Squirrelly66

Thanks Stetson912. When I'm done I'll rub it down with conditioner's and other things that I've used in the past on other projects I've done. Yeah paracord is fun. gotta watch the tips on those cow whips, they fast and those whips are some slinky limp when handling them.

Thanks Rohn. I actually love to braid. The and as far as color combos I wasn't really paying attention to the colors when I made the Joker and Harley Quinn. I was looking at all the colors on my spools on the bench and just starting paring them as to what I thought would look good together. It was pointed out to me later when I went to the wood store to get some more handle wood by a guy that works there as to what the colors were. lol. The handles on these are white oak with 6 coats of true oil gunstock finish.

They are right about the core being too large in diameter for the width of the lace strands you are using. To get an idea of core sizes to use I took 1/4' wide cow lace and did a 4 strand plait without a core. Then over that 4 strand I did a 6 strand plait using the same size lace and to see how laid, then I took some 3/16' lace and did an 8 plait over the 6 to see how it fit and also 1/4 lace in an 8 plait over the 6 to see how that fit too. I try not to use rope or anything like that as a core when braiding leather. when doing leather or other materials my cores are braided from the materials that I am using for that project. You will learn as you get more practice just what size core works for what. With braiding it all comes down to a lot of time with multiple strands in your hand. I braid a lot of 8,10,12 and 16 plait braids. Your get back biker whip looks very good. Good luck and just keep with it.

I've been braiding for awhile now. Decided to grab some veg tan and make my own lace and do a leather 8' cow whip like the ones I've been doing from paracord, The bull whips here are a 3 layer plait over a weighted core. The layers are an 8 plait, 12 plait and the overlay is a 16 plait. My longest whips are 10' and the shortest is a 4'. The cow whips are wooden handled and the ones shown are my variation of what the Joker and Harley Quinn would carry if they used whips. The cow whips are a 2 layer plait over a weighted core. They are a 10 plait with a 12 plait overlay. Unlike the traditional end of a bull whip these are braided down to a 4 plait with a twisted taper end. The falls attach differently also. The Bull whips I learned to make from a book by Paul Carpenter - The Paracord Bullwhip. The Cow whip style was learned from a whip making video put out by whip maker Rhett Kelley. I've also applied techniques learned from a number of leather and paracord braiding books. The small black leather whip thong is made from Tandy leather because I needed something cheap to work out the bugs for doing a larger better quality leather whip. The larger whip will be done in mahogany oil dye. Thank you hope you enjoy the pics. Bonnie Boo these pics are for you. lolol. As well as the rest of my chat friends who know how I feel about taking pics all the time .

You can also find them in a book called Leather Braiding by Bruce Grant. Thinner leather works much better. I like to use 3-4 oz. or 2-3 oz for my neckerchief slides. good job so far.

When braiding I will mark a cord, usually on the left side. In this case you have 8 strands ( 4 to each side). I mark the bottom cord left side and then start braiding. when that marked cord is on the bottom again, I push my braid up and then retighten all the cords pulling one side then the other starting with the top cord on the left side. do the top left then top right, then 2nd left and on down the line. I think you'll find this will tighten your braid and cover your dowell better. any questions just ask.

Very nice lookin set of straps.

nice design DLC.

That looks really nice Rohn. In this case being plain looks right elegant.

That looks really good caster. A+

You may want to learn the braiding techniques before jumping full into a whip. get familiar with 4, 6, and 8 strand braids. I'm building my 1st whip now but I've been braiding and getting familiar with the techniques for a couple months. Vids are good and so are books. I used David Morgan's Braiding fine leather book to learn the braids. I've done several key chain braids. I just got David Morgan's making whips book. Hope this helps. Michael

He stole my pants and all. LMAO!!!!

Here's the up-dated photo's of my world con costume.

There will be updated pics of the full costume on Saturday. I hope you all will enjoy them.

Very nicely done.

Google Skyrim Orcish Armor and go to images. I'm using reference pics from there and from the video game. Thanks ChiefFilipino

I've still got a ways to go and 12 days to get it done. I'm working on the crotch plates and boots right now. I still have the helmet and weapons to do. All the edges are double loop lace with either sweade lace or 2mm cord. The neck hole is Mexican round braid with swaede lace. Thank You Squirrel

for the steampunk look or to go with that type of costume the latch bracer is nice. I like the lace one also as I've worn them a lot and as Lwm803 said, they don't catch on anything. (most times, lol). I use small buckles and straps myself, but that's a personal choice mostly for the armor and other things I do. they do both look good though. Squirrelly

wet molded leather also hardens it, to a degree. If you wet mold it with hot tap water it will harden it a little more.I have used wet molded leather in combat metal weapons, has held fine.

wet forming to the body is not a problem. If I'm doing custom fit female armor I use a thermo-plastic called worbla's and build a smooth armor bust like a lot of cosplayer's do. you make a plastic form fitting corset..so to speak .. that can be worn or stuffed like a duct tape dummy. then with the person wearing it or on duct tape dummy you can wet form your leather to an exact fit. The riveting is good, playing with the spacing will work out some of the ill fitting spots. I also like to stitch with my riveting.(personal preference) It all looks very well. Squirrelly

I have not used the terraflex but I've been using worbla's for a couple years now. I use thermo plastic in conjunction with leather for costumes and props. worbla's can take heat to 195 degrees F. before it starts to lose some form, depends on thicknes and also the type of sealer and paint used but, with some paint and sealer products it adds to the heat raiting. I stick to kydex when doing sheath liner's for knives, axes and even wear areas on some western revolver holster's. Kydex doesn't get limp enough for vacuum molding til 250-300 degrees F. I haven't tried to incorporate worblas into any of my sheaths and stuff for anything other than props and stuff and it works fine for that.

I make a form (usually out of a hard wood or a hard resin cast)then hot water dip (not frikken boiling)leather and put it on the form. I get it all formed up and let it dry on the form for a couple 3 days. Then I leave it on the form and case it with a sponge, then scribe on my patern (even over the edges and curves) with a stylis and then do my swivel knife work and then tooling. Chriscraft does fly cases this way by doing the tooling on the forming block. He has a thread in the figure carving section.<br /><br />It works for doing tooling on armor also. You can do forearm gauntlets real well this way as well as getting better looking tooling when doing pauldron's also.<br /><br />Squirrel

looks good overall. there does appear to be some areas that are not form fitted very well. You'll get better as you learn tricks here and there. You can wet form it to the body before you stamp tool and dye your project.<br /><br />Squirrell

Pretty good looking work there Kiwi.