Casey Jordan

Here's a couple pictures of a Barry King Swivel Knife I gouged on a little. It has the same pattern on both sides. I ordered two swivel knifes from Barry that had smooth barrels. It has been a while since I have engraved and wanted to do some practice on something besides an order. It was a little harder than I thought it would be. Imagine wrapping a piece of leather around a pencil and then trying to tool it !!!!! I have another smaller one to try next time. Might try a different pattern on it.

Thanks Bob! I get a lot of inspiration just looking around here, I even remember a check book cover ( I think) you done that was pretty neat.

Helda, Thanks for the kind words! I appreciate it! I also love your - Never drop your gun to hug a Grizzly. Bustedlifter, Been busy working and not posting very often. I will post pictures of my latest miniature saddle when I can find the pictures. Thanks for your comments!

To all Makers, We are currently taking applications for our 4th Annual Art of the Cowboy Makers contest in Loveland, Colorado June 15-17.Need not be present to enter and your entry may be for sale or not. Due to popular request we have added a Chap category for 2012.2012 Categories: Boots - Braiding - Chaps - Engraving - Hats - Leather Carving - Saddles - Spurs - Youth * Must have 7 contestants entered in a single category by 12/31/2011 to keep that category in the contest. If the category is canceled, all paid deposits/entries in that category will be refunded. * 9 Categories – Boots, Braiding, Chaps, Engraving, Hats, Leather Carving, Saddles, Spurs & Youth * Entry Fee $100 per entry per category, $50 deposit * Trophy Buckles for 1stPlace in each category and 1stPlace in People's Choice in each category * Cash and ribbons awarded to first 3 places in each category * Judging will be done by contestants in the specific categories * "People's Choice Award" for each category voted by show attendees * Limit of 25 items per category. 1stcome 1stserve * One entry per category per person * Cannot enter an item previously entered in the Art of the Cowboy Makers Contest. * Up to 2 makers working on one item * Leather Carvers will be making a purse. So the Leather Carving project is a Purse any size up to 14"long X 10" high. No kits allowed. Metal allowed on Closures, handle & strap attachments and/or adjustments and on zippers * Open Chap category. Can make any style – batwing, shotgun, rodeo, chinks, etc. Must bring own chap stand. * Bring your own saddle stand or rent one for $20. * Entries must be delivered by noon on Friday, June 15, 2012. * Security will be provided. Not responsible for damages, loss or theft. What do the makers say? "It was a fantastic event. We really enjoyed visiting with everyone and admiring all of the artisans' work. " "Thanks for everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" "What a Crowd!" "Made it to the Hall of Fame the other day when I was down in that country. You sure did a nice job setting up the display. It looked great." "The exposure is worth the hundred dollar entry fee whether I win or not!" Applications and rules can be found on our website: www.artofthecowbboymakers.com Any questions or comments Please just call or email! 602-482-9758 casey@artofthecowboymakers.com

Thanks Cowdog! I'm chasing the leaders too! I study their work and try to get better with each piece. Hopefully it's working.

Very Nice! Nice work on the change of flower centers, I like it!

I haven't posted anything for quite a while because I have to use my old desktop computer to get the pictures resized right. The first binder is like the one I made for the Art of the Cowboy Makers contest. ( Order taken from the contest - a two for one!) The next two are custom made with the same pattern for different size writing pads. (Great customer - He has money! ) The one with the car on the front and the bike on the back is a business check book cover. (He now washes his hands before writing checks) The round one is a 19" Table Top. ( Looks good under glass)

It's a Swivel Knife!

A black Sharpie works great!

Ben, Good question, and I would like to know too. I usually just do a one piece notebook but I'm working on a notebook for business checks right now and have decided to do a three piece notebook. I thought with the front and back being so long it would be easier to cut shorter pieces of leather rather than try to get one long piece. Still have not decided how I will stitch it yet.

I planned on posting all the pictures on here, but I don't have the CD. All the pictures are on our website now. www.artofthecowboymakers.com We have made a decision on the Chap category, it will be an Open Chap category! You may make whatever style you wish. Rules are below. We have considered all the comments and asked the makers who had entered the Leather Carving last year to give us their votes on what they thought about this category. The makers who entered the Leather Carving this last year also decided the project for next years contest. The Leather Carving project for 2012 will be a purse, the rules are below. Any questions and comments welcome! Must have 7 contestants entered in a single category by 12/31/2011 to keep that category in the contest. If the category is canceled, all paid deposits/entries in that category will be refunded Categories - Boots, Braiding, Chaps, Engraving, Hats, Leather Carving, Saddles, Spurs & Youth (Youth rules on website) Entry Fee $100 per entry per category, $50 deposit Trophy Buckles for 1st Place in each category and 1st Place in People's Choice in each category Cash and ribbons awarded to first 3 places in each category Judging will be done by contestants in the specific categories "People's Choice Award" for each category voted by show attendees Limit of 25 items per category. 1st come 1st serve One entry per category per person Cannot enter an item previously entered in the Art of the Cowboy Makers Contest. Up to 2 makers working on one item Leather Carvers will be making a purse. So the Leather Carving project is a Purse any size up to 14"long X 10" high. No kits allowed. Metal allowed on closures, handle & strap attachments and/or adjustments and on zippers. Open Chap category. Can make any style - batwing, shotgun, rodeo, chinks, etc. Must bring own chap stand. Bring your own saddle stand or rent one for $20. Entries must be delivered by noon on Friday, June 15, 2012. Security will be provided. Not responsible for damages, loss or theft.

We have made a decision on the Chap category, it will be an Open Chap category! You may make whatever style you wish. Rules are below. We have considered all the comments and asked the makers who had entered the Leather Carving last year to give us their votes on what they thought about this category. The makers who entered the Leather Carving this last year also decided the project for next years contest. The Leather Carving project for 2012 will be a purse, the rules are below. Any comments welcome! Must have 7 contestants entered in a single category by 12/31/2011 to keep that category in the contest. If the category is canceled, all paid deposits/entries in that category will be refunded Categories - Boots, Braiding, Chaps, Engraving, Hats, Leather Carving, Saddles, Spurs & Youth (Youth rules on website) Entry Fee $100 per entry per category, $50 deposit Trophy Buckles for 1st Place in each category and 1st Place in People's Choice in each category Cash and ribbons awarded to first 3 places in each category Judging will be done by contestants in the specific categories "People's Choice Award" for each category voted by show attendees Limit of 25 items per category. 1st come 1st serve One entry per category per person Cannot enter an item previously entered in the Art of the Cowboy Makers Contest. Up to 2 makers working on one item Leather Carvers will be making a purse. So the Leather Carving project is a Purse any size up to 14"long X 10" high. No kits allowed. Metal allowed on closures, handle & strap attachments and/or adjustments and on zippers. Open Chap category. Can make any style - batwing, shotgun, rodeo, chinks, etc. Must bring own chap stand. Bring your own saddle stand or rent one for $20. Entries must be delivered by noon on Friday, June 15, 2012. Security will be provided. Not responsible for damages, loss or theft. For more details and applications contact Casey Jordan Call or Email: 602-482-9758 (if no answer, please leave message) Email: casey@artofthecowboymakers.com Website: www.artofthecowboymakers.com

We have made a decision on the Chap category, it will be an Open Chap category! You may make whatever style you wish. Rules are below. We have considered all the comments and asked the makers who had entered the Leather Carving last year to give us their votes on what they thought about this category. The makers who entered the Leather Carving this last year also decided the project for next years contest. The Leather Carving project for 2012 will be a purse, the rules are below. Any comments welcome! Must have 7 contestants entered in a single category by 12/31/2011 to keep that category in the contest. If the category is canceled, all paid deposits/entries in that category will be refunded Categories - Boots, Braiding, Chaps, Engraving, Hats, Leather Carving, Saddles, Spurs & Youth (Youth rules on website) Entry Fee $100 per entry per category, $50 deposit Trophy Buckles for 1st Place in each category and 1st Place in People's Choice in each category Cash and ribbons awarded to first 3 places in each category Judging will be done by contestants in the specific categories "People's Choice Award" for each category voted by show attendees Limit of 25 items per category. 1st come 1st serve One entry per category per person Cannot enter an item previously entered in the Art of the Cowboy Makers Contest. Up to 2 makers working on one item Leather Carvers will be making a purse. So the Leather Carving project is a Purse any size up to 14"long X 10" high. No kits allowed. Metal allowed on closures, handle & strap attachments and/or adjustments and on zippers. Open Chap category. Can make any style - batwing, shotgun, rodeo, chinks, etc. Must bring own chap stand. Bring your own saddle stand or rent one for $20. Entries must be delivered by noon on Friday, June 15, 2012. Security will be provided. Not responsible for damages, loss or theft. For more details and applications contact Casey Jordan Call or Email: 602-482-9758 (if no answer, please leave message) Email: casey@artofthecowboymakers.com Website: www.artofthecowboymakers.com

We sure don't want to keep anyone out because of the style they have to make. I think an open Chap category will work the best and the makers can decide what style they want to make. We will decide pretty soon so we can get the rules and applications out. Thanks for all the comments.

I agree with you on one style, but we don't want to keep anyone out either. We are discussing all options and considering all comments. I have had no complaints about the way we judge, the makers like this system. The main reason it works so well is it is NOT one guy opinion and it's fair for everyone. All the entrants get a ballot and have to pick the first 4 places. Then the first place vote gets 4 points, second place vote gets 3 points, third place vote gets 2 points and fourth place vote gets 1 point. This is for the makers judging.

Mark, You hit on a point we are really trying to achieve, making an item you can easily sell. We don't want you to make an item you will have a hard time selling. I also like the idea of making one style of Chaps because it would be easier to judge, HOWEVER, we don't want to keep makers from entering just because of the style. Steve has some very good points to consider also. Chinks are the most used chap in this part of the world, then shotguns and few old timers still using batwings, (I'm talking about working cowboys here) then you have the cutters and rodeo chaps etc. If you have a batwing only there would be no chance that I would enter cause it would take me a long time to sell a pair of batwings. I would like to see an open chap catagory, nice work is nice work IMO, if a judge is properly qualified and not bias, he or she should leave the style preferance out of their judging and only judge on the quality of craftmanship, design and artistic abillity etc. the style of the chap should have no bearing on the outcome of the winners. In the saddle catagory they do not have to make only a wade with square skirts etc, so don't hold everyone back on their chap design. My two cents Steve I think if we have a "Batwing only", "Chinks only", or "Rodeo Chaps only" category we will keep a lot of makers from entering for various reasons. An open Chap category might work because of the way we judge. The way we judge is if your entered in the saddle category, then your judging the saddle category along with all the others entered in the saddle category. So this year we had 16 judges in the saddle category. If you are unable to attend you can designate someone to judge for you (if they are not entered or judging for someone else) or we will find someone who knows saddles to judge for you. All entries will be represented. We judge all the categories this way for the first, second and third place in the makers judging. People's Choice is voted on by everyone attending the show, they all get one vote per category. And your right Steve, we don't put restrictions on Saddles, Spurs, Boots, Braiding, Hats, or Engraving as to what style they have to make. The Leather Carving category had the most restrictions so it would be easier to judge. It would be hard to judge a watchband against a suitcase. The makers who entered Leather Carving this year are deciding what the project will be for next year right now. I appreciate all your comments, very good points from all of you.

JHayek, Thanks for your comments, I appreciate your input. I had not thought about the style differences and regional styles. We can only have one chap category so we will have to figure out something. All comments are welcome! We will definitely consider your comments!

Very good point! It worked very well with the Leather Carving category having everyone making a binder. It made it a lot easier to judge the same items. Here's what we think would work the best. Since this contest is held in conjunction with a western collectible and antique show a batwing chap would work the best. This is the style these people are most familiar with. Anything from a normal working cowboy batwing to a fancy batwing chap. It would be up to the maker as to how fancy and elaborate they wanted to make them. Comments and suggestions welcome!

We have had several Chap makers ask if we would ever add a Chap category to the Art of the Cowboy Makers contest. Let me know if you want to enter this category. If we have enough entries we can add a Chap category for next year, it's up to you. Comments and suggestions welcome!

A BIG THANK YOU goes out to Crystal for posting the pictures on the voting for the Art of the Cowboy Makers. As you can imagine we were so busy in Loveland that we could not have done this without her help. I'm sorry for the problems and confusing with the voting. We may have to do it a little different next year. Thanks to those who participated. The pictures were not the best and I'm sorry for that and apologize to those makers. I will post good pictures and names of all the entries as soon as I get them.

Here's the winners from the 2011 Art of the Cowboy Makers Winners. I will post good pictures of all the entries when I get them from the photographer. Hats: 1st - Gene Baldwin - # 2 2nd - Sheila Kirkpatrick Masssar - #5 3rd - J.W. Brooks - #7 People's Choice - Gene Baldwin - #2 Boots: 1st - Bill Niemczyk - #30 2nd - Dan Schwarz and Keni Crane - #27 3rd - Shane Deeter - #29 People's Choice - Shane Deeter - #29 Braiding: 1st - Pablo Lozano - #59 2nd - Armando DeFerrari - #57 3rd - Calvin Hochstrat - #58 People's Choice - Roy Cook - #55 Engraving: 1st - Rex Crawford - #76 2nd - Brian Hochstrat - #84 3rd - Don Butler - #85 People's Choice - Brian Hochstrat - #84 Leather Carving: 1st - Don Butler - #111 2nd - Bob Park - #114 3rd - Bob Klenda - #112 People's Choice - Don Butler - #111 Saddles: 1st - Don Butler - #132 2nd - Wes Mastic - #130 3rd - Terry Henson - #143 People's Choice - Don Butler - #132 Spurs: 1st - Denny Lytle & Jim Mower - #152 2nd - Matt Humphreys - #160 3rd - Gannon Leifheit - #154 People's Choice - Gannon Leifheit - #154 Youth: 1st - Colton Crawford - #201 2nd - Kade Jacobs - #202 3rd - Tanna Boyle #200 People's Choice - Colton Crawford - #201

We will be posting pictures of this years Art of the Cowboy Makers contest this Friday. The contest starts Friday and there are many makers on this forum who can't attend in person and would like to see the competition. We will post pictures with their entry number only, no names yet. We want you to vote ONLY ONCE in each category. Your vote won't actually count in the People's Choice since you will have a big disadvantage of only seeing a picture of the items. It will be fun to see if you pick the same winner as the people at the show. You can vote for your favorite from Friday June 17 - Sunday June 19 at 2:00 Colorado time. We have over 80 entries from 5 countries and over $11,000.00 in cash and prizes to give away! I will post all the winners and better pictures after the contest. Just give me a couple days to get home and sleep a little. Feel free to leave comments if you want.

We will be posting pictures of this years Art of the Cowboy Makers contest this Friday. The contest starts Friday and there are many makers on this forum who can't attend in person and would like to see the competition. We will post pictures with their entry number only, no names yet. We want you to vote ONLY ONCE in each category. Your vote won't actually count in the People's Choice since you will have a big disadvantage of only seeing a picture of the items. It will be fun to see if you pick the same winner as the people at the show. You can vote for your favorite from Friday June 17 - Sunday June 19 at 2:00 Colorado time. We have over 80 entries from 5 countries and over $11,000.00 in cash and prizes to give away! I will post all the winners and better pictures after the contest. Just give me a couple days to get home and sleep a little. Feel free to leave comments if you want.

We will be posting pictures of this years Art of the Cowboy Makers contest this Friday. The contest starts Friday and there are many makers on this forum who can't attend in person and would like to see the competition. We will post pictures with their entry number only, no names yet. We want you to vote ONLY ONCE in each category. Your vote won't actually count in the People's Choice since you will have a big disadvantage of only seeing a picture of the items. It will be fun to see if you pick the same winner as the people at the show. You can vote for your favorite from Friday June 17 - Sunday June 19 at 2:00 Colorado time. We have over 80 entries from 5 countries and over $11,000.00 in cash and prizes to give away! I will post all the winners and better pictures after the contest. Just give me a couple days to get home and sleep a little. Feel free to leave comments if you want.

We will be posting pictures of this years Art of the Cowboy Makers contest this Friday. The contest starts Friday and there are many makers on this forum who can't attend in person and would like to see the competition. We will post pictures with their entry number only, no names yet. We want you to vote ONLY ONCE in each category. Your vote won't actually count in the People's Choice since you will have a big disadvantage of only seeing a picture of the items. It will be fun to see if you pick the same winner as the people at the show. You can vote for your favorite from Friday June 17 - Sunday June 19 at 2:00 Colorado time. We have over 80 entries from 5 countries and over $11,000.00 in cash and prizes to give away! I will post all the winners and better pictures after the contest. Just give me a couple days to get home and sleep a little. Feel free to leave comments if you want.