immiketoo

Nice! I love the colors.

That IS amazing. How many hours went into making that?

Overall construction looks pretty good, lets see the edges and back and a better shot of the holes.

Henrik, that's a nice looking rig!

I've had his CD for years bro. Finished all the druid books too ;-)

Don't be jealous Murray, be motivated!

Welcome back sir!

cool song.

Lucky duck!

Actually, its a partial practice AFTER doing the full size one. I had some technique I needed to practice on the upper half.

Thanks everyone! Aguilerag, It's much more simple than it looks. I used Fiebings spirit dye oxblood, green and yellow full strength then used eco flow briar brown hi-lite over the top of it. I applied it with a paintbrush and I did full strength yellow with a dry brush green for the stems.

You have a gift for figure carving. Its really good!

Just a piece for practice.

What kind of paint did you use Bon?

I find that I'd rather do leather work than my regular job! Coincidence?

Greg, Welcome and thanks for sharing your work!

Welcome back Gramps! Love the avatar!

I will elaborate a bit on mine. I bought the kit because I knew NOTHING about leatherwork. If I could start over, I might consider NOT getting the kit, especially if I had done a bit of research first. The kits contain a bunch of projects, some of which are less useful than others. All of them have excellent instructions to teach the basic process, but all of it is geared toward Tandy products. This is fine if you'd like to make kit type items, or for learning how various items are constructed. I found very quickly that I did not like the finished product as it looked generic. I also quickly outgrew the tools supplied with the kit. They are functional, but as with any skill, good tools are more comfortable, easier to use and produce better results. Pro grade carving stamps are a perfect example of this. The Tandy kit was 80 dollars USC, and of all the things that came in the kit, there are exactly three of them that I still use. The 104 backgrounder, the swivel knife for my beader blade only and the briar brown hi-liter. Other than those tools, I have purchased replacements for everything else. Truly, 80 dollars is a drop in the bucket of the money I have spent on quality tools, but I still say that it was a good place to start.

That's really slick. I like it and I want to make one, but I have NO idea how all the stuff at the business end attaches together!

I would expect a saddle is a pretty complicated thing compared to smaller projects, and I would want some hands on instruction before I started making one. Tack and pouches are another matter, and there are tons of resources here or on the web on how to make those items. Most people would probably say a saddle class is in order, but someone had to make the first saddle years ago and improve on the design from there. You could try and learn as you go, but saddle makers have perfected the trade and I'd think it would be money well spent to learn a trade from a master. As for where to buy stuff, theres all kinds of people who are willing to take your money and send you stuff! If you aren't finding anything local, I suggest you start poking the buttons at the top of the page. Springfield Leather Company, Tandy and others will send stuff all over if you're willing to pay the shipping. There's also ebay and a for sale section here on this forum. To get started, I bought a deluxe Tandy starter kit and it helped me learn what I liked and didn't like in a hurry. That might be a good place to start for you as well. Welcome! Mike

Welcome to the forum and for coming out of the shadows! I like your gauntlets. Making them had to be fun.

Steve, I finish latigo just like I finish veg tan leather. It takes a bit more elbow grease but it comes out nice and shiny and smooth.

For your dye question, you might want to look at Angelus dyes. They have a lot more colors than Fiebings and I think they have a dark green. Or, you could learn to mix the dyes to get the color you want. I have had to do that to get oranges and other colors that aren't readily available.

That's really a nice piece of work. I love the creativity and the craftsmanship! How did you seal it with bee's wax?

Ray, nobody intends to create an unpleasant experience for people, but sometimes things are misunderstood, taken out of context or sometimes, deliberate. This community of leather people has been more supportive and friendly than my own family is at times and I hate when there is conflict among our members. Fortunately, this situation was diffused and we are all back in the saddle! I hope to be able to have 40 years of experience one day and that our community will continue to grow.