Tangent Creations

A couple more dragon projects... The first is again a larger head and neck only dragon. Wing (s) will be added later. The second is a little brainstorm I had and I will be finishing it tonight and seeing what people in one of our groups think about it tomorrow... It is teeny tiny. Maybe 2 inches long. The cap rivet is a medium size to show how small this dragon is. I am tooling him with a small modeling spoon and point end tool. He will have wings added after he is painted. Then he will be hung from a pin and have a jewel in the curl of his tail...

I signed up for the lessons a few days ago and received the first one, it is really nice to have someone share there expertise this way

Cool Beanie-weanies! THank you both soooo much! And Johanna, I didn't even know that kind of work existed! That is really neat My husband asked me when I was going to try that! Thanks Clay, that was what I needed to hear!

Sweet! Those are beautiful! And I agree on the edges!

Very nice! I really like the way you laced it up. How do you do that?

I need help with my latest project. How do you carve/tool and then emboss from the back without losing all the detail? What oz leather should I be using for this??? I'm so used to working with heavy 10+oz that maybe that's my problem??? I'm attempting to make a 3d dragon and am getting really frustrated....back to the flat stuff...for now...

Very cool! Do you hand sew? If so, how do you go about punching the holes for that thickness of leather?

I made my wishes heard, and now the shop looks MUCH better! LOL

here he is again, almost done

None These are free hand drawn directly onto the leather, my own personal style.

Thanks Matthew, here's another dragon that I did last night...also not done (Yeah I know his arms are messed up...I was tired ) All inspired by the awesome carving and embossing I'm seeing on this board!

Hi, thank you Ken, I love mythilogical critters (and am building inventory for Gen-con (sp) ) This was cut from a scrap of 10-12 oz (I love our scrap bin )

Carp did what we do, put the burnisher on a lathe. There is also a different type of burnisher available from Weaver that has multiple size sections so you can get into tighter places. It's real nice, a bit more costly, but worth it.

Hey all! I was inspired to try this after flipping through Clay B.'s albums (awesome work in there btw). This is a dragon cut out just his head and partial wing. Now I am working on musculature and details...he's not done yet. He's maybe 10-12 inches tall total.

That's your first set? Very Nice!

As far as clicker set up, that looks like how ours is. Could you elaborate some more on your molds?? Those are cool (considering how much busted up cutting board we have )!

One flat plate to support the cutting pad. One flat plate attached to the pressing part (ours isn't attached because we still use the press for other things. Put your leather ontop of the cutting board/pad, put your clicker die in place, place your flat plate on top and use the press to click it out! It's really simple. I'll get some pics for you. Here's a question for Bruce, what do you use for your cutting surface???

We did what Bruce did... Bought a 12 ton hydraulic shop press ($100 at Harbor Freight) and rigged it for the upper plate and cutting surface. My husband clicked out about 300+ lamellar pieces surprisingly quick. He wants to convert it to pneumatic, but that's a whole 'nother issue. We also use Texas Custom Dies. If you go the way of a shop press you can use the savings to buy bookoo dies If you don't need super serious production.

Hey Steve, I was wondering if you have made any Jackware since posting this. I have considered making some mugs and I've seen a couple of nice ones done but I'd like to hear more!

Masking tape will pull on the leather making it more 'nappy' when you try to remove it... Plus with the absorbancy of leather, it's hard to keep the dye from bleeding under it anyway.

Very cool!! Those look really nice!

Gtwister, thanks! My husband said the same thing about the acrylic...oh well, there goes that idea!LOL Anyways, I went down to the local custom counter place today and was scared to death when I walked in...felt like my pinky should've been WAY in the air!! But the lady behind the counter was super friendly and is getting me a near custom cut piece 28 inches long by 18 inches deep for $25!!! Yay!

Wolvenstien, That is a beautiful worktop! Now I have something to aspire to! LOL I think I'll make a few phone calls...

Great Googli-mooglies! That work is Amazing!!

These are water based? what about sweat....and bleeding of the pigment? We use the Fiebing's spirit dyes and have had some problems lately with color fastness and in one instance took over one bottle to make two belts red... BTW good thinking Kate, I've been wondering about the new dyes!