Dale

Circles are just a variation on an ellipse. Try this: http://www.benchnotes.com/Laying%20out%20a...out_an_oval.htm

This is a fairly open-ended question. To better answer the question, it would be best to know what piece(s) are you looking at. Depth comes in different ways.

We finished up this piece last Wednesday. Unfortunately, not everyone remembered to bring their piece to finish up !

Still trying to get some pics.

Almost done. The color in the photos appears to be a bit off. I think the greens and reds are a bit more subdued than the photos show.

My initial thought is that the current prevailing opinion of an embossed plug is correct. But I think there's something else going on, here, too. There appears to be a lot of depth for a watch band. To me, anything more than 3-4 oz is pushing the comfort level for a watch band. So, two additional thoughts come to mind. The first one is that proper lighting could make the piece look thicker in the photograph than it actually is. The other is that something thinner than we're used to using (bookbinding leather, maybe?) was used over the plug. If I were to try to simulate that look by "carving," I would use only a pear shader. All that being said, I'd be curious how well this thing actually fits the wrist and watch buckle. It looks wicked cool, but it may not wear very well. Let us know what you find out.

We're starting to paint using a few tricks from Silva.

After a few weeks off due to weather and other unforeseen circumstances, we got back to this one. I think this is a couple weeks worth of work from the original pics.

Andy's a great knowledge resource, but I think he over-complicated this one. I haven't seen the video, but I no longer cement down the wet/dry and 600 grit is pretty coarse to deal with. I don't cement the sandpaper down because I would spend more time changing it than actually using it. Truth be told, I don't routinely spend any time with the paper. The strop is used the majority of the time. Only when a blade is in bad shape is it necessary to use the paper. The grit used at that point depends on how bad the blade is. If the blade is rusted and pitted I would start at around 220 grit (after using the bench grinder as necessary). Move up a step to the 400 range, move up again several more times until I'm in the 1500 - 2000 range, and then maintain it with stropping. If it gets to the point where stropping doesn't help anymore, I'd probably start with the paper using the 1000 - 1500 grit. As always, your experience and mileage may vary. Bruce Johnson or Romey (I think he's writing the tutorial?) may have a better opinion. Dale

Clay, Your challenge intrigued me so I thought I'd try it myself. I have done water spray before, but I had the same challenges you had (and haven't really done it since), so I thought I'd try something a little different. The problem I see with Stohlman's method is that he tools spray as a (primarily) single object as opposed to many little objects. You can see "through" a collection of many little objects, but not through a single large object. The answer, as I saw it, was to not bevel the water spray. You can do all the beveling you need with the backgrounder. In the samples below, I really just roughed it out and I took no great pains to put the right textures on the elk or in the actual design of the water, so you won't see a final product by any stretch of the imagination. I started by lightly beveling the object in the background (elk). Then I LIGHTLY put in some water texture with the backgrounder to establish a direction and simulate actual water. After that, I tried to graduate the spray...heavier at the bottom and lighter at the top. Toward the bottom, form some points as Stohlman does to indicate heavier concentrations of water/spray and a direction of flow. Keep in mind that you want to see some indication of the object in the background, so I left the water in the top areas rather sparse. I'm realizing it's tough to explain, but maybe the second picture helps. My apologies for the large photo size, but I wanted to be sure the detail came through. Dale

Pattern is actually courtesy of joet. I don't know its background so I'll leave it to him to post/forward the pattern, but I will try to get completed pics of the pieces when we're done. Dale

Here are a few snapshots of something we're working on in the local Colorado Springs leather guild.

You may also consider using a folded rag. Fold it into a pad, get some dye on it (don't saturate it), and rub it into the leather in a circular motion. What doesn't get onto the leather eventually spreads out into the pad. At some point, your pad will become saturated, but you'll be able to judge how saturated it is by that time and more evenly apply it to the leather. When using this method you'll probably need to apply it several times. The benefit is, you'll be able to stop when you reach the color you're looking for.

ummm...what other project? Yes. All stains on this one including Leather Glow and Hi-Liter. Started with Leather Glow over the whole notebook. Added Hi-Liter over the leaves and the border...didn't really remove much . Add black over the wolf (not too heavy over the head) and remove it in several places like the tail, the head and the lower part of the body. Then, I think, was mahogany and/or medium brown. Much of that was done with a brush and not really removed. Then I mixed a light acrylic for highlights and decided to add it to the background area as well -- just to separate it from the rest of the notebook. Dale

There was a discussion about antique recently and I thought I would post the notebook I just finished. It's colored with several (4 or 5) different antique colors and some acrylic for the lightest areas. I thought I'd try it this way to see how the color holds up to wear as compared to acrylic. Dale

Don't over-think it. Use what you like best. Printer paper, drawing paper, notepad paper, (fill-in-the-blank) paper all works just fine if that's what you want to use. I frequently go from (laser) printer to leather with the same paper, then throw it away when I'm done...no mess, no clutter. Works for me.

Hidecrafter has Robb Barr's DVD. That's probably your best bet.

Any of you in the Santa Clara, CA area, I have just been notified that this piece has been selected for the Bay Area Arts Valentine show (Look of Love) at Art Object Gallery from 1-10 Feb -- opening reception on Feb 2 (I won't be there). Now I have to stay up late to build the packaging for it. Incidentally, I call it "With One Heart" Dale By the way, thanks for the accolades.

As promised, here it is. You get to see it here before it goes on the site. Total size of the piece is about 11 x 11. Dale

Size: the head, itself, is a little less than 6" x 6". When I knew I'd be an artist: don't know that I am, yet. However, I accepted it as a title about a year ago. Other mediums: some clay, some wood, mostly leather. Sorry about lack of pics of pieces in progress. I usually don't think about them until the thing is done.

...so I thought I'd give you a look at what I've been working on lately. I'll post the finished piece when it's done. Dale

I'd be careful about this one, Johanna. I can't speak with authority, but I believe TLF owns the rights to these pages. The owner has rights to make, sell, give, or destroy any number of them they want and in any format they want. While you have the right to sell, give, or destroy any copy of the item you obtained legally, they must give explicit approval for you to make copies in any format. You may give your copy(ies) away if you choose, but you can't reproduce them and sell or give them away. I believe IILG ran into an issue with them a couple years ago. You may want to ask someone there. Again, I don't speak with authority, but this is my understanding of copyright. Dale

Yup...all acrylic.

Since Clay posted his deer, I thought I'd post the one I finished a couple weeks ago. No frills...just carved it and painted it. Dale