lionfly

Thanks for the feedback everyone. It sounds like if you don't dunk (which I don't) and you aren't airburshing (on this project there's gonna be a toooon of hand painting details) then there's no reason to assemble while undyed.

The chalyor fenneli interiors have been great performers anytime I've used them, but be warned, backorder items can be a couple of weeks or MANY months. They don't have any control over what gets shipped to them from Australia.

In my research, I've seen quite a few examples of leather workers who will assemble something (like armor) first and then do the staining. Can anyone comment on the pros and cons of that? I've always stained my individual pieces first and then assembled, but perhaps there's an advantage that outweighs the difficulty of staining in hard to reach places?

I've seen the tool you used in the corners at the store and I always wondered how in the world you would use it! Fantastic!

That is gorgeous! I love the stain job, and the tooling is beautiful.

If it were not for Tandy, I'd never have had the privilege of getting into leatherworking. Every retail store has their issues, but the fort worth store has been beyond helpful. They taught me a great deal early on with their classes, and have bent over backwards to help my sister and I out on some crazy projects. They have great customer service, and have never given me any trouble with a return (sometimes a year later!). Some of their products don't stand up to Fiebings and other competitors, but for easy access and diverse selection, they can't be beat.

...just...wow!!!!! So beautiful.

Lovely lacing. I still get requests for lacing quite regularly, so hopefully it's not totally dying

I've never tackled an overbust corset (I'm currently working on an underbust), but if I were going to try, I'd start by wrapping either my model or a dress form in cellophane, and then duct tape and draw out the design. Once you have the shape and panels laid out, you can cut it apart and have a reasonably good start for properly shaped pieces.

How beautiful. What an elegant project.

It's fantastic! I can't wait till I can make stuff like this.

Here was my very very first project....

That's how I got into leatherworking in the first place. I needed a holster for my Zoe Washburne costume for Comic-con.

There were sooo many issues with the construction of this. Even though I did a mock up, first in masking tape, then in craft foam, I did not sew the entire mock up together, but instead, decided that I could estimate a half mock up.... in the end, the mask was significantly smaller than anticipated and I had to do some extremely creative wetform/stretching over the original head bust. This involved soaking the crown/skull in water, but avoiding the molded brow and using all of my strength plus that of my sister to pull it down over the mold wrapped in cellophane.. then wrapped in a couple of diapers for padding. In the end it worked out, but word to the wise... never take short cuts when patterning. Every project is a learning experience eh?

Very nice hand bag!

I swear RavenAus and I end up working on the same projects... with that said, here is the cowl I made for a customer for A-Kon. My customer was kind enough to send me a mold of his head to make sure it fit

Thank you very much

Thank you all so much. What a treasure trove of information!

Does anyone know of a good article or video on the differences between the wide range of leather finishes? Tan kote vs. Super sheen vs. all the others?

Oh that's a fantastic idea! I have a purse I've been holding off staining until I figured this out... I would die if I screwed it up after so much tooling

We've never had the honor of costuming for a movie, but these three items were for photoshoots, and my sister and I have done a number of items for our own cosplay.

Here is attempt #2 - still with Tandy products. I put about 3 or 4 layers of super sheen on the pattern, letting each one dry before going over it with a medium brown antique gel. I then wiped it off with dry paper towels then did a little bit of touch up with a wet one to remove any lingering gel.

Here is the most recent. I'm not sure that this one falls into any particular style aside from "kidney belt". We had originally intended to do a very nice braid along the top and bottom, but nearing the end of our deadline, we failed to come up with a good way to attach the braid, so we fell back on the double loop lace.

I can recommend Toolpaw as well. He made my stamp and it turned out perfectly. https://www.etsy.com/shop/Toolpaw

Nice airbrushing on your personal one!