Casey Jordan

I was kinda thinking along the same lines. Maybe a saddle accrutment category? We need something with enough tooling to show their skills off. Here's one you might like - rope cans & rope bags! Just an idea. I'll keep thinking. Any more suggestions?? Anyone??

But this is just what I want, good ideas. And that would be something to consider. If we can get enough input from enough people we will get it worked out. Keep 'em coming!

Leave it to hidepounder to pick something he can kick a** in!! That is a good call though. But since the prizes are very nice and there's a lot of money at stake there needs to be a lot of interest. It could be considered though. And could we get a sponsor for this category? What do you (or anyone) have in mind as far as what to tool? It would be hard to judge a spur strap vs. a suit case or a wallet vs. a table top. Should everyone do the same item- say a photo album cover- or be able to do whatever? We just want to make it fair for everyone who enters. Like I said before we will probably add more categories next year, I just don't know which ones yet.

The website is up and running. if you go to www.artofthecowboymakers.com it will take you to Round-up Productions website and you can get all the contest information by clicking from there. You can find the rules, application, makers directory, makers spotlight, sponsors and information on the western collectable show going on at the same time. If you are having problems with viewing the website please let them know. Thanks, Casey

ALRIGHT, NOW YOU HAVE DONE IT! Now I gotta go to In-N-Out Burger. (hope your happy)

Congratulations Darcy and Elton. Can you post pictures for those of us who were not there? Would love to see them!

rookie, Start a fight or cause trouble? NOT HARDLY! Infact we had already discussed having custom hat makers. If we get enough interest in that category, I'm sure we can add it next year. This is our first year for the contest and we were limited on space from the start. So we decided to start with four categories: Saddles, Spurs, Bits and Boots. We had to limit it to the first 20 in each category, again due to space. We have been discussing adding categories that we get a lot of interest in. Among those are custom hat makers, braiding, hitching, engraving (would include anything except spurs and bits) and possibly others. Any interest in any of these categories or others not mentioned, PLEASE let me know so it can be considered for next year. Thanks for your interest rookie, I will make a note to add custom hat making.

Charlie, It is being worked on right now. The lady that is putting it together is having problems getting it to load right. She has been working hard on trying to get it right and professional for the past few days. Even though it is not up and running I will post the website address so you can just keep checking to see when it comes up. The website address is: www.artofthecowboymakers.com For anyone who enters she is putting pictures of their work and links to their websites and contact information on this website. It is starting to fill up pretty quickly now. I just got at least 3 more saddle entries this weekend at the Wickenburg leather show. I will be in Amarillo, Texas this coming weekend at a western collectable show and expect to get more signed up there. Hope this helps, and if anyone has any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Outstanding work, as usual!

My parole officer (wife) keeps telling me the same thing. She also tells me I need to make more "stock" to take to shows. I get nervous when I see her with a calculator.

I finally received the rest of the buckles, and boy are they beautiful! There is a Champion Trophy Buckle and a "Peoples Choice" Trophy buckle for all four categories. Saddle Maker Spur Maker Bit Maker Boot Maker

Man, was I way off. Thanks!

Very Nice Tom!! I'm a fan of your work, even if I don't know what "Carpe Diem" means. By the way, under your picture it says;"leather specialty: not dyeing" Well I think you can change that anytime now. You can definatly put the color to it.

Yeah, what Spider said! Very Sweet!!!!!!!!

Nice job! Well done

I guess I kinda overlooked that. I didn't take pictures of the back of the original, so I will explain here. I cut a piece off a coat hanger (because I'm cheap and it worked) bent it in a tight loop and then bent it to a 90 degree angle. Make sure it is a heavy coat hanger. (don't be cheap - spend the extra money) Made a tracing of the head and down aways on the plug and then skived it to a feather. Punched a hole for the hook, 1/2" from the nose, put that in and punched a hole for the rivit and then rivited the hook on. Traced the snake on the lining leather (white paper) and punched a hole for the hook. For the tounge I used a piece of lace, about 4" long. Cut a small slit about 1" from one end and put the hook through the slit and run the other end out where the mouth should be. Glued the plug with the hook on and then the lining leather. I hand stitched just behind the eye along the bevel line to the end of the bevel on both sides. Edged both sides,dyed the edges dark brown and slicked them. Finished with Tan Kote. Then I cut the tounge to the right length and split the end in a "v". The other end has holes just like any other belt, following the contours. Hope this helps, sorry for overlooking it.

Excellent! You nailed the feathers just perfect!

Challange? You bet! I know with your skill you won't dissipoint. Just don't forget the pictures!!! Thanks for the comments Tom. MattW Thanks for responding. I was worried the stitching would not look good, but I had to do it and it worked out pretty good.

I think to get those different shades of red I would use acrylic craft paints. Also to get the black and grey. You can probably find them at a craft store or maybe even a fabric/craft store. They are not that expensive and come in many shades and can be mixed if needed. Hope this helps.

This will be a quick explanation on how I did the tooling and dyeing. The first picture is the pattern layed out. I cut it out and swivel cut the eyes, the two lines by the eyes, and the nostrals. Beveled those and the two half circles (not cut) on the head. And double beveled the rattler with B997, length wise and across between each button. Went down both sides with veiner 412 and on the nose, on the half circles on the head and behind the eyes on the head. I put the "scales" in with mule foot 853 on the head and in the diamonds the whole length of the snake. The dyeing I used a light brown on the small triangles on the sides. Then a medium or dark brown in the diamonds and out to the sides like the paper shows. Then I used a chocolate streak through the center of each diamond like in the picture. I also ran a light brown streak where I beveled on the rattler to give it some depth. I know this was kinda breif but it wasn't to complicated. And like I said before it is in Al Stohlman's book "Belts Galore" with the full size pattern and better instructions. Hope this helps! Well, I gotta go clean up vinergaroon off my wife's counter before she gets home and......Too Late.

Welcome to the site! You will enjoy it.

Kev Are you talking about the tooling or dyeing? I will tell you how I did all of it when I have more time later today.

Love the flag, not just flat. Adds a lot of charactor to it.

Thanks, Tom. Seeing you post kinda makes me think a snake pattern would look cool on a pair of bracers - Huh Tom! Do you know of anyone who makes killer bracers?? I would like to try it out on something else too, just don't know what yet. And Thanks to all you others who took the time to post, I appreciate it!

Thanks Bob! I haven't used my airbrush in a while, but it turned out pretty good. I was thinking that something with a snake theme would look pretty cool on a bike. Maybe the grips or the edge of the seat?