howardb

Good luck calming us down. We has met and found kindred spirits within. That means you get double the trouble for half the price! You folks should be happy to have such a bargain. We'll throw in the spitwads at no charge too. I sent Crystal my knifework of Tina's skull holster pattern. It stank on ice, but I'm hoping she can help me figure out what I'm doing wrong. Meanwhile*, I think I will make meeself a checkbook cover and put Riley's rose on one side and Tina's card playin' skull dude on the other. That sounds like funsies. But none of that has anything to do with the challenge, so as soon as I finish up a project this weekend, I'll start skulling it! Brent *= whenever someone says or writes "meanwhile" one is required (state law) to chime in with "...back at the ranch, [insert lewd double-entendre here]" i just have too much fun some days... Oh well back to work.

Locknut, The craftsmanship is outstanding! The only thing I would question is the loose lid. Note that I am NOT a cigar man, so I'm just talking from a logistics point of view, not a quality point of view. These are SHARP! If a loose lid is normal for this kind of product, then ignore my question! The gold silk is certainly a beautiful touch. Could you slide some thin pieces of the cedar between the silk & the leather? That way you would help to isolate the cig's from the leather. Also, I have seen cigars in tubes with very thin cedar wraps around them. I'm not sure how that could be integrated into a leather holder, but there's my 10 cent cigar out on the table. Seriously nice work though! Brent

Awesome!! Brent

Clay - there's two of us with spitballs hiding in the corners... (heh, heh). I am SO looking forward to carving both! I practiced knifework on Tina's skull pattern, and I think I will tool both skull patterns. ---Thanks Riley! It's an awesome pattern. I need a checkbook for myself and that's a perfect pattern to try out! Brent

Tina, you are a true rennaisance woman! Another shining example of your skills. Way to go! Brent

Money? What money?

Muhahahahaha!!! This album is MINE now! Mine I tell you! MINE!! I met Crystal at the IFOLG show and she showed me this album. I was hugely impressed! I didn't even have to sneak into her room to steal it. She gave it to me! I love it. The detail is intense and very well done. I think the bargrounding is beautiful. Mine ends up looking like shredded wheat with little pills everywhere. Hers is even, level, smooth, and actually looks like little dots. Sure, I'm green and all, but I know quality when I see it and this thing is fantastic. Much better in 3D than the pictures can possibly show. Brent

Hey gang,Preliminary show packet attached. Note that competition items must be less than a year old, so start planning your next project now! Brent PS: I had to split the packet due to file size. I will post the competition entry portion in the next thread... 2009_IFOLG.pdf HA! fooled them. Here's the other half of the packet... Brent Competition_2009_IFOLG.pdf 2009_IFOLG.pdf Competition_2009_IFOLG.pdf

Good to know there's a truck available. I KNOW you aren't gonna strap that thing on your bike... Sure it's tricked out, but I didn't see a trunk on that thing. At least not one big enough for the machine! I take it the GPS stayed on and all went well on your journey home. Looking forward to seeing your ultra mega cool entry for the show next year! Brent

Dave, Really nice work. Folks, the camera does not do it justice. So if you like the photos, the real McCoy is even better. I'm glad I got to at least say howdy! Brent

If you've ever been to an IFOLG show, then you have probably see the guild display tables. One of the weakest tables this year was Hoosier leather guild, and Calumet was right behind it. Many of the guilds have eleborate backdrops, special themes, etc. Hooser and Calumet just had bits of members work on display. Anyway, the Hoosier LG is making a new... what to call it... Sampler. A long past member carved a nice outline of Indiana and the guild logo, and it's about 11Wx14H. Now that Hoosier has re-formed with a new membership, we are making squarish plaques to fit around the old guild "display thingy". So a couple folks cut out the new plaques and handed them out. The end result, eventually, will be a larger guild plaque. While our display table will never rival Lone Star or CIL, it will definitely look better next year! Mine's done and I'm taking it to the meeting tomorrow. I got the pattern from one of my flower pictures. Hope you like it. The Picture: The carved image: Painted: Finished: Brent

Randy, I've used irfanview for years and it's perfect for doing resizing, cropping, color adjustments, sharpening, lightening, etc. All the tools apply to the whole image. Irfanview does not do any pixel by pixel adjustments - for that you need something different. I have also tried Photoshop and could never quite figure it out. My photo magazines have articles every month telling me how to fix things in photoshop. The more I read, the less I want photoshop and the more I want to take the pictures right the first time... I'd save the $100 if it were me. Ask Riley how many bales of hay that is... Brent

All - I will contact the rules committee and see if I can get the document to post here. It's all written down somewhere... The rules are the rules. They cover advancement & things like that. HOW the judging is done is up to the head judge. The head judge has say-so on whether they think items have been judged fairly. If they feel items have been mis-judged they will usually grab other judges and have them re-judge the whole category, not just look at one piece. So there judging is as fair as it can be. As one who has scribed for two shows, let me tell you that judges are all individuals, and the ones I have worked with have all been very fair and impartial. If someone recognizes a work, they will step back and not judge or comment on it, until it is time for critique (and sometimes not even then). I had two pieces this year that only one judge signed on. I would assume it was due to recognition. Anyway, IFOLG is always trying to make things fairer and smoother for all. I think this year went very well. Regarding other shows: IFOLG rules specify that a piece can only be one year old or less to be entered in competition. So you can't bring the same piece to next year's show. The non-IFOLG shows (the regional ones) will often accept older works, and it seems to be on a show-by-show basis. There will be a Midwest spring show and this year it will be hosted by Prarie States Guild, so it will probably be somewhere in Illinois. I'll try to get something up here if I can get it. We also got preliminary show packets for next fall's IFOLG show in Indianapolis, IN. good news - rooms should be in the $75 range! I think I will gather a bunch of IFOLG info and start a new thread & possibly see if Johanna can post it permanently somewhere. Best, Brent PS: I met Crystal and Dave Theobold for the first time, and saw Tina and Johanna again. I probably saw lots of others that don't connect their names with their logins. I think someone mentioned that indypbear is John Karnes? I'm sure I bumped into John at some point as I remember the name. PSS: bought a new SK-3 swivel knife. Wow! What a smooth action. Also, Bob Beard is back on the trail and had a booth at the vendors area. Between him and Barry King, the finest tools available were represented. I bought one of Barry's mallets and Bob is re-edging my french knife for me. Can you tell it was an AWESOME time?? Brent

I think the "tape on the back" is sort of like a catch-22. The good clear tapes stick well, don't stretch, but do fuzz the leather. The masking tapes (I've heard several folks using the blue tape), don't stick as well, will stretch, don't like getting wet, but won't fuzz the leather, at least not much. Me? I like the good clear packing tape. (PS: 3M = Scotch. Same company, different "brand") I guess it comes down to what the back of the piece is going to do. If it's getting backed or otherwise hidden, I'd use the good clear stuff. If the back has to be exposed & get prettied up, then use the blue tape. I have never had rubber cement work for me, but thousands have. That's a non-fuzzing (alleged!) technique that's older than methusela. Anyway, that's my 29 cent ramble for the day. Brent

The dog ate my homework. See? Here he is balancing a ball on his nose... Right after that, he ate the ball AND my homework. Brent

Well, I cut the lacing off and am relacing it. I think I was pulling too tight. I'm about halfway around and I keep tending to pull too tight. So I back up and re do it. It may be an iffy spool too. The really old brown lace I had wasn't this hard to work with. This is a brand new spool of black and it's been tough all around. Brent

Drop him like a bad habit...

How does one keep the kangaroo from hopping around while you are trying to lace it?

Subtemperate bistatial dihydrogen monoxide. A big 'un. Brent

It is not too late! Classes have been filling up in the last couple of weeks as everyone has waited until the last minute. No other cancelled classes at this time, so hurry! Get your class request in to Carol ASAP and you can bring your money to the show. See you there! Brent

I'll be there Thursday late through Sunday. I have classes Friday & Saturday, and I'm scribing Friday night. I'm not sure if Roz needs anymore bodies, but there may be opportunties to help. Scribing is cool because you can hear the judges discussions before they boil it down to the few lines that get recorded. Anyway, Friday is probably out for me, other than bumping into people between classes & judging. I have another class Saturday afternoon. I really hope to get to meet more of you! We need a special gathering place/time. Maybe meet in the corner before the banquet?? We need red corsages and a special password... Brent

Does this count? I realize it's a "hybrid"... Brent

Makes me want to say "Och! Can aye have a wee dram?" And then, of course, beam Cap'n Kirk back to the Enterprise. FANTASTIC carving! Brent

When at first you don't succeed... beat up the neighbor kid and steal his bike. No, wait... how is that supposed to go? I recarved it with the RIGHT initials. I went ahead and laced it too. I'm not doing something right with my lacing, but I'm not sure yet what it is. If anyone can tell from the photos, let me know. Otherwise I'm taking them to a guild meeting next week for critiques. Why are roses so #%^&$* hard to carve?? This one's not bad, but they just never seem to come out "right". Tina, tried the veiner and not sure what I think about the results. Yours looked good, mine didn't come out right. Which veiner did you use? Oh yeah - here's the photos. Brent

OK, I want to be the first member of the Tina fan club! I may have to sabotage their car though, cuz if she brings the booboo to IFOLG, it's good enough for best of category (she's in OPEN y'all!). If the "good" one shows up, it's DEFINITELY best of category. Damn, I'd really hoped my new holster would win sumpin! Now it's likely to go home with nary a second glance. Would you PLEASE compete in advanced?? Give the rest of us poor schleps a chance! Brent