kiwidownunder

All I can say is I am drooling over those belts. Kiwi

Peter does some outstanding work, and this is no less outstanding. Thank for posting it Rawhide. He has along with Al Stolman given me inspirisation. Hey John, you are way to hard on yourself. You will create, design something outstanding oneday, as long as you don't stop trying. So keep trying to out shine us all. Kiwi

The buckle is wonderful. Great job on the leaves and the your colour finish. Kiwi.

Well it looks like you are off and racing. Great start. Can't wait to see next pictures of it. Keep them coming. Kiwi

Very cool belt. Well done. Not a bad job of modelling it either. Kiwi

Thanks for the feed back. I went and check out what you had suggested. Your were right the simple things. Are we dopes sometimes. It was the bobbin as you had suggested had a thread jamed under the hook and wind underneath. I thought I had all the broken thread unwind, but I missed hat one. Also the needle inspecting it real close had twisted and the groove was not in the right position. I did not have enough light to spot that yesterday. So a huge THANK YOU. I got it sewing again and completed fixing my horses sheet. Kiwi.

Hi there. I wondered if someone out there may have a suggestion as to why my machine is saying no to me. I was repairing a horse sheet, when I ran out of bobbin thread. popped in a new spool and went to continue on my way. Well for some reason now the bobbin thread is looping the wrong side of the needle and wont sew. Am I right in that the timing is off suddenly or am I overlooking something very simple. I spent way to long trying to get it sewing and still no luck. Called the machine countless names. Then decided to leave until tomorrow. HELP. suggestions please. Kiwi.

Tina, Your belt bags are fab. Your designs are very cool and I love the colours. Can't wait to see your next creations. Kiwi

Fantastic seat. Great lacing work, very even and tight. Kiwi

It 's about time I thank you all for the great welcome to your forum. I love the site already. Kiwi

. You have joined a great group of folk . Sounds like you are a very busy guy. Kiwi

Welcome to the forum. You will learn heaps of new things here. Look forward to seeing your leatherwork. Kiwi.

Fantastic work. It must take some doing that for sure. Thanks for posting them. Kiwi

I wish to thank you so much Darryl, for your wonderful comment. And yes you will probably be equally or better than me. Kiwi.

Thank you guys.

Great work for the first atempt. You will find with each one you do, The more life like they will become. My one suggestion for now, as practise is all you need really, is if you have a modelling tool with a large spoon type end, once you have finished bevelling rub the bevelled edge smooth. Or If you are only going to antique finish the item, bevel with a check beveller. This makes it look more even, if if it is not. Hard to see in the photo which beveller you used. Look forward to seeing your next carving. Keep it up. Kiwi.

This is a portrait that I did back in New Zealand of a Show Dog. I was asked to do 2 portraits for the Best of Show winners and this was one. The owner later called me and said how his eyes followed her around the room. That is why I love doing this type of Leatherwork. Enjoy.

Very beautiful. Great colour choice. Would not know that it was your first time doing it. Kiwi.

I am from New Zealand but am living in TX. USA. I did leather in New Zealand and now am staring to do some here. I have been learning about training Reining horses for the last few years. Kiwi

Yes you can paint with water colours on to leather. You just need to be very careful how much you apply. Remember you can not take it off. And No you do not have to do anything but decide on your colours. Kiwi

Beautiful work. Hard to tell in the picture, but it looks like you have two rosettes at the Skirts strings. If that is right I would make a slightly larger lower rosette under the top one. The double layer makes it look just a little thick. Needs a more tapered look, or only have one rosette. But for all that wonderful.

Glad to help. Well really I am a New Zealander down towards Invercargill, South Island, but am at the moment Living In Texas USA. I worked in Brisbane for 6 Months and it is beautiful, but I have to say NZ isn't too bad either. So you have to say that I am a traveling a kiwi. Kiwi

My thoughts are that when someone comes to me and asks that question , I would tell them -- Well my work is completely hand tooled, meaning that I cut the leather with a blade, which makes a very clear edge between the design and the background. If you were to run your fingers over the design you will feel the depth and sharpness that hand tooling leaves. Also once the design is finished the depth of colour in an embossed background has no real difference to the floral of the piece. Remember that in todays market those embossed pieces, make our hand crafted picecs very expensive and, you know the average person has no idea how long it takes for someone to create a true work of quality. Kiwi.

I forgat to say that I had the same problem trying to learn, no one would help me. So I learnt myself , built a loom and sat and worked out how they did it. Kiwi

What you need to do first is with your graph paper count your beads, then one thread for every bead the width for your loom size. You need to make yourself a loom from pieces of wood, probably in a box form, with eye screws on each of the sides to the outside. Then cut the required threads, at least 6" longer then you wish and string them over the box and tie ends to the eyes, going across the loom, the width of the finish beading. Then using your pattern work across the loom threading on the desired beads, Take under the loom threads using your finger push the beads up into the threads, then when all are in place thread your needle back along the beads on the top of the threads to hold the beads in place. Repeat until you have the work completed. Hope this helps and is what you required to know. It is easy once you get the hang of it. Then you can do ANYTHING you want with beads. Kiwi