Buster Scruggs themed Guitar Strap WIP

[spacedog]

I enjoyed the movie “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” and wanted to make myself a guitar strap with some of the images from the title character’s story. I decided rather than try to carve Tim Blake Nelson‘s face, I would draw him as a skeleton since carving faces is much harder. It still has a ways to go and is just a work in progress right now.

 

[chuck123wapati]

that is awesome man I love it. Cant wait to see it finished.

[TomE]

How fun is that?  Perfect!

[PastorBob]

Very impressive. Your carving is impeccable.

[battlemunky]

Looks great!

[spacedog]

On 3/28/2022 at 12:50 PM, chuck123wapati said:

that is awesome man I love it. Cant wait to see it finished.

 

On 3/28/2022 at 1:59 PM, TomE said:

How fun is that?  Perfect!

 

8 hours ago, PastorBob said:

Very impressive. Your carving is impeccable.

 

8 hours ago, battlemunky said:

Looks great!

Thanks everyone. I have just started to apply some dye and will update this in a few days.

[spacedog]

This is the first stage of dyeing this guitar strap. If you look closer you can see the mistakes, but overall I am fairly happy with it. I will be applying acrylic paint to fix some of the problem areas, followed by pro resist and antique gel, but there is a sunset at one end I want to practice. I haven’t tried doing one before, and it is probably obvious I don’t have an air brush. I want to give it a shot with dye, but if it doesn’t go well I will just have to use paint. It has been fun to make so far, but I still have to work out the lining and sewing.

[battlemunky]

That's really cool stuff man!

 

[spacedog]

1 hour ago, battlemunky said:

That's really cool stuff man!

 

Thanks. I wasn’t sure the different dye colours would go together, but I am liking it so far. I made an Iron Maiden themed guitar strap for my brother-in-law a few years back and wanted to make something for myself this time. I worked on the paint a bit more, including the sunset, but still need to do a bit more before I use the resist and then antique it. Here is a picture of both ends so far.

 

[suzelle]

Cool! Love the process - photos. You are spoiling us.

[spacedog]

On 4/2/2022 at 11:51 AM, suzelle said:

Cool! Love the process - photos. You are spoiling us.

Thanks. I am waiting for the pro resist to full dry before I can continue, so I am cutting out the backing/lining.

[YinTx]

Really neat looking!  Great paint work.  Have you finished it already?

[spacedog]

On 10/29/2022 at 10:39 AM, YinTx said:

Really neat looking!  Great paint work.  Have you finished it already?

Thanks. Honestly, not yet. I got a bit frustrated with the hand sewing, and then had some health problems that sidelined me for months. I really should try finishing it off now that I am recovering. 

[Gezzer]

On 3/30/2022 at 5:53 PM, spacedog said:

This is the first stage of dyeing this guitar strap. If you look closer you can see the mistakes, but overall I am fairly happy with it. I will be applying acrylic paint to fix some of the problem areas, followed by pro resist and antique gel, but there is a sunset at one end I want to practice. I haven’t tried doing one before, and it is probably obvious I don’t have an air brush. I want to give it a shot with dye, but if it doesn’t go well I will just have to use paint. It has been fun to make so far, but I still have to work out the lining and sewing.

I would love to take some dyeing lessons from you , that is  AWESOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ArkieNewbie]

On 3/28/2022 at 1:21 PM, spacedog said:

I enjoyed the movie “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” and wanted to make myself a guitar strap with some of the images from the title character’s story. I decided rather than try to carve Tim Blake Nelson‘s face, I would draw him as a skeleton since carving faces is much harder. It still has a ways to go and is just a work in progress right now.

 

This is one of the most awesome things I've seen on here!! I love that movie!!

[spacedog]

36 minutes ago, Gezzer said:

I would love to take some dyeing lessons from you , that is  AWESOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks. I used a medium sized pointed brush to do the majority of the dyeing, and for the details a small pointed brush. I am still trying to learn more about shading or shadowing with dye. Some of the talented people on this site will use an air brush, but I don’t have one, so I mostly thin down the dye and repeatedly add layers to get the job done. It is sloooooow, since I often have to wait for the leather to dry a bit to see if it needs more dye. Since I’m not selling my stuff, time doesn’t play a factor for me as it would for someone else setting a price. I also covered up some of the mistakes with acrylic hobby store paint too.

Here is a pic of what is happening with the hand sewing and was/is frustrating me. I didn’t do myself any favours by using two different coloured threads. Anyways, I will try to push on through to finish the sewing and get on with the next step.

 

[spacedog]

14 minutes ago, ArkieNewbie said:

This is one of the most awesome things I've seen on here!! I love that movie!!

Thanks. I love parts of that movie. Some other parts (it is six separate stories) not so much. The Liam Neeson one is very dark.

[ArkieNewbie]

5 minutes ago, spacedog said:

The Liam Neeson one is very dark.

I have to agree with you there. I wouldn't watch it with my kids.

And the whole Billy Knapp and Alice Longabaugh story is very sad. But you can't help but laugh when James Franco looks over and says, "First time, huh?"

[Gezzer]

@spacedog  Thank you and I am in the same boat , don't own an airbrush . 

[spacedog]

Finished the sewing, which did get better and more consistent than when I had initially started and got frustrated. 
The thing that I have noticed upon finishing the sewing is there is a bit of leather core, or tufting, around the cuts the thread was pushed through. I might have to go over it with a small brush and some dye to clean it up. Anyways, here are some pics, I have adjusted the colour in the pics using my couch as a reference since the lighting from the window changed as I went. I did this sunrise with dye, which I wish was more vibrant, but didn’t want to use paint.

[spacedog]

This is the title/name plate. I tried rotating the background tool to avoid a pattern, and the letters are acrylic paint.

 

[spacedog]

The wanted poster turned out pretty much as I hoped. The paper is the natural leather with dyed shading for where it is curling up, and the headshot is acrylic paint.

 

[spacedog]

The shootout/count down was tricky as the small fragment needed to stand out from the background. I thought it would get too muddled if I used the background tool throughout, so I just used it at the edge. Not sure if I pulled this off correctly, but since it is for me as opposed to being sold, not a big deal. If anyone has a different option on how it could have been done, let me know please. Obviously, it is painted with acrylic on the bones to help them stand out, and no I’m not sure about the accuracy of the anatomy.  
 

[spacedog]

This was my favorite scene in the movie, the trick shot, and it was fun to draw out, but difficult to convey the distance. His elbow and the mirror should look closer than the rest of him, and the squiggly thing beside his head is the opponent in the distance. Again it is all pretty cartoonishly drawn, but that is what I was going for. The whole figure is acrylic paint over dyed shading of the background.

 

 

[spacedog]

Nearly done. Spoiler Alert! There are a lot of deaths in this movie, and I wanted to portray it with graves spreading to the horizon, which has “the dead man’s hand” above it. It works, but feels like I rushed it a bit, like not fitting in all the words on the ace of clubs. It should say, “Well that ain’t good”. Not sure if that qualifies as irony, or not.