ClayB

Just a couple more points on entering different divisions as I understand the rules (and I could be wrong) The first time you enter competition, you can enter any division, open, advanced, or masters. Doesn't matter if it's the first piece you ever made or if you have been working with leather for 30 years. But, if you enter in advanced or masters and take a ribbon, first, second or third place in that division, you establish yourself as belonging in that division and you cant move back down. If you start out in open it takes five first place ribbons to get moved up to advanced, second and third place ribbons dont count, and neither do any ribbons taken in the "special" catagories (partenship, beginer, old guy, etc.) And if you move up by collecting wins you get a certificate stating you are now in advanced or masters, I dont think you get that if you move yourself up. It takes 10 first place wins in advanced to get moved up into masters, again second and thirds dont count. Since you can only enter one item in each catagory, if you specialize in making one certain thing, masks, or motorcycle seats for example, it can take a lot of years to get moved up. One thing to consider if you decide to move yourself up to masters is if you win any ribbon in that class, you are stuck there forever as Johanna stated. Now if you are a holster maker and dang good at it, decide to show in the masters catagory and take a ribbon, you are a master. Say a couple years later you decide you want to make boots or saddles or braid something and enter it in the show. You have to enter that in masters class too. Finally, I think that if you enter something in the advanced or masters catagory (by choice, not because of advancement) and don't win a ribbon of any kind on it, you can go back down to a lower class the next year.

Blue- First place Red- Second place White-Third place Purple- Best of catagory

Sorry everyone, try the link again, I think I fixed it.

Ok, for all you that have been waiting, here's the pictures from the competition room at the show. Thanks Johanna for taking the time to take these and put them up so quickly! competition room pictures I haven't gone through them all yet, but so far I have seen ribbons on David's seats and Kathy's mule and several of Tina's items. Congrats!!!!

Here's me, first with the hat, then without, and not to be outdone by Tom, one with one of my kids.

You can order some patterns from Bob Klenda's website patterns

Here is a link to the first pictures from the show in Ohio. These are from the guild displays. Guild display photos There should be more pictures tomorrow. Thanks Johanna for giving those of us that couldn't attend a chance to see what we're missing.

Tom, You need to try it left handed! Oh, no, that will just make you cuss. I think Luke is right, you have to make sure it's really sharp. Otherwise it wants to just skid around instead of cutting into the leather.

Hi Tina, What a great idea. You've always been so generous sharing your pattens. Thanks! The new website is great too. Dang, for not having been carving very long, you sure have done a LOT of it! I predict more blue ribbons in the very near future.

Thanks Caroline, But remember, just because you did it differently doesn't mean yours is wrong. It's just different and nicely done. I think that's the point of this, to see other ways to do things. That said, if you do try it again, it'll be interesting to see what you do differently the next time.

Ok, I finally got over being lazy, got my shop cleaned up, and got my piece carved for the September challenge. Ignore the red spots on the leather, that was an OOPS caused by the messy shop. (or maybe it's blood spatter cuz someone wasn't enjoying the howling while they were trying to sleep) Hopefully if I ever decide to color this, I can hide the red spots with the paint somehow.

Crystal, The "dog at my homework" excuse is old and used up. You need something more original. How about, "my brother pee'd on my homework". My daughter actually had to use that once, and it wasn't even made up. Our oldest son was sleepwalking, came into the living room and decided that the coffee table was the toilet. Just so happened that that's where my daughters homework was. My wife was in the kitchen and couldn't figure out why it sounded like water running in the living room. So that's no the excuse around here. I'm gonna clean up my messsy workshop today and hopefully will have some room and some time to at least start on this months challenge tomorrow. You should come over and we could see if we could do something about that aversion to carving fur.

Tina, your style really makes your holsters FUN! You have done such a variety of patterns. I especially like the one with the skull. Cant wait to see the next batch .

One thing that I have noticed about the chat room is that sometimes people drop in, most likely to see what is going on, and feel like they are intruding or interupting or just dont belong and leave without saying anything. That's not so! Everyone is welcome at any time. If people want to carry on private conversations in the chat room, they can do that simply by clicking on the persons name on the left side of the screen, and a new, private chat window will open. Sometimes when people are in the chat room, they are also doing other things on thier computers and don't notice when someone else comes in. It doesn't mean they are ignoring you, just that they might not notice someone came in. So you might want to just give them some time and they might come back. Try the chat room out if you see someone in there that you want to talk to or just go in and wait and see if someone else will join you. It's a fun way to get to know each other.

NICE JOB on the coloring Roger!!!!!

Welcome Dave, I have never seen anything quite like your picture either, but I like it too. It's always fun to see what other people come up with, especially when there is a lot of originality involved. I hope you enjoy this forum. We'll be looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Hi Caroline, No giggles here. I think you did great! I like the BIG moon and I like how you colored the sky with the stars in the background. The simple way you carved the wolf/coyote with almost no tools is very effective. Thanks for trying the carving and sharing your picture. I hope more people will give it a try. If I ever get done being lazy today, maybe I can get started on it too.

Seems like when people post pictures of really great carving like this, someone always threatens to sell thier tools and give up. I hope they are joking. Instead, I hope that they will sit down and study work like this and see how it was done. This is a great picture to study, it's large enough and clear enough to really see the detail. I've been studying it for the last couple days, just like I do all of Bobocat's work. I just have to keep going back to it to see how all the little details were done. One thing on this carving that I really like is the partially opened flower on the bottom left side. I would have normally used a pear shader in top portion of the petals, just like on the rest of the flowers. I really like how it was used here on the bottom portion of the flower where it wraps around the bud. It really adds a lot of depth to this flower. I am going to have to remember that. Thanks Bobocat for continuing to send pictures of your work. No matter what you are carving, it always looks great!!

I usually thin my antique paste about half with tan kote. Makes it kind of runny instead of really thick. Then I wipe it on with a damp sponge. I dont let it dry more than a few minutes and then wipe it back off with another damp sponge, leaving it in the impressions. Then I will give it a coat of tan kote to seal it, wiped on again with a damp sponge. For me, having it thinned down makes it less messy.

Kate, That's not as cool looking as a 100 year old stitching horse, but it does look like it would really work well for a lot of things. I am going to have to see if I can figure out a place to put something like that on my bench. I think its a great idea. Thanks for sharing it.

Every once in awhile someone gives a well deserved "thank you" to Johanna and her "team". Not sure if everyone knows who the "team" is, so I'd like to make a brief introduction. The moderators are easy to recognize, they're all green Most have been here from the beginning. Holly aka Wildrose is a founding member. She's into Celtic, ren faire stuff, and her son Ethan. Dsenette, AKA "the Monkey", is one of Johanna's computer tech friends and is here to help out with that stuff. I'm not sure if she told him how computer illiterate some of us leather workers can be before he agreed to help out, but he's been a good sport and is still here. Just ignore those marks on his forehead where he bangs his head on the keyboard every once in awhile. The next one to join the team was Kate. Kate is a natural born leader, skillful with either the computer or a bench full of leather tools. I think Johanna has her number on speed dial for when servers crash or hackers attack. She has been dubbed the Database Diva cuz she has helped to restore this forum a couple times from being lost in cyberspace for eternity. Then along came Bruce, one of the nicest guys you're ever gonna meet. He was asked to lead the saddle makers part of the forum and has done an outstanding job!! He's also pretty darn good at explaining stamping techniques, saddle history, and a whole lot more. Art seems to know everything there is to know about almost every sewing machine ever made. That's probably why he leads the sewing machine part of the forum. He also set up and runs the Marketplace on the forum. And finally, he's the official hall monitor. If you get caught trying to sneak off to the bathroom with out a hall pass, chewing gum in class, or cheating on a test, your gonna get a trip to Art's office and he'll set you straight. When Denise isn't helping her husband Rod make some of the best saddle trees you're gonna find anywhere, she's here helping out wherever she can. She spends a lot of time helping Bruce with the saddle makers, and also does a lot of housekeeping, keeping things in the right place etc, but she doesn't do window or toilets. She also writes some of the nicest, most encouraging PM's and seems to know just when they are needed. And finally, there's Clay Miller, aka Bert. He's here because he has the right first name. No, that's not it. He's here because he's the manager of the Rapid City Tandy store. No, that's not it either, that's just a shameless plug. He's here to run the contests and special events among other things. He's pretty good at that Sheridan carving as you can tell by the latest cover of the Leather Crafter's and Saddler's Journal, but the jury is still out on his ability to sing. That's the moderators. But wait, there's more. There are the ambassadors too. These people are the official greeters and drive the welcome wagon around the world welcoming new members to the forum. They also watch for problems, send encouraging messages and generally keep the friendly tone that makes this such a fun place to hang out. There are a lot of them and I have to go to work, so I cant introduce each one of them individually but you'll recognize them by that yucky reddish brown color. I'm not completely sure, but I think they might be the ones that are supposed to sweep the floors and clean the toilets too. And finally, there's the contributing members. These are all the people who's names you see in blue. (seems like green would be more appropriate, but that was already used) They have all contributed money to help pay the bills so Leatherworker can keep the lights on. Whether it's a couple bucks, or a couple hundred, it's all appreciated and it all goes to supporting the site. Nobody gets paid, nobody gets free trips to exotic islands or big Christmas bonuses, it all goes to expenses and keeping the site free for anyone, anywhere that wants to join the world's largest online community of leatherworkers. That's the team. Everyone give them a big round of applause!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok Bert, The cover was pretty cool, but I think the video of you impersonating Dr Hook would be REALLY entertaining. When are we getting video here on the site???????????

Linda, It does look even better on your model.

Crystal, I'm glad you made that into something because I really liked it before. Now I like it even better .