ClayB

Hi Anne, I am glad you are doing the class and lesson on this. I have made a bunch of these since I saw the one you were wearing in Denver a few years ago, but I still make them the way Rene shows in his video. I'd love to see how you do yours differently. I have also had some requests for a tutorial on them, and if you do one, that will save me from having to do it! Hope your class goes really well too! Clay

WOW! That is nice.

I really like your skulls. The carving looks really good, nice depth, and the coloring really brings it out.

If you are already a registered user, click here If you arene't a registered user, you should really sign up. That way Paul will send you an email when new lessons are available. Paul has been having troubles keeping up, but he told me not long ago that a new online lesson should be available very soon. I'll let you all know if I hear more. I also want to put in another plug for the lessons Paul has available for sale. Paul's lessons are like a college course in leather work. He goes into more detail than any other lessons I have ever seen. He also gives a lot of information on WHY you should do things, not just how. If you study Paul's lessons, you work will go to a new level. He has several lessons available from creatiive stamping to figure carving and coloring.

Johan, Those prices seem very reasonable, and are probably on the low side.

Hidecrafter used to carry the leather dust, but I am not sure if they still do or not. I just looked quickly through Tandy's catalog and I dont see it in there either. I know that you can get it from Jan Schoonover, that's where I got my last order from. He gets it from a tannery in Texas I think, but I dont know which one. I think it's the dust they get when they sand down the back of hides to make them even. I you want some, let me know and I will find some for you. I was told once that you can make it yourself by using a coffee grinder. I tried it with a cheap electric one and the blades in it lasted about 30 seconds. Maybe an old hand crank one would work better, I dont know. I also dont know how fine that dust would be. The stuff I get from Jan is really fine powder and works the best out of any I have ever gotten.

Ian, Peter's work is probably as close to perfection as you can get. He is a member here and I hope he will answer your questions. Plugs are usually a layer of leather that is set under the piece you can see.

I am glad that you all like the tutorial. Makes it worthwhile doing them. I do hope that some of get the urge to try this out. As for the multi blade knife, I dont think they are available from any of the regular leather craft suppliers anymore. I know that Jan Schoonover has someone modify a Tandy swivel knife to hold a set of exacto knife blades. He doesn't have email (that I know of) but I will PM you his phone number if anyone wants it. I think that he sells them for around $55. Bob Beard told me that when he and Robb Barr used to do a lot of feathers, they would make these hairing knives out of a piece of wooden dowel. All you do is drill a hole in one end, stack up 4 exacto knife blades and epoxy them into the hole. Then you hold it like a pencil. Cost for doing it this way was only a few dollars. If that's not clear enough, let me know and I'll do my best to clarify. Clay

That really is a big water stain. I wonder if there could have been something in the seat foam that got soaked up by the water and caused the stain? It's hard to say if stain will cover that mark up or not. It's possible that it's going to show up to some extent through stain. I think spirit dye would probably be your best bet to try and cover it up, and the darker the color, the better luck you might have. There are quite a few really good seat makers here, so you should get some good ideas on what to use for a finish on your seats. I really like the carved pattern you did.

Marlon, I dont seem to have that picture, but if you have pictures, go ahead and add them here. Peter did say he would try and start posting his new pictures to the forum so everyone here can see them. Until then, I'll add a few more pictures that I have of some of his work. attachment=11676:Boots_with_horses.jpg][at achment=11678:Concho_belt.jpg] and for anyone that hasn't been to Peter's website, check out all his amazing stuff at PeterMain.com

Earlier this year I experimented with trying to create a realistic looking bear paw using extreme embossing techniques. The project turned out better than I had hoped for. The pattern I used came from a drawing out of a book called "Bear, The Ultimate Artist's Reference" by Doug Lindstrand. Mr Lindstrand's books have been a really good source of pattern ideas for me. They include really good closeup photos of wildlife along with detailed drawings and field notes. He has authored several books on different wildlife species, and several more that contain chapters on many different species. When I finished up my first bear paw, it didn't work on the project I made it for, so I decided to make it into a keyfob and entered it into the spring show in Michigan City where it ended up taking a best of catagory ribbon. It seems that some of the judges couldn't decide if the claws were real, made of plastic, or actually leather. When I was in Sheridan, I showed my latest paw to Jan and Alice Schoonover and Alice asked the same questions about the claws. Jan Schoonover has taught me most of what I know about extreme embossing and coloring leather, so when his wife couldn't tell if the claws were real or actual leather, I took that as a real compliment. I have come up with a lesson on how I created these bear paws, and Johanna has made them available here on Leatherworker.net. You can see them by clicking here If you have any questions, let me know and I'll do my best to answer them.

Here are some pictures of some boot tops that Peter Main has been carving, and one of the his belt from the Sheridan show. The boot tops were carved on 2-3 oz leather. The two small buds in the photo will be inlayed into each vamp. You will see the extension of the stems on the two front tops. All coloring is with spirit dyes. Info on the belt... it is made from cowhide and fine goatskin. There are two layers of 2-3oz leather with a lighter weight for the plugs (these are the raised sections on both ends, and center back). All of this is bound in goatskin (including covered rivets), folding over all edges...the joins are barely visible as the goat has been skived to a feather edge. The overall coloring was dyed by spray, with the edges and raised sections colored by brush.

Here is some info on the 2008 Al Stohlman award winner Cherryl McIntyre, forwarded from her friend Peter Main. ...I have had a number of emails asking 'who is Cherryl McIntyre' (the 2008 'Al Stohlman Award for Excellence' winner). It was Al's wish, when the award began many years ago, that it be presented for the devotion, dedication and the promotion of teaching leathercraft....and not so for the individual talent of a particular leather craftsperson....Cherryl fits this criteria to a tee...including the individual talent. Over the past thirty four years, Cherryl has had an association with leather...she has been a business manager, buyer, staff trainer, researcher and product developer for tanneries, leather retail and wholesale manufacturers. Also a consultant and teacher throughout Queensland, Australia (which is 3 times the size of Texas). Cherryl is the organizer and conductor of workshops and seminars, including the past six 'Dimensions in Leather'...a week long international teaching conference, held in Brisbane. She has taught hundreds of classes, (sometimes driving hundreds of miles in the 'outback') to thousands of people, including children, adults, retirees, Vietnam vets, hospital patients, correctional facility inmates, businesses and institutions, teaching all levels, from beginners to advanced. Cheryl has won many prizes in Australia with her work, including over forty awards of excellence. I attach here a photo of Cherryl in her Brisbane workshop...also part of a wedding bouquet (made from fine kangaroo), and a close-up shot (the frog) of some embossed applique. So...that is who Cherryl is, Peter and a couple pictures of some things I have that Cherryl made.

Just to make sure nobody gets confused, it is Jim Linnell that is going to be in England, not me. I just posted the message for him. And like Pip said, it will be an experience not to be missed.

Something doesn't seem to be working there, at least not on my computer. ok, it works now.

Somebody told me to use a steel hammer with the Delrin maker stamps and that seems to make a big difference. The mallets and mauls used on regular leather stamping tools seem to cause bounce when hitting the delrin tools. I switched to using a heavy steel ball peen hammer I had on my bench and it seemed to make a lot better impression with out the bounce, double image, etc.

I think you both did a great job. And what a fun idea to both work on a project together like that! I think that's just a really neat idea.

Johan, This is really neat to watch. I can now see the advantage to using the plugs for embossing over just using putty in a project like this. The definition you are getting over the plugs on the smooth skin is really amazing. Making the plugs has to take up a lot more time than just filling with putty, but it is going to make such a big difference in this project. I am with all the rest of the people here, I can't wait to see the next step. Thanks so much for taking the time to do the pictures and share them with us. It was really nice to meet you in Sheridan. Now when everyone is ooohing and awwwwing over this piece when it is done, I can say "hey, I know that guy!"

I just wanted to bump this announcement up a bit since there seem to be several new members from the UK lately.

Shirley, I don't think Ebay is going to hurt your reputation as a seat maker. Some people use that route just for the exposure and advertising, trying to draw people to thier website. Offering your seats here on Leatherworker can't hurt either. I know there are a lot of fans of your work here. It sure seems to me that there ought to be some bike store somewhere that would take your seats on consignment and demand a resonable price for your work. Or maybe someone that has a booth at a bike show somewhere. I know I am not the person to tell anyone how to market thier work, because I do a lousy job of it myself, but I really hate to see someone like you that does really great work have to give it away. That just seems so wrong to me. The biggest thing about offering them for "next to nothing" is that people might wonder if that has anything to do with the quality of your work. Somehow you need to convey to them that this is not your regular price but a promo, or inventory reduction or some sort and no reflection your regular product. My 2 cents.

My neighbors dad told a story about the big dog he had when he was a kid. The dog loved to chase cars which led him to an idea. He hitched up the dog to his tricycle, stood on the back, and parked it in the ditch waiting for cars to come by. The dog took after the car, and the fun began. He said it wasn't long before people from town would drive by just to watch the show. I know it doesn't help with your question at all, but it sure would have made a great video.

Hi Pip, That looks really neat so far. Could you fold the back edge of the beak down to create a tab ( on the inside of the beak ) that you could then sew to the mask? You would lose the ridge you have put on the back edge of the mask, but you could probably put a new one in after sewing.

Here is the only picture of wood that I could find, from a Jan Schoonover class I took a few years ago. Wood grain really isn't hard to do. Cut the lines between the boards and bevel them slightly or just model between them. Model in some random bark texture. Knot holes can be pushed in with a pointed end of a modeling tool, then make sure the bark "swerves" around the hole. Cracks or broken out pieces can be put in with a background tool. Broken off ends of boards look good too. Use a pointed beveler for these. Nails can be either a point of the modeling tool, or a small round seeder pressed into the leather by hand, not too deep. I'd like to see more examples of what people have done to simulate wood.

I just finished adding comments to the photos. Seemed like a good thing to do since the wind is gusting to 50 MPH this morning. Not a good day to set rafters. Funny how even when you take 250 pictures, you still dont get good pictures of everything.