akasarin

Here is a pic of what I just did on leather. I did tats for a short time about 18 years ago. Didnt have much patience then so kinda gave up on it (didnt want to practice)but kept the equipment. I want to get back into it but was looking for a practice medium besides my own skin(thats how I practiced before.. many regrets). Some practice on pig skin, mostly in england, but I have not been able to locate any so I thought id give this a try. The tat work itself sucks(first in 18 years),but ill get the hang of it, as i plan to do some work daily. I post more pics as I progress. This was done on veg tanned leather with just a couple coats of resolene brushed on. The resolene eventually wears as u wipe but i kept it well coated in vaseline to prevent staining. Im sure it dulls the needles but not so much u couldnt do a couple pieces with the same ones. So as manji stated...yes it can be done. Hope this helps u out.

Thanks, I had to make the pattern my self. There was lots of trial and error in the template making. I initially did on some brown paper bag type paper, drawing the front trapezoid shape first then making the side patterns to fold the shape around. The paper wasnt working so well so I switched to posterboard. I had to make adjustments as I went until i got the proper shape. Even after the leather was cut I had to make a few small changes here and there.

I made this bag as I was making the seat for my sporty (which I posted a week or two ago), but finally last week finished assembly and finishing. The color was a little different than the seat initially due to the weeks between finishing, but it is quickly beginning to match.

All nice work, but I REALLY like that last wallet!

This was my first leather project, a seat for my sporty. This was a budget project. I wanted to tool it but have so many other projects going cant find the time right now to practice first. I purchased sale leather(discounted due to imperfections) at Tandy, 9/10 oz, was the cheapest they had there. It was a little beat up and thats why there are scratches. They dont bother me as I wasnt shooting for perfection on my first project. I originally purchased Fiebings leather dye in lt. Brown for finish but after dying a test piece it was too reddish for me so I actually ended up using minwax wood stain in golden oak and it came out the color I had intended. I had the metal laying around and didnt have a piece wide enough so I cut a 10 by 40" peice and welded them together side by side, cut with a jigsaw, then bent with some round stock and a 20 ton press. I formed the leather before punching holes due to the fact it was my first project and didnt want to punch them too far out or to close to the pan. The foam is the closed cell from my stock seat. Its cut pretty rough but didnt care as it wont be seen after covering. After realizing a utility knife doesnt work well, I ended up using a hacksaw blade and it went a little easier. I laced it up with chocolate colored latigo lace, using a round edge braid of 1 thong per bruce gants book. After dying I oiled with linseed oil, finally finished with Resolene. Its nothing like the nice work I see on here often, but for my first project im very happy with it. Ill post pics on the bike as soon as I get some taken. Im also working on a matching solo bag and toolbag (gotta pic up some more lacing, I underestimated how much it would take) out of the same piece and will post pics as I finsh them up. Thank for looking.

Im working on my first leather projects (no tooling, just cutting and assembling with edge braiding), a motorcycle seat, solo bag and tool bag, I have the pieces dyed and oiled. I am going to be doing round edge braiding, so should I apply Resolene before the braiding or after. The thonging im using has raw edges on it. Wasnt sure if I should Resolene after to get the edges of the braiding coated with it as the braiding is what will be holding the pieces together and I dont want it to start weakening and breaking down if its not coated as well. Thanks

I am going to be doing a seat for my bike, That will be tooled, but i plan on molding it to the contours of my seat pan. Should I mold to the contour first and try tooling on the irregular contour or tool flat then mold the seat? When the leather is wetted for molding will it wash out the tooling at all? Thanks

Hello, I was wondering what technique is used to get the mottled effect pictured on the upper piece. I wanted to do this on a motorcycle seat. Thanks