Introduction

[Mike]

Ok, I sent my first intro to the wrong forum. I'm re-intro'ing myself here. My name is Mike Rodgers and I live near Lake Tawakoni, which is east of Dallas. At thae moment I am a member of the Lone Star Leathercrafters Guild.

I do not have a specialty yet. I just carve things as the mood strikes me and for friends. I was going to enter in this years IFOLG but I was not satisfied with my work and funds are real low right now. I hope to try to start entering shows/competitions in upcoming shows if I feel my work is good enough.

Currently I am working to improve my coloring techniques and my hand stitching.

You can see my work at www.pmrleather.com. Feel free to comment. Constructive criticism is welcome and praise is always gladly received. :biggrin:

Here is a picture just to give a sample of my work.

My newest stuff is in the Wallets section of the website.

Mike

[Beaverslayer]

Mike, welcome again. About the comment you made "but I was not satisfied with my work " well I'm no judge at the show, but I'm pretty sure you would have come away with a blue ribbon or two. I looked at the work you have on your website, and I am TOTALLY impress with your talents. You have the gift my friend.

Very inspiring to see such great work.

Ken

[Mike]

Beaverslayer,

Thanks for the nice comments. The only show I have been to was the last IFOLG show in Ft. Worth. I believe it was ten years ago. The work at these shows is so good, I get intimidated.

In the wallets section of my website, I sent images of Bass Checkbook #2 to Peter Main for comments. He was kind enough to give me suggestions which resulted in some of the changes that you might discern between Bass Checkbooks #2 and #3. Little things like the water rings around the fish, lighting and so on.

For now I am going to try to finish a purse kit I started a few months ago. I was stymied on coloring the horse but now I have some ideas I will try out. I've attached a picture of what it looks like now. This project is not on my web site. It's an old kit that I'd doing for practice.

Mike

[Beaverslayer]

Well, it looks very good so far Mike, I can't wait to see it finished. And by looking at the pics Johanna has uploaded of this years show, I know what you mean by intimidating, but I do think you would win a blue ribbon or two. Your work is VERY good.

Ken

[abn]

One word -- wow. I took a look at your site, and that's some really nice carving and vibrant coloring. Like Ken said, I'd reckon a guess that your work would be very competitive at a show, so don't be shy about entering!

Welcome to the forums, -Alex

[ClayB]

I am with Ken and Alex. You dont need to be worried about your work being competetive. It looks awfully nice.

[Alan Bell]

Hey Mike, Like the others I can just say WOW. and Welcome to the board. I'm in Greenville and my sister in law lives in Fox Point near Tawakoni.

Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery ; none but ourselves can free our minds!

Bob Marley - Redemption Songs

[Don101]

Welcome Mike just love the work you are doing great colors and style keep posting pics, Don

[Zilla]

Welcome Mike! There are some great artists and craftmen/women here. I have learned so much just surfing around the older posts here it isn't even funny!!

My ex boss and her husband has a "weekend" home there in the trailer park at Lake Tawakoni. There are some great artists out in that area I've met and heard about.

Kev

[Mike]

I'd like to meet other artistic folks around here.

[Mike Phelps]

Morning Mike and Welcome

I think Skidboot barked at me. Am I sure that bison skull was leather and not bone?

Now I'm going to have to try my hand at embossing and carving pictures.

[Mike]

Thanks for the compliments. A tip... when embossing, watch how the piece is turning out. Especially in embossing cutouts. I have found that I frequently have to nudge lines around cutouts. When looked at flat as in a tracing, the line will look wrong. When embossed, they work. Usually the embossed items are only partially embossed (the part facing you is embossed and the back half meets the leather background).

Just my 2 cents.

[The Major]

Welcome aboard. One question. You are worried about being good enough to compete? I think others should worry if you do compete. Your work looks outstanding.

[Mike]

I just get an urge and create something once in awhile. Or when someones really wants something. Right now I'm trying to come up with a good deer profile for a checkbook. I'm almost done with the main drawing. Then I'm thinking along the lines of scenic side panels. It will depend on how much room I have and how much detail I can cram into small frames.

I submitted an entry to an IFOLG show just once. It was inadvertantly placed into the wrong category prior to judging and as a result was ineligible for judging. That was many years ago. Since then I have thought about it but never got around to entering another show. I do worry about having work good enough to be shown in competition but I am believe I am getting past that. Maybe I'll enter something at some upcoming show.

Mike