YinTx

It's cool, but I am confused. Is it on a break or a brake? YinTx

Definite improvement! Any plans for the rest of the vehicle? YinTx

@Chief Filipino, if you can get your hands on it, the book "Sheridan Style Carving" with Bill Gardner and Clinton Fay by Bob Likewise has some history and characteristics of Sheridan Carving. It is a good book and has some help on how to draw and carve as well. A lot of great photos in there of some works by the originators and masters of the style too. I am referencing it on a piece I am working on right now. YinTx

One of the videos. YinTx

Thank you. Still working on it, not happy with the notepad pocket so I pulled it out and will be making a new one. Heh. Yeah, thank you! That is probably my problem. But, he did draw it and make it to be the other way, at least it doesn't look bad upside down tho! I had some dark spots on the dye, but overall it came out ok. Thanks for the compliment! YinTx

Got the spine glued and stitched in, liner glued in, and the pockets glued in, ready for edge work and stitching. And wouldn't' you know it.... I did stitch it that way! Gaaaaah!!! Even Mr. Linnell says "whatever, just don't screw it up!" and leave it to me. Enjoy. YinTx

Also, although I love the Angelus dye colors, there is a lot of pigment in there, so it does tend to result in rub off. Tan Kote, Tan Kote, then resolene or Angelus Acrylic Finisher (all 50/50 with water) really helps to reduce the lift. When you tire of that, try some Fiebing's Pro dye, I tend to have a lot less issue with rub off/lift off. YinTx

Let me see, I think: Swivel knife. Smooth pear shader. Lifter. Beveler. Modelling spoon. not necessary, but you could use a leaf liner also. A bit presumptuous on my part concerning the style of leaf you wish to carve. A photo example of what you want to accomplish would help deciding what tools are needed. YinTx Here is the style you can do with the above tools. You can see I made my own lifters from some cheap screwdrivers.

@Silverd, thank you so much for the details. Will save me a lot of experimenting and heart ache when I do it! YinTx

That is awesome. I know some folks that are gonna love pink! Do you put any oil on the leather before the paint, or will it soak in after the paint? YinTx

2001 sold 6578 sold 6580 sold YinTx

2540 sold. YinTx

I would have never guessed paint! How does it hold up? YinTx

Very true. Or that it is embossed like everything else in the store. Some recognize the craft or sense something about it is more of an art than production, those are the ones that end up purchasing. Ok by me, just the way it is. Some want to learn about why it is more expensive, I'll explain some, 1 of 100 of those will then want to purchase, again ok with me if I have the time to spare. YinTx

Thanks! Got some resist on the other day, and finished the antique today. Antique is a bit lighter than I expected, but it'll do. I didn't want a heavy antique color. Set er out to dry. Always seem to put that one piece upside down for the photos. Not sure why it feels right to me upside down. Hopefully I don't stitch it that way! @JayEhl, how's yours coming along? Have you already finished? YinTx

Really awesome! Where'd you get that pink tho? YinTx

I like em, but I feel like it needs some neatsfoot oil so it doesn't feel and look so dry... YinTx

Thanks, and that is what this is, practice! Here is today's progress, a little oil and a bit of dye work. YinTx

Would love to see some of those. Private message sent. YinTx

Thought I had already put these up, but I see not. Here they are. Still doing tests on small pieces to find what color/antique combination I want to use. YinTx

Thank you so much! Haven't seemed to have gotten such a positive response outside of the leatherworking crowd, so I appreciate the compliment. And the commiseration! YinTx

So if I knew what I was doing, I probably would have done something like that. Instead, I carefully dyed the branches, then dyed all the red around the flowers, then painted the flowers in 5 layers or more... resist.. antique.. etc. Yeah, pretty tedious. I had a pretty small brush, it certainly helped! Thank you! I do try to push myself a bit, just that it causes me to go into think mode for months before I actually start to cut the leather...and as such I don't get much done in the process! I keep having to tell myself "less think, more do..." YinTx

Spectacular! I've recently decided that the old case makers were probably under appreciated. Folks just always expected things like binoculars and lenses to have a leather case, and a lot of them were pretty nice! YinTx

Photo is really small, but from what I can see it looks awesome! YinTx

Thank you, and just for the record, I did the branches with dye. Really was worried about losing the texture through paint, and I didn't really feel like i had a color that would do it justice with paint.. Really hard to keep the brown only on the branches with dye for sure! Yeah, it's why it took me years to get over the mental block and just try it. At least now I know when I have to, I can fake it till I make it! Thanks for the compliment! YinTx