artycpt

Finished these three and figured I would show them off.

Anybody have a good source for oblong or oval grommets? I am looking for something with about a 1/4" opening for feeding lace through flat.

Very cool! As another SASS shooter (although I have taken a break from it this year) I totally understand the gamer rig. That one looks really slick! Never got to gamer status myself.....hard to do when your shooting cap and ball and I love the smoke and noise too much.

Check this site out: http://www.peggysuealso.com/servlet/StoreFront If I need something specific I go to them. They are local to me so it is nice to be able to go in and look for exactly what I want but they are really good to work with even by mail.

I use quilting pattern plastic. Very much like the plastic cutting boards but come in a variety of thicknesses.

very cool! great work on the coloring of the flames.

Depending on how old the holster is there were various methods of creating dyes to dip them in for overall dying. Vinegeroon for black and for brown I think they used some type of walnut husk solution. Maybe somebody with more knowledge about the old dying methods will help me out....

That is cool. What did you use to form the skull? And how does the bag open and close? Is the skull solid all the way around?

Hey Branden, Welcome from another northwesterner. Where are you located?

Only once have i padded a shoulder strap and I used a small thin piece of closed cel foam I had laying around. I covered it with sueded pigskin and sewed it onto the strap. Seemed to work well.

when I line any binders or portfolios with pigskin I will do my edging on the outer leather before sewing in the lining. Than I roll the edges of the lining prior to gluing and sewing. If any stiffener is going to be used I wrap the lining around whatever material I am using for the cover stiffener and sew it in. It does create the appearance of two peices sew together and not one solid edge of lining and outer cover but I have found this works best. If I don't want the outside edge to look like the inner lining is a seperate piece I will do an overall rolled edge (called a french edge or something maybe....) or will lace the edge. The only time I have lined a holster it has been with another thin layer of veg tanned leather and I edged as normal.

Rich, I do just that quite a bit. I have ended up with a few custom orders out of this so it is working out pretty good. I find a lot of artists who want to trade tattoo work for leather work. I am starting to do a lot of marketing towards the tattoo artist group. Being in the market for a new tattoo always helps with a lead in as well. The only problem is I may run out of space to get new tattoos...

I have yet to go to a craft fair to sell things. I am seriously considering it but haven't really built up an inventory. I am curious to know how much of an inventory you are going to create for a fair and what other needs are a must have (tables, chairs...)

For a reusable template I draw out the shape on a piece of clear plastic that is designed for quilting. It comes in various thicknesses and is found at most sewing stores. Then I do what was mentioned above and trace it out and cut it. I will lay my pieces on top of each other to make sure they are the same size and shape and I didn't slip a little somewhere.

I kind of modeled the harness off of some old army gear I had. I didn't like the way the usual shoulder holsters just had the straps that crisscross in the back and remembered the old harnesses I had to hold my field gear (before they made everything fit on a vest). Basically it is like a wide "H" that goes over both shoulders and fits across the back. The harness fits over the back and shoulders and creates a comfortable piece that doesn't pull like criss crossed straps tend to do. I think it distributes the weight more evenly and holds the holster even. It allows for adjustment of any one strap to make sure you get the exact fit you want on the holster or accessories without having to adjust the entire rig. Simply adjust the strap that you want adjusted. Plus it makes the whole rig kind of modular in that you can replace any strap with one of any other size and can change out the holster or mag pouch configuaration. This was my first time making a shoulder holster but I have used this again and people seem to like the way it fits. I have found that it sits totally flat on your back with no buckles or straps that protrude which to me makes it more comfortable when sitting or leaning against something.

Here is the lastest creation. Initially started out wanting to make this a post bound portfolio then changed my mind half way through and ended up with a three ring binder style. This was one of those projects I just kept adding more too every time I picked it up.

Those will definitely work. But as stated, light tap! it is really easy to get too much oomph and have the letter with a nice imprinted circle around it. I use letters like those for small projects where my makers stamp would be too big. You can see in the attached picture where I stamped out "snakebite leather" below the ID window on the inside of this wallet.

I don't make a lot of holsters but was commissioned by a friend for this one. He wanted a verticle shoulder holster for his 1911 that he could wear comfortably. He specifically asked not to have mag pouches so I opted for an elastic attachment on the non gun side to counterbalance the whole thing. Made everything pretty much modular so any piece could be replaced as necessary or changed out. I went with a non traditional style back piece to get something that was comfortable to wear for long days on the range. Figured I would share it.

It depends on the thickness of the leather you are using. A general rule I follow is that my stitching will be 1/8" from the edge with about another 1/8" on the inside of the stitches so I general add about 1/4" to each of the sides. I also adjust the overall length depending on the thickness of the leather so that it will open and close without issue. What fits tight when the book is open may not close properly. It also depends on whether or not I am making a three peice cover where the front back and binding are all seperate peices or if it is a one piece. Try taking the book and making a template out of poster board then add a little to each side to account for the different thickness of the cover material. It is always a trial and error with me and if I make one and it is too snug I remake the pattern a little bigger and try again.

I know you want to sell this as one lot but if you ever get the urge to break it up a little, let me know what the smallest group you might be willing to sell off. I do see some of those that I have been looking for. I know you want to sell this as one lot but if you ever get the urge to break it up a little, let me know what the smallest group you might be willing to sell off. I do see some of those that I have been looking for.

This is a littel tedious but for the gold like that I have used either a gold sharpie paint marker with a fine tip, gold metallic sharpie, or other type of paint marker (some made for scrapbooking and some for scale model building) In regards to the lighter green in the stamped areas, I am oinly guessing but it may have been the result of block dying and only allowing a small amount of green to get into the depressed areas. Potentially there could have been some sort of resist hand brushed into those areas as well so that the majority of the green would wipe off.

I do this a lot. It does take longer. Are you punching your holes ahead of time or as you go? I found that without a pony, if I punch the holes ahead of time it saves a step when stitching.

I came across some little sewing patterns the other day and thought that I could modify them and create a cool little card wallet out of the basic design idea. There are so many options and creative ideas I have for the tooling and adding of lace and such to this that I am kind of excited about it and hope they are liked enough that I get to make a bunch of them. This is a picture of one of the two I have done so far and have put up for sale. Will see how it goes.

Starting working on creating tooled representations of the 7 chakras for my wife to hang on the wall of her office. I have three tooled so far and decided I would tool them all before starting to dye them. (my mind is always subject to change on short notice though...) Each chakra is represented by a specific color so I will use those colors for the dying of each. Will try to update as I complete more. and one more

I created a similar affect my dry brushing and layering the dye. first overall dye of the light color, then taking a rag I put some dye on it and rubbed most of the dye off on a piece of scrap. From there I feathered the nearly dry rag from the edges to the middle. Add more dye as needed so that the rag remains with just enough dye to get the affect you want. I then took the lighter dye color again and used the dry brushing with a rag technique to blend the edges where the lighter and darker met. Airbrush is a lot quicker but I was happy with hte results.