Cozee

What weight leather works well for masks that will receive some tooling/carving?

If it were riding weather it would be local but since it isn't, it is a little over an hour and a half in a cage to get there. Would 3-4 work for biker masks? Especially if they were lined?

Tandy has a sale on Craftsman Oak tooling sides till the end of January. Being a newbie I am still learning leather. Should I go buy one or two? It is 3-4 oz. averaging 22-27 sq. ft.

I guess I must not be using the right words to search with. I am trying to find a weight guide for a newbie like myself. Not sure which weights would be the one's I need to use for the projects I have in mind like biker's mask, tank and windshield bags, and small pouches. I know one has to exist, anyone know of such a guide?

Thanks!!!

I am looking for various military stamps and coming up empty. I am thinking of having some custom ones made. I see that some are made out of delrin or nylon type plastics. Has anyone used these types of stamps and if so, your opinions? Thanks!

Dayum, that is niiiiiicccceeeee!!!! Tell us the details, pleeeeeaaasseeee!

Found a few more designs made with the HF brush . . . One more for the goat lovers out there . . .

Hey wokka! Funny meeting you here!

I know this thread is old, but just in case someone is searching the site about airbrushing, I will add this. I have been airbrushing in one way, shape, or form for 40 years. I have supplemented my income with the airbrush and for a handful of years, lived off my brushes. With that i am going to step up and say that i know a little something about airbrushes. High dollar airbrushes are awesome, but if you are simply spraying color, the HF airbrushes that seem here to get a bad rap will work great. In fact, with a little experience, they can come real close in giving you the detailed work of a high end airbrush. I had always been one to promote the use of quality brushes, mainly because anything less was pure junk. I hang out on a chopper board where low cost is the theme, including tools. I decided to try the HF brushes to see if they could do what some were looking for so I started playing around. The pic below is of a t-shirt design I did earlier this year to put the HF brush through it's paces. It is done on a pellon with a Harbor Freight double action brush I got on sale for $17.99. After completing this design, and a few others, I went back to the store and bought 2 more just to have them around!!!

Great looking hat. Got a pic of the top?

Welcome Marine. Semper Fi!!!!

And just as important, make sure it is going on a softtail swing arm and not a hardtailed bike. One for a hardtail should have more attention paid to how it mounts as a hardtail transmits more vibration and jolting than does a suspended swing arm.

If you are still looking for paint, the Wicked line of airbrush paints work really well on leather vests and coats. I like it far better than Etac. SEM also has paints for automotive leather that works great also. SEM also has prepping materials that I recommend.

Thanks for the insight and advice. I'm still doing a lot of reading here and around the web. Looking at a lot of pictures and watching vids. As for defining my "artistic style" well, I don't know that there is a name for it. I have been airbrushing in one way, shape or form for nearly 41 years now. Throughout most of the 90's I airbrushed thousands of t-shirts at events throughout Illinois and Indiana. And from the early 2000's I started doing motorcycle skins, helmets and other odd ball items till about 3 years ago. I slowed way down on the amount of work I do and only do so when I feel like it. Never did have my own specific style as I always did my best to give the customer what they wanted and did everything from human and animal portraits and life like scenes to cartoons, grafitti, and sign work. The leather work I am hoping to do will be centered in the motorcycle world as I am a biker and have been riding as long as I have been airbrushing. And as for tools themselves, the kit I have was a Christmas present and can see that the stamps in it are marginal at best. I am sure that before long I will be making my own tools.