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immiketoo

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Posts posted by immiketoo

  1. Posted · Report reply

    3 hours ago, ScoobyNewbie said:

    Are those bulls to the sides of his head?  The females add a touch of darkness to the image. Lovely. 

    One is a bull and the other is a leopard.  Dionysos had two sacred animals according to legend.  He would ride the leopard or behind the bull in a chariot.

    2 hours ago, GeorgePolites said:

    New to carving....but your work is amazing!  Hopefully I can get to that point one day!  Just beautiful work! 

     

    Thank you everyone.  If you want to improve, this forum is a great place to find inspiration and instruction.

  2. Posted · Report reply

    If all you're concerned about is the end result, there are a lot of irons out there that will do the trick, however...the ease of use, and by default the lower chance of a screw up come from higher end tools.  With irons its a matter of pulling them out of the leather as much as it is going through the leather.  If they stick, things stretch when you pull them out.  The make what should be good holes ugly.  Crimson Hides are pretty good, but KS Punch are better.  They are a bit spendy, but they are sweet.  Also, you have a choice of slits or diamond holes like an awl would leave.  The choice is totally up to you.  Both will yield a pleasing stitch provided you're doing your end of the work.  Buy a good awl, you'll still need it on occasion.  I like the ones made by LederLouis in Switzerland.  Not too expensive, but super to use and the leave a perfect hole.  

  3. Posted · Report reply

    22 hours ago, YinTx said:

    Fantastic work as always, love to see your stuff.  Maybe someday I'll be as good!

    YinTx

    You totally can do it.  Just a little more time in grade and push yourself just like you're doing now.

    12 hours ago, robs456 said:

    Yup, I've heard that too.

    In more things than wine, and not ALL of them good, but overall, good wine.

  5. Posted · Report reply

    2 hours ago, Handstitched said:

    I love it !!!!!!!!  It looks absolutely stunning . 

    I have ' The God Of Wine ( an cement version) hanging on my front fence post . Nowhere near as beautiful as that though.  

    what sort of plug did you use  to make the face look 3 D  ?  Are we to know how it was done? 

     I have a brother thats right into Greek mythology & all sorts of Roman, & medieval history etc.  . ( he made the cement version) My desk top even  has a   Rubens  ' Calming The Tempest'  with Neptune , so I can sorta relate to this. ( and I'm also  a  fan of Ray Harryhausen .... but thats off topic ) . 

    Well done  :thumbsup:

    HS

    This has a carved plug, a-la Al Stohlman's book about embossing.  I won't reiterate what he says there, but if you give it a look (Highly recommended), you'll see how it was done.
     

    As for history and mythology, there is a long tradition of wine making here in Greece and in Italy, and Greeks do it differently than everyone else.  It's inspirational!  Lets see your cement one!

  11. Posted · Report reply

    8 hours ago, ABHandmade said:

     

    Thanks! I looked at the possibility of acquiring Aquilim (Renia), EcoWeld and HALLER Hirschkleber in Ukraine. It turned out that only HALLER Hirschkleber is proposed from local suppliers. Considering that there is a warning “Do not freeze” for all these adhesives, I’m afraid to take risks and order international delivery - we already have temperatures below 0 at night.

    You should be able to find something like weldwood at your local hardware or wood work supply shop.  I understand about the freezing part, and it would suck to order and have useless glue.  Try local first.  You can also use white glue like elmers, but the other formulations (Weldwood etc) are better.

  17. Posted · Report reply

    16 hours ago, JLSleather said:

    YOU KNOW better 'n' that... SOMETHING in the pic for SCALE :nono:

    Carving looks good... kaint tell how far it raised though -- did I already mention some SCALE? :blush: 

    Be nice to see how you color this one.. them grapes should be good learnin's

     

    It's raised just the right amount.  Too little and why bother, too much and it looks unnatural.  Scale is irrelevant, as each piece is raised just the right amount for the size of the carving, which is far more important that a static measurement of how far it's raised.  Found that one out early on in my embossing career.  I figured more is better, but it turns out there are physical limitations to embossing leather.  Especially the trade offs between the stretch of thinner leathers and the extended depth you can get with thicker leather.

    This piece wont be colored, but grapes are easy.  Peter gave me a class on this exact technique.  Essentially, thinned spirit dyes in varying degrees of intensity.  Looks difficult, but it's not.

  18. Posted · Report reply

    8 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

    You tellinge you only started leather work 6 years ago? Or that you only started carving 6 years ago?

    Either way, your embossing is beyond any others' I have seen around here. (No offense anyone).

    I always drool over your stuff.

    yessir.  September, 2012.  Thank you!

    8 hours ago, Scoutmom103 said:

    That looks amazing.

     

    Thanks, turned out nicely.

    8 hours ago, TSes said:

    Excellent job. The face almost looks real. Great detail in the hair and beard.

    Thank you!  Facebook wanted to tag several people when I took the picture!

    7 hours ago, noobleather said:

    Wow such awesome work! How many hours roughly for this leather work of art. 

    Hope to be at this level of carving in 5 and a bit years,lol. 

    I have maybe 6 hours into this one?  The hair took a long time.

    6 hours ago, garypl said:

    Beautiful work Mike!  Any estimate of how many hours you have into this piece?

    Gary

    6-ish.

    4 hours ago, battlemunky said:

    Sick work Mike!

    Thanks man!

  20. Posted · Report reply

    13 minutes ago, Ragingstallion said:

    well, you have been doing this for a long time....it's experience! im sure at some point in my life I will have the same mindset as you, however....almost all of us here have the artist mindset, where we are our own worst critic.

    Ive only been at this for 6 years.  Got my start right here.

    8 minutes ago, Rockoboy said:

    @immiketoo Where the carving is most pronounced, in the cheeks and nose and forehead etc, do you fill the back with anything?

    Yes, a sculpted leather plug fills the void.

     

  21. Posted · Report reply

    2 minutes ago, Ragingstallion said:

    Every time you post...i can not help but drop my jaw slightly. your work is always looking great, and a positive outlook on leather working. I, like probably many....MANY other here hope to achieve what you have with your skills.

    Thanks, bud.  It wasn't too long ago that I had those same feelings about people's work I saw here.  I am always willing to help if I can so feel free to ask questions!

  25. Posted · Report reply

    1 hour ago, robs456 said:

    Beautiful. What will you do with it?
    The girl to the right, is she yelling? I don't get it...

    LOL!  I'm not sure what happened there...time to break out the modeling spoon.  Must have miss hit something there

    EDIT:  Took a closer look.  Mostly a trick of the light, creating shadow where the mouth details are, but it did need some fine tuning.  That face is the size of a finger nail.

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