leatheroo

thanks for all you efforts with this project, it is much appreciated.

what a piece of art.....color not to my taste, but sure is pretty

nice combo of design and color, love the furry bits

nice work karl, very original

nice clean work, like it

thanks, i will give this a go

nice work, i have been thinking of engraving my black pc case, or i might airbrush it, havent decided yet

just got some more information regarding the paint, shotgunwillie has used it and doesnt recommend it, says it drys out the leather...thanks willie

I was lucky enough to attend a 2 day airbrushing course with Wayne Harrison, one of australia's leading airbrush artist. As well as getting some much need tutoring, he suggested some new paints that he uses when he airbrushes leather. He has airbrushed leather products for many famous people and swears that the products he uses will not crack or rub off. (he has not airbrushed bike seats so this might not apply to extreme high use areas). He is using automotive interior paints. Wayne says they use this when a customer wants his leather seats or interior trim the exact same color as his exterior paint. He uses the Dupont brand, which he buys in clear then adds the tint and then uses thinners to get the right consistancy for an airbrush. He says the dupont has 80 different colors but of course just a few can be bought and mixed to get lots of different colors. These paints are solvent based so he says the leather absorbs the color well. You will have to excuse me if this is something that is common knowledge to alot of you but i am have lots of trouble finding a good range of paints that arent acrylic that can be used for airbrushing in australia. This mans talent was amazing. He does lots of commerial automotive work as well as promotional work..he has done some amazing work for Sony on promotional Playstation consoles and PC towers. The photo shown was a teaching piece he did..it took him all of 10 minutes. He used a basic skull stencil (his freehand work was even more impressive) and then added the shading and detail. A picture like this on a motorbike tank would get him $600!!!!!! The color example he did took him about 15 minutes. I will be lookiing into this paint and will let you know what i find out. Oh yeah, i finally bought myself a silent compressor.... the silence is bliss!!!! Hope you like this skull spider!!!! PS..i just checked the photo...some of the detail was lost on the scan, the spotty bits in the mouth and under the chin arent on the original ....sorry

definately no offence taken zman, i do enjoy doing it by hand but there is a degree of frustration when you cant get the result you want with brute muscle!!! 99% of my masks are not full face so the vacuum method wouldnt be needed with those.. i was thinking more of the full face mask as wall decoration etc. the method is very interesting and could have some nice applications...the mind wonders off on a tangent!!!! cheers

sweet!!!

great work storm, you have been so busy...looking forward to more

another great piece of work tina, i love the fuzzy sides and of course i love the dragon

wow, great carving, waiting to see the finished project

tom, thankyou for going to all this trouble, it would be interesting to see if it works with the veg tan but i feel it should. this method could be used for lots of projects...the ideas are coming quick and fast you are my hero another example of the great and generous people on this forum

hey bill...sorry for my ignorance...what is slicking....i put the leather in warm to hot water for about 30sec until there are no more bubbles. i have cut one of my 'heads' in half and glued to a big board. i placed the leather over the head and start molding. as the shape takes place i tack the leather to the board to hold in place. more and more molding and getting rid of wrinkles with modeling tool. the biggest problem is not the wrinkles on the face but the excess leather that is left around the chin and up the top. i creased the top excess into fins but really would like to be able to eliminate this to. i am waiting to see banwells vacuum method...looks very interesting...cheating maybe but i cant get the result i want the way i am doing it. thanks again leatheroo

i just love this forum...there is no one in australia i can go to for help, i know there are many great leatherworkers here but there is no forum to access their knowledge...thanks everyone....found the forum while searching for information..yeh!!!!

very nice goulies...i agree to good for practice pieces.

oh oh oh oh...more more more....i bet you did this in minutes and it took me hours...i too had the chin folds

very nice accessories on the band..i like it alot

sweet work, great coloring

these wallets are beautiful...i love the black one. The natural leather is such top quality, cant see any flaws!!!

this sounds very interesting....please please post the photos you spoke of....many thanks

sooo cute... another leatherworker in the making

oh beav, you are such a teas....