staub58

Update: I have it all tooled up and I went with a basic design. Thanks for everyone's replies. I am pretty happy with it considering it's my first try! Now I have to try to figure out how to paint and dye and what not.

Hey everyone! My name is John and I am brand new to leather work. I posted here one time for some insight, and after some reasearch and gathering tools I decided to try to make my own shield for my fire helmet. It is definitely not done yet but I wanted to post some pictures of it so far. I am very open to criticism, pointers, tips, etc... I do have a few questions that I hope somone can answer. These shields take some abuse and they are worn in some pretty harsh condiitons. How can I dye, paint, and seal this thing up when i'm done to get the most life out of it? I wear a natural colored n6a Sam Houston and I want to try to match the shield to the color of the helmet. I want to make the letters and numbers white. I am still going to add another design above the numbers, but I am not sure what I want to put there. I'm thinking a star of life or a hurst tool or something. Any insight from anyone would be greatly appreciated. Also, I know it looks a little sloppy but after I took the pics I cleaned it up and shaped the edges with some sandpaper. Looks much better now.

Hello everyone! My name is John and I am BRAND new to leatherworking. I have been a member of this site for a little while, but only as a learner and observer. I am very interested in learning the art of leatherworking, but I don't know where to get started. I am a firefighter/emt from a small town in NJ and I would like to make my own leather front piece for my leather fire helmet. I have many questions and ANY information or help would be greatly appreciated. I have done research of my own, so I am not totally in the dark. I am guessing that the design I want to go with is going to need to be carved or tooled. The design is VERY basic because I am brand new (see photoshopped pic below). It is also subject to change as I get started and learn what I am getting into. The website of a professional leather fire helmet front maker stated that he used 13-14oz veg tanned leather sewn onto a 4-5oz piece of veg tanned leather. Where can I buy leather to practice with and then actually go with my design? The entire background of my piece is white. Is this accomplished by painting? Or is there a white dye? I hope someone can point me in the right direction. I am very excited about this. The first attached image is what I want to do. The second image is a blank that is sold on ebay. This is what I am looking for, but unfortunately that size is too small for my helmet. Thank you all, John