TomSwede

Welcome to the board Joe! It shows that you like design, good work. I've made alot of wristbands too but focus more on carving/tooling or leather is my canvas perhaps. Nice to have you here, I think your designing could be a source of inspiriation to maybe invoke in new ways 'cuz I think I will still make bracers even if try to move on a get other products out. Tom

I aggree with Spider. I like the inside layout, easy access to most needed things. Even though I use alot of plastic I allways seem to end up with piles of coins so it's good to have a place for those to. It's horrible with coins in the pockets. Tom

Thank you Kate! I've been admiring Sojourners stuff and thought I need to figure out how to do it. The greatness of this place is all things shared so liberally!! Tom

Thank you Kate! Nice to have you reply to this since, from what I've seen, you're really good with them dyes and I think with the amplitude of difficultness with dyes it's important to share our good findings. I can tell you that the the passage where the orange ShirleyZ braid goes over to attach to bottom leather was a nightmare to do but at least I now that the last thing to come off this tube is the handle, lol. Tom

Oh, I feel a bit jeaolus! You're just so lucky. I'm all alone up here I think. That Luke seems to be a quite nice guy, hats of for people like that! Tom

So I needed a nice orange but couldn't find it at my supplier so I got meself some Fiebing yellow oil dyeand Fiebengs red counterpart and mixed as follows: 10 ml yellow 1,5 ml red 3 ml alcohol thinner Ml's (milliliters) is really small parts so it can just be switched to the preffered measuring unit that will give a small doze for testing. I wanted to create a some crayon like effect with this since the receiver is somewhat of a painter artist. He doesn't even know he'll be getting this item so I thought it'll be a nice treat. I also needed it to have some sort of smoothing out and colour enhancer so did it like this: Painted my orange brew on carefully with the type of big brush that ladies apply some sort of powder to their cheeks with. Just dip it in the dye, shake off and just painting it on with fast movement, like you do with crayons. The brush don't hold colour to well so that causes a very straky effect. To bad I did not take photo at this point but I stopped when it looked very streaky and halfruined, lol. Now it was more of a yellow base with red and orange crayon effect, now to create a more subtile effect of this a I applied a thin layer of saddletan about 5-10 mins after the dyeing to sorta smooth things out. Let it sit about 5 mins and wiped off with a damp cloth. Voila'! The handle seen is done the same way but applied with a medium sized artists brush, just randomly dabbled it on and finished with antiquing. At no point whatsoever have I used any sealers here. Just the dyes. It seems like the yellow and red want to separate a bit when it comes on to the leather (like if you smash a tomato onto the floor and the edges of the splat has thinner substance and more shinethrough from surface below and the center is more red since there's more substance, hard to explain but something like this) and that's why I wanted to share this tip with you, it can probably produce some nice effects if applied creatively. Tom

Very cool bracers! Love them "see nutting, hear nu..." skulls. Nice stuff and keep up that "western cemetary carving". Love that phrase, you should use it and hold yourself as the inventor. Tom

I've seen discussions about claymores and the general idea seem to be that that they were worn in a back scabbard that comes lose when you draw and by the momentum from swinging the sword of the back would throw the scabbard of, like if you put a sock on a stick and swing it, the sock fly's off. This is what I come up with when researching for a scabbard for my own Wallace movie copy. No one seemed to berreally sure exactly how the scabbards were done. I did not make any scabbard but I do know that they could be bought by some maker for the wallace sword at some point, few years ago. Holy crap, I still got pics on the harddrive I see, those are ones that could be bought somewhere on the major sword outlets, maybe Swords n stuff. Good luck!

I got the bubbles with leathersheen aswell. Solution was to wrap a thin soft feltlike cloth around the sponge I use do apply with, downside with this is the antiquing is more prone to come off and smear out when applying. Gotta watchout for streaking a bit more aswell. Anyone know the difference between resolene and leathersheen?? I know they both are acrylics. Tom

Lukes method is about same as I do, in general. Test on a scrap piece, apply liberally with the antiquing and allow it to dry completely then wrap your moist cloth around a flatbased sponge and start rubbing of gently. Keep a small tub with water closeby and washout the cloth when it is clogged otherwise you'll just smear it out (wich can create finishes like on that reddish/black rodtube I had up a couple of weeks ago). The flatbase sponge is key here since it wont get down into the depressions. Also wanna add that I've done this a few times and I'm no expert, stuff like this can feel like first time everytime. I'm always very nervous when I start dyeing/ antiquing a larger piece, big lump in my belly. Tom Edit: your last post slipped in while I wrote this one. Can I please see a pic of this golden effect you got. I got a purse in the makings that will have the same reddish/black theme from the rodtube but with golden sparkles for glamour girl.

Oh oh now you've done it, I already have enought on the to do list and some timeconsuming orders aswell so now I just don't know what to do with myself!! Gotta have something like this to carry with my luxury whisky flask. Those glasses are the absolutely best ones for connoiseur drinking (and never spit out whisky). Very beautiful, I mostly drinks scotch malt but one of the best brands, Bushmill, is Irish. Sla'inte mhath Tom

Those sure are nice! Think I commented the black n red earlier so you know what I think of it and I'm just sure the other ones are just as nice. Tom

Sweet stuff Beeze! On occasion I do like to look at a stitched seat, seems like you're just as good with the 'ol awl n' needle as the lacing. This seat really rocks with that beautiful floral and those poppin letters! Tom

Very nice stuff and just like Justwakinup I really like the keepers. Tom

This is a nice treatie! Thanks alot I might try or I might try another style and not sure about doing a notebook for myself, I'm thinking bout a cigbox for that smokin coff(in)e sessions;-) Tom

Cool wallet Spider! Yeah that bone swivel would be something. The pockets and lining look great! Gotta figure that stuff out myself someday soon. Lacing is what it is, practice prectice... Cracked skull..evil Tom

Lacing sure is tv time, I just passed thru three Discovery shows but music DVDs and creepy films are high on the ranks too. Tom

That's about right but it's an old word not sommonly used anymore. Not sure if it even exists in the dictionary. I'm surprised you knew this but I guess you ran in to some swedish person somewhere. Tom

That's a fine piece of work there Horsehairbraider! I just noticed that you come from Mora, New Mexico wich was kinda fun. Mora is a small Swedish town to me! Tom

Oh..and I like to keep a little bowl with candy (jelly stuff) handy when working. Don't eat much of it, just feels good to know it's there. Tom

Gotta dye some natural roo lace orange tonite or tomorrow. Never thought of this. I get back back with report after done but I'm gonna do the braid first and it's a bit tricky since it's part of an assembly. I'll try and hurry but I'm sure someone with more experience beats me to it. Tom

Depends on mood. Most often I like it silent but when there are kids flying around like crazy monkeys I usually put on black/death metal, really fast and frenetic stuff but if I'm alone or late at night I usually go with progressive metal since it's a very higly constructive genre wich rubs off on me and I get better result but most often I use nothing. I love prog metal when it has a distinct connection to Deep purple and Pink floyd but also like Swedish band Opeth that has alot of brutal outragous death metal mixed up with the most beautiful and very calm music, lot of pianos and sorrowful moods that draws you in. I'm the type that have a hard time having music in the background, just can't stop myself from getting too engaged in what's going on with it and that's not good when doing some intricate carving. I have a musical ear so I often get involved in thinking about composition and stuff, figuring out how they do certain drumfills and stuff. Like to add something about music from a personal perspective. A good piece of music can not be achieved in the 3 ½ minute radio standard so chuck the radio. Tom

Move outside if possible, use minimum zoom and go upclose with cam to reduce shaking blur, to close can get out of focus blur depending on what type of cam, put a few spots close to object, keep the object in a clean area like on a table closeup to a wall and hang a paper or piece of cloth for backgrounds..there's lots of ways to acieve good photos, just like with leather. There is also a photothread here with stuff on buliding cheap softboxes for product photography. It's good to see you're concerned with this, sometimes we see asking for advice or pointers about specific work and the pics doesn't provide enough detail to get a good eye to it. I'm fortunate enough to have a photohobby background and a big SLR system on hand (no studioflash or boxes) but I gotta tell you, I think taking leather pis is downright difficult. Sneakin up on animals and have good shoots on them is easier I think. One more pointer, I often take my pics before applying final sealer coat since the shine (at least for acrylics) drag down the the result a bit. Tom

Hi and welcome! I guess you have already noticed what a nice place this is and inhabitants are nice too. We love pics so don't be shy with posting, no one will put you down and you sure are gonna get some improvements hanging here, think that applies even to pro's. Tom

Thank you Storm and Craftsman! Speaking of colour combos and keep posting; I'm working so hard with new projects that I actually forgot I had promised to work overtime Monday Night, ha ha they had to call me up and convince me I had made that promise, lol. Well, next rod tube was dyed with some wicked colours last nite, I think Harley raiders and of course 80's Atari videogame consol lovers will find this one very appealing. Gotta post recipe for that colour. Keep your eyes open for it, prolly in a week or so, working other stuff aswell also with a deadline running out soon. Thanks for cheering me up! Tom