Twisted 66

I decided to take a crack at recovering and refoaming my seat. I added a few pics to give an idea of the steps and stuff and the progress..still working on it ..getting frustrating but I'm getting there lol doing the sides in alligator...with a double loop stitch kangaroo lacing. will post progress as I go....any comments are always welcome .

Holy Crap! somebody's got some crazy skills! these seats are incredible! the tooling and dyeing are inspirational! WOW! can't wait to see more!

Wow! looks great!

been doing leather for about 6 months now

any and all comments and critiques are welcome.

So this is my idea..I'm looking to scrap an old stock seat for my Suzuki c50 and I'm inching towards the process..I have carved down the original foam and purchased some new foam..spent a few bucks but I'm tryin to do it right lol. a firm under padding topped with a "pudgee" foam like memory gel foam. but I haven't glued on the foam yet or cut the leather..baby steps..nervous as hell of doing it all ass backwards. I've looked up tutorials and think I get the idea but I'm sending out this thread as a one last shot to get advice and thoughts on the process before I commit. so..the idea is to cut the seat part of the leather using the last vinyl cover as my guide not 100% cause the shape will be a bit different due to the padding I'm sure. as well as the side pieces..figure on using 7-8 oz veg tan. I was then going to tool in the design ( still a toss up between 2) then once the toolings done I would dye it and then dye the leather for the sides which I'm think of some nice embossed alligator looking veg tan from tandy I saw..figure I'll dye it all the same time and colour to make sure it's identical instead of buying it already black. Once it's all dyed I plan on oiling all the pieces with neatsfoot oil, then sealing it with tandy super sheen, then either finishing it off with resolene or sno paste. then I basically plan to stitch it together using a cross stitch or double loop , wrap the foam with a light plastic and wrap the assembled leather around the base of the seat and staple it under the plastic pan ( this is how the first cover was put on). Now I ask the masses..will this work or will I screw myself and blow the whole thing lol? is the leather thick enough? to thick? was planning to use feibings usmc black dye as the major base color. I threw in some pics to give people an idea of what I'm working with right now. any thought and advice/comments is appreciated. looking forward to starting just want to start right and have a sweet seat in the end.

So glad someone else is feeling this way..I have the same project " in the process" for my Suzuki c50..have an extra seat but I went and bought some killer memory foam for it and now I'm antsy to get anything started lol..the foam cost me a couple of bucks :/ so I want to make real sure I measure twice cut once kinda thing..now I found this thread and I'm so glad someone else is asking the questions..I was thinking the same ones. I was going to basically cut the similar pattern from the seats original cover and attaché the top ( tooled) to maybe some embossed alligator leather I saw at tandy..dye it up the same as the base colour on the tooled part and but them together with a double loop stitch..it was a thought anyway lol still investigating my options..haven't even thought about dying, the design, or finishing and preserving it yet..lots to think about! even more to figure out! I'll be watchin this thread like a hawk now

pics of the .44 in the holster

ok so as a newbie it seems I didn't include as much information as I thought..the gun is a smith and Wesson .44, the inside rivet has been covered by a small piece of leather and no metal touched the gun at all in any way, the sizing took a few times but after playing with a few mock ups I got it to where I wanted it. as for lining it hmm never though about that..what do people line a holster with? suede? material? leather? always open for options/idea/knowledge! again I sit in my newbie corner with that blank expression..lol ( pictures of the piece in the holster coming soon but I'm not sure how to add a pic on here once I've already started the initial thread..hmmmm

Thanks a million chuck! who woulda guessed the cross like stitch woulda been a 'cross stitch" after all lol...wow! guess I'll go crawl back to my newbie hole now lol.

the holster is for a.44 magnum ( hence the title ) lol ..the strap sits right across the hammer nicely actually. The lacing was a bitch lol I'll admit it..I couldn't punch through properly so I ended up using a drill. some of the debris around the holes is just dust and pieces..it's been wiped down since then. when you say blown out what exactlly do you mean..the "raised" kinda look by the holes?

I usually print them on standard printer paper then cover it in scotch tape..loads more durable and don't need to worry about pressing to hard or tearing the paper.

can anyone point me in the right direction? I'm loving this cross 'X" stitch as seen on this seat..now I'd love to know how to do it!??? name? tutorial? thanks in advance.

All comments, critiques and input welcome.

wish I could see the pictures..sounds like it was an interesting project.

title says it all..saw the idea, took a shot. It was an interesting project..gave me a few ideas for future projects.

Friend of mine wanted a cross draw holster for his judge hand gun..figured give it a shot..it's basic but it worked well I think. comments and critiques always welcome. Sorry for the pics..they're a bit dark .

Ill have to add a few more angles, there is a welt actually..about 3/4 inch lol the original tooling was a full colour dye but I found it was just to bold and colorful so I dyed over it. The holes were drilled out from the front using a drill..kinda rough but it worked better than the dremel.

so I had knife sitting around so I figured hey! why not make a new sheath for practice? a lot of trial and error and a few design flaws but in the end not bad. the edges were originally going to be laced but ended up it was to thick to get the feel I was looking for so I stitched it using some red thread I had to compliment the knife handle ( or that was the idea anyway) the design on the front was coloured and then realized it just didn't work so I dyed over it lol. always open for critiques and comments.

so I got back the tank bib, washed all the dirt and crap off, and touched it up a little to try and salvage it...it's not what it started off as but hey..it is what it is.

I did up a tank bib for my bike and the wife saw it..needless to say..here is the one i finished up for her bike

a custom cover for a tank bib..isn't that a cover for a cover??

Huge thanks for all the input really appreciate people taking the time to take a look and lend a helping hand. ! I think the initial shock has worn off from seeing my bike and the leather treated so poorly and now I'm trying to see what went wrong..besides the abuse to it. I've gone over my steps a few times in my head ..after it was tooled and completely dry I used the eco-flo hi light colour stain as the skull/bone colour. waited till that dried completely,then painted around the area with eco-flo coal black.that seems to be the problem I think , the areas where it lifted are all tight spots where I went over it a few times with the dye and brush..maybe because I used a paint brush..maybe when I rubbed it all down after to get the excess dye off I didn't get those spots? maybe there was a build up of dye and it didn't adhere? still guessing. then I added in the red and green with leather paint. the red rose is still the same colour which I am happy to see. I used a leather paint for that. after all the colouring was done I airbrushed on some super sheen..3 coats..then resolene about an hour later 3 coats then laced it and added the felt and polished it up. I may take out the brush and airbrush and try and salvage it with paint this week after trying things on it to see why it did what it did. unfortunately the antique look does not work well at all with the skull for me..it needs to be more bone/lighter looking. I see (Wyoming slick) you said the tandy way to wet the leather is wrong..how do you do it/ recommend it to be done? thanks again for the detailed info

ok so I did a tank bib for myself and used this process..tooled, dyed, sealed with super sheen, resolene and then put some clear shoe polish on it and put it on my bike. I have attatched before and after pics to show what happened after....I took the bike to a mechanic and he left it out side for about 2 weeks in the rain, sun, frost etc and never touched it as far as drying/cleaning it goes. is the condition of the bib my fault? did I do something wrong when sealing it or dyeing it or is this just what happens when you treat it like crap?

very nicely done! love the detail