Grey Drakkon

Hello from another novice leather worker and even more novice bowhunter! (as in, I've shot vermin with my bow but have yet to actually get food with it) Great advice already given, and another one is get the right tools for the job. Nothing more frustrating than trying to get something done that could be done EASILY with ____ tool. Unfortunately that changes with what you're trying to make! ;D

Welcome, and definitely check out Nigel's videos. He has an excellent series where he compares irons, giving some excellent advice on which ones work for what you want to do and how they compare to each other.

This right here pains me, because that IS a really nice bag, but that photo...Ok, purple is an odd choice of background color, but the fact that it's easily identified as a towel just makes your piece look cheaper than it actually is. Even just cropping in the image does a lot to help (because after all, you're selling the pouch, not the towel, why even show all of the towel?) or if you just don't have a good background, using a freeware program like GIMP to remove the background and paint in something neutral works better than a busy background. This literally took me less than five minutes to do: Not ideal, due to the table showing in the background and part of the pattern of the towel, but it's a step up. This This is a hot mess because I didn't take my time with it, but it still shows off your pouch better than the towel. Boriqua has some great examples there, and I'd definitely read up on his posts in the photography area. I'm not slamming you for not knowing how to do this, by the way. It looks like you know how to do a lot of stuff and this particular area is a weakness, and one you can probably fix with just a bit of thoughtfulness and practice. The fact that your work will look even better than it does now is a bonus!

Welcome to leatherworker! Diving in is a good way of finding out how far you can push things, refinement comes with repetition. Great start!

There's nothing to let you have! Screw up better and I'll give a bigger critique. Well ok, how about getting some sort of texture on the background of the family crest to make it stand out even more? Great work, especially for only having been at it for such a short time.

Ah, well I wasn't being sarcastic about your work, for what it's worth. My stuff is pretty amaturish compared to many talented people on these boards though.

Super nice job with the pattern!

Wow. Thanks.

Wow really nice execution there!

That looks incredibly durable! I think something that may help with sleeking it down a little is to use slightly thinner hardwear. If the metal is welded, there should be no way it's just going to pop apart, and if tempered correctly it's not going to just bend unless you're hauling gold bars in the bag, and even then I think the leather would give out first. It would be awesome if you could find some that were flattened instead of rounded wire, but that might be something you'd have to custom make. One last quibble, it bothers me a bit that there's a hard black shape in the center of the bag with no black elsewhere. If the hardware was black also, it would let the eye wander around the bag a bit more instead of focusing on that one harsh spot. Having said all that, it looks super nice, and I love how you handled the gussets. The one bag I've made so far did NOT look as good as yours by half.

This is mark 1 of my lampworking goggles. "What's that?" you say, "ANOTHER expensive hobby?" Why yes, yes indeed, I've gotten sucked in quite thoroughly into the land of molten glass and fire. Fortunately there's some overlap with this, as seen here (and perhaps in the future I'll be making a leather apron to protect against glass spatter) In any case, it's a VERY good idea to have eye protection when lampworking, not only because of the chance of a chip of glass flying at your eye (which happens surprisingly rarely) but to protect yourself from the sodium flare which can cause vision problems. So there I was, looking for eye protection and seeing that the cheap but effective stuff looked pretty ugly (and likely would be uncomfortable as well) and being the hands-on kinda person I am, figured I may as well give a shot at making some eyewear myself. A purchase of round lenses, some gawking at other people's goggles and diagrams, and I gave Mark 1 a try. Since I wasn't sure if they'd be wearable, I just left them plain to start. Not too shabby, and they fit decently! However, they did end up awfully...Texas Chainsaw Massacre-ish, so I went back and dyed them. The knot was just some cord I had laying around, I need to figure out how I want it to stay stuck to my head. One cord sliding through the hole on one side doesn't cut it, it ends up yanking my hair and skewing the whole thing sideways. Maybe I'll do adjustable sliding knots on the back.

Hey everyone, sorry for the radio silence but I've been running amok (as usual) and while I've had a few things in the works, I didn't have much finished related to leatherwork. I'm pretty sure I posted the first one of these I made, but I've made a few more since then. Gotta say, want to work on your saddle stitching starting and stopping? Make small boxes. >_< I've re-watched Nigel's video on making boxes a few times now and still pick up something new. I've found that saddle stitching only really works on the thicker leather, at least if you want butted ends. I suppose I could make an attempt to pull the stitching tight and have the ends flare outwards, but trimming it would be not so fun. I've also found the more flexible leathers are better off being cut from one piece and bent into shape, it gives a bit of extra support, although it does have a tendency to make a rounded bottom unless you whap it flat. Another discovery is that the mat board cutter is pretty snazzy for putting a 45 degree cut on stiff leather.

I could waste space here on what I've been doing, but I think I'll just waste some space in the "show off" thread instead.

Well, "leatherer" just sounds weird. And oh yeah, you totally suck at this whole leatherworking thing. Do you even see your stuff?

That is some really slick looking work. I'm also on the fence about the straps, maybe if they weren't quite so fuzzy...

That's fantastic for a first try! Keep at it, you'll be making crazy goodbstuff in no time at this rate.

Not too bad!

Beautifully executed and a unique piece!

As a nerd and a horse lover, I heartily approve of this stamp.

Pristine work as always!

Nice job! I'm sure your son was thrilled with it too.

Your version of Brain definitely captures the feel of him over the internet image! Looking forward to seeing the finished item.

@Beret you Goblin King'd, that is awesome.

My vote is for "Spartisher". ;D

Nice!