RoseWolf

Greetings and thanks for the posts, I used Fiebings Dark Brown dye for the trim and Fiebings Mahogany for the overall color. To be honest, my airbrush set up is pretty basic, it's my old Testors model airbrush that hooks up to a can of compressed air that I bought at a local hobby store. I'm working to save up the money for a nicer airbrush, but for now the Testors one works pretty good. For the finish, the dye had just dried when I took the photos so I haven't put a sealer on yet. I'll be adding a coat of Resolene to seal the color. Thanks for the idea on the oil dyes Matt, I've been wanting to get some, especially the black oil dye as I have trouble getting a piece to be pure black with the regular Fiebings USMC Black dye.

Greetings, Been making knife sheaths for a while, but this was my first time to apply the dye using an airbrush. Heard a lot of folks talking about it being one of the best ways to get an even color and having seen the end result I agree. Sheath is for a 5" blade with 1" width near the hilt. Right hand cross draw with snap closure on flap. Brown trim with airbrushed Mahogany stain.

Greetings Electrathon, The tooled leather edge piece is primarily decorative. As for it catching the belt loop is set slightly forward of my regular designs so it pops the seam edge of the holster out slightly from the leg and the loop is stitched to the holster along the edge so there is no edge to catch on. On the basket weave, I agree it could be deeper, the switched up look is my own style on the basketweave, it doesn't show up as clear on this piece as it is a smaller piece, however, I've done the alternating direction on other holsters and sheaths and most folks like the fresh approach to a classic style. On the wandering of the weave, there is some around the numbers as I had some difficulty keeping the pattern going without stamping out the numbers themselves. Thanks for the critique.

Thanks Ray

Greetings and Salutations, Just finished up my latest holster. Had a fella give me a javelina hide as payment for a pouch and decided to try making a holster with it. Strong side carry for Colt 1911 .45 ACP. Exterior of the holster is javelina hide with 4 oz cowhide interior lining. 4 oz cowhide tooled edge piece with hand tooled 3-7-77 (for all you Montana Vigilante fans) with basketweave background. Quick release thumb snap fully lined on back so nothing but leather touches the pistol when holstered. The holster is "crushable", the javelina gives it a nice soft feel and the cowhide interior gives it enough structure so that it bounces back to where it needs to be. Seams are all hand stitched and belt loop is javelina with 6oz cowhide reinforcement. Critiques welcomed. Thanks for looking.

Cool, thanks for the explanation.

Beautiful tooling, kept expecting the owl eyes to blink

Good looking holster. I noticed the belt loop seemed low on the holster, was this set up for a special belt or drop leg?

Thanks y'all

Greetings Malabar, Thanks for the comments. On the angle, me personnally I prefer a sheath that's comfortable to sit with in the truck as well as ride around on horseback. I have done some with a flatter angle, but most the folks I've sold sheaths too prefer the more prounounced angle to the sheath. For the safety strap, it's designed to be an easy open with maximum holding power. Accessing it from the hilt of the knife...maybe, if you have long fingers. Otherwise just pop the snap open, grab the hilt and draw the blade, at the angle and given the form fit of the sheath the knife isn't going to fall out unless one is doing a hand stand , in which case I question their capability and/or sanity to be handling a blade in the first place. Thanks, RoseWolf

Greetings, Just finished up work on a new cross draw style holster. Was looking for a way to make the holster carry comfortably while still allowing easy access and, of course, some attitude to go with it. Holster is made with 6-7oz leather. Hand tooled Reaper and Raven feather fan. Belt loop can fit up to a 3" belt and is cut wide for comfortable carry. Seam is hand stitched, with a swell near the opening of the holster to which the belt loop is attached with two Chicago Screws. Thumb snap keeps the pistol in the holster and the holster is cut a little long so the rivets in the toe of the leather don't touch the pistol. I'm going to be adding some thin leather to snap arm so the metal backing of the snap won't rub against the pistol. Thanks, RoseWolf

Greetings BigGunDoctor I've noticed the site tends to load slow, but I wasn't sure if it was just my clunker of a computer. Thanks for the input, I'll be working to streamline the graphics and load time. Thanks for the ideas on Facebook, have to see about implementing some of those. I am currently make sheaths for a local knife store, but I should also check out some of the local gun stores too. Thanks for the advice RoseWolf

Greetings, I've only been on Etsy since the start of July so I'm still working to get a base going and finding out what folks are interested in. My main specialty is holsters and knife sheaths and those sell good at the local Farmer's Markets (of course, in Arizona anything firearm related tends to sell good ). Thanks for the idea about the craft fair, I've been wanting to look into those for some of the smaller, easier to make items I've made. For the most part I'd say my photos and descriptions are pretty good, I'll admit my interaction with people online is limited. I find it a lot easier talking with people in person than trying to communicate through blurbs and blogs. I've tried Twitter and I just find it vexing to say the least, however, I'll definitely look into Pintrest and Wanelo. Thanks for the advice. One last thing, I do have a website www.rosewolfartisans.com, I've had several years experience in graphic arts and design so fashioning a website is pretty easy, however, this is the first time I've set up an e-commerce site. Any advice on ways to make the layout easier to use and interact with? Thanks again, RoseWolf

Greetings, Just wondering what are some suggestions for online marketing? Currently I use Facebook, Etsy and my own website to market my leather items. To date, most of my sales have been made in person at local Farmer Markets in my area. Are there any good sites or avenues for selling products online? Thanks.

My most recent sheath, a Cowboy Cross Draw for a Marine KABAR. Used 8 oz leather for the main sheath and 6 oz for the belt loop. All metal hardware is located outside the main sheath so the blade touches nothing but leather when sheathed. Spacer/welt stitched into the seam to protect stitching from knife blade. Finished in Fiebings Medium Brown Stain with Dark Brown Highlights.