veg tan that I used for the front pouch, and a piece of super thick chestnut scrap that I stamped a pony into. This project taught me a few things. 1. I need proper stitching equpiment, namely a pricking iron, stitching pony, and a good awl. The stitching took forever to do because I only had a scratch awl and a ruler to measure out the holes, and I pre-punched the holes with the scratch awl and pushed a needle through each hole, then still needed to use pliers to pull the needles through. HUGE pain in the butt, and fingers for that matter. Still, the saddle stitching doesn't look completely awful in my estimation for being so half-assed. 2. I need to figure out how to keep floppy leather from shifting around when prepping holes for stitching, I ended up with the pouch being a bit high by a hole or two on one side compared to the other. I'm guessing I should have glued it down into place first. 3. I hate how the dye turned out, I need to invest in some good dye and a real airbrush kit. Also I have to keep in mind how different textured leather absorbs dye differently. It barely looks touched on the firmer body, while the soft pouch leather darkened up nicely. I'm thinking of masking off the pony and pouch and hitting the case with red stain or something just so it doesn't look like plain veg tan.

Hmm, you're on the wrong side of Canada for my relatives to be of any use as to where you should go. I know there's other Canadians on here though so they might be able to help you out.

If you go to Jo Anne fabrics, they carry small spools of waxed linen thread. They always have coupons going so you can get it cheaper that way too. You're correct that chrome and oil tanned leathers can not be tooled, they just won't hold the imprint. Bridle leather is a certain quality of veg tanned leather, although I could be mistaken about that.

Haha I missed this, I'm still on DA as Ranasp. Need up upload my pony-not-wolf on there.

Well a hippogriff is a cross between a horse and griffon, I'm sure you can make a pheonix cross instead... ;D

You know what that means, right? Pegasus!

Woot! I'll be hammering out one tonight, I have an idea and I want to see how it turns out.

Bueller? Bueller?

This is more than a bit unusual, and while someone may have gone through this I'm doubting it. Do you have enough hide to make a tiny pouch to practice on, or at least a few scraps? If you're using it for a possibles bag, I'd be leery of using artificial fixative since it will have a chemical smell to it, and I can tell you that when used on paper it makes a sheen (although you can buy a matte version of it instead of glossy) but I'd think anything with a raised nap will look pretty bad with a spray fixative on it. I've found it to keep a slightly tacky surface so it would end up looking grungy after a while if continually handled.

It's a week until Halloween, and since I'm out in the midwest I've been underwhelmed by the celebrations for it. (I'm originally from New England, and Halloween is serious business there. ) Who wants to get in the mood by making a domino mask? I thought it would be fun to see what everyone comes up with, and extra bonus points if you take a picture of you wearing it! The nice thing about this is that you can use up a scrap piece since it's supposed to be a small mask. Rules: Make a domino mask (a small leather mask that covers the area around the eyes and bridges the nose, but doesn't go much further than that. Decorate it in an interesting manner, how far can you push something that small? It should be able to be worn, either by string/ribbon or held to the face with a rod on the side. Post a picture of it before Halloween! No prize except the applause of your fellow leatherworkers. Have fun! Post below if you're interested in joining in!

Windrider, in my experience thinner leather absorbs water faster than thicker, but I've noticed that the thinner leather tends to be softer with a bit of a nap. The softer surface definitely pulls in water faster than a stiffer one. As for what stage to stamp, it seems that soaking the leather and then letting it dry enough so that when you press down on the surface you don't end up with a puddle is the point to want to reach.

Now that's an idea that every person no matter their race, creed, political leanings or lifestyle can get behind! ...Unless, of course, they're a troll. ;D

I like the tooling, from a personal standpoint the centers of the gears are a bit too attention-grabbing. Maybe they could be toned down with some rub-n-buff to make them look a bit more antiqued they'd fit in better. Neat idea though!

I can tell you I'm getting/making a stitching horse as soon as I can, because stitching without one is for the birds. Pinning it between my knees sort of works, but it gives me a crick in my back and the leather flexes way too much. Having a clamp of some sort would make it easier for the needles to punch through. I'm also going to hunt down a pricking iron, having an instant stitch spacer like that would be really handy.

Actually I posted one in the "resources" area. Awnova, beautiful job! I really like the addition of embossing, and as other have said the gold against black is very dramatic.

I'm in another forum and we're getting spammed too. I'm an admin there though and when I looked at the IP address it said it came from Texas. Of course they could be re-routing the IP, but ::shrugs:: I'm guessing it's some sort of stupid "Everybody go out and spam as many message boards as you can and see how long it takes you to get banned!"

Don't I know it! This definitely wasn't the first time that's happened, it just amuses me sometimes how things morph. Hey, the Greeks had archers, right? I had even been thinking of celtic knot shaped wolves to start with, so that's some departure. Glad to know you and my muse agree. Now I can only hope that the rest of the quiver ends up looking presentable. Anyone else have stories about how they ended up with something completely different than what they were aiming for, but it still looked good?

So I bought my first pattern from Tandy, the archery quiver set. Turns out I don't have 8-9 oz leather, only thinner and much thicker scraps. So I figured what they hey, I may as well make the small hip quiver (looks basically like a children's sized quiver) and play around, since odds are I'm going to mess up anyways and it may as well be with leather and a quiver I don't care about as much. One of the pieces that was begging for some sort of decoration is a small rectangle that the belt slides through when wearing the quiver, so I thought what's kinda badass with a lot of appeal? Aha, a wolf! I'm glad I tried sketching some out beforehand because apparently my personal muse was looking over my shoulder going "Nope, no wolves. I don't want a wolf. Stop drawing wolves! Alright fine, if you're going to draw wolves I'll let you have some, but they're going to be oriented the wrong way so you can't use them!" So I decided something different, how about a cougar? "Haha a cougar? Nope, I'm going to give that thing noodle legs!" >:/ Ok FINE, how about a pony! "Ooooh yeah I like ponies!" So there you have it, from wolf to pony. -_- (I'm aware that the background is showing the tool marks but I actually liked the pattern it made so I didn't make much effort to blend it)

I agree with David, that suede needs to be thinner, and basically treated as if it were fabric. You have the basic idea right in that you should be cutting out triangles to remove bulk, but cut them before you fold the suede over (unless you were trying to figure out where the most tension is) typically every 1/2" to 1" gets a triangle cut out depending on the severity of the curve.

You might not enjoy making wolves, but you do a nice job on them!