flyingcuda

how would I stretch cowboy boot shafts?

this was made for a hockey club so they could give away as a door prize...excellent free...well almost free advertising

hello all, i haven't been here for awhile, i missed it here is my first attempt at a mask, let me know the good, the bad and the ugly.

hello all, i am attempting my first billfold and i was wondering what is the best way to finish it off. what is the most effective braiding or lacing technique? any help or advise is greatly appreciated. i know that for durability and practicality, sewing would probably be best, but i would like to go for the braiding or lacing look for my first one. thank you all for your time. have a great one!

thank you Electrathon for taking the time to post and help. unfortunatly the style you use is not quite what i was after. at first glance, yours totally confused me...which apparently according to my hubby isn't hard to do he had it figured out in no time. i didn't realise you weren't showing the back piece in your post. the one i am trying to do has a main open slot at the top so the bills go in unfolded and perhaps a few slots for cards. the measurements you have on there may be exactly what i am after, if you hold a dollar bill open across your wallet open...is it a perfect fit or is it a tad too small or big? again...thank you for posting, and by the way, you do very nice work! i'm still trying to clean up my tooling

i am in the same boat as you! i have spent the last 2 days trying to find a simple pattern for a billfold, lots of info on biker wallets, coin wallets. oh..and a lot of...buy the kits! easy if you live near such a place that has them...closest tandy for me is 3 hours away...too much gas for a simple wallet! i then thought...i could probably figure out how to assemble, if i can just get the measurements...just as hard to find as a full pattern. so i guess i will just grab some cash and make my own measurements! good luck with your quest

i certainly learned a few things!!! like using a smaller container for the dyes

this job took me far too long to complete. i discovered that i do not like repetative work! it was very difficult for me to push myself to complete these, i got very bored and discouraged when i had to redo 15 of them...due to either the yellow dye bottle that spilled and reached farther than i thought possible or the ones i had carved numbers into when i had already done so and needed them with no numbers there really need to be a magic eraser for leatherwork that can remove stamping, carving and unwanted dye bottle pranks! regardless, i did complete the job. will i do it again? probably, the customer was very pleased, but i think i will have the leather bug go nibble on my children, would be nice to have extra hands for these larger jobs. thanks for looking. and here is a pic of some of the wrecked...."extra colour" ones

forgot to mention... i found the pattern from Tom Banwell

hello all, this is a steampunk hat i made for my daughter's birthday gift. i have never attempted doing hats until now. one of the great things about families is...they are ok at getting the firsts! if it turns out good or not. i certainly learned a lot and i see where the improvements need to be made. i had to share...give me the good bad and ugly on this one, i would love to hear your thoughts! thanks for looking!

the most beautiful piece i have ever seen!!!

this is a birthday gift for a friend. i'm still learning how to work with colours, i think i need a new teacher

great job!! he looks very mischievious. i love the depth.

looks great! nice and clean. i'm sure that your friend will love it!

i have been trying to get information on this technique as well, i have been looking for awhile. about a month ago i was at tandy and described what i wanted and the woman sold me a stop... not even close! then i was back there a couple of weeks ago and looked through one of the books there...i got really excited because it looks like it's a 'decorative cut stamp" there are 3 of them one curves left, one curves right and a straight one. i was like a kid on christmas morning...woo hoo...i'll take that one please!!! but guess what...they don't have them the number i have for them are...Z99L...Z998...Z99R hope that helps you...if you find them, let me know. good luck

well, it appears my mouth has done it to me again! a woman has asked me if i could make some custom moccasins for her soon to be daughter in law...my mouth said...sure, i can try! i have once done a pair of moccasins from a kit, but this one will be totally custom. the bride to be has suffered much through her life and has a deformed foot, allowing her to only wear crocs. no one wants her to wear these for her speacial day, including me...probably why mouth said yes. i have never met these people but i'm sure they could use something nice to happen. she will be coming to me for measurements on wednesday, i have no clue how i should measure her for this job, she does want it to be above the ankle and will be e-mailing me pics of what she would like. what is the best way to measure...do i do regular measurments and take pics of her feet? do i try and make a mold of some sort? if so, what do i make it out of? and..what do i charge for this sort of job? any input will be greatly valued! i will continue on my journey and do some more reserch...while i'm at it, i may look for a new mouth as well.

very nicely done!

hmmm, maybe that's why they aren't in the play-offs i know dream catchers are supposed to have lots of holes, but i think that would have interfered with the carving. perhaps i need to come up with a new name for this type of item

i made this as a thank you gift for a die hard leaf fan. i think it's cute....leafs....dream catcher.....

i will give that a go, thank you very much

hello, a lady brought in a leather jacket, the tag says jillian valentina. it is a patchwork jacket. in quite a few areas it looks like the black dye is wearing off, exposing greens browns and some greyish colours. is there a way i can repair this? can i use a black dye to go over it? does it need to be treated first with something? any help would be greatly appreciated! thank you for your time.

again, thank you for the replies. i finished the bag and have pics posted in the show off section. the one thing about "just wingin it" is you sure find out a lot about yourself! i learned that when i don't do something right the first time.....i need a cool off period! i don't know if that's a girl thing or if everyone goes through it...it could be just me thank you again

this is the very first bag i have attempted, just after saying i didn't want to do wallets or purses! a customer came in asking if i could do this, i told him i would try. he did not want any hardware or stitching to be seen. i tried finding patterns, instructions, then after many many hours of looking, i decided to just wing it. he did have a drawing which helped. but i still did not have a plan or steps to guide me. i did have to undo and redo a couple of times the hardest part was trying to figure out how to attach the shoulder strap without hardware and stitching being seen, and of course to have the strength to carry items, this is my end result. let me know the good, the bad and the ugly! thanks for looking!

thank you all for your shared information! the customer has brought in a rough drawing of what he wants, so i will give it a shot, i'm going to try it out with some scrap material first before i rip into his leather. always nervous when a customer provides thier own material, easier to deal with mess ups when it's your own money thanks again, i really appreciate the help