Boriqua

So someone has asked me to carve a T Rex head. I have been taking less and less custom orders but ... I want to carve a T rex and I wouldnt have done it without someone asking for it so this is awesome. So I did a search on a couple of search engines looking at carved T rex and didnt find what I was looking for so I thought I would come to the artists here for some input and ideas. So in looking at T rex skin I know I can fade in and out some of the background stamp I had used on the project pix I posted to add to some reptilian flesh but I want some larger markings/scales and was hoping maybe someone had either done something with fish scales/ dragons or other scaly reptile flesh or just has an active imagination and even if you hadnt done it what you might do to produce it. Not looking to copy anyone’s style just want to fill my head with some ideas I might not have reached for. I dont think I will cover the whole carve with reptile texture... just have it appear a little here and there The pix of the box cover was a different kind of thing. It was meant to be more "festival Chinese new year" than scary mean evil dragon and I think my t rex needs a little more ferocity. I havent drawn T rex head yet but that is the easier part

I had enough super high pressure in my real job. Now I want to have fun and make a few bucks. I try to NOT take orders at all. I make the things I want to make and put them up and if you like it you can buy it. If I do take a custom order I don’t take deposits unless its a real custom piece because I am just uncomfortable having someone’s money and not having delivered anything. I mean if I get hit by a bus I dont want a bunch of peoples money in hand. I do take some orders and my lead time quote is always 2 weeks and I usually deliver in about a week and a half. I'm kind of a nut about cure and dry times and don’t skimp on either. I wont put a deposit on anything. Got burned twice and it left a bad taste in my mouth. One knife maker went on and on about how he was getting divorced and he was losing his shop space and yadda yadda. I dont want to seem insensitive but what did that have to do with the money I had already given him. If you have something for sale and I like it I will reach in my pocket but a bunch of the etsy ads that say made to order .... they will never get my money.

You have a point Mike. I made a collar for one of my dogs and made it where the d ring was on the back opposite the buckle so I wouldnt have to look for the D when I was taking my dog out. I had used 4 rapid rivets to secure it to the collar and when my 65lb dog caught sight of a damn rabbit while I wasnt paying attention she jerked and the D came right off. I know there is some mathematical formula but 65lb dog taking off at full speed hits the end of a 6 foot lead with a 200lb weight on the other end that is static equals alot of force on a wee bit of brass. She was so surprised she was loose she just stopped in her tracks but I then attached it with copper rivets and burs and never had a problem. I made a few others for friends and used the rivets and burs there too. Chicago screws would certainly work but anything that is going to be jerked .. I would stay away from rapid rivets. When I looked it hadnt separated the rivet, the set held, it actually pulled the soft flat brass that is the bottom portion of a rapid rivet through the leather. It just looked like a bugle. I dont make dog collars for sale but with people suing over every damn stupid thing in the world, whether its their fault or not, I wouldn’t take the chance on rapid rivets for dog collars that I sell for profit. Dog breaks loose and heads under a car and you might get a very hostile phone call. Alex

I stopped getting rivets at Tandy and just get the brass ones from weaver. Having said that ... I feel like a full 1/8 sticking out of the hole might be just a touch on the long side. The tube is bending over and not being given enough support to squash especially if your hole in the leather is a little oversized. I use a flat base for the rapid rivets with the concave setting tool for the top for a hundred years and works fine. Bummer wasting material I know! Only thing I can suggest besides running to tandy and trying shorter ones is to tap the head onto the post somewhat lightly just to get the head set down well on the post and then Whack to set. It may help?

I have done a bunch of stuff with magnets in childrens exhibits. The big problem you are facing is that you dont have enough surface at the tip of a stud for it to make for proper adhesion. It looks like you are past the point where you can replace one of the studs with something flat but if you could I would replace one of the studs with a flat square and I would use high strength earth magnets on my straps. I've held up a good deal of weight with the earth magnets Ultra-High-Pull Neodymium Magnets http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-magnets/=12koroo

stunning work! Thanks for the inspiration

Oh my goodness ... I never ever, ever ever never ever want to manage people ever ever again. NEVER

I wouldn’t even consider it. I charged him what I had quoted. In the end Ya just gotta do the right thing. Good energy out hopefully means good energy in. I charged $125 for the belt. Material was about $55.00. It was a little labour intensive but only because I hand stitch. I'm just thrilled he thought so much of it!!

Here is the funny thing .... I never wanted to make holsters! I grew up in the oppressive state of NY. While there were plenty of guns no one was looking for holsters. I spent my whole time making leather mostly for motorcycles with a strong secondary in horse stuff and bags. Messenger bags, man bags, purses. Occasionally some saps. I have riding motorcycles since forever so it was a normal fit. After moving to Arizona I got asked to do a holster for a friend, then another friend, then their friends and before I knew it I didnt have time to make anything but holsters. I have several bags cut up and ready to be sewn up for months now but I cant keep a holster on my shelf so I became a holster maker somehow. Not complaining mind you but I think there is a little more room for creativity in bags and journals and such so to keep myself interested in holsters I am always looking for a little twist that will make it interesting for me to do or trying to emulate someone elses great work. I will get that stamping thing down if it kills me.

So I sent the pix off to the gentleman who commissioned a western style belt ... He calls me yesterday evening and does everything in the world to convince me to let him pay more. He insisted I didn’t charge him enough and he would feel better if I would accept more money. this went on for 30 minutes. When i said that throughout my life I have prided myself on being a man of my word and what I quoted is all I will accept and if I made an error in pricing its on me and then he offered me stuff. " I have this great knife ..." I do this still as a hobby and for a little supplemental income but it sure felt good to have a repeat customer insist they owe me more money. I even had someone contact me from ebay and ask why I was selling my holsters so cheap. It was $60.00. I have to say ... even though I have been at this a while finding this site a couple of years ago has really upped my game. I cant even stand to look at my stuff from 5 years ago anymore. Well I thought I would share a success story with my fellow leather workers. I wont get rich but accolades are always welcome!!

Oh man I went and checked out Leathertoolz vid and it just made my life a little more pleasant. I bought what was labelled as a right hand and a left hand Kiridashi. I planned on using the lefty for skiving which it does wonderfully and the right for cutting patterns. If you are using it for wood working and pushing then they are perfect and labelled correctly. But I was drawing with them and intuitively had the flat portion on my work side. I mean .. want a right angle use the right angle side .. right? But I kept undercutting and it was making me nuts. Leathertoolz is a lefty so I had to mentally change up a little but once I worked out what he was dishing I went and tried it. Cut out 5 holsters today... all beautiful and square!! Bevel side in to your work actually makes for a square edge. Especially since if you are a righty you are likely leaning the knife out right so you can watch your cut line from the left. It worked perfectly. All I needed was the Lefty model and I would have been fine. Sure I will find a use for the righty for something?

So a couple of months back I posted this holster I made it because I had the itch and figured it would sit on ebay and etsy forever until the right person came along. Lucky me it sold in like a week and the gentleman who bought it received it and loved it and contacted me about a belt and mag pouch to go with it. So I finished them today .... Thanks Jeff for the assist! Hand sewing belts can get tired but I am happy with it. Bunch more pix here is anyone is interested http://www.boriqualeather.com/Gallery/index.php/Leather-Holsters/Western-Belt-and-mag-pouch-for-Colt-1911

whew that is some nice clean work there!! the boning looks great what weight of leather are you using? Beautiful work

I cant help you anymore than these other fine gentleman but your quest was similar to how i got started but I would set my sights a little lower just so you are not put off by your new hobby. LONG ago I collected hand made beautiful knives. I had ordered a sheath from a guy whose company was called Tree stump leather. I got it and it was beautiful but back in 1990 it was over $60 and I thought that was steep. I was convinced I could make something equally as awesome and it would cost me pennies .. Bwhahahahaha Well ... werent true. I made something alright but it didnt look anything like his .... as a matter of fact calling his sheath and my thing a sheath would have been liking calling an elephant a lion. But .. I was and still am one of those people convinced that with enough smashing my head into walls and practice and research I can learn anything. I still dont know if my sheaths look as good as his did but he did set me on my quest. I certainly dont want to dissuade you but if I offered any advice It would be to get the fundamentals right. Dont get to caught up in his coloring or swoopy ears. It is going to have to securely support a firearm and I think that is a big deal. If I make a Knife sheath or hatchet cover and things go skittering across the floor its bad but if my gun or the gun of anyone I make a holster for goes skittering across the floor its awful and sometimes potentially dangerous. I still remember the video of some guy shooting himself in the leg because the leather was too soft and he was inattentive and the trigger was activated when he holstered. If you have a gun Jeff did a pattern for then you are well on your way. He did the tough work of figuring out the stitch lines and pattern so its a SAFE carry and has sold enough to have had his designs field tested. If not .. make your holster and post it up here for feedback. I see things posted for top dollar on ebay and etsy that are patently unsafe. They added some stamps and maybe they did some dye thing but anyone who really knows instantly knows it isnt safe.

oh man do yourself a favor and go for a fast food place that your wife loves. I went out with a girl in High School who took a PT job at White Castle. White castle if you are unfamiliar make some tasty sliders grilled on a bed of onions and was the place you would go at 3 am after being out with your friends and somewhat inebriated and order a sack of them. I swear they were the best tasting things in the known world. You can forget about fancy perfume. When I picked up my girl after her shift and she would be stink'in of white castle hamburgers ... man oh man no pheromones could beat that!! LOL

The harbor freight works fine and I still use mine sometimes but it has mostly become my wifes so she leaves my iwata alone. I used my harbor freight exclusively for a couple of years. I often use a combination of air brush and dauber on the same project. I find that i can get streaky results with the dauber alone so if I want to lay down alot of color quickly, like maybe the black on the back of a holster, I will spray it first fairly wet which seems to open up the pores and gives a nice smooth start and then I immediately go in with the dauber and lay down some dye. I find that I get a much nicer result than when I use the dauber alone. I havent done any scientific testing as too what happens but I know I get a much cleaner, faster solid color when I do it that way.

I LOVE the drawing!!!

Hey Ron The dye for this gig was applied with an airbrush. I probably use my airbrush 98% of the time now.

Im with Rick ... I picked up starter kit that I think was $69.00 back in about 1992 and have been hooked ever since. It came with everything I needed to get started and I still have most of the tools today. This is similar and gives you most of the basics https://www.tandyleather.com/en/product/deluxe-leathercraft-set Those tools can carry you for quite some time. I swear I used that plastic mallet for a decade and I still have it so while the initial outlay may be kind of high you wont NEED to rush out and buy a bunch of stuff separately until you want to or feel ready. After that I bought several kits for say wallets and belts and built the kits but soon used the patterns that came with them and started buying rolls of leather and replicating the patterns but with different materials and without the giant prepunched holes. Alex

I got this roll from weaver and it is there regular 8/9 oz double shoulder. Its usually good to very good but this last roll I got was excellent and draws up dye wonderfully and has some really nice figuring. I actually like it very much when there is some soul in the leather and when I used to go pick it out at tandy I gravitated toward the rolls most other people turned their nose up at. I was all over the ones with wrinkles and fat marks. The weaver leather is pretty consistent though and I never have to deal with hairy nasty flesh sides like I did with Tandy and the price is great. I have been VERY happy with the Weaver stuff. I am not against cammo at all but on this and a bunch like them I just like to bring the color of the wings up onto the basketweave so it fades in. So this one starts out with just a mist of black at the edges then transitions to dark brown, medium brown up on to the basket weave which was base coated with saddle tan and then antiqued with brown. I apply the colors separately and let them dry before applying another. I used to just blend them all in wet but then I had to wait for it to dry and hope I got what was in my head and I didnt like the loss of control so this method works out better for me but the holsters take longer to do. Here are a couple with cammo and it just depends what I am doing and what I am feeling the day I start out. I do less custom orders than I used to so now I make what I want and put it up for sale and hope for the best. Opps edited to add The dark brown is built up on the original post. I saturate it pretty well but then let it completely dry and feather in more individual coats until I am happy. I am guessing that is what is really picking up the striations by not burying it in heavy dye.

That is a combination of Fiebings Dark Brown, Pro oil black, Saddle tan, medium brown and medium brown stain. I charge an extra $5.00 for these but they are a bunch more work and time due to curing between applications of color than many of my other holsters but I really like making these and I love the result so I chalk up the lose in time to my own amusement and march on. I’m not sure anyone who buys them knows how many more hours they entail but ... if I am not stretching to make the most cool stuff I have the capability of then what’s the point.

Oh I should have added one other thing .. even if it doesn’t become his primary career path it can certainly help. I went back to School the second time after getting married and having a child. I worked, but families are expensive and I didn’t get any aid or take any loans. Between work and school assignments I made leather goods for people and one day walked in with some stuff to Manhattan Saddlery, http://manhattansaddlery.com/ and asked to speak to the manager. They started carrying my stuff regularly so I had a full time market and they provided me with custom orders they would get from their clients. It was enough to pay for classes and supplies so no money had to come out of my house budget. That is one of my bags in their window and one of many sets of saddle bags I did for them. When I decided to step out of the rat race a few years back I took it up again full time and while I dont earn oodles of money it pays for a couple of bills, medical insurance. beer and ammo. Cant complain .. taking up leather was not only enjoyable all these years but has provided that little extra income to get around some rough spots.

and dont forget scootch's! Are you sure you googled it right

LOL !!! See what I mean. Twinoaks ... I like the way you think!!

If Jeff does it it is a "precision assisted alignment system" if I do it ..... its hookey. I love machinist, I like the way there sick brains work. They say things like .002 hundredths of an inch and stuff. Guys who went to fine art school and often leave the ruler in the other room when they need it us Scotch.