DaveC

Colours are shown when items are selected for the cart on Lakoza, but Fuxia shows Green and Cielio shows a Brown. I speak no Italian and Google says Fuxia is Fuscia/Magenta and Cielio is Sky Blue?

I'm just a beginner too, but I'll throw in some things that I've found to be helpful. It's also a bit of a think on what I really need to work on. As Chief already mentioned, along with getting the right moisture content, nothing will go well if the layout and swivel knife work isn't good. My areas of focus are: 1) casing 2) accurate layout 3) accurate swivel knife work 4) "subtleties" of swivel knife work (changes in depth as lines taper out, correct angle, how lines merge) 5) coloring (tooling) inside the lines 6) even tooling where it's supposed to be even and shading from one depth to another when that's required References: Bob Park's Creating... Western Floral Designs was very helpful to me. I found it more about design than execution but it makes very clear what the different elements are about and how they should flow together. His article on edging has made a world of difference to me. At least producing nice edge doesn't seem to require a great deal of skill, just time. http://leatherworker.net/edging.htm Chan Geer's Sheridan Style Patterns for Belts 3/4" to 2" has been a really good source of patterns for me. They range from those with somewhat larger, easier to carve elements to those that are smaller, tighter and more difficult. I still haven't tried to design my own patterns other than some cutting and pasting, and focus on trying to replicate what others can do. Start with big easy patterns so you can get the feeling of doing some things rightt! The reason I try to replicate is that I find it easier to compare my work to the examples and the many (too many) mistakes show up clearly. Sheridan Style Carving by Gardner and Fay also helped. One thing they suggest is purposeful practice with the swivel knife on some set patterns. I like this as I can try cuts over and over until they improve without messing up a larger piece of work. I'll try to add a pic with some observations. Keep at it, Dave

I'm new to this and found Bob Park's book extremely helpful. There is another one called Floral Pattern Drawing for the Artistically Impaired by Pete Gorrell that I also found useful. Dave

Just as promised, the burnishers and maul arrived in the mail yesterday. They are beautiful and I'm looking forward to putting them to good use.

Thanks again Barry. I share you opinion on improvement. I think I enjoy seeing improvement in what I do at least as much as the end result. Now that summer is over, I'm looking forward to spending more time on leather again. The variety in styles and how individuals achieve them is very interesting. There are some that I prefer so I will try to steer toward that look. Best wishes, Dave

I received an apologetic email from Ed Stiles yesterday along with a picture of the items I ordered sitting beside and USPS box complete with tracking number. It's in the mail today. Everyone drops the ball once in a while and Ed has generously made this situation right.

Thank you for the tips and encouragement BarryS. Your comments make the issues seem very obvious. Hopefully I'll have something better to show next time. Dave

Thanks for your help oltoot. I'll do as you suggest. Dave

When I paid for burnishers, etc., on May 19, I was told there was a four week backlog. I followed up on July 24 and was told my order would ship "next week". It's now September 1 and the email I sent over a week ago remains unanswered. Things are not looking promising. The quality of the product doesn't matter if you can't get delivery or communication. After reading all the high praise and initially getting great communication, I'm very disappointed.

Lol. Thanks BIGGUNDOCTOR. Note to self: Edges The pattern is one from Chan Geer so no doubt the Sheridan-ness got lost in the execution. And thankfully the dog probably won't mind.

Hi All, I'd appreciate it if anyone would take the time to have a look and help me improve my work with some suggestions. I've been at it as a hobby for since November, reading a lot (Gardner & Fay, Geer, Gorrell, Park) and trying to get the hang of this making dog collars. I can see more things wrong than right but would especially like to know what stands out to the practiced eye that would help me along the most. Cheers, Dave

Hi all, This seems as good a place as any to throw this out. A couple of weeks ago I bought a #3 round edger from Ron's tools and couldn't be happier. I've been using Tandy edgers until now and there's no going back. The people at Ron's were very helpful and a pleasure to deal with. I make mostly strap items and find that finishing the edges takes the most time. Wish I'd known sooner what a difference it makes to have such a tool. It will save me a lot of time and sandpaper. Dave

Great! I'll send a PM. Dave