OneCrow

Wow! Great tooling. I Love the pattern. What stamp are you using for a backgrounder? Great Job. By the way. I feel your pain. I have lost many a good piece to my wife.

Any application of heat will do what you already figured out. I would look into airbrushing to give the leather a gradient from the 'burned' black through the browns. something along the lines of a sun burst pattern. Good Luck. I would love to see the end result.

Wow! That is really nice. I particularly love the contrast of the white thread and single buckle hole that just screams "This strap is custom and made just for me."

Probably not to late to dye. Assuming your using veg-tan leather and you have not added anything else or burnished the edges. As a general rule never experiment on a finished piece, so only use a dye / finish that you know works for you. If you are not sure, test it out first on a piece of scrap. You seem to know this , but to clarify typically most people dye before sewing. If you attach a picture it may give the good people of this forum additional information to assist you with. I believe I read on this forum once that the difference between a beginner leather worker and an experienced one is that the experienced one knows how to cover up their mistakes. Good Luck.

No issues yet. I apply the snow seal with a hair dryer to heat the piece, Let the snow seal melt in, give it a quick buff, let it dry out overnight and buff the surface again the next day. Buffing the surface usually gets rid of any excess wax. Then apply acrylic. And don't forget the golden rule: Never try a new finish on a completed piece. Hope this helps.

Your going to get a different answer / theory on the proper way to finish your projects from every single member on the forum. Do some research and figure out what works best for you. Just never experiment on a finished piece. Personally I utilize Snow Seal & Resolene. Before I apply those finishing products I condition the leather with Neetsfoot Oil and Carnuba Cream to load the leather up with oils before I seal it with the finishes. My theory is by pre-loading the leather with oil/wax before you seal it you won't have to condition it for quite awhile. By the time the leather has dried out the acrylic would have probably worn away, or you can always apply oils on the flesh side. The only reason I use Snow Seal and Resolene is because I came across a you tube channel years ago where a leather worker applied different finishes to several scraps of leather and then left them outside in the snow, sun and rain for six months. In the end the leather with the Snow Seal and Resolene was still flexible.That was good enough for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw9fMOJck5M Good Luck.

Not to mention the best part of working on orders... Working on Batches.... Working on one piece at a time can feel so slow in comparison. It is amazing how fast the work goes when you already have the tool in your hand. :-)

Wow! Great job! Did you use any materials in the covers to stiffen the leather or is the leather thickness sufficient?

Thank you. The cartridge caliber is 38. I'm not a gun expert by a long shot, but I believe that is mostly used as a small revolver hand gun round. I used 'Snap Caps' as stand in's for the cartridges. They worked pretty well. Though I found the snap caps to be ever so slightly smaller in diameter than the actual cartridges.

Also made a version with a badge holder. Badge holder is baked leather to stiffen. Again, any critique or advice is welcome.

Hello All, Small Leather Project Bullet Holder commission. Uses Money clip to clip onto a shirt. Sorry for the cruddy pictures. Any critique or advice is welcome. Thank you.

I can sympathize as my first round box stitch looked as good as yours. Breaking the surface of the bottom 'exit' leather is a huge help as johnv474 mentioned. Make sure your awl is freshly sharpened and waxed. Be patient and practice. If you have not already seen it, Nigel from Armitage Leather has a very good Box stitch video, some concepts can be utilized for a round box stitch. https://youtu.be/_2ygboFnHW0

Great Job! They look great. Love the double stitching to the welt. Please share more when you finish the boots for yourself.