chocolateducttape

very cool! I like the Celtic designs.

thanks everyone!

That is probably the cutest thing I have ever seen in my life.

TerryE - first I applied NeatLac with a piece of sheepskin (I used to use the spray kind, but then I discovered that I tended to overapply it, plus it didn't really get down into the grain of the leather, and it would end up cracking off. So now I just use the bottled kind, take a little piece of sheepskin, trim the hair down to about 1/4 inch, and rub on the NeatLac in a circular motion until it's all nice and even.) Then I applied antique (Fiebings paste antique is my favorite- dark brown in this case) and after rubbing off the excess and letting it dry, TanKote over top of that, applied pretty much the same way as the NeatLac. Good luck! and don't be afraid of messing up, just invent a way to cover it up when you do make a mistake. Bruce - thanks! Hammerhead- they're for holding spurs to your boots.

thanks!

cool! I am just now learning about sewing machines and stuff... that's going to be my next big investment.

I had some of those pink crystal rivets and a bunch of scrap leather, and I wanted to use them up, so I decided to do spur straps. Then I realized that I had no idea what they were meant to look like. So I got some of those patterns from Tandy, traced one, and started drawing and erasing over top of it till I wound up with this.

nice!! I want to do a pair of chaps now. What machine do you have for sewing?

So basically those are amazing. 23 inch tops... wow.

Thanks y'all! badLoveLeather - St. Jo, Texas.

Well, they're not 100% my work, as I did them with help at Carl Chappell's boot school, but still. It was an AWESOME class, I learned tons, and I feel well-equipped to take on my next pair, so I highly recommend it.

I'm not sure which I want more, the bridle or the horse modeling it! Really awesome job!

Very awesome! I definitely can't wait to see the finished product.

Wow that is going to be fantastic! Great job!

haha sorry... I was definitely a computer nerd until I discovered leatherworking...

Wow that is gorgeous work!

Didn't see this till a month after your post, but that belt is absolutely beautiful.

I don't know about swelling, but I have to wear a wrist brace on my mallet arm if I'm doing anything extensive. Sore muscles don't bother me too much, but I'm not a fan of sore joints.

Thanks! I had a bunch of camo fabric left over from an art project that never got done, so I decided to put it to use here.

Thanks so much! haha yes it is (Mossy Oak).

Lots of things to fix for the next one, but overall it turned out pretty well.

That's really good looking! I feel like simpler stuff is harder to do because if you make a mistake, there's nothing to distract the viewer from it. But you did a really good job on that.

I found this one site on the internet where you can get varying thicknesses of marine plastic... you know, the stuff they make boat windows out of... and it's worked for me. (I can't remember what site it was but probably any marine repair supply place will have it.) Your wallets are way better than mine though.

hah that's funny! Brilliant idea and execution.

So, that's basically amazing.