Bob Blea

They are all great people, but especially Paul and Rosa. I can't wait to see all of them again in May at Sheridan.

Thanks all! She carries this around work daily and apparently one of her coworkers is considering ordering one too. Hope that works out!

Thank you for the kind words Ray! I certainly have been keeping my spare time filled up with leather projects lately. I'd think you are better off with your own site than dedicating any time and effort to Etsy, especially since it sounds like you've established a good working site. With Etsy you don't have a lot of tools on your site to set yourself apart from your Etsy competition, and frequently you are competing on price with MANY other Etsy leatherworkers. I've been thinking going your route and developing my own website might be the right way to go now. I'm glad to hear your site is working out so well! Bob

Thanks for the words of wisdom Ray. While I don't do this full time I do try to run it as a business. I don't have tons of orders but I do always have something going on. With a full time job and young children I always have other demands on my time, so it's always a struggle to balance work, family and leather work.

The color you are dyeing could be part of the problem. Darker colors tend to make carving and stamping details disappear just because they absorb so much light. Dyeing black will hide much detail in the leather. Alpha2 may have had the best solution for you. Antiquing adds color but also highlights the detail in your carving, adding depth.

Thanks Rohn!

Nice work Rohn! I think in just a couple of weeks you exceeded my entire production capability for the year! Bob

This was a custom order I finished up recently for the wife of a coworker. He had a very specific design in mind with wild roses in the foreground and a mountain scene in the background. He also wanted the roses to have some color but the rest of the scene to retain the natural leather color. Both he and his wife were thrilled with how it turned out, and since I've known both of them for over 20 years it was important to do a spectacular job. The flowers were colored with acrylics and the overall notebook was antiqued. For some reason I didn't think to take pictures of the interior, but it holds a 8.5 x 11 refillable notepad.

Thanks for the suggestion fredk, hadn't thought of trying a stretchy leather like that. I'll give that a shot. I agree about the Velcro.

Thanks Michelle, I agree with you on the elastic. I used it here because I didn't know the diameters of the dart barrels in this case, and since the top is open and the darts could potentially just slide out of the case, I didn't want to take the chance of having leather loops that were too big. It's one of the design concerns I have about this case and if I make a second one I think I will make it zippered so everything is contained if it gets loose inside. I agree on the Velcro too. I've used it when I can't come up with a good way to use a snap.

It looks great, very good use of color.

This stamp is made by Wayne Jueschke in Elco, NV. He makes some of the best geometrics in the business, IMO.

Sorry Mike, I didn't think to take any with the darts and flights in it.

Thanks! I'm always working on new skills and techniques.

I've used common Liquitex acrylics (available in almost any craft or art supply store) with good results. My wife once made a wallet for herself with a carved and painted butterfly on the front. It's been through the washing machine twice and the paint is still holding up very well, not showing much wear and is completely useable. Bob

I haven't posted anything I made for a while. This goes back to my Christmas orders and it's the first time I've tried making a case for darts. There are some things I'll do differently on the next one and I see lots of room for improvement, but overall I'm happy with it and the customer's boyfriend loved it. The outer part was 3/4 oz. vegtan. The interior was made with a 2 oz. vegtan and a pigskin liner. The top part of the interior in this picture (which is actually the left side) holds the flights (the fins on the back of the dart) and has a pocket at the bottom which can hold the dart points, both of which can be removed from the darts. The right hand side has elastic loops to hold the barrels of three darts with a open pocket at the bottom to enclose the points if they are still attached to the barrels. Like I said, plenty of room for improvement especially with the stitching (which was all done by hand) but not bad for a first for me. Bob

Looking good!

I'm referring to the dark outline your beveller leaves around the leaf carving, the trough the beveller causes as you bevel the lines you cut with the swivel knife. A matting tool flattens down the dark outline and makes it look level with the rest of the leather around it, so your leaves will appear to rise above the leather surface. It will also smooth your beveling. In a few places I can see individual tool marks in the beveling around the leaves. Does that help?

Hello and welcome to the forum! It looks like you are off to a good start. The picture is blurry but I can see a couple of things. First it looks like the leather was maybe too wet. Second, I would recommend using your pear shader on the petals of the flowers and the leaves. They don't look like they have any shader impressions and that leaves them looking kind of flat. Hope this helps, Bob

It looks nice. The only recommendation I have would be to use a smooth matter or figure beveller to matte down the halo around the leaf carving. It would make the leaves pop up from the surface of the leather. The old craftool figure bevellers will work for this, though modern ones tend to leave tool marks (unless Tandy has improved those tools too.) Barry King has started making tools like this now and Clay Miller would be a good source, and of course there is Robert Beard if you are looking for the perfect tool for this. Hope this helps, Bob

Thanks antipaladin and capsterdog, I'm looking forward to making another one of these.

I use double loop on almost all my items, so I feel qualified to say you did good! Your lacing looks really smooth.

Thanks Chief! Coming from you that means a great deal to me.

Thanks bikermutt, I've got to agree with you on that. I was happy with how that turned out, and it's probably one of the reasons I was surprised on how much I liked it. May have to get some real croc or alligator sometime.