Mrs Barry Hicks

Awesome tat! Good line work and I really like the design. I too am doing a barter for a tattoo... well reworking a tattoo on my back. I love barter when you need it!

Hey all. I made a wolf mask (can be found in my gallery) around 8months ago and I am finally getting back to making more masks. This is my latest mask, my first Dragon Mask. I air brushed it with dyes. The holes are where the horns actually go. This is a prototype. No mask will be painted exactly the same but I am trying to keep them all very close to the original in shape (there are some variations due to the complexity of the shaping). I have two masks right now drying and I'm hoping to start painting them today. I'll probably use a combo of dye and paint for them. I'll post more pictures when they are painted. but for now here's a picture of my prototype dragon. Oh and I'm in the works for making another kind of dragon soon! Enjoy! and crits and questions are welcome! Mrs. Barry Hicks

hmmmm.... I have been through this topic on many boards more than once. There is not one company that will stand behind a "food safe resin" for hot liquids. You won't find them. Leather workers won't tell you their secret because of legal issues (read first part of my blurb here). I personally have been looking into food safe silicone for lining mugs. But keep in mind, whatever you use on the inside... the heat from the liquid will affect what is on the outside too. So you can't harden your mugs with bee's wax cause it will start to melt the wax in the leather. And make sure that the sealant you use can handle heat changes. Along with the colorants you might use.... stains may hold up, but does acrylic paint.... just sayin. There's a lot be thought about when it comes to making a "heat friendly" leather mug. You could just make ceramic mugs that look like leather ones... but that sort of kills the fun of working with leather doesn't it? If I find out something that works I'll be posting it. Good luck to everyones endeavors!

awe thanks! I love your work so it's great to hear your feed back. I'm not a master leather worker, but I am learning. I'm already in the mode for making a leather bottle but a notch up from the regular ones (though the ones I have seen here are gorgeous, I'm just different from that). And I have a new sword I bought and have been working on making a scabbard for it as well! (which I noticed one you had done one?) Looking forward to seeing more of your work too.

I've used something called Block Out by Eco Flo. There's probably other products out there but that's what I've used. It also helps to harden the leather as well. I would put it on both front and back. To completely seal it. The only downside I've found to it is that it makes fake gold leaf tarnish. Hope that helps. Looks great so far.

Angster, here's a link to the mugs I ended up making. Thanks again for this tutorial... really helped me! my mugs Thanks again for you help! Barry

So here's some of what I was working on over the last two months. The first one is one of 8 mugs I made for a encampment for the SCA (Vlad's Pleasure Pavilion at Pennsic). I came up with the design. Carved and tooled all of them. Followed the fantastic tutorial that was pinned on this forum! And voila! This is what the finished mug turned out like. The following is my personal drinking vessel. It holds 64 fl. oz. It's based off of a Kantros (Greek drinking vessel, normally made out of clay/pottery). There are three handles. The horse I designed is supposed to be of Persian influence. The rim on on the top is supposed to have African feel. I call it the 'Cauldron of Life'. I stiched the shapes and wet formed it around my daughters Tinkerbell ball. Hardened it with Bee's Wax. The Kantros is lined with a Brewer's Pitch and Beeswax mixture. The last thing is my daughter's drinking vessel 'Baby Mug of Doom'. It is Viking inspired. The face I just carved on free hand and this was a test piece I was making originally but it sort of turned out to go to my daughter cause I thought it would be cute. I gave it legs and a tail so as to sit properly. It has a Japanese anime feel to it as well. She loves it. BMoD is also hardened with Bee's Wax and then lined with Brewer's Pitch/Bee's Wax mixture. Sorry I don't have any pics of the finished piece. I'll post a few ones soon. I know it's kinda unusual stuff. But I'm just not the usual kinda gal either. Hope you all enjoy them!

It may take a little longer but... Make a base for the horn out of leather (moulded to the shape of the base of the horn along with a rim that sticks out perpendicular to it all the way around). Drill holes into the base of the horn and stitch it to the leather base. When done stitch the rim to the helm. That's pretty basic and doesn't need to use all sorts of chemicals. And you don't have to buy other stuff, cause I'm guessing you already have everything you need. And that will be super stable as well. And with the stiching done on it, it will look really cool. :D imo of course! B.

Well I've got another question for you. Do you find that after tooling the leather and dying it, when you put the mug in the hot wax, do you lose any detail in the tooling? I could use any advise possible. Barry

LOL! Hey I remember him! Ahhh, thanks anyways. I did find some info from another person at another board. I'll put some info together at some point and post it here for others. King of Burger.... jeesh Barry

Does anyone have any historical information pertaining to leather coronets and crowns? I am entering a leather coronet into the period headpiece competition at the East Kingdom War Practice in two weeks. I cannot find any documentation pertaining to leather crowns or coronets at my library and on the internet. I've seen many Kings and Barons/ess wearing them. I could only find on reference to a biblical character wearing a leather crown and am not sure how legit it really is. Any help would be really appreciated! Thanks! Barry (the White)