Stetson912

I second that. Looks like a mesmerizing process

I personally haven't tried bridle, but I'd like to. To my knowledge, true English bridle is waxy and can be buffed with a rag without applying anything at all. And just touch up once in a hike with carnauba cream. Here's a thread to look at. It says that domestic bridle leathers like yours can be dryer. One person testifies to Aussie conditioner which is very nice stuff. I would recommend that or carnauba cream be after using MPB. Aussie conditioner is a feibings product and is essentially petroleum jelly and beeswax and some people use a bit of heat when working it in. Hope this helps.

Well idk what to say. Ive never tried talcum or kitty litter. I'd be afraid of I t ruining the leather somehow. I'm not suggesting that will happen though, but it's a possibility. Like battlemunky said, you can try and match it with oil. In this case, if you don't want to darken everything, you can try the talcum and kitty litter. The way I see it is that unless you're ok with it being darker you'll have to start over. So, may as well try some alternative method before you do. Never know what might work. And next time, oil the rag over empty space. We've all spilled something on our projects before. Never fun :/ hope you figure it out.

Well, it's sort of subjective. Look on YouTube for Nigel Armitage's. He has a whole mess of very detailed videos on pricking irons and a few diamond chisels as well. Some are very expensive and meant for a professional but some are much more affordable. He gives a great deal of information and price ranges and an honest opinion along with examples of the stitch each iron produces. Well worth the time watching them. As far as a good quality chisel goes, I hear crimson hides chisels are among the best (Nigel reviews these). But they carry a premium price as well. I believe .8 tiger thread at 5-6 spi is a good balance. Keep in mind too, if you get a pricking iron you'll have to be confident that with your awl as well. And that's an entirely different skill set than just lining up leather and punching through with a chisel. Best of luck finding what you need. Just keep in mind, get what works for you.

That's my process too, except I carve my letters inverted. Mainly because it's easier to dye. I have a belt I'm still working on that has a lot of lettering that will be posted once I can stitch it up haha Looks good!

Very much cheaper haha.

I recognize those patterns! Hehe I made the portfolio, I see you just made it a bit wider to accommodate the photo album guts. Looks nice to me. Sorry it's "backwards" lol. We've all been there I wanted to ask too, how you carve your letters. Are they inverted?

Nice knot, I like tying them myself, I use paracord though because I don't have any lace thin enough haha.

Yes! Thank you. I've read both of them and they both have good ideas and approaches. Ultimately, you need to do what feels right to you.

Not sure if you know or not,l, but there are a few books on creating floral patterns. One that's really good that I like is by our very own Bob park. I believe it's simply titled "creating Western floral design" and he illustrates his process nicely. It's similar to don't Gonzalez process as well. I think it's worth the purchase. And you're already touching on parts in the book as well. The other is titled something like " creating floral design for the Artistically Impaired" and I can't remember the author of top of my head. But it uses a similar method too, and is also a good read. Just thought I'd mention them for you. Cheers!

Didn't quite follow that at first but I got it now. For some reason I thought the cup itself was part of the jig haha. Silly me. Is it just a glue down construction?

Good to hear. I haven't done fringe either but, seems fairly straight forward. I say that now and I'll find out the truth soon enough haha.

Nice! How's Mrs wedgetail? I thought she was a bit under the weather last time I commented on one of your posts. I thought about making a few of these out of some Essex I have and try selling them. I'd like to incorporate some fringe too.

It looks to me like the darker part is done by hand with a brush or something. If you look at the first pic on the billet you can see a few places where it looks like the dye went over the border. They do not appear to be antiqued at all that I can tell. So I would dye the entire project the lighter color, then hand dye the border the darker color. On the second one, it appears the same process was used, however I believe the billets and loops were dip dyed. They look a slightly bit darker and more even. But, could also be my eyes or the photo. Just my 2¢

Very nice. Smooth beveling on the tooled one too. Looks good. Sorry he lost his home bit nice of you to give it to him.

Well, from what I see I'm not sure exactly how to mimic that stitch. I suppose you could handstitching a lockstitch somehow. Machines usually sew a lockstitch where as you usually saddle stitch when hand stitching. However, I don't think that's the only factor or would make a huge difference. What are you using to make your stitching holes? A diamond awl and even chisels will give you the look you are getting. But a machine uses the needle to punch the holes, therefore the holes are round and the exact size of the needle. Maybe try punching round needle sized holes? Also what size thread are you using? Maybe try the above method with slightly smaller thread. And finally, I noticed that now had a fairly straight stitch. Maybe try grooving your leather when stitching. That's the only way I know to flatten out saddle stitching. Just some of my ideas. Maybe one or a combination of them will work. Good luck!

Ah ok, I see now. I searched Egyptian thread and only got sheets hehe

What's Egyptian thread? I haven't heard of them before.

Thanks @whistler, if you don't finish and seal the grain side of the leather you can wet that side as well. It'll make the folding much easier. In this case though, it was already dyed and finished so, I just wet the inside that wasn't lined. Also, this trick will only work on vegetable tanned leathers to the best of my personal knowledge. Cheers!

Sure thing @whistler. When I started the project I had to find where I wanted my tooling/stamping window to be. So I started by marking my stitchlines and then the border of the tooling/stamping window. I then cut a piece of poster board (really just thick paper) and rubber cemented/contact cemented it to the flesh side of the leather where the tooling would correspond on the front. This helps prevent the leather from stretching out when you stamp/tool it. It's important with all tooling but I've found that the basket weave especially likes to flatten and stretch out a piece of leather. The mat board is the exact same size of the poster board and is contact cemented to the poster board after beveling the edges of the mat board. What I mean by beveling is that the edges of the mat board are skived down to a feather edge. This causes any angle which is more appealing to look at when covered with the lining. Without the beveled edge there would be a bump on the edges where the mat board ends. The mat board also serves to add rigidity to the portfolio. I guess I don't quite understand your last question. But I think you mean folding it in half to close the portfolio. If you look on the inside, the spine is not lined. If it we're it wouldn't fold correctly. I basically put some water on it and burnished it a bit and folded it in half when it was still wet. Then I put scrap poster board on it and a brick. This set the fold better so it stays closed better. I hope that answered your questions

I agree with Fredk. A pyro what's it is far better. You can do free hand lettering ot anything else for that matter. And it won't tear at the leather. You can even use a small wood burner like they sell at hobby lobby or Walmart. They're cheap. Like Fredk said, they're essentially cheap soldering iron but have different tips you can use.

Awesome! It looks killer! Looking at that color, I think if you were able to pipe the sides instead of a lap seam, and the bottom like it is, in a contrasting blue color it would just pop. That's just a thought for another project, but what you have looks super cool!

Nicely done

Very cool!

@cjartist, thanks! It didn't take all that long to do. The stamping took the longest. I forgot to mention that, while it's a simple pattern, it is one from Don Gonzalez saddlery. My initial thought was to use some of the floral tooling patterns he offers with it but I decided I need a few smaller version of some tools first. So I did the basket weave, which my dad likes anyhow. My dad always flips his business cards vertical too, so I don't have to fret about the slightly smaller card pockets. So it all works out.