PeterD

Here is a picture of my bike (I know, But I didn't say it was a good picture.) During our big storm I redid the pillion backrest to match the driver backrest and finished off the project with a back quiver and bracer that match. The quiver was pretty simple and needs little explanation. The driver backrest has an archer on the front and a bow and quiver on the back. I did them in sillouette by first stamping the backetweave then carving into the basketweave and backgrounding it. That way I didn't have to do any sort of a border. It looks like I just cut them out of the leather. The pillion backrest was a bear since I don't do much of that sort of work. I first made a pattern then carved, stained and assembled it. Lo and behold I couldn't get it on the padding. After soaking and working with it for close to an hour I not only got it on but it fit very well. Unfortunately I had completely ruined the stain and paint job. I had to redo it in place and wonder of wonders I got lucky and it actually looks fairly good.

Like Harry I use right handed scissors with my left. I doubt I would know how to use a left handed pair. The other tools I don't notice how I do it different. I just use them. Like Harry I use right handed scissors with my left. I doubt I would know how to use a left handed pair. The other tools I don't notice how I do it different. I just use them.

Here is a picture of a new belt quiver They were worn by target archers from at least the time of Henry the eight up through the 1830s or so. It is remarkably useful. Much more so than the current belt/pocket quivers used. The Howard Hill style backquiver quiver is one I made to replace my Bayeux trapestry quiver. I made an antler handled knife and file and had no place to put them So I made the hunting quiver.

Your looking for the nov/Dec 1993 issue with a tournament quiver by Art Vincent. He owns Cedar Ridge leathers. Shoot him an e-mail and talk with him. When I started my own version I sent him an e-mail to let him know how much I liked his design. He offered to advise me on it without my having to ask.

Be careful about this sale, it can be dangerous. I sat down last night to order a couple of tools three hundred dollars later I shut the computer down.

Very nice looking. They are interesting to make aren't they! I made a couple of baronial crowns a few months ago for my wife and I They are interesting. Since I am in Atlantia I used a wave pattern for the points. My wife made some lampwork pearls mounted on veil pins and with our hearaldry on the front they look pretty good. But they will never be my favorite thing to make.

I have a pair and they are comfortable. The above post is right. They are usually called Ghillies and are normally attributed to the Scots and/or Irish. However, they are considerably older than that. Here is a link http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carls...istofplates.htm that if you follow to the South Kensington Museam you will find a Frankish shoe that is strikingly familiar to the Ghillie. By the way, if you have never seen it, the enitre site is worth looking at. From Jacks to cavalier boots to oriental shoes there are some interesting examples. One clever person even put the words to the leather bottel down for your enjoyment, but you have to look for it.

The first time I went into Zak Whites after they moved to their present location. I told them they should call it a leather mall. I once stopped by and picked up everything I needed to make around ten quivers. After I got home and started laying everything out I discovered I had not picked up the buckles I needed. I live about 7 hours from the store and had a week to get what I needed. Zak White's sent the buckles out the day I called and I had them by class time. Or in other words - "Good people to do business with.

You obviously know your way around a swivel knife. It looks great. I especially like the keeper. How good is the magnet at holding it in place in the rigours of outdoor wear.

Art Vincent of Cedar Ridge Leather wrote an article for Leathercrafter magazine a few years ago on how he got started. He mentioned two interesting things. 1. He went to events he was interested in making things for (archery in his case) and gave a deal to the top competitors for quivers, bracers and things with the proviso they hand out his card when asked about the quiver. 2. He went to craft fairs and put his stuff on the table. When asked about the price he would say. "It isn't for sale. I do custom leatherwork and these are samples of what I can do. If you would like something, we can discuss it and settle on a price and I will make it." I always thought this would be a neat way to get started. There are always craft fairs around and once people start seeing your work others will call. I am not in business and still get requests from people for things. Especially if you are in a specialty market like archery, SAS, or the like.

Thank you for looking. Some advice on how to improve it or just plain old criticism is most welcomed. singteck Looks great to me. Not a criticism or improvement but when I make one I will often put hole in the top fold over piece instead of a snap. Then run the back strap forward enough that the snap fits over the hole and snaps onto the body where the folded piece now snaps. That allows one snap to secure the whole axe.

With regards to " [with leather], you can't cut off and add a piece...": Actually you can, in some situations. Obviously, not everything is correctable, but with certain skill sets it can be done. A really good example of this is a vest that Beaverslayer made for competition. (I think it was the IFoLG comp.) He didn't like the design right smack in the middle of the piece, so he cut it out, made a better piece, and laced it back in. End result is a masterpiece. I'll agree that some planning goes into most things. However, the ability to modify the work midstream is quite prevalent in leatherworking. I agree I tell beginers that their is an art and craft to leatherwork. The "craft" is the techniques you learn to make your leather project. The "Art is fixing your mistakes. I often have beginners put a leather cover on bottles. It looks nice, is hard to mess up and teaches them saddlestitching, forming leather dyeing, burnishing and introduces them to pattern making. A friend took his bottle home to finish and brought it back complaining that he had screwed up the whole bottle since he trimmed off the excess and didn't leave anything to put ears on for a thong. I showed him how to sew on an "aftermarket" celtic desined strap with holes for the strap. The whole hting ended up being quite attractive with no hint that it wasn't planned.

[ Al Stohlman's book on holster shows you how to do it. My first ever holster was a carved flap holster I designed for a small pistol and it came out great.

Someone mentioned on another thread that the importance of designing your piece before you ever try to start on it and it got me thinking about an oddity I have discovered in my own process. I liken my creative juices more like squeezing water out of a rock than a flowing stream. But I thought it might be nice to hear how others do it. So here is my process for an unconstrained time limit. When I decide to make a leather item I find that I might take a month or two just thinking about it before I actually start making a pattern or laying out the project. I first have to decide what I want it to look like and how it is to function. It is like 10 % of the thought process takes place in my conscious mind and the rest in my subconscious. I absolutely can not start on a project until I know how I want it to be. An example might be a knife sheath which on the surface would seem pretty simple and is, if you think of the sheath as just a place to safely store a sharp blade. But if you think of it as; waist decoration, backdrop for a beautiful tool, showcase for a technique you want to do, or as a functional part of a tool system it becomes harder. I will decide on a style but can't get going on it. Then I seem to discard for no other reason than it just doesn't seem right. About the time I decide that nothing is working, suddenly a method appears which not only seems good but then is completed from initial drawing to completed project in a matter of days. In fact when it happens I can't stay away from my work bench but have to keep after it. I recently completed two quivers for a couple. The first a crossbow bolt quiver modeled after a picture from the 14th century. (The problem was that the modern bolt is much shorter than the old bolts and the quiver didn't look right.) The second archery quiver was to be a modern, sort of, side quiver which I wanted to be extra special for his lady. I must have agonized over those for six months. before I actually started working on them and finished them off in a couple of weeks. How do you artists acomplish this creative process.