mjensen

Thanks everyone!

I haven't posted in a long time so I figured I'd post a few pictures of some stuff I've been working on for the holidays. As always, I'd be happy to hear your thoughts. Thanks for looking! All photos taken by Andrew Tomlinson of Atoms Photo, Prince George, BC.

That is absolutely gorgeous! Do mind me asking what weight of leather you used for that? I'm getting ready to make my first book cover for a christmas gift and I'm thinking of using 5/6oz for the backing and 2/3oz for the inside slips.

After looking at his armbands I'm going to agree with the sponge. http://www.lescuirsdebelfeuil.com/en-ventes.html It looks like he put a yellow base down, then sponged over it with green. If you were to pat the sponge onto a scrap cloth or leather you would be left with a thin layer of dye that doesn't apply well. But if you keep patting the area you are covering some areas will get darker and darker. I'm going to try this and I will get back to you with the results (might take awhile though)

This is the effect I was talking about with the Eco-flow High-lighter. A buddy of mine is a professional photographer and was able to catch some shots that really show the effect. To get this I don't clean the leather with alcohol or anything (I know... tsk tsk). I find that cleaning with alcohol will only leave the lighter brown color and you won't get the darker patches. Once your ready (resists in place etc), use a wool dauber and apply a generous layer of the high-lighter. Work it in circles until the whole piece is covered then wipe it off with a dry cloth. Then using a slightly damp cloth, wipe over it once or twice only. Do not rub at all or you'll wipe most of the antique right off. Afterwards I use an airbrush to apply my finish in order to prevent the finish from lifting the antique off the leather. I use a half dozen light-to-moderate coats of resolene cut 50:50 with water. Cheers,

I've gotten (slightly) similar results using the eco-flow highlighter and gel antiques. When you apply it let it sit on the edges longer before wiping it away with a soft cloth. Then use a damp (not wet) cloth to lightly wipe the center portion of the leather. It may not end up exactly like your picture, but it will come close. I'll upload a picture of a passport wallet I just did using this technique when I get a chance.

Thanks for the tips everyone! The C-Clamp worked like a dream. I put the leather I was stamping on top of 2-3 layers of 4/5oz leather and screwed down the clamp as far as it would go. It went a little too far the first time and I ended up getting marks from the stamp base. Second time was beautiful. Thanks again! Matt

Thanks for the tips everyone! I'm going to pick up a couple C-Clamps tomorrow since I've been meaning to buy some anyways. I don't have any really heavy leather to use as a backing so I'm going to attempt to layer a few thinner pieces together and see if that will do the trick.

I have a ramsfoot and a heafty handle. I've tried both and am getting the same result. I'm striking the handles with a polymer mallet (one of the yellow ones from Tandy). I have a 16" x 16" marble slab I picked up as an off-cut from a local tile store. The table is a definite possibility. It has a bit of a wobble to it and a little bit of a bounce. I'll try setting the slab on my counter top and see if that helps then I'll get back to you! Thanks guys!

Hi all, I've picked up a few 3D stamps from Tandy and have been a little disappointed. I can't seem to ever get the full impression of the stamp. There always seem to be a few of the fine details missing toward the middle of the stamp impression. I can get all the fine details along the edges of the stamp if I beat the snot out of my stamping handle while tilting it to get a stronger impression along each edge but I can never seem to get the middle. I've watched Tandy's youtube video on 3D and Alphabet Stamping with George Hurst about a dozen times and I am following him to the letter. Considering how simple this should be I can't figure out where I'm going wrong. Here are a few things I've gone over: Casing - I've tried every level of moisture from "muddy" to "been sitting there for over an hour and it's dry" and surprisingly I get my best impressions very near to the "muddy" end of the spectrum, but I still can't get the detail in the centre. Leather Thickness - I'm using 4/5oz leather. Is it maybe not thick enough to allow the stamp to sink into the leather all the way? I can see where the leather is becoming heavily burnished on the flesh side where I'm stamping. Leather Quality - I'm using Tandy's economy tooling shoulders (I'm on a budget and they're cheap). All of my craftool stamps leave excellent impressions on properly cased leather so I can't see these 3D stamps being any different....right? Anyways, as always any suggestions or ideas are very much appreciated, Cheers, Matt

Hi all, I just placed an order on turtlefeathers.net for a few Angelus dyes.... turns out I've ordered acrylic paints by mistake. I'm alright with that as I will be able to use them at some point but I am wondering if I will be able to cover them with Fiebing's USMC Black? I am going to be airbrushing flames into a wallet design and am planning on using a paint brush to do some detailed dying between the flames with the USMC Black. This will cover up the over-spray and give me a nice clean image (hopefully...). I just need to know if the dye will actually cover the acrylic or not. If it won't I'm going to place an order for the colored dyes with Springfield... As always, thanks for the help.

I ended up tossing this one. I stumbled across a flaw in my design and have since gone back to the drawing board. I'm in the middle of my next trial and am going to be covering the entire inside with a faux fur after having some issues with sheepskins being too thick. It's looking like it will turn out well. I'll post pictures once I'm finished.

Interesting idea using paracord like that. I have tons of the stuff hanging around for making survival bracelets.

I've taken on a small project for a friend of mine. It's a wallet-type case for fly fishing flies. He's a big fan of the "all natural leather" look and I would like to leave the inside of the case highly sanded but not slicked so it has that suede-like feel to it. Being that this will be used near the water and is likely to get dripped on etc, I would ideally like to try and protect the inside cover without having to slick it. I'm relatively new to all this and am learning a ton of stuff on this site, but I haven't been able to stumble across anything like this. Would somebody mind educating me slightly? Much appreciated, Matt P.S. I forgot to mention I currently have super-shene, Fiebing's resolene, and Fiebing's leather balm neutral on hand.

Hi there! I've been lerking on this site off and on for the past couple of weeks and finally decided I need to open an account. I was introduced to tooling over the holidays and I was instantly hooked. I've done a few small projects out of the begginners kit I picked up at Tandy and I love it! I'll post a couple pictures of what I've done so far in the near future. Hopefully somebody will take a look at it and will teach me a thing or two. Cheers,