Bob Blea

How about hair barrettes? Or I've seen leather napkin rings. Might be able to make watch straps out of them too. Bob

I think it turned out pretty awesome too! Bob

Glad I could help Shaun. By the way, I got my bargrounders backward. I bought the #27 first and just recently got the #30 which is bigger. Also, I was assuming that you had a few basic Tandy tools already, like a camoflage and mules feet. They do perform some important jobs too. They add details to the vines and flower petals. I've been getting by with my Tandy camoflages and mules foots, but I had some older Tandy tools made back when they still had good impressions. If you don't have any of these tools, you might want to add them to your list. Like Bruce said above, all the tools on the recommended list has their use. Also, if you can get a copy, order the book 'Sheridan Style Carving' by Bill Gardner and Clinton Fay. It's a great book that shows how this style is done by masters. They show you step by step and they show you all the standard tools and how they are used. Bob

Hi Shaun, and welcome to the forum. I do a lot of floral carving, and I highly recommend Barry King's tools. They will make Sheridan style floral carving much less frustrating for you. As far as a recommendation for starting out, the most important tools you will want are the bevelers. I started off with a number 1 and 2 checkered beveler, and have added smaller ones and smooth ones over the years, but I still primarily use those sizes. The beveler is the tool you will use the most so it's worth it to have good ones right off the bat. Traditionally everything in Sheridan style is bargrounded, and Barry does have a wide selection of sizes. I bought the #30's first, and I only bought the 3 hole and 5 hole bargrounders. I work small and tend to have small background areas so these small bargrounders work for me, you might want a little bigger size like a #27. However, it's OK to use a background tool to matt the area (like the Tandy A104) and it's a lot easier. Bargrounders can be frustratingly hard to use well. Undershot bevelers, or Lifters as Barry King lists them, are almost essential too, for that scalloped look that Sheridan style gets on the flower petals and leaves. I bought one initially (think it was his #2) but later got the next size smaller too. Pear Shaders and Thumbprints are close to the same thing, but the Thumbprint is shaped a little differently and it traditionally what is used in Sheridan style. I think I have the first four sizes of horizontally lined thumbprints from Barry, though I started off just with size #1. Many carvers would tell you that you should have a variety of sizes of thumbprints to match the size of the flower petal scallop you are using it in, but you can get almost the same effect if you learn to walk your tool a bit. Starting off with just the one size can be made to work. Thumbprints are designed so one end is a bit smaller than the other, so by tipping the tool you effectively get two different (but close) size shading tools. When you buy the next size thumbprint below a size #1, you get two sizes of thumbprint below the #1, if that makes sense. I would also recommend getting at least one of Barry's veiners. They are much thinner than the standard Tandy ones and (IMO) leave a much better impression. If you can afford it, I also recommend getting a center shader and leaf liner. Both of these tools are important to getting the look of flowers and leaves that you see in Sheridan style, particularly the center shader. It's used to bevel around a flower center stamp and gives a great look of depth to the flower center. And, if you have room in your budget, good flower center stamps make your work look better. Again, Barry has a wide selection of them. To me those would be essential carving tools, but there is one other thing I would recommend: a good swivel knife. The swivel knife is the basis of all the rest of the carving and if it's not sharp and easy to use, the rest of the carving suffers. Barry makes a good knife, but you can also get one of his swivel knife blades that will fit in a Tandy knife, so that could cut down on your costs. A Barry King blade will hold an edge better than the Tandy one, so just getting that blade would probably make your life easier just like having his bevelers would. I know this sounds like a blatant ad for Barry King, but I don't work for him, just have a lot of his tools. I think the world of them and wouldn't be able to do the carving I do without them. And, he's a great guy to do business with. This is just my opinions, and others will probably differ. Bob

I would say not bad at all. My only critiques could be just a matter of style. First, I think you have too much background in your design, but that may be your style and the effect you want. I also think your flowers look small in comparison to your circles, but again that may be the style you are looking for. Also from a flow standpoint, the flow around the lower left corner and the center flower seems to cross over itself in a figure eight. Generally people try to avoid this sort of cross over, but again that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it if that's the effect you were looking for. Or maybe I'm just mis-interpreting what you've drawn there at that cross over. I would recommend defining your border around the floral area. On the bottom it looks like the leaves are going lower than the floral elements, like they are falling off the design. Bob

Very cool idea. I hadn't started working with leather when my oldest was born seven years ago and had just started learning when my second son came along. Might have to make then each a photo album like this. I really like the idea, and yours turned out great. Congratulations on the beautiful daughter! Hope she is letting you get some sleep! Bob

Very nice Cheryl, what does it look like inside? Bob

Very cool. I know nothing about chaps, but they look great to me. Bob

Your work is always inspiring! Bob

What a great idea! I've got two of those kind of block planes. Think I need to try and get that blade really sharp. Thanks for posting this. Bob

I've had lots of problems where I work with Blackberry's running down because the cases they were in were too tight and it was pushing buttons. At times we had to disable the side buttons for the camera to get them to stop. I would definitely recommend a looser case. Bob

Boy, that is a tough one. I have problems with that too. Chuck is absolutely correct that it takes practice, as much as anything we do when carving leather. The shading from the thumb print does make it harder because that leather is compressed and much denser than the unshaded leather next to it. I don't think I would recommend much re-wetting if you don't have to. Re-wetting will take a little of the burnish out of your thumb print or shading, and a lot of extra moisture could cause you to loose some of the relief you have carved. In order to make good decorative cuts I have to warm up first. I need to practice whatever the cut is going to look like first on some scrap. The first couple usually don't look that great. Also, make sure your swivel knife is very sharp and well stropped before you start. Having a sharp swivel knife makes all the difference in the world. Hope that helps, Bob

Hi Jaysouth, and welcome to the forum. I'm actually wanting to make a tool roll something like what you have made. That's a very traditional way of storing stamps. Yours looks pretty functional, and that's probably what is most important. Good job! Bob

Wish I could go but just a little too far away... Bob

You are also seeing a lot of the traditional western floral toolers migrate towards the scroll work used by engravers. They have used scrolls similar to the vive work in western floral, for many years, and it does create some very different effects. Bob

Hello Nicklas, If you have an airbrush you could use that to put your first coat of resolene down. After that is applied it should be sealed enough to hold the antique in place. Bob

To answer the original question, it is paint. They even say that in the item description. I would use acrylics and then seal it with resolene. Bob

Very nice work incorporating all that. Well done!

Thank you Bob, for posting this article. It makes me want to find some type and try doing this. Bob

I think it looks great. Nice job! Bob

I've got a Shih Tzu that will do the same thing. She always thinks she should be right in the middle of whatever your doing. That is a great looking bag. Bob