DwightT

Looks great. I may have to build myself another one to add another shelf for the dyes and paints. Or maybe I'll just use some dowels to attach another shelf on top of the existing one. Looks like you have room for the thread rod above the tools. The problem with mine is that when the spools of thread are loaded, pulling some of the tools out of the shelf below it gets a little awkward. If I do a rebuild I'll plan on leaving more room between the shelf and the rod. And I used a piece of aluminum electrical conduit for my rod. Having a step-son who is an electrician with easy access to "scraps" was pretty much the deciding factor for me. /dwight

Looks great. Weren't those stars fun to paint? /dwight

Looks great Chuck. How did you do the lettering? Was that just freehand with a swivel knife? /dwight

I guess that technically makes it an "overlay" instead of an "inlay"? It was hard to tell from the photographs, especially when I was looking at it from my phone. Still looks pretty good to me. /dwight

While I personally know nothing about holsters, I think it looks pretty good. What do you think you did wrong? /dwight

Veeerrrry Carefully. Yes, it was kind of a pain. I painted the blue field first (trying to keep the blue paint off the stars), then once that dried I went back with a fine-point artists brush to do the stars. This time I tried to keep the white paint only on the stars, but I didn't worry too much about slopping over onto the field. Once that paint dried I went back again with the fine-point brush and touched up the blue. I found that it was easier to cover the white slop with the blue paint than it was to try to cover any blue slop on the itty bitty white stars without slopping onto the blue field again. /dwight

Truly impressive. It would probably take me 5 hours just to cut the leather. And to get the lacing to look that good - just wow! /dwight

Thanks Samalan Thanks Chuck. And thanks for your feedback on the design. Thanks Mulesaw. And thank you for your feedback also. Yes, it was a lot of basket weave. Doing that told me that I need a larger work area when I take on a project of this size. Trying to fit that big (23" x 10.5") chunk of leather onto my little work area lead to a few of my "goofs". But having all that basket weave also helps make the flag stand out, and that was really what I was after. And the answer for the other PGR members is simple. "I'll get right on that as soon as I clear off the other projects on my list." Thanks. First time in a long time with doing a project of this size, so having the feedback along the way helped. Thanks Bawarrior. Thanks. Thanks Hags. Even though I know where the mitsakes are even I can look past them when I look at the whole thing, so I guess they weren't all that bad. BTW: a good friend of mine is a retired Army RN who is also retired from the VA Healthcare system. She was the one who got me to apply for my VA benefits. /dwight

Today I finished my flag case. I'll be using this case to carry my flag for Patriot Guard Rider missions to stand Flag Lines at the funerals of veterans. Overall I'm fairly happy with the results even though there are a few things that I would do differently if I ever do something like this again. For example, I should have used center-bar buckles for the top cap instead of heel-bar buckles. Thanks again to those who offered feedback when I initially posted this idea in the discussion area. /dwight Had to split into two posts because of size limitations.

Thanks all. I'm almost finished with the final case. As with any project there are some things that I would do differently if I had to do it again, but on the whole I'm pretty happy with the way its turning out. I'll post in the "Show Off" area tomorrow when I'm done. And thanks again for the feedback on the tooling pattern. I think that really helped me to make it better than what I had originally come up with. /dwight

I think it looks great. And I really like the design of the bucket. Simple but highly effective. /dwight

Beautiful work on those leaves.

That looks awesome Chuck.

With @Mulesaw's comments in mind, I decided to modify the design a bit to move the flag bearer down so that he isn't covered by the flag at all. I also changed the pose so that he is at "Present Arms" instead of just "Attention" and I shortened the flag pole. I like the looks better and it is more representative of how our PGR group stands the flag line. And I did this practice piece without the basket weave. Not totally decided yet as to if I'll use it in the final piece or not. Guess I better decide soon though since I have the leather for it casing right now. And yes, I got a bit sloppy with the matting tool on this practice piece. I'll have to keep it cleaner for the final piece. /dwight

My tool rack is similar to @Brokenolmarine's, probably because I copied and adapted his from when he posted it before. It mostly works, but there are some tools that don't have a home on the rack. Maybe I have too many tools? Nah. No such thing as too many tools.

Nice job. That looks fantastic. It's a great way to use some scraps. /dwight

Yep. We do that sometimes, but Farkle works better for road trips on the motorcycle. I just need to get around to making a dice tray that will roll up for transport. /dwight

Well thank you. The line drawing came from a couple of images. I started with a photo of a flag that I like, but the flag bearer in that one had bad posture. So I took a photo of myself in the same profile and holding a pole, then overlaid that on the original. So it's nice to know that I have "a resolute stout expression" and "a strong chin and good posture". But I agree with you completely on the carving. I may have to do a couple more practice pieces just around that area to see if I can improve the final result. /dwight

Now this is why I posted my thoughts here: so somebody could tell me when I've over-thought something. We were thinking that the bearer and pole might not be all that noticeable to the casual viewer, so in that case the flag would look like it was mounted on a wall backwards. But as you pointed out if I just flipped the image over then the bearer would be holding the pole on his left side which would be even worse. I'll just leave it as is then. Thanks Chuck! /dwight

And at the same time we talk about Stitches Per Inch. Nothing like having a little consistency. /dwight

Since the case will require a fairly large piece of leather, I didn't want to just jump in to tooling on it until I had tried this pattern on a practice piece first. I rooted around in my scrap bin and found a chunk that was big enough for the flag and most of the flag bearer, and started tooling. Needs some work there. First off, on the final I'll use a mirror image. This was how the flag was blowing in the original photo that I used as a starting point, but as my wife pointed out, the star field should be on the left. Not a big deal with the bearer, but since the flag will stand out much more than the flag bearer it should have the field on the left. That will be a simple fix. Second, I don't think I'll use the basket weave, or anything else in the background around this image. Maybe a band on the top and bottom of the case, but not right around the flag and flag bearer. It just makes the image too busy and distracts from the flag. Third, I'll need to look closer at the original photo and use my pear shaders to highlight the curls in the flag and enhance the waving motion. I did do a little bit here, but I think I need more definitive shade lines. Next I applied some antique stain (Eco-Flo gel antique). What I noticed here was that my stars are a bit inconsistent in depth. I think if I'm a little more consistent and don't make them too deep (so that they don't hold the stain as much), then it will be easier to paint them. Then finally I painted the flag and pole. What I got out of here is that I should paint the blue field first, then fill in the stars. Yes, I will slop some white paint onto the blue field, but it is easier to touch up the blue over white slop than it is to try to cover up any blue slop on the white stars. Other than those notes I think I'm ready to move on to the real thing. /dwight

When my wife and I first saw the meander stamp in the rack at Tandy, we could not figure out what it was for. We were only looking at the impression it made by itself and didn't consider the "negative space" that it left behind. Shortly after that somebody posted a project here where they had used the stamp and the proverbial light went on. That's one of the things that I love about this craft: forcing myself to look beyond the obvious both in tooling and in how to assemble a project. Might help to keep the brain somewhat limber in old age. And Chuck - you use of the stamp is simply genius, especially in combination with the seeder. /dwight

Welcome to the forum. I know you posted this a couple weeks ago, but I hope you have been able to find the answers to your questions. The people here really are a great bunch with a lot of good knowledge. /dwight

I've mentioned before that I want to build a case to carry my flag in for Patriot Guard missions. Now that Christmas gifts are out of the way I'm going to start working on it. The case itself will be fairly simple - just a tube with a cap and maybe a strap or handle for carrying. However I also want to have a design carved on it. With that in mind I took some photos from missions from last summer and used them to create this line-art: I'll scale the image as needed to make it fit on the case. My thinking is that the flag bearer will be basically just a natural leather color silhouette while the flag will be more detailed and painted with acrylic paint. I would love to hear any comments or suggestions that you all may have. /dwight

That looks fantastic. I'd love to see it on the bike. /dwight