Beaverslayer

Welcome to the fourm Johann, it's always great to have new people from all over the world come and share with us. Great looking work there on the money bag. Ken

Leathercat, that is some fine work for such a youngster. I wish when I was your age I had someone that could have taught and helped me to learn how to pound leather. Your Mom is doing a fine job, and I see you are picking the art up very well. Keep practicing every day, and before you know it, you'll be showing up your Mom....LOL Thanks for sharing your talent with us. Ken

Great looking seat there Busted, love the design, you made it look real good. Ken

Yes, I'm with the others on the natural color, although the black doesn't look bad at all. Very nice design and the stiching is great. Glad to hear you've carved yourself a niche in the market. Ken

Great looking seat Shirley, just one question tho....how do you keep from scratching the leather with those nails?????? Ken

I've missed seeing your great work David, great looking and the color is just beautiful. I really like the lacing on the front, gives it a very nice touch. Ken

Very nicely done Frog. Looking at that pan, I would have said no way, bring me a real seat pan. But you did pull it off. When I first looked at that flap for the bolt, I had bad vissions run through my head, thought it was some sort of metal thingy...could you imagine if you had to stop real quick.... Ken

Very nice work Bill, I always love looking at Native work. Ken

Kevin, great looking as always. Those snaps you use, I remember asking, and I think you said you got them from Tandy. Well I was at my local Tandy today and they don't have and have never heard of them, could they just be US Tandy that carries them? Ken

Spider, That's way cool, and it'll fit right in with that awesome bike you ride. Ken

Well everyone, I'm back and I must say I have missed this place. Thanks to all that sent me emails asking how things were going, and also the Birthday wishes, you guys and gals are GREAT. Well anyways, I'm starting a new vest so I thought, what the hey may as well do a tutorial while I'm at it. This will most likely turn out to be a very long thread, but again, what the hey... Well first off what I do, is I layout the drawing that I am going to be carving into the shoulder piece. As shown in the pictures, you can see that I use 3 pieces of 3M Transparancy Films for this. I will draw what I'm looking for on regular paper in pencil, this way I can erase and make changes as needed. Then I will trace the final design onto the transparancy film, making sure that I put marks on it so that I know where exactly it sits on the leather shoulder piece. Now, using the stylus, I'll transfer the design into the leather. I will not case the leather like a lot of you do, I will just use the spray bottle and wet the area that is going to be worked on. Once the design is completely transfered onto the leather, I will check to make sure that I haven't missed any of the drawing. I once made a matching pair of mens and ladies vest, and on the one Eagle on the mans vest, I missed the bottom half of the Eagles beak. I never noticed this until the vest was complete...DUH... After that's all done, and I'm confident that all the drawing is there, I will start to carve. On these shoulder pieces I DO NOT use the swivel knife and cut. The reason for this is that, it is a piece of the garment that tends to move quite a bit and is always being bent and folded. With knife cuts, then there will be a great reduction in the strength, and we don't want that. I use a steep beveler instead, this greatly reduces the chance of actually cutting through the leather. I use 2oz leather for these shoulder pieces, as anything heavier would not fold and twist right to fit the body, and would make the vest uncomfirtable to wear. Well here's the picturses so far, as I go along, I'll be explaining each step of the proccess, and will be taking pictures as well, as I do know how much everyone loves pictures. The layout drawing The cut leather Laying out the design Laying out the design Laying out the design Laying out the design The deisgn scribed onto leather Starting to carve Stay tuned, as there is LOTS more to come. If anyone has questions, as I can imagine there will be lots, please ask, I will endeavor to answer them as quick as possible. Ken

Hi everyone. I've been away due to some urgent family stuff for the last while. Some of you know the reasons, I won't go into it all as it would take too long. Anyways, I REALLY miss all of you, and all the GREAT work that you all do. I will be able to spend more time here and participate more in the near future, just not right now. Keep up all the PRACTICE, and keep osting, as I will need lots of reading and PICTURES to look at when I get back. Take care all, and BE SAFE. Ken Beaverslayer

Roger, sorry I mised the party, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY anyways. So what, are you as OLD as me now?

Are we the only ones up at 4:00 AM, I am actually working. LOL Just having a hard time sleeping lately, been surfing and surfing just to pass the time. Should be pounding leather if I'm up, but just can't get into it. Ken P.S. Don't work so hard, and why are you surfing the net while working?????

Randy, I found this in regards to "Rock Island Armory" it's all about hand guns though, but maybe will give you some info that you need. Ken

Randy, this little program is free and it works real well, there are lots of us here on the forum that use it. Maybe try it and see if you like it and you can save 80 bucks. infraview Ken

Hello everyone, Due to an unexpected family matter that arose last week, I have found the need to sell two of my cameras. I have a Canon PowerShot G9 12.1 Mega Pixel with the following specs for sale. Also, I have a Canon PowerShot A95 5.0 Mega Pixel with the following specs for sale. My appologees, but I do not have the download cables anymore, as I use either my USB adaptor or my printer for this and have just missplaced the cables, and also the instruction books....Hey what does a man need instructions for?.... Here's the specs: Product Features Simultaneous RAW and JPEG image recording allow for the ultimate in editing control. The Ultra High Definition 12.1MP CCD gives you beautifully crisp images with immense detail that doesn't lose any of its quality when printed at large sizes. The super-fast and efficient DIGIC III Processor enables accurate face detection, blazingly fast start up time, extended battery life, and fast processing speed. A 6X optical zoom lens with Optical Image Stabilizer System lets you get long distance shots with great detail and clarity. 3.0" High Definition PureColour LCD II screen with higher contrast and wider viewing angle giving a clearer and more accurate view of your subject and images. Included: Neck Strap (NS-DC6), Battery Pack (NB-2LH), Battery Charger (CB-2LW) 35mm Equivalent Zoom 35mm - 210mm Aperture Range f/2.8 - f/4.8 Audio Yes Auto OFF Mode Yes Autofocus System TTL Battery Type Lithium Ion Built-In or External Flash Built-In Burst Mode 1.5 fps Computer Compatibility PC, Mac Digital Media Type SD, SDHC, MMC Digital Sensor Size 12.4MP Digital Zoom 4X Effective Image Size of Digital Sensor 12.1MP Exposure Compensation +/- 2EV In 1/3 Steps Exposure Metering System Evaluate, Centre-Weighted Average, Spot File Formats Exif 2.2 (JPEG), AVI (M-JPEG, WAVE) Flash Range 1' - 13.0' (W), 1.6' - 8.2' (T) Focus Range 1.6' - Infinity, 0.39" - 1.6' (W) Included Digital Media Size 32MB Internal Memory No ISO Rating Auto/80/100/200/400/800/1600 LCD Monitor Size 3.0" Movie Mode Yes Optical Zoom 6X Playback Menu Yes Product Dimensions 10.64(W) x 7.19(H) x 4.25(D) cm Product Weight 320 g Self-Timer 2 Or 10 Seconds Shutter Speed 15 - 1/2500 Seconds Video Output NTSC/PAL Viewfinder Type Zoom Optical Real-Image The A95 Powershot A95 Features: 5 Megapixel CCD imager for up to 2592x1944 pixel images Postcard (1600x1200) mode with 3:2 ratio for making 4x6" prints 3x optical 38-114mm f/2.8-4.9 zoom, 4.1x digital zoom 360° "vari-angle" 1.8" color LCD with up to 10x playback zoom Advanced TTL AiAF 9-point autofocus system Program AE, Shutter-speed priority, Aperture priority and Manual modes Movie mode w/sound, 640x480 for up to 30secs, 320x240 and 160x120 up to 3 minutes 2.0fps Continuous burst capture up to 14 frames Evaluative metering on focus point, Center-weighted or Spot options Stitch Assist mode for perfect panoramas Exposure compensation: +/-2EV in 1/3-step increments White Balance: Auto, 5 presets or Custom Photo Effects: Low Sharpening, Vivid Color, Neutral, Sepia and B&W 15 pre-programmed creative scene modes Orientation sensor that automatically detects vertical or horizontal shooting Low-light focus assist illuminator Shutter speeds of 15 seconds to 1/2000 second Selectable ISO settings from 50 to 400 Voice memo (up to 60 secs) can be attached to images Built-in microphone and speaker Powered by four standard AA type batteries Direct print and PictBridge Compatible USB connectivity for PC and Mac CompactFlash Type I memory cards, 16MB supplied I'm asking $275.00 for the G9 and $175.00 for the A95 or the best offer I can get. If you are interested in either of these cameras, please PM me or you can e-mail me at emation@shaw.ca. I have a PayPal account for easy payment acceptance also. Thanks for looking. Ken

Luke, those look exceptionally nice. Very well done. One question though, I've stared at the back wall for 30 minutes and am wondering like crazy what's unusual....is it a trick question? Ken

Tazz, you give your son a BIG pat on the back and a HIGH FIVE as well. He's done a wonderful job on the wallet, very nice indeed. Let him know we're very pleased that he shared this with us, and to keep up the great work. He's a future leather artist in the making. Ken

Tammy, that's a very elegant looking mask, I think you'll do well at the womens conferance with ones like that. Ken

Welcome to the forum Josep, great to have you here. Looking forward to seeing some of your work as well. Ken

Great looking tooling Sawyer, can't wait to see the finished seat. What color is it going to be? Ken

Very well done Timbo, thanks for sharing. Ken

Kevin, keep em coming....they ROCK, very nice work. Ken

Very nice Roo, are you using an airbrush to color your masks with? Ken