Clay

The new ECO-FLO dyes and finishes are in my opinion going to be very good and fun to work with. We have been making some color samples with them and the colors are very nice and there is a wide range to chose from. Each Tandy store is now starting to stock them as they become available. Check with your store and you can ask for the pamplet on the new ECO-FLO dyes and finishes. Clay M.

I am up here too....having a lot of fun so far... Clay M.

Holly, I will have something for you in a week or so. going to Sheridan and am getting a piece finished up for that. I will let you know when it is done. Clay M.

Johanna, I am finishing up a full floral briefcase for the Sheridan show, wish me luck as it will be my first time entering my work in a competition...... I will have pics after the show. Clay M.

The class was great, there were about fifteen people there and Jim gave some very usefull techniques on doing figure carving. The pattern was a moose that looked a lot like an elk with a mountain and trees in the backgroud. We watched him paint his picture on Sunday and he does a very good job of adding color but still letting the leather show through. All in all I learned alot and am going to be trying a lot more of this figure carving.... Oh and I was to sick to remember to bring my camera so I will ask some ofthe others who were there with their cameras to get me some pics. Clay M.

Holly, What kind of pattern does she want? I can draw her a simple sheridan if she wants.. what are the dimensions for the wallet? Clay M.

Here is mine, the scan is not so good I will try to get a digital pic of it tomorrow. Clay

Gremlin, I seem to remember heraing about this red hide from Jim Downey who sells the kangaroo lase at the trade showa. I believe that it is also a kangaroo hide. I am not positive on this though. Clay M.

Ed, Getting a good burnish on the edged has a lot to do with the water content of the leathers edge. Here is what I do, After I have done all of my tooling and dyeing and the leather has dried, I bevel the edges with what ever size edger I need then I take some fine grit sand paper like 400 or 600 and sand the edges smooth. If there are any little fuzzies I burn them off with a lighter but go fast so that you do not burn the leather itself just the fuzzies. I use a mixture that I learned about from Paula Marquis of PSLAC up in Washington State. The mixture is made up of wood glue, water and a little black dye powder. I use one of thoes small foam brushes cut in half to apply it. I apply it on a few inches then rub it with the canvas briskly but not forcefully till it is smooth I repeat this till I have burnished the piece.. After burnishing I let it dry and then follow up with a light coat of neat lack being carefull to apply it just to the edges. This process may seem to be more involved than just using a slicker but it is worth it as it makes for a very nice profesional looking edge. Clay M.

Beeza, Yes I did see the post and thanks for the information. Sorry for not responding sooner. Clay M.

I wanted to show the Green man that I am working on, It has been tooled and molded and formed as much as I think I can get it. I will be adding the leather dust glue mixture to it and then on Wed we will start painting it under Dale's instruction. It has been a fun project. Clay M.

David, Do you have any contact info for Equine Affaire or Tucker? Thanks for your help. Clay M.

Hi all, I am trying to help a saddle maker find a source for the gell used in motorcycle seats. If any of you that make the bike seats know where to get this please let me know. The saddle maker is wanting to use it on his saddle seats. Clay M.

Clay, Very big improvement. Good Job!! Now the eye can comfortably look at this patern, and follow the flow from the top flower to the initials. On the previous pattern the eye was stopped and lead off of the piece. One more suggestion and I will leave you alone. Try putting one more petal into your flowers. This will help get rid of a lot of the backgrounding. It will also help you get depth and movement in the flower and your pattern. Clay M.

Clay, do you have a rule of thumb about backgrounding in proportion to the design? I remember being told it should be minimal, but I couldn't tell you why. Johanna Johanna, I don't have a rule to follow but when I asked this question to the saddle maker that I learned floral carving from he said that the background should be minimal because it takes up time and the shops paid the carvers by the piece instead of by the hour so they would design simple but elegant patterns to put on the saddles that would not take long to carve. Clay M.

Regis, The queststion is a good one and I will do my best to answer it. I am not sure that I have the best answer.. The flow of a floral pattern will vary between styles, makers and tools used. In Sheridan style the flow is going in the same motion but not the same direction, or in other words the flow is not necessarily left to right. In bigger patterns you will see vines and such that do point to each other but they are growing from the same point of convergence. Clay B. mentioned S curves, these are huge part of the flow of Sheridan style patterns. Take a look at a typicall sheridan patern, if you put your finger on the vines and folow them across the pattern you will see that it will go in S curves that go in different directions but it is still flowing in the same "growth" as it goes across the piece. As for the focal point, the flowers are the first componet of the pattern. That is what you want to see first when you look at a piece. The vines and stems and leaves are secondary. They should not become more prominent than the flower. On Clay B's pattern the flow starts at the top left corner and curves around the flower to the right. It continues under the middle flower at a diagonal towards the left lower corner and back around the botom flower to the right again. So by recognizing this flow it becomes easier to see that some of his leaves should be turned around. I hope that is is helpful and that I have made sense. Clay M.

Clay, The thing that stands out the most to me is that you have elements in your pattern that are working against each other. I feel that leaves and flowers that are "growing" from the same source should point in the same general direction as the flow. The other thing is the background. I was taught that the background should be minimal and equal to the rest of the piece. What I mean by this is that on the top of your piece you have several leaves and on the bottom you do not have as many, so there is an empty space under the S that could have a leaf in it. The carving itself is great, the leaves are done well and the flowers are too. You mentioned adding vines to the pattern and in my opinion they don't have to be there if you can get the flow right. Clay M.

David, Sorry bout that. The pommel bag is oiled with neats foot, coated with neatlac, and antiqued with sheridan brown. This is pretty much how I color and finish everything that I make. But I did something different with these for a final finish, and if you look closely you can see the streaks in the bottom of the bag. I did a coat of resolene. I used to much and I could not get the streaks out. I have not used the resolen sence. Clay M.

K-Man, Have you tried Standard Rivet Co.? They have all kinds of spots and other decorations. Their number is 1-800367-4838 or www.standardrivet.com Clay M.

David Your question reminded me of a funny story.. Aparrently there was a saddlemaker that had a "secret" saddle oil formula that he would sell to other saddle makers at a high price. This saddle maker passed away and the other saddlemakers contacted his wife to see if she would sell them the "secret" formula. She had no knowldege of a formula but told the guys that they were welcome to come pick up the cases of vegetable oil her husband kept in the garage.

David I will answer both of your questions in one post.... I use the Tandy prime neatsfoot oil item number 2260-34. I tried it when I first started working with leather, liked it, and have never used any thing else. There are probably better products out there but I have no reason to try them. On the small bag, I think that you are refering to the triangle shaped one?, It is made with W&C carving and tooling leather which is very light to start with. I did not put any oil on it and used a coat of NeatLac then applied the sheridan brown antique paste. Personaly I was hoping for a little darker finish. The only reason I did not use any oil on it was because I got in a hurry and forgot it. Clay M.

Pete, I used either Herman Oak or Wicket and Craig and yes I did oil and use the antique. I mostly use the Sheridan Brown but I some times use the mahogany mixed with some brown.

Tyson, In my opinion it would not be a good idea to background after you dye. Two reasons. If you let the leather dry before dying then you can not really stamp it after. The impressions would be there bu they wont be very deep. If you wet it after dying you will cary the dye to areas that you do not want it on. Second if you leave the leather wet and dye it might seep to areas that you do not want to be dyed. When I dye the background I do it after all of the molding, carving, stamping, tooling, finnish cuts, or any other manipulations of the actual leather. I try to let the item dry over night but sometimes I am in a hurry so I hit it with a heat gun ( hair dryer) and then let it finish drying for an hour or so. Then when I am ready to dye the background I use the smallest brush I can and dip it into the dye. I brush off the excess and start in the middle of the area of the background I am dying. The leather will suck up the dye quick so I don't brush the leather but just kind of dab it and let the leather and dye do their own thing. A very little amount of dye will cover a larger area than you might think. I would suggest trying it on some scrap untill you get a handle on it. Good luck and post the pictures when you are done. Clay M.

Matthew, It is a double loop lacing like for a check book or wallet. I like to use the Kangaroo lace that Tandy used to sell. Clay M.

Charley, Yep, I carved each one, they are award plaques about 12 inches across. took about six hours per plaque. Clay M.