Carving question

[fredk]

8 hours ago, dikman said:

The more I looked at it the more I felt the cactus didn't fit, I felt I should either make it much bigger, to make it dominant, or get rid of it - so it's gone! 

But . . . . but . . . . . hows anyone gonna knows whoms is 'Cactus Jack' !   

[fredk]

Chestnut dye can be got. Try your russet on a scrap piece first to see if you like it. It might be a bit too red

[tsunkasapa]

You can reduce your dye at any ratio you like. 1-1  1-2 etc. You can even add other colors. I do my oak leaves with a green-brown mix. Play around till you get the color you want.

[dikman]

6 hours ago, fredk said:

But . . . . but . . . . . hows anyone gonna knows whoms is 'Cactus Jack' !   

Yeah, I know, but it's your fault, you made me think about it!

I tried the russet and compared to a brown I have there's a subtle difference, which I like, but it's far too dark (as in very dark). I wanted to antique the carving but it probably won't show as it's so dark. I'll try thinning it today.

[dikman]

I made up some swatches and found the colour varies slightly between different pieces of veg tan. Anyhow, thinning it looks a bit better. I wanted to try and match the colour on the front of Packing Iron but this will have to do. Most of the other brown's/tans I have don't show a lot of difference between them - I didn't realise I had so many different browns!!

[Leescustomleather]

Regarding fluid looking curves I have watched a lot of videos by Joe Meling and I admire his skill level so I case a bunch of smaller pieces of leather and cut curves over and over. Then I practice more curves starting with a deep cut and fading out and then starting shallow and going deep. Practice, Practice, Practice. 

 Also most of my patterns are drawn many times, people try to tell me I am an artist but I know I am just persistent.

[dikman]

Yes, I've watched a lot of videos, including those by Joe, and it looked easy - until I tried it! I've already tweaked this pattern many times and while it's not perfect by any means I'm going to go with it as I need to see a finished result to gauge where my faults are.

I suspect I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but that's never stopped me in the past.

[jrdunn]

10 hours ago, dikman said:

I made up some swatches and found the colour varies slightly between different pieces of veg tan. Anyhow, thinning it looks a bit better. I wanted to try and match the colour on the front of Packing Iron but this will have to do. Most of the other brown's/tans I have don't show a lot of difference between them - I didn't realise I had so many different browns!!

I feel your pain.  I'm always working, trying to get my number of bottles of dye to a managable level.  I have several that are very close to one another.

[chuck123wapati]

8 hours ago, dikman said:

Yes, I've watched a lot of videos, including those by Joe, and it looked easy - until I tried it! I've already tweaked this pattern many times and while it's not perfect by any means I'm going to go with it as I need to see a finished result to gauge where my faults are.

I suspect I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but that's never stopped me in the past.

you eat a whale one bite at at a time lol.

it all comes down to history the first folks to carve their holsters had ideas but no designs no practice in most cases no real tools just something to do during a slow period of surviving life  like winter time lol. They made their holsters and any ornamentation to suit themselves. Its a form of folk art. IF you like it that is what matters most.

I had an art teacher once i thought i was a crappy artist, which i am lol, but he asked me do you know why the Madonna is such a great piece of art? Because no one knows what she looked like. do you know why copies never look as good? because you do know what the painting looks like.

The point here being you can try and copy a design or technique like Sheridan but you wont be satisfied because you know what it is supposed to look like and you just dont have the practice to pull it off but that doesn't mean your own work will be bad, just different and unique. Its time to jump in and have fun with your own style. i cant wait to see it myself!!

[MikeRock]

Cactus Jack.....in your name.......   https://duckduckgo.com/?q=cactus+flowers&t=ffsb&iax=images&ia=images

Flowering cacti....... 

God bless

[dikman]

Aaarrrggghhhhh! Don't complicate matters, MIke!

Thanks Chuck, good advice. One thing I've slowly realised is I don't like those acanthus swirls, they just don't appeal to me, probably why I subconsciously used so many leaves. I'll do this one and next time might have a go at Oak leaves and acorns.

[dikman]

I've cut the pattern on the holster and started the bevelling. My first mistake has already become obvious, the swirls are too small and it's bloody hard to bevel around them!! I've made a smaller beveller, and modified another one, but it's still not good. Hopefully I can smooth the edges slightly with a backgrounder later. I should have stuck to leaves and flowers. 

[JLSleather]

On 5/21/2022 at 5:49 PM, dikman said:

JLS, that holster on the left is stunning! I can't get my head around how you drew the design!!!

I didn't draw it.  That's an "oldy but a goody" from a [maybe] 1950's leather craft publication.  I was kinda on a mission to carve ALL the patterns in that booklet, and this one fit a pattern for a Ruger very nicely.  I'll see kin I find that one around here...

[dikman]

Well, you may not have created it but you did a great job carving it.

[dikman]

Spent all day carving this thing! I can see lots of areas that need improvement. The leaves are too small and there is too much open area, at least using the backgrounder (talk about tedious!) let me tidy up the scrolls a bit. From a distance it doesn't look too bad but it doesn't stand up to close scrutiny. Next thing is to dye it and antique it, will be interesting to see if that disguises some of the flaws.

 

[chuck123wapati]

7 hours ago, dikman said:

Spent all day carving this thing! I can see lots of areas that need improvement. The leaves are too small and there is too much open area, at least using the backgrounder (talk about tedious!) let me tidy up the scrolls a bit. From a distance it doesn't look too bad but it doesn't stand up to close scrutiny. Next thing is to dye it and antique it, will be interesting to see if that disguises some of the flaws.

 

it still looks pretty darn good for a first try and it will look much better finished.... That's why i shade in my background with a pencil on the designs, it gives me the idea of how much negative space there is to tool. it also loses the thickness of the lines so you can see how thick or thin your carving will actually look to the eye. if you get tired shading it in then you have to much background to tool IMO and LOL.