swinewerx

What the heck are they??

llou went above and beyond, congrats on that!! this shows you do leather work, for, I have not had a customer yet that will do something as extreme as this, Very well done, I hope you never change it, but, if you do, just add more to it!!!!

Christian, Xian, is the best I have ever seen, his work is very outstanding, I often refer many people to him, I only do my leather werx for myself, and the wife, and for my fellow church members, I tend to ramble a bit too much, which makes other people assume I am trying to push my things upon them, after people from other forums accuse me of trying to force them to buy my things, I refer them to Xian, and others, just to get them to shut up. It seems crazy for one guy to have so many chops that are very extremely covered with extremely tooled leather, When I show them what I own, they instantly assume I am showing off what I did for other people's bikes and chops, when all along the ones I am showing are the wife's and my own chops and bikes, that I did go way over board on covering with way too much tooled leather!!! But, for really outstanding quality of tooled leather, Xian is at the top, there are others who are very great at tooling, I just get a little excited when it comes to custom leather creations, and it shows, when I look at other people's motor bikes, I prefer to see the whole bike without a human in the way of the art work that is on the bike, this is where people also assume I am trying to force them into buying my things. I really wonder why people don't like tooled leather anything, it really adds great value to anything when it is tooled up extreme, showing off art work this way!!! I am very glad I am not depending on my leather work for my income, not that it would not sell, it would then become a daily routine, kinda like how I felt about my job I had before I got severely crunched by a car while on the way to that daily job!!! This is where I get to rambling, I did lose half of my brain, and when I get excited about tooled leather anything, which is quite often, I really ramble too much! Kinda like this reply, look at how much I typed about this topic, which I really did not stick with the topic at all!!! Sorry if this irritates anyone!!! I am very good at being a common irritant, just crumble up some anti irritant pills, and blow them my way, and I will ,,POOF! disappear!!!!

Don't dare attempt to sharpen!!! They are antiques! I beleive they are anyways!!! I have one, and prefer it rather than the ceramic ones I have, and ceramics don't need sharpening either!!!

You got my attention!!! I like your work!!!

It is cool , the saddle and holster combo, open carry, is legal in calif, I used to do just that! just don't have any bullets in or near that gun!!!! Overall, that is some very nice work, to me though, that seat is too big!!!!

Looks real good

What I always do is, when the foam is ready, as in , all smoothed out, then, I cut the leather oversized, a bit too much, you are almost to the area of how I make a seat, I make my leather wrap over and go under to be rivetted, I understand the customer wanted stitches! but, either way, after I have over cut the pattern I get it real wet under side as well as the outside! Even though it is too wet to tool, I start forming the leather to the seat, and keep doing this for up to hours, This is a process that requires a lot of patience, Because, I keep molding the leather to the seat, and my way of wrapping under takes even longer, I like to use the wood handles of certain tools I have to get rid of creases, and folds, once the leather is smooth, I let it dry while on the seat, takes about two to three days to dry, then, after drying, You will notice how tight it got! I trim the excess away while only wetting the top grain only with the same wrag I use to wet as I am tooling, then smooth out any other wrinkles, that are just there! and let it dry some more, at this point, drying don't take that long, like a day, then examining the way the cover looks, I then remove it and start my tooling time!! I usually go extreme on tooling our personal bike/chop seats, this will have an enlarging effect on the cover, no worries, after done tooling, and placing back onto the seat just remold it back onto the seat, I love making all of our seats, one piece of leather only, no stitches or seams, but rivetted to the bottom of the seat pan!!!!! I myself have not covered the bottom of a seat with leather, cuz I make my seat pans molded to the frame of the bike/chop itself as well!!! As in, I personally am against spring loaded seats, I ride rigid all the way!!!!! One of my chops is rigid front and rear, I am very disabled, but love my rigids!!!! I hope this helps, I also make the seats with 4 to 5 oz leather, a bit easier to mold it and not have the creases!!! I did one with 6 to 7 oz leather, it turned out great, cuz I got creative and skeeved the under side of the leather where it needed to be molded!!!

Slower, if you have super sheen on it, that is why I as well as others, put our leather out of direct sunlight as well as lighting itself

Have you discovered the way of suntanning your leather,yet? The sun will darken it, as it gets darker, it will all blend in!! Or even a light set up will darken it as well. Amazing how it gets sunburnt, but does not peel!

Looks real good to me, I tend to like tooled items much better, so, your tooled one really looks best!!!! The more it is tooled the better an art piece indeed!!!!

Very nice

a couple more if you have needz, then,, kneed it bad!

For all my chops/bikes, I make all my seats from scratch, if this is "somewhat" of what you want,,think about kneeding bread dough, and whallah

It seems as if you have what most of us get when "just starting out" I myself have learned after eight years of werxing with leather, that it really is not important as to how your embossing lines look, even if they are wiggly, and supposed to be straight! when you go about the process of embossing your image onto the leather, it gets important as to where the beveling shall take place, and, when I am swivel cutting, any wiggly lines are no longer there! I beleive because , when I swivel cut, I actually cut extremely straightand if your embossing lines are still showing, then beveling them away werx, as well as background shading, to "coverup" said mistakes!!! I really observe other leather werxers jobs , and have seen lines that were not "fixed" This is why most of my personal items are extremely tooled!! not just for the "hey!, I am extreme" but to hide any defects that may appear in my projects! The down side of "fixing" mistakes, is when you did the "fixing" on one side, then, the whole thing has to be done this way, and why not!!! instead of redoing the job, just make it more artsy!!!! and tool every bit in the process!!! YEAH!!!! I still do this to this day!!! except when subcontracting,,,,,uhmph!!! a redo is humbling, but sometimes, just has to be done, at no extra charge!!!! All my rejects from subcontracting are hung on the walls of my garage!!! and if I did not use them as filler in a box to help shipping, then , there they hang!!! for as long as I say so!! I feel empathy for the person who has to take said items off of my walls!!! Way too many of them !!!!

Mine, is rather simple,yet difficult! I had one motorcycle at the time,that needed a new seat cover. I wanted just a cross stitch laced leather seat, but, at 1500.00 a seat from very high end leather workers, I decicded to teach myself and now, that I have eight chops/bikes , and the little lady has three bikes,only one of the three is a chop, I went way over board in these eight years of leather werxing, The first two years were rough, cuz, I taught myself, but, now that I am pretty good I don't ever feel the need to redo, or make a new of any seat,saddle bag, tool roll bag, grips, frame covers,etc. Once you get this itch, you just want to make everything into leather creations without mercy!!!! And without holding back either!! I will do even more coverings as I go!!!! There was a person on this forum that covered his cupboards!! That about floored me!!! I will go that far in our house!! I guarantee it!! I just got to get enough leather and patients, once I can do this like I used to. I am still trying to recover from a car that hit me over two years ago!!!! I guess this is one of the reasons I am permanently disabled, pay is good, but the pain is not!!

I gotta say, you do some fine werx there! I don't have experience with that type of redyeing, usually when I do the redye stuff, I go a darker color. Not much help for you, it is just that your werx really stands out!!! Keep the good werx going!!! You are sooo there!!!!

Well, the way I do all my colors,are dye, most of the time, I love dye, cuz it is better at holding up! Sometimes I have to use acrylics, which are ok to use , but, if this item is folded, sat upon, and movement of any type, then , dyes are a must!!! Here in california, they took away my alcohol based dyes!!!! I have come to the realization that,, eco flow is actually pretty good. I have always loved the fiebings alcohol based types, but, we have too many radical environmentalists that make these wonderful regulations! I can still get alcohol based dyes, I just go through this one place I do subcontractor werx for!! But, colors are limited, so having to be forced to use water based ones are different, but, not impossible! I will go a whole stair case outside the box,{ instaed of a step outside the box} and, make my own dyes, I will use the biggest permanent marker pens, along with denatured alcohol, and make the color I really want to best of my available ability!!! Once I have said dye color I really admire, I use many different paint brushes, also, I have to use one other thing , This one is very important!!! patience!! There is nothing like dyeing and attempting to go to fast and realizing, either it becomes black, or I get to start all over on that project!!! WOW!! patience is soooo much better to use!!! I really have learned the hard way, and still do!!!

Beez,, Great to see you are still around!!! looks great!!! You know me though? I am still allergic to american bikes/ choppers! I knew you would not give up leather working, it is sooooo great!!! I did advise someone who wanted some werx done, It needs special attention, as in, molded to fit that particular bike! Being you are in joizy {new jersey} I told him about you!!! So, keep on rockin' main!!!

I always make everything from scratch, therefore, I start with the outside of the wallet then make an exact same size interior flap, then hold both ends straight and exact and fold into the position it is going to be when it is done. At that moment, you will see that the outside and inside flaps are not to be left in exact length, so, I mark the excess of the interior flap and cut usually about a quarter inch of the inside flap, because, when we fold our wallets into the pocket position, there will be no excessive inner pocket and all closes smooth. Then, I make my inner pockets according to the inner flap that holds the money, or receipts of the day. Being that I taught myself how to do leather work, I learned the hard way!! So, be happy you are doing research on this instead of just jumping in and realizing there is a lot of process in this beautiful type of art work. Research is great to do, I for so long had to explain what I needed at tandy for three years, They got to know me quite well, and really helped me get out of the embarrassment of not knowing the names of tools or processes in this great work field!! The latest thing for me in my leather work is edging, oh my!!! how I love it!!! After seven years of leather fun, I discovered, that yet, I should have been edging all along. My edgeing finally started a little over a year ago!!! There is still sooooo much more I got to learn! I am so glad that I am willing to learn also! I don't ever want to be the type of feller that is stubborn, and not willing to do something new or different! As a matter of fact, I love learning new ways that really are not new , It is just that I had not done a certain technique, that should have been practiced all along. So keep on researching , it is better that way!

I would use acetone, but, I hate chaps! If using acetone and it makes it lighter in dye, then, acetone the whole pair using the same rags to spread the colorful glory all around. Then, seal it with the appropriate sealer you use for your leather working fun! Or, redye, then, seal!, after using acetone to semi remove the primer. The only time I use chaps, are when it is pretty cold, and I got my michelin man suit on, then chaps over that. But, that is only motocycle use! If you all are talking about horse riding chaps, I am lost, and I would quickly fall/fly off of a horse, even at a slow pace and no bouncing!!! Seriously, horses rule, and I am not worthy of riding one.

I like it a lot very snug is how i do a holster and this one looks snug, very nice work,. I myself have only made one for me, and it is not only on the wrong side but very tough to get out. A liitle too snug,but that is how i wanted it for me.

There are only two things I could suggest, so basically just my opinion, First, tool a lot. I do very heavily on all of our personal things. Next, mold that leather to the pistol with the pistol in a plastic bag so it don't get wet and start kneeding like you have never needed before. When you mold it to the pistolay itself, you can then have your belt strap behind the holster out of view of the eyes that can see it. I personally love revolver pistols, older the better, doesn't mean I have a whole bunch, just one from 1904. Then my newest which is brand new and my favorite. Lets see if I can post a photo to show what i have done for my pistol, all within two hours from start to finish. My wife could not beleive how i got it http://img.photobuck.../DSC00010-3.jpgdone while we were chit chattin' http://img.photobuck.../DSC00002-4.jpg http://img.photobuck.../DSC00007-5.jpg Now I am not saying that my werx is perfect, not by a long shot, I did teach myself and still don't know what most terminology in the tandy stores is. So , when I am there it is as if I am not able to speak that language. I am sure that gives them a knee slapper when I have to keep asking, what is that? what is it for? etc

Great info I have not dyed like this yet, the wetness of the leather is very crucial to get it more even I am sure, thanx

Looks real good I do favor exotic skins and what can be done with them