YinTx

Thank you. The cover has adhesive already, but I have found it doesn't always hold. This one I removed the adhesive (no small task itself) sanded it rough, and used contact cement. Much better hold I think. It is an "S" in the upper right. The petal lifter I used on this one is the small Craftool Pro lifter. I have a Robert Beard small but it was much to big for this. Also, I have some petal lifters I have made from freebie screwdrivers, very easy to do with a file or a grinder if you have it, some sandpaper, and polishing compound. If you don't have it, try to get a small swivel knife blade (1/4") for those tight curves. Made a world of difference for me. Many thanks! Appreciate it! I've seen your work, mine pales in comparison, thank you kindly! Thank you, and I hope she likes it. May not know for a while though! Still have to deliver it... YinTx

Thanks! I appreciate that. I saw something similar somewhere else, so I did my own kind of version of it. Bit of a gamble, but paid out ok I think. Thank you, I try to get a bit better every time... Figure in 100 years of Sundays, I'll get the hang of it! Thanks, I hope she likes it. Time will tell! YinTx

Thanks @mikesc! Still trying to improve my wreckerative cuts tho... Here's a very up close with a pencil for scale, before all the dye, resist, antique and finish work. I didn't have a shader small enough for the flower petals, so I struggled a bit with the modeling spoon. But the end result is passable, I think. YinTx

Just finished up this little surprise gift for a friend of ours. Thought I'd share. Slowly but surely getting better at sketching my own designs. And tooling tiny items... YinTx

That my friend is not a machinist's chest. That is a fine piece of art! Most folks don't have something that nice to put their jewelry in, let alone some leather stamps! That is fantastic! YinTx

I suspect I'll be trying this in the near future. I have a push beader and I really like it, a swivel beveler and it is ok, been wanting to try out a push beveler and this may be a way to do it! YinTx

Must... resist... urge... Must... hide.... creasers.... Seriously though, nicely done. Now I'll have to find one of my Gomph creasers and start to grinding... or maybe I'll find a cheaper version on Ebay... YinTx

I think I see what you mean. I had actually debated using black, but then I'd have a black edge on the orange Chevre Chagrin. I've seen awesome edges here, so I still have lots of room for improvement. Color coordination is probably one of those areas for improvement. Yes, I did a lot of work to thin the edges down what with 8 layers of leather and all. I don't normally fully line wallets because of this issue, the photos probably make it seem thicker than it actually is. In hand it looks and feels decent, not very thick or chunky. Perhaps on the next version I'll work the edges over more until I get this process down! Thanks for the compliment! YinTx

I have just finished a video class done by none other than Jim Linnell, I think it is safe to say he's been doing this a while. He makes a point to respect and honor your craft enough to study the craftsmen that have come before you, understand and practice their techniques, then make it into something you want it to be. He specifically asks: what will others say about your work when you are gone? Is it more of the same, or will they say wow, look at what this guy came up with? He mentions specific styles that are named after the individuals that brought them to the world. So I'd say there are many that value moving the art forward. There are some on this forum that do incredible work in figure carving ( @ABHandmade comes to mind) and those that have been on this forum ( BoboCat and others) that have merged different floral styles into their own. @GrayHallidayJr has a very unique tooling style. I am still in the infancy of learning and practicing tooling, and as such am a bit relegated to studying and practicing what is already out there before I go wild creating my own style. I own patterns from the at least as old as the 1940's to the present, so a lot of studying and practicing to do! I do see things I would like to change, and I am sure I'll get there some day. I would concede your point that it is time for new styles, it always is. But I wouldn't harp on someone's hard work to make that point. Especially someone's "First Purse!" Kind of implies they are in the study and practice phase, not break new ground phase. Sorry about the digression. Back on topic: nice purse! Stitching will look better on the next one since you know what caused the issue. That is a whole lot of tooling! Any pics of the inside? YinTx

Ok, a few more photos. I may go for another coat of edge paint, I don't use it much so I am hesitant to get carried away with it. Just a tiny bit run down through the ridges of the lizard and it'll ruin the piece is my worry. Really hard to make it look nice and tidy when the leather is full of contours! 8 layers of leather on the wallet. YinTx

Thanks, I'll post some side shots. The rough edge of the leather makes it difficult, so I definitely need some practice. I don't normally do edge paint. Thank you. I'll put up some more photos when I get a chance. Yes, it is a bit more difficult on textured leathers, this one isn't too bad since the scales or whatever you call them are fairly small. No light box, actually had to cover the lights up to reduce the glare. Just a lame old cell phone photo, my decent Canon digital camera died long time ago. Appreciate it, I'll try more since I have ostrich, caimen, alligator, etc to use up. YinTx

Black lizard, orange Chevre Chagrin, and orange linen thread. Thought I'd try my hand at some exotics. Had such a difficult time getting the camera to focus on this leather for some reason. What do you think, should I do more? YinTx

+1 on @RockyAussie as a resource. Also: http://www.amtan.com http://www.rojeleather.com are two places to check out. But it helps if we know which side of the planet you are on for decent recommendations. YinTx

So here's what I have, don't know if it is better or worse than what you have. They are older stamps. top to bottom: Craftool Co. USA W818, W532, W531, and a stamp with no identification. Not sure the stamping is representative of what they are capable of: I waited all of 10 seconds after spritzing water on a piece of belly veg tan and went to work. YinTx

I have a bunch of stamps, but I don't know what that one looks like to tell you if I have one or not. Does it have a number, or do you have a photo of one? YinTx

Someone botched that for sure. The economy grade I got from them was decidedly better than the photo you are showing. Sad thing, because there is a lot of potential (read - customers spending the $$) going to waste there at SLC with this kind of action going on. YinTx

I had a thread zapper. Still in the drawer after one zap. Now I mostly use linen thread, and when I use Tiger, I cut it pretty close and get it with an iron or a Bic lighter. Nice job on the wet molding! YinTx

Yessir it did! suck, that is. And if you ever need to see how to wreck it, I'm your guy! I've learned a lot on here, glad I can share. I know it can be frustrating to see everyone else's work that looks so perfect, and I tend to forget that they may also only be showing the pretty side of their works! So if my ugly row of stitching can make anyone feel better about the work they are doing, well then I've had a successful day. YinTx

Yes indeed, after I picked myself up and dusted myself off, got back on the bike and did this one: Did a bit of work skiving around the edges this time, and things came out much much better! Yeah, if I had to do that again I would consider your method. I'll try to design and manage myself out of the situation as much as I can tho! YinTx

Thank you so much! YinTx

Ok, I'm over it. Here's where it all went wrong. The liner leather as I mentioned is very soft and flexible, so the leather easily deformed when pressing the awl through, resulting in uneven exit holes and a wretched stitchline on the backside of the stitch, which is the inside of the wallet. After I noticed it was occurring, I was able to manage it through the rest of the job, but the damage was done. Of course, zoomed in on a photograph it looks even worse. But all this to say even after years of hand stitching, I can still manage to screw up a free lunch as they say. YinTx

Looks awesome! I have a pile of ^&#_@#!!!~ that didn't fit right, so I feel your pain. YinTx

Just awesome! I really like the tooling design, in particular the over/under pattern in the center. That is a whole lot of tooling for sure! I have a bible cover that I am a bit reticent to start because I know it has a ton of tooling. Any idea how long it took you? YinTx

8mm linen is a really large thread, 332 is 0.77 as far as I know. Most bags are using 432 or smaller, wallets and such 532, watch straps maybe 632, some guys like to use 832. To get holes large enough for 332 to look like the samples you have shown will be a really big awl, likely an old saddler's awl. The pricking iron will need to be equally large, consider an Osborne pricking iron, they are pretty meaty. Some of the Dixons (not the slimline versions) are fairly large pricking irons also. Alternately, consider some smaller thread? Then Blanchard awl or a Palosanto awl will work wonders! I did this a long time ago, so the stitching isn't top notch, but you can see the differences with different types of irons and different sizes of threads. Left column: 532 linen second column: 332 linen third column: 132 linen fourth far right column: 8mm Tiger thread. each row is a different type of pricking iron. Top 3 rows are Dixons and Osbornes. Hope this helps, YinTx

Seriously must be super bowl weekend for folks to have not seen this and commented! Fantastic work, and nice blade, too! I did have one fellow tell me that if the row isn't running straight, rotate it and try again. As in make a practice run on some scrap to see which of the three points should go up to make the tool run straight. I had no idea it would matter, but apparently it does? YinTx