DoubleC

Did I put a ballet on this? LOL. I can't keep my threads straight. do you burnish the back of your heavier leather? I'd love to see some of your work. My first one is going to be from a belt blank I have, 7-9oz but who knows in the future. Thanks for writing Aurelie. Cheryl

aint that the truth, ROFL. I've noticed that about every time I touch leather! I don't have a heavier mallet, I have a cheap wood one. Some day

Thanks Kevin, I just bookmarked it for today

Hi Kevin..yeah I know about their leathercraft library. I got some free downloads from there, actually all the free one I could get, I'm sure it is worth it. Except me and money don't seem to be on speaking terms anymore, LOL. I remember why now, it was the day I touched one of my bridles, or some kind of leather and said, 'I could do that.' You smell leather, hay, horse, listen to the creak of the saddle, and you don't have a chance, the leather bug WILL eventually bite you, and if having a horse doesn't cause bankruptcy, the leather will :-) I edited this because I remembered something......

First think I'm gonna do Syl is practice with that 3D stamp some more. I bought a spring loaded handle for my the stamp, supposed to make a deeper impression, but I'm not seeing it. It doesn't seem to fit right, wiggles around. So going back to my regular handle, assuming I can find it :-) And don'tcha just hate that spawn of diablo look???

Fiebings of course.....Why would I have two things that might work together :-)

Thanks Kevin. I'm making these for cowgirls (or girls) so I thought maybe rhinestone eyes would perk it up for them. actually I don't like them either, LOL. The foals eye and mares are the same size, and although so tiny you would not believe how hard they are to set, they shouldn't be the same size. and the next time I'm going to add a little water to the dye because i don't even like it that dark. This block stuff, something you can get a tandy online? Or my Tandy seller? Never mind, heading to my tandy guy so I'll look. That's for writing, Cheryl

I have no idea what you are saying to each other, but I hope it includes the words stunning, gorgeous, and OMG, THREE MONTHS. I get frustrated when I can't finish a project in a day

That is absolutely GORGEOUS. Cheryl

OK, as usual I had no idea this would take so long, intended to put the whole necklace up, but things take the time they take. I'm going to make it all out of leather supplies, a sewn leather jump ring, and Tandy gold/black lace, oh well that doesn't matter. Any help to improve as always greatly appreciated. Cheryl

I so wish I had watched this video before I asked you all those questions, Kevin. You were very helpful and patient but that video would have saved YOU time if I'd watched it.

Beautiful Marcel. Maybe some day you can give me some 'how tos' on a basic one for one cue. My sister would love it.

Hi Rick. No I don't have a Tandy store around here, only a Michaels. I checked my store's schedule and couldn't find anything soon relating to leather work. I have a store on Etsy which I haven't checked in forever. I could open a new one with the things I have now, which are different than my endless blinged conchos :-) Yes, when you can list an item for 4 months for 20 cents, it's hard to beat that kind of deal. My website is finished at this point except the meta tags so I can get it spidered. It's a free google thing they are doing for small businesses, at least for the first year, with a REAL domain name, and after a year, if you're satisfied with it, I think it's 4.99 a month. It's only a 5 page site, but has intuit site designer and is really easy to use, i slap things on there, move them around, and take 'em down like a big collage in my head. Much easier than when I used to code everything. You have given me lots of ideas Rick and I saved the link to the journal. When I'm on eBay trying to snag tools as cheap as possible, I'll check for this too. thanks so much, Cheryl

You are so right Cheryl. I just went through a nasty split with my partner in the business of what? 6 weeks, LOL. And I was sad but relieved. We couldn't agree on whether it was raining or not. But John's been a friend of mine for years and he only has my best interests at heart even though yesterday to me he sounded like my ex business partner. All I was 'hearing' was criticism and someone telling me what I 'should' do. It was just a suggestion really on his part, he thinks there's an easier way to make a horse eye and doesn't understand why I would want to spend more time trying to carve it. I realized today I could do both. He and another friend asked me if I'd thought about doing leather concho jewelry yesterday at almost the same time since I started in leather doing blinged leather bridle conchos no one wanted, LOL. So since I own all the leather conchos in the world, LOL it sounded like a good idea for my site, a line of jewelry I'd LIKE to make. But I didn't have any findings anymore, and was just having a bad day and took what he said wrong. so today I wake up, it's a new day, and a good one and I start hunting through the house for things and I have stuff to make a really nice set of concho earrings or two, plus a necklace. I have things out, all ready to start, and it feels good. These will be tooled, not carved but I'm still going to be creating. That doesn't mean I'm giving up my work on 'in the eye of a horse' and it also doesn't mean I'm giving up dying this dang black tack set either, LOL. I can do them all, depending on which mood I'm in. I've already emailed him and apologized which he graciously accepted. So I'm off to create :-) You guys are so cool, I mean really neat people. I figured this thread would get taken down, or no one would respond, but I underestimated you. Thanks so much, Cheryl I've already emailed him Aaron and apologized. :-)

You're right Aaron, he's my best friend and I'm not going to let this change that. It just seems that suddenly everyone wants me doing things fast, and I want to do them right. This has always been about creating to me, creating beautiful lasting things and maybe that can't be a part of business anymore. I don't want to believe it though. Maybe I am going too slow. I have a veg tanned belt that I want to cut to make a headstall, so I can FINALLY get some of my work on my site. And I'm afraid to cut it. It's the only leather I own besides conchos. I don't feel like I know enough yet about tooling it. I'm afraid I'll mess up the cuts. I don't have buckles for it yet. i haven't made a template. All these things keep running through my head. I don't have all the things to burnish the edge.....I am literally paralyzed by indecision right now. Some folks recommended I make some earrings, etc out of my conchos. I have a ton of those but no fittings. So I just keep doing things here, trying to learn and maybe putting off decisions, I don't know. A lot to think about in a logical manner, not this continuous circle. Thank you Arron for writing. Cheryl

Thank you Kevin. Maybe I do have the backbone. I just am tired of making concessions to other people's idea of what I should create and how fast. And as much of a friend as John has been, and how supportive, he hasn't gotten it yet. Maybe it's because I'm unsure myself at times like you say, but I'm about to revisit a business plan I made up about 6 weeks ago and see how much MY direction has changed, and get it down in writing for myself. Thanks for writing. Cheryl

Sierra, I think your work is just gorgeous. One of these days, I'm going to try one of these. What weight leather do you use? Cheryl

ROFL, those were workshops held last year, and NO WHERE could I find out where in America they were held. I don't think they've updated their site yet for this year. Now I could get into a 6 day conference in Queensland, but that would be a fer piece to swim :-) I think YOU are the eye guy and I'm going to try your techniques and continue carving these until one of us gets them right, or good enough to fool the average smoe :-)

I am honestly beginning to wonder how dumb one person can be, and I think I'm that squared. I have a really good friend in NH; although we only know each other by internet. He has always been supportive of my various schemes to try to make a little money, and recently sent me acrylic and a ton of other things so I could make my own templates. My partner and I split finally, so Double C is mine. (Cheryl Crossan). Yesterday I did a horse's eye for critique, only second try on it, but I was pleased I could do as much as I did from a picture. And I've had people helping me on here on how to get the depth I want, the definition and I was happy about that. I sent him a picture of my original eye after I scanned it, and he asked why was I suddenly going technicolor. I said I painted it as closely as I could to the picture.Then a member on here showed me how to get the definition and he dyed his. So I sent that pic to my friend and said, "this must have been closer to what you expected.' He said no, he thought I should use one of my cat eye stones, and make a slit in the the leather from behind, smaller than the cat eye, push it through, and glue it and another piece of leather on the back. I wrote and asked him when in the 'Hades' did he come up with an idea like that? Then he wrote me and said, "I assume the help you're getting is on the eye highlights, so use the spring loaded awl I just sent you and put an Austrian crystal in for the highlight. I told him I thought that would make a killer HIGHLIGHT, but I was a leatherworker now, not making blinged conchos like in the past and until I learned how to work the leather, it didn't matter how many crystals I added. Just got an answer....Whatever. I am so sick of people telling me where I should head, and what to use, and how. I was sad but relieved when my partner walked away. But almost overnight my friend of years has decided to steer me, and in exactly the place I just came from. Does anyone know where you can buy a backbone? I know this isn't exactly leather work topic, but it is to me. I want to create beautiful things with leather that I'm not ashamed of people seeing, and I want it to be more than a 10 buck set of conchos. I want to learn to carve. I want to learn to tool better, I want to learn when to paint and when to dye. I don't want to learn to put a catseye? in a horse eye, for heaven's sake.

Hey Yah, man even as new as I am, I can see you don't have two matching boots. Neither in style, or type of leather. Try Syl's techniques and see if it helps make them look more 'alike' and hope nobody notices the difference. The angle of the laced piece you're showing us isn't the same, and.....oh jeesh, what can I add? I'm really sorry but you got fleeced. Cheryl

Oh yes, I can see how it raises the design. And I actually did have Sienna's eye on a laptop in front of me when I did it. But instead of painting to try and add definition, I want to try what you did to get the definition, and use dye instead of paint. You took less and made it more and no it's not perfect as to shape, mine was too rounded even though I had the picture right in front of me. Horses have round eyes that are actually almond shaped when they are calm and soft like she was the day I took the picture. I was brushing her, and afterward I took the picture, and her eyelid had drooped from relaxation. I looked at my dog after we talked about your Golden and said, 'yes of course, when I get better I will immortalize you in leather too.' I think if I can get my all-in-one or SOME program on this thing which I think I've used before but I'm not sure, to convert sienna's eye to B/W then I can print it out and make a template for carving, and the use the techniques you've shown me to define something very hard to define, an eye. It's only so hard to do Kevin because it IS the window to the soul (mood, whatever you want to call it) and getting that down on leather is hard. It's hard even in a picture if you don't have the exact angle but I know this is only going to get better.

And you KNOW I'm liking that already.......

Once again, I didn't get the rest of this message, this time just the first. It is incredible how you did that Kevin and in such a short time. Shame on you letting your horse 'run wild' on weekends, LOL. I like this much better. Thanks again, Cheryl