TomSwede

Thanks Schno!! Long time no see so good to see you around!!! Thanks MAdmax!! Oh forgot to say that the skull is drawn by tattoflash artist Bob Paulin and is layed out as a leatherbracelet so that was not my idea to put it down this way. Inverting the colouring was my idea. I used cotton balls in a tightly wrapped linen cloth, before applying I wiped excess off on a blank paper so it wouldnt be saturated and get into the cuts. I have done no touching up on the black colouring, just applied it with the cotton ball and thought to myself..it is what it is. Thanks Roo!! I can promise you that there is cleaning up on every cut with the modelling spoon to make the black colouring come out allright. Only get one shot at it. Tom

Heck Ray, I buy you a beer anyway..guiness?? Yeah gotta do the little I can to point out that there is a new event closeby to Scandinavia going on so I specifically told Alf that there was a event planned in UK. I would not be surprised if Alf shows up!! Tom

I lost some weight and had to get new pants. Levis 506 fits a belt with the impressive measurement of 2,36" precisely and what a coincidence that I found a piece of leather once ordered for a guitarstrap laying around a couple of weeks ago with this exact dimension. I got a new belt now. Still needs some work on the edges but I'm to lazy right now so I just shot it at the same time as the dayplanner. Played some with fingercuts here on that tribalistic carving and inverted colouring using blockdyeing technique (but with cottonballs tightly wrapped in a cloth instead of block). Red was applied last with a brush. Credits for colouring goes to Kate and Marlon!! Hey..that buckle from Tandy will ruin the leather in no time. I used the belt yesterday and it looks like crap at the closing point from that ridicilous chainborder they used. Silly suckers. A fine silvery round edge would have looked so nice for this buckle and saved the leather alot more..other than that...I think the chain border looks silly. Flames is enough. Tom Another pic

Had this laying on my desk for half a week now but since shots inside was to crappy I waited for the rain to stop pooring down. The carving was difficult for me and it was thoroughly discussed on the board with lots of help and thoughts, foremost from ClayB and Crystal. I ended up with daring my hand at trying to draw up one that I could carve from the original image and it a mix between the one Clay posted and the research from Crystal that showed that Ravens have lots of hair in their faces. I'm pleased with the carving for now and think the backside came out well too except for the eye that is farthest away. That was a carving mistake from me and the face contour line took a wrong turn. As usual I didn't manage to close the braid properly. I need to study and train that thoroughly sometime. I rounded off the corners in an attempt to escape the trickyness there and got pretty good coverage. Anyways, bring on the critique. I can handle it. Tom

You're welcome rdb!!! I spoke of Tina and her move back to Sweden aswell. Also showed him the nice board we have here and the good members. Aww when it comes to leather I sure can talk alot, time to post some proof soon..eh, don't you reckon? Tom

Heey MArcel!!! Good looking piece of hard labour. Lots of stitching there and I'm not jealous of that;-) IT looks really good and you seem to have full control over the assembly part. How is the top and bottom piece attached?? I cant see any stitching, just the rivets that sits way below the top. Conratulations on a well done second case!!!! Tom

Heres the article. Tried my best to translate from Norwegian. " Tommy Hillgren, a Swedish leathercrafter The magazine caught attention to the Swedish leathercrafter Tommy hillgren when the pricelists from last IFoLG show 2008 was published last fall. He was listed with a third price in the open class of household and misc items that does not qualifie for other classes. The magazine visited Tommy this spring for a short talk and got to see the the price taking object that was a flasksheath with tooled carvings and braidings that was equally well made as the rest of the things he showed during the visit. We got to see a handicraft where form and original details together makes a beautiful and harmonic completion. He has been working leathers for about ten years but makes his living in the board and paper pulp industry and work with leather on a hobby basis on his freetime. It was John K Karnes, former VP of Lonestar leathercrafters that encouraged him to enter IFoLG 2008, wich seem to have been a good advice. Tommy tells us further - I had a break for three years between 2004-2007 where I only made one item per year. The whole time I've been selling to friends and their friends. 2008 was a year with a real upswing for me. We had some smalltalk and Tommy could tell me that in 2010 there are plans for a leathercrafting show in England instigated by a fellow from US, Ray Hatley, now living in UK. We also talked about that there are not so many leathercrafters active in Sweden but there are a couple of others, Knut Karlsson (who is mentioned in issue No 1, 2007) for example." Thats about the whole article and the rest of the page is filled out with photos (even one showing me..uack..nasty) All text taken from Laer, sko og skinn Issue No1 2009 By Alf Björnar Luneborg Tom

Nice Anne!! Looking forward to see it completed. Thumbs up on the fleur de lis design from me aswell!!! Tom

Sorry guys, I just escaped the groupie for a few mins to lurk around so must get back to it it..phew I'm exhausted...soon. Get back atcha tomorrow after I've been swimming with son. Got some stuff to finish and post too but waiting for the sun to shine so I can go out and try to get decent pics. Tom

Yeah, it looks really really good! Basketweaving on black seem a bit uncommon but works very well. I really like the edges too, you got them well together at the sides. You're gonna sleep well after this one!! Tom

Looking at the raised border to the edges makes me just go :wtf: so I'm thinking machine molded plastic for this one may be the case. In Scandinavian knife sheath designs you often find rawhide leather where they use a technique of wetting the leather and push the leathermass under the top grain towards the edges to make similar borders but even the most proffesional ones show evidence of a handmade product (luckily enough) and not this macine precision. Where did you find it and is it marketed as a leather product?? Looking forward to hear some more professional input on this one. Tom

Welcome to the board!! Asking questions is the right attitude and I'm sure you'll get most if not all of them answered. This place is great and friendly and we do like pictures!! Tom

That looks like Eddie to me!!! Very nice!!! Tom

Hey Pino, it looks good to me so don't be too hard on yourself and be glad it is for yourself. Making mistakes is learning and someone once said in here that mastering leatherwork is to know how to cover up your mistakes and I think you did good on that part. I can see three other issues that you didn't mention, they are small but pretty important for an eye that catches on to detail. First is the overstitching wheel that went a bit too far. Happens to me too sometimes but I try to stop one or two holes before the end and mark out the last ones with a ruler if needed (I just went too long when marking lines with the groover tool today ;-) Then it is the rounded corners you have, it looks the best I think but the border lines closest to your carving motif doesn't follow the line and have sharp corners and last is the corner where you had a hard time to fit the basketweave stamp in. I don't have a great solution to that other than try to tilt the tool and go gently with it (now you know why I don't do much stamping, lol;-). All in all your checkbook looks really fine and it shouldn't be long until you handle those scrolls like a pro. I still haven't had the guts to try floral of any kind!!! Tom

This seat is gorgeous!! From shape of seat pan to top finish, everything looks just beautiful. What catches me most is that you haven't gone into silly much detailing on the panther wich makes it stand out from the beautiful asian style background. Nice job!!!

I like the good look with the snake skin and clean design. Nice touch with the matching lace for the axe!! Tom

Like Hilly said it's probably alot of work with the modelling spoon on the edges to round them off. What strikes me is how smooth he gets it wich makes me think that swivelknife control is key. Unintentional under/over cutting often makes it hard to round off edges. The smoothness in the area where the backgrounding of the eyes (holes) mets the raised portion makes me wonder if this was carved at all?? Just using a beveler with out carving is very difficult but produces very nice and smooth transitions to the beveled area. This piece is truely awesome, I don't dare to look at the rest on his site, lol!! Your first tooling experience came out good, you're on your way to learn more and my first advice is what I said earlier about swivelknife control and under/overcutting. I haven't tooled much the last half year and that's where I feel I have lost some control. Next advice is about lines and trying to get straight lines straight and curves/oval/circular lines to be just that and keeping the line. Once again..I use a carving practice wich is to alternate between a straight line and a S-shaped line to get the feel of following lines in my hands and to practice control over tilting the knife to avoid unwanted under/over cuts. If not too big I always rotate my leatherpiece simultaneously as I carve and for me this is the best way to work with curves. A bigger leather that remains static means that I have to use more movement with the hand and I feel I loose much control that way. Tom

Hey Johann!! Great to see you again and lovely beautiful work you got there!!! Colour, finish and tooling is great!! Tom

Oooh I suffer with you. Just above 30C is about the hottest temps we get here when it peaks during highsummer. I can't take it well and hide in the shades. Also has problems with sunrashes that is very itchy and nasty. Hey Roo, in Sweden we have a saying..there are no bad weathers, just bad clothing. It rhimes in Swedish words, anyway the point is that when it gets too warm you just don't have any option, clothes off is not enough and it is used as a moodraiser during cold winterdays. -15C is not uncommon during winter here and it can drop down to below -25C in my area but with the global warming we have alot shorter and milder winters so typically for nowadays is that some winters are very mild and some more normal. The figures I listed here is for a more normal cold winter and not the ones that is just alot of rain and temps around 0C. As you allready know 15C is shorts and tee for me, chill out my friend and think about what watertemps I take a swim in and you should start to feel warmer again;-) Tom

Lookin good Madmax!! The dolphins are very nice and the basketweave look good too. Did you see rectangles before your eyes when you went to sleep after that;-? Tom

Ha ha thanks Roo!! Almost out of leather except for the two projects I'm at right now so we'll see whenever I'll come up with a new bracer. Tom

Heres pics taken by the team at the race. The seat is not showing very well in those pics. I hope my photography friend can come through for me...guess I'll have to sponsor him aswell then ha ha...oh crap, almost out of leather and no money for new hides...times are tough!!! http://www.geflemalt.com/malmo-09.html Tom

Ha ha I was standing right next to the speaker when Lemmy walked off the stage and left hiss Rickenbaker against the amp creating a 10-20 mins long earpain for all of us brave enough to wait for extranumber...wish I HAD brought earplugs!!! They measured sound levels that night, it was 116 db!!! A jetplane is 120db....this was Motörheads third time at this stage and they had promised to turn down the volume a bit this time, he he needless to say, they are banned from this stage nowadays, lol What is worse is that I had a VIP ticket to the afterparty but arrived too late due to drunk friends messing up the cab ride....ah man!!! Tom

The mugs are really nice so I agree with everybody else, make that tutorial whenever you have time/feel up to it. Tom

Beautiful work!!! Welcome to the board!!! Tom