TomSwede

Thank you kevin and Rayban! It's a Swedish brand that makes high-end fishing rods n reels. I have tried to explain the word a bit earlier in the thread. It translates to something like The streamdragonfly but Pip have suggested that it's probably called Stonefly/Mayfly/Caddisfly by judging from a pic i took of the insect on their stylized logotype. It's for a friend who knows he's getting something but not what it actually is. He's sen the tooling before assembly and loved it. Sent him an sms to come pick it up but he is in London and sent following back -oh stop bugging me I wanna know what it is and enjoy my stay here without wondering about it. I have previouslt sent him mms'es with closeup snaps of the bag that doesn't reveal what it is. He's getting really anxious 'bout it now I think, lol Thanks! Tom

Hey, that looks like a nice item. Even if the longer fringe cutting won't work out it sure could be handy for some stuff. Gotta check out the Swedish and see if they exist here, probably not as usual, lol. Thanks for sharing the tip! Tom

Hey, there are those birdies again. I'll pick that one as favourite but the oakleaves are very tempting too. Excellent stuff! Tom

That seems like a sweet job! Binders are fun and by the looks of that tooling it looks like you are enjoying yourself. Those small birdies are sure sweet on human skin aswell as tooled leather. Think I've seen them on your saddles before, right? Is it gonna be candyred, lol ;-) BTW, that reelbag of mine wasn't sawn the way you suggested. Tom

I'm overwhelmed with the response on this one! BIG THANKS to all of you guys and girls! Spider, sure was fun to do and it's a very good thing to know how to make all sorts of thing, one day..Sheridan and florals will come. Scouter, great idea! This would make a nice belt. Adding it to my wishlist, lol. Pip, I always love twisting with words. That's our favourite hobby at work but that's more twisting with anything anyone say and I wouldn't dare post any of that stuff here, lol. Last but not least, I'll try and explain the sewing for Kevin and David. It's really simple done and doesn't look very neat from the inside. Last pic will show all tools except my hands wich are kind of big to fit into the bag. The brown sides was cut to desired shape and I made a line that would be used as an guide to line it up correctly and are sewn directly to the tooled main piece. Glued them both down on the vertical part of one of the bags sides and stitched them both with one needle from top down to the bend. Then glued down the semi liner and whent back up with the needle, only this time getting that liner sewn as well. Same for next side of the bag. All remaining now is those bottom bends. Starting from the center on the bottom bend, from inside, using that guideline, i stitched inside to out, outside to in so forth with one needle up til I meet with the previous seem. Turn around and go back in the same manor, passing the center and continuing with the seem on the other side of the bag, turn around when seems meet and back to center. Done. Tied the ends together on the inside and superglued. Then same to the other brown side. as you can see in the pic I did stroll off the guideline wich was no fun 'cuz my rational senses screamed to me to step back and match the guideline but my gutfeeling equally loud screamed at me to go with what looks good on the outside and sacrifice the inside. It appeared as if I would have gone die hard on those guidelines I'd might get all loose and wobbly outside wich wasn't desired. I wanted the sides drumskin tight with the bag open for esthetics. Hope anyone can make any sense out of this 'cuz first off all explaining is hard and then again translate from Swedish, even thou I consider myself above average in English (for a Suede) is hard. Tom

I just love it! Your daughter must have the coolest bike on the block! Tom

That's an awesome picture, maybe swap the pens for swivelknife for you own? Nice done and you got those shadows down aswell. Glare is a problem with those high gloss acrylics. If I can I take the pics before sealing an item but like with this one that's harder and for that reason I also take a snap when I have finished off the tooling part. Oh and never flash, just alot of regular lamps but I can go up to ISO1600 without any disturbing noise. Your friend is gonna have one happy sister! Nice stuff! Tom

Maybe he has a pattern from wich he can make a duplicate that you can take home and make your carved pieces after and measure out the lacing holes/illustrate how you want the fitting of the braid. Maybe not much of help but that's all I can think of now except maybe try to find someone who can interpretate your dialog. Tom Edit: Hey just noticed that you are gonna have STINGRAY BOOTS, that'll be something else. Hope we get to see them. There's a thread somewhere here called sumting like " show your favourite pair of boots". Not many posts and if your boots gets on there no one will ever dare posting again, lol.

Looks nice and comfy to wear in your pocket and I really like that leather to clinch it onto a belt. A beautiful touch. I've forgot tons of stuff and there are more to come. A natural process of learning is to gain experience from the mishaps AND how to make up for them. like throwing in a nice leather piece to...ah you get the idea. Is that the big set of Craftool letterspunch set? I have them and think they're a pain in the butt to get on evenly. Seeing forward to see more and welcome to the board! Tom

Thank you Art, yeah you definetly are responsible for this one, I choose to sew from the inside just to complicate it some. It aint practice if it aint hard. The colour is nice, I agree. Took a major part of Tandys saddletan and some Fiebings red pro oil dye and stirred it up (should have measured the combo, darn). Got a really funny creamy gooey gel like mesh that was sweet as candy to apply. It dried very slowly(for stuff in this business) so I had time to dauber it on as I liked with a damp dishwashing sponge. Tack Tina! Gotta get a website going at some point but for now I build up experience and the shop aswell. Stitching grover is on top of my wish list at the moment, lol. Kind of you to help us out on that font. Heres a link to a resorceful site for cool fonts (at least last time I checked). http://www.dafont.com/ Wow, overwhelmed by the response on this one. Starting to think everyones fed up with the metal stuff I post, lol. It'll be more of that but as experience grows I think other things gonna come along just as much. Thank you all, a true pleasure to have this site up here in the cold blistering north and no leatherfriends to play with locally. Tom

Oh silly me, forgot one thing Luke! I scanned his rod sheath like on the (photgraphed) pic below (wich is Seadragonfly their spinningreel series) and blew it up in photosop, reworked and got a print that I could make the transfer from. Some four, five years ago .

Thank you Luke! That's a very comforting thing to hear, i'll sure put my best effort into this and will try to stand out in the American competition aswell, this stuff is nowhere to find in Sweden (tooled leather), almost (not counting me). Tried to locate their homepage or logotype for you but nowhere to find. That is their logotype and my friend just gave me a print to work from a few years ago, carved it and had neckproblems and a break from leather so I pulled this one from the scrapbin now and made him a freebie. Have no idea what the font is but sure is very beautiful. Tom

Thanks Drac! I take it for true from a man who master maskmaking with the first one off! Thank you Tracy, worked hard with the stitchin. It's difficult and never more with thread with anitques. Ström=Stream, sländan= the dragonfly (well a sort of dragonfly) so the word reads in English: The dragonfly of the stream or maybe The streamdragonfly, why complicate things, lol. It'a Swedish brand of high-end fishingrods. Thank you Roo. Worked it right out of my head but a pattern was made for the sides....and some thinking and tinkering along the way. Had lotts of other stuff to do this last week so I have no count on the hours put into it but there are a few and lots of experince gained. Lesson here is, don't work with crappy material. I knew that from start but I was curious to see the outcome anyway. Tom

That's some nice painting there. Never been any good at that and, sigh, lotsa leather stuff to take in first. Eye look very realistic. Tom

Forgot one pic.

Practice piece I made from inspiration of Art S gift for his wife. First time I try something like this and sewing is something I have to work on. Main leather piece was no good, twisted and out of shape so I thought it'd make a good practice piece for new stuff. Only critiqiue I'm looking for is about the overall appearence. T here is a number of flaws that I already know off. Tom

Gotta love that dragon! Nicely themed with the bike, the white skirting looks nice and catches the eye immidietly. Can sure understand your wife is happy. Great job! Tom

Hey Bronco, that's a daring motif to get going at. Sure looks like you have painting skills lurking inside you. It probably looks better than we can see from that pic. You sure got something going there so keep it up and I'll look forward to seeing some more. Tom

It's been a kind of empty with no Beaverslayer around! We look forward to have you back Ken! Tom

Oh man, shouldn't have watched your gallery. I'm gonna have the coma all weekend now;-) Looks real nice and stunning. Not to keen on that auto picture viewing function (pictures auto scrolling in the main window) in the gallery but the estethics look very good. Nice job Johanna! Tom

WOW! Supernice that is! The locking strap is beautifully incorporated with the floral motif. Interesting handle, I'm guessing you have a round tubing inside and thin leather that is sewn together with a thicker leather piece inbetween and the burnished well. It would be nice to see a close up the handle. Great work and I hope we'll see more from you, I always love wathing theese beautiful floral patterns but never seem to find time to try it out. Maybe it'll come later Tom.

Yeah, happy Bday you all! Adding in with the applause after Regis lovely singing. Beautiful voice.. Hope Beaverslayer sees this post, haven't seen him around lately and it feels kinda empty without the happy chap. Tom

You are a busy little Spider and your web is just growing larger! Nice notebook, looks handy to have in the pocket and always nice to get a little payment for the hours put in to stuff. Tom

Wow, that chair is something else! Interesting subject, dyes are always worth learning more about. Thanks for sharing, Roo! Tom

Nice stuff! The gauntlets looks very nice and the box made feel like doing some celtic again. Welcome to the board! The atmosphere is very friendly and theres always someone willing to lend an helpful hand when needed! Tom