MADMAX22

Nicely done, I really like the lettering portion alot. Nice belt buckle as well. As far as the pics it depends on what camera you have and getting everything setup correctly. A light box is a gloriouse friend to have and can be built pretty cheaply. A box, some white linens and some tracing paper, then some pretty bright lights, the ones at lowes go for about $10 apiece. http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=281524 With the longer items its pretty much a far off shot of the whole thing and closer shots of segments or you gotta roll it a little. Also check out peter mains belt pics as he does a really good job. There is so much in photo stuff that its amazing how much those guys know. Heres peters pics http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=16944 Another thing is it also helps to have a nice camera that you can manually focus.

I got one from a forum member here and really like it. The thing holds a good edge on it. I started with a al stohlman brand from tandy when they had them on sale for like $25. It is what it is. I have gotten a good sharp edge on it and it holds it for a little while it just doesnt last long thats for sure. The W.rose knife Ive got last way longer as far as the edge goes.

LOL Id make just about anything as long as I dont have to get naked while doing it (well depends on how much money they are offering ..... ) . I agree with rustyriggin on what he said also. Funny thing is you travel to a different part of the country or the world and what is repulsive instantly changes. I guess doing that and spending time in the Navy opens up what you would consider offensive.

Thanks, I bumbed the thread back to the top but it got me thinking of all the places that we could really use stickied tutorials is in the dye and finish section.

Thanks Kate, Tom just directed me here and I think this is very useful.

Very interesting, Be sure to thank him for us Marlin. His tips are allways very welcome.

Cool beans man, Ill have to give that a try and see how it works out. Ive been thinking of trying that layered color thing just havnt had the project for it yet.

Cool stuff and welcome. You got any pics of your pens by the way or a website maybe.

On my yamaha seat the cover was glued to the foam in the center of the seat. The plastic wrap stuff was glued to the top edge and the bottom edge so that it basically acted like a moisture barrier where it was laced. Just an idea. I am by no means a pro at this so please try and get some info from some others that do alot more of this then I do. Good luck and be sure to post what you come up with.

I dont think any of those foams they use are water proof. Most of the time they will put a plastic sheeting over them then wrap the seat with leather/vynal or whatever. Usually if I remember right its a high density open cell foam, I have gotten similer to this at a local craftshop (not joanns there high density foam is Bull). Foam and more should have it on had as well. The stuff I got was a yellowish color like the stock stuff and is pretty firm but no where near as firm as the closed cell stuff like neoprene.

Cool thanks for sharing, this could come in handy.

THat looks really good, the raven did turn out great.

Great dye job Tom, great idea on the skull also. What did you use to apply the black dye with? Looks like whatever it was worked very welll.

It usually takes me a while but I can piece together what I want as a end result however it I can never really envision what the end result is gonna be. I use to be really into art and that allways plagued me. Alot of my buddies who were really good artist could tell you every single detail of what was to come of the project they were working on. Even new one guy that had such a hard time finishing projects because he got so bored "seeing" his finished project he started thinking about the next and would move on and ditch his current one. I have spurts of creative energy and I gotta take full advantage of them because they arent allways available for me.

That is way cool. Great job and looks like it took some good molding efforts.

I use one of the deglazers and after applying the dye take a rag dipped in that stuff and start buffing/wiping the stuff you want the older look in. It pulls up enough in certain spots to look cool IMHO. I have also gotten some cool looks doing what Kate mentioned. Doing her step and followed with a alcohol or deglazer rub will get a cool affect also. As allways experiment first.

Very nice job man, Really like the design and your fingers must be a little soar because thats alot of stitching you did. The stitching looks excellent as well, very nicely done.

Agreed, and that design kicks ass.

Thats pretty cool. I still gotta make one for myself. Made one for a member here a while back. Your oak leaves look pretty good, have you checked out the tutorials on doing them.

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=8277 http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=9924 Those two links are really good. Also look at the last post in this link http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?s...mp;hl=sportster Basically do a search for a sportster and you will get a few of that type of seat. Other then that I cant help ya too terribly much.

Those are way cool. Thanks for posting this. Only bad thing about this is it makes me want to take up even more hobbies that I wont have time or money for

That is pretty cool looking. Good job on it. Remember you can allways do it again. Another thing if your leather is sun tanned you can try putting the entire piece back out in the sun. It may even up the tones.

Well customcowboy you got the leather making down it would seem now we gotta get you some lessons in taking pictures.

From what I can tell it looks good but you got any larger pics of it.

Thanks, the lining is that vegtan tooling calf, I think about 2/3oz. I vinegarooned it just like the outside stuff and ended up getting that grey color. Worked out pretty good for the finished product. I also oiled it, leather balm with atom wax, then a coat of sno seal. Incase your interested.