ClayB

I just finished up with my latest Robb Barr project. I think this was the most challenging one yet. I am not exactly sure why that was, but it just seemed to be. I was pretty happy how it turned out. The irridecent colors really make it look cool. I think I should have practiced coloring the tail feathers before I did the ones on the picture, but I guess they will have to do. Clay

Regis, That sounds like a neat project. The first thought that came to mind for raising the sides would be to cut a V out of each corner. Then when you folded up the sides until they fit the V, you could lace the corners back shut. You might want to use a gouge on the back of the leather to help the sides fold up easier. Just a thought. There should be others here who might also have some ideas as to things you could try. Clay

Different people have different opinions on this subject. I think part of it depends on the quality of the leather you are using too. Some leather will harden a little more every time it dries out, making it more and more difficult to work with. Other leather doesn't seem to be as bad at this. On a project that I knew I wasn't going to be able to get done in one sitting, I would case the leather well the first time. Soak it completly, and then let it dry until it starts to turn back to it's original color. Then you can start tracing the pattern on it. If you have to stop, then I would place it in a plastic bag to keep the moisture in. If you are going to be away from it for a long time, you could add a little more moisture to the leather from the backside before putting it in the bag. If I am going to be away from it overnight, or a couple days, I put the bag with the leather in it in the refrigerator. I have kept leather this way for long periods of time. Some people have problems with mold doing this so you might want to check it every couple days if you aren't working on it. I have only had it do that one time so I don't worry too much about it. When you are working on the project, you can add more moisture if you need to. Ususally I will add most of the additional moisture to the back side, but I also rub a damp sponge on the front side from time to time. Some people prefer to use a spray bottle and mist the additional water on. There really are no set rules. Take all the information you can get, try it out and do what works the best for you. In the last Leather Crafters and Saddler's Journal, there was an article about a saddle the Don Butler built that was fully tooled. He said in the article that he remembered stamping on the seat for 24 straight days. He said after the first few days the leather was getting pretty fuzzy but he would just knock off the mold every morning and keep going. I am guessing that means the mold must not have any permanent detrimental effects to the leather. Good luck on your project and I hope you will post pictures of it when you are finished. Clay

[quote I have even less respect for PETA now than I did before. :fire: Check out this page and it will probably make it even worse. http://www.petakillsanimals.com

Hi Dale, Congratulations on getting your piece into the show! You should probably slap me upside the head. When you sent the picture of the piece, I spent a lot of time looking at it, trying to figure out how you did this and that. Studying the craftmanship and not seeing the whole piece for what you were trying to show. Guess it just proves what we have been talking about is true. It wasn't until I read your post last night when you mentioned what you named the piece that I actually "got it". Now that I understand what you were doing, it is really a cool piece. It's so much more than just well formed and colored horses. It actually says something, like art is supposed to do. I hope it really does well in the show! Wish I could be there to see it in person. Clay

[quote However, I also think there are folks that just enjoy working with their hands, and worrying about markups, profit and advertising just pollutes the whole creative process. -Alex Can anyone see me jumping up and down with my hand in the air???? That sentence sums up my feelings about selling my work. If I had to make my living as a salesman, I would wake up every morning and just puke! I have been carving leather for around 30 years now and I don't sell much of anything I do. When I first started, I sold a few belts, checkbook covers, etc. just to recover some of my costs. More of what I did has been given away as gifts. But the majority of what I do stays on my shop walls or in a pile somewhere. I learned how to build saddles a couple years ago, but I don't think I will ever be a saddle maker either. I made 5 and two of those are in my barn, and two others are hanging in my leather shop. I made them because I wanted to make them. I also have about 20 pictures that I have done hanging in my house somewhere, have given a few away, never sold one of them (yet). Funny timing here for this post because just yesterday I did take sevearal of my pictures down to a store in a tourist town where we were pouring some cement. I had been in the store last summer and really liked the store. It is a bookstore, but also sells music and art. I decided I would stop and see if they might be interested in taking some of my pictures on consignment. I have told myself that if I did do this, I was going to set my price to where I will make a pretty good hourly wage (almost twice my day job wage) The thought of going in the store really made me nervous and I almost backed out, but I made myself do it. When the owner saw my work he was really impressed and did want a couple pictures. He asked me what I wanted, and I told him, waiting for the "are you nuts" response. I was really happy when he said "that sounds really reasonable". So now I will just have to wait and see what happens. If they sell, that would be great. If they don't, I will still keep carving leather because it is something I really enjoy doing. Making money from something I love doing would just be a bonus. Clay

Looks like Johanna took care of that right quick. Aint she something? On a slightly similar but mostly different subject. It was brought up one evening on the live chat function of this forum that we have some sort of live question and answer session. If a person had a question about how to do something, they could ask and hopefully someone else would have an answer for them. There are a few of us that have been using the live chat somewhat regularly on Saturday evenings. You are all welcome to join us there. It's a good time to ask questions, find out what others are up to, or just get to know each other better. For now, it's pretty much anything goes, but if there is enough interest, we could have chats on specific topics too. I think the live chat is a function of this forum that doesn't get used as much as it could. Clay

Thanks LBum, After the piece is completly colored I spray it with a sealer. Then go back and paint the eyes with an acrylic high gloss varnish. The one I use is made by Liquitex but there are others. I put it on pretty heavy, and do a couple coats. It really brings the picture to life. I have 3 more of Robb's pictures started and will post pictures when I get them finished. And here I figured everyone was probably tired of seeing what I am doing by now

I am not sure we are all on the page here when we are talking about thonging punches. The sewing punches are different than the lacing punches. The sewing punches punch a diamond shaped hole, just like an awl, where the lacing punches make a straight slit, or a slanted slit depending on the style of the punch. I just took my sewing punches out and played with them a little. They put the holes exactly the same as a Tandy #6 overstitch wheel. They punch a hole that is a little large for most sewing thread in my opinion. I did try them to just mark holes like Kate was saying, and it seemed to make it easier for me to then come back and use the awl and actually push the hole through the leather at the right slant. It would be a lot slower to mark them with the punch than with an overstitch wheel. I guess you would have to weigh that against having the proper slant marked. I think it's a useful tip and I something I might use until I learn to do the sewing like Al taught in his book (if I ever do). Clay

Hi Dave, The Journal relies mostly on submitted articles for it's content and I think that's why they get stuck sometimes on the same old thing. Just because that's what the people that write articles for them know about. I have seen a lot of really neat things being done with motorcycle seats here, and on other internet sites lately. A lot of you that do them have some real talent putting art on leather. Maybe one of you also has the talent to write an article about it. I would hope that if you did, the journal would be willing to print that also. Even though I will probably never build a motorcycle seat, I would be interested in reading how it is done. I think there are lots of people that read the Journal because it is the only leather retated magazine out there that wish there was more variety in the articles it prints. If we want some changes in "our magazine", maybe we need to get involved and do someting about it. Clay

I bought those chisels for punching stitching holes a few years ago. Why? Because they make them, so I must need them, Right? Well, I have never used them yet. But I like the idea of marking the slant of holes with them. I always have trouble keeping the slant the same. Probably goes back to just not doing enough hand stitching to get good at it. I also bought one of those punches that holds four small round tubes in a row. Probably was made so that you could get the same sort of holes that come in the leather pieces in kits. Not sure why you would want them, but if you did, this might be the tool (if it worked good) I did try using that and got the same results as Kate mentioned. Tears the leather between the holes. I think this is an interesting thread for those of us that aren't great hand sewers yet. Someday we all should get together and take a class from Verlane. Clay

For heavy duty zippers, I found them at a local dry cleaner that does sewing repairs. They carried lots of different lengths of heavy zippers for coats and coveralls. Clay

Hi Dave, I checked out your photo album. You really have some nice stuff there. I like the variety of different seats. I saved the picture of the seat with Christ's face on it and zoomed in on it. You really did a nice job on that carving! I would love to see some of your work in person some day. Once again, thanks for sharing the pictures of your work. I will be looking forward to seeing more of it. Clay

Hi Freak, Don't be knocking down your work. I really like the one with the skulls, and I am starting to wonder about that. It really isn't "my thing" but I like what some of you are doing with them. The coloring on that one is really nice. It will keep getting better too so keep on sending us pictures! I used to do quite a bit of welding too and I know what you mean about getting burned. What I hated was when red hot chunks of metal would find that hole in the knees of your jeans and roll down inside until they found a place they liked and just sit there and burn flesh! Clay

Hi Bruce, That turned out really neat! I have never used hair on hide. Never even thought of using it, until I saw your picture. Personalizing something with someones own brand might go over really well. I might just have to try it with my own brand on something. Thanks for sharing your picture. I have gotten a lot of ideas in the last few days. I hope everyone keeps sharing pictures of what they are doing. Clay

I like it too. I do mostly traditional kinds of stuff and embossed pictures, but I really enjoy seeing the unusual things that the rest of you are doing. I have been carving leather for a long time, and I think that I may be "stuck" doing things from patterns that other people have drawn up. I have ideas for things I would like to try that are different, but when I have time to carve, it is just easier to pull out a pattern that I know will work. I look forward to the day when I will be doing my own thing. Thanks to all of you that share what you are doing, whatever it is! Clay

Hi David, Thanks for sharing your story. I find the work you are doing inspired by tattoo work really interesting. This seat is really nice! Doing portraits on leather is supposed to be really difficult, didn't anyone tell you that??? Is there any chance I could see a bigger picture. I'd like to see how you did the details. And one last question (for now) do you have a site somewhere that shows more of your work? I for one would like to see more! Clay

Ok, what is it with you people and motor cycle seats? Shirley has been carving for a year and a half and Dave for a year and you both do some really great work!!! I really like seeing the designs you come up with that are so different than the traditional carving designs that have been around for so long. And the lacing really dresses them up too. I hope you both continue to share pictures of your work. Clay

I think Cova is Tandy's brand, at least it is what they have always sold. I think most any acrylics will work on leather. Silva Fox (http://wdstudio.net/foxart/main.htm) told me that she uses mostly Liquitex brand. Jan Schoonover (http://www.sculpturedleather.com ) uses mostly Delta Ceramacoat. I really admire both of these artists work and have learned a lot about how to paint from them, so I have also been using these brands of paints. I think the biggest thing you need to know about acrylics is to not overdo it. If you use the paint right out of the bottle and put it on too heavy. you will hide the leather. If you thin the paint down with water and put it on in thin coats, you can build up to the color you want. It's easier to put on more color than to try and take it off. Silva has a good video available on her website that will teach you quite a bit about using acrylics, shading, etc. There are also a few lesson on her site that you can check out. For me, coloring has been one of the hardest things to learn. I still mess things up sometimes, but not it's getting better. Clay

Hi Regis and welcome to this forum. I hope that nobody ever feels that their questions are too "beginner" to ask. We were all beginners once, and most of us probably wish we had someone to ask those questions to. There are so many different things we can do with leather. Each of us has different techniques they like to do, and different levels of experience. I think we can all learn something from each other. I don't do a lot of sewing, but I am sure there is someone here that can help you figure out what you are trying to do. Probably more than one way to do it too. Clay