Belts, Pouches, Sheaths, Cases. Lots of stuff.

[YinTx]

7 hours ago, JLSleather said:

No matter.  Certainly we'd all agree that your coloring is quite nice

It all looks carved and beveled to me, not sure what you are on about?  Embossing plates don't really leave a sharp clean cut edge on stems, leaves, flowers, and borders, which it seems to me all the pieces have.  Also, embossing will give exact results, if you look very closely you will see this is not the case.  Here you can see the cut for the stem is in different places on two similar pieces. 

 

All in all, very nice work in my view.  And the color scheme is awesome!

YinTx

[Hardrada]

[AlexOstacchini]

18 hours ago, Bert03241 said:

Very good you do amazing work, sorry for the skepticism

Many thanks and no worries, it was my own bad wording! 

 

12 hours ago, JLSleather said:

Some  have moved to using a PLATE IN A PRESS for belts, instead of the rollers, for exactly that

No matter.  Certainly we'd all agree that your coloring is quite nice

I'm not sure if I have entirely convinced you, but I have dug up some WIP pics to hopefully alleviate any doubts about the process. So here you can see the initial swivel cuts on some of the pouches, and the scrollwork tooling on a belt, next to it's initial drawing. This was based on a design sent over by the client, so there is certainly no embossing plate involved! So yes, all hand tooled

 

 

Edited March 29, 2023 by AlexOstacchini

[AlexOstacchini]

5 hours ago, YinTx said:

It all looks carved and beveled to me, not sure what you are on about?

Cheers YinTx, I admit I was a little thrown by the suggestion that it was not tooled but hopefully all cleared up now. To be fair though I may have added to the confusion by misunderstanding the initial embossing question.. In any case I have done my best now to clarify. Thanks for the kind words and well spotted on the pic, all of course traced from the same drawing but lots of small variations between these pieces.

Alex

 

 

[YinTx]

2 hours ago, AlexOstacchini said:

I admit I was a little thrown by the suggestion that it was not tooled

Also to be fair, your bar grounding borders on perfection, which had me thinking it was maybe embossed for a moment as well.  But studying your work closely it was clear to me at least that it was impeccably hand carved and tooled.  Thanks for sharing such inspirational work!

[Chux]

Phenomenal work!! My question is...

How do you do your dye jobs? I tried doing a design where I wanted the main focus to stay a natural color and have the background darker, so the main part "popped" like the pouch you show in 9.  I dyed the background, applied resist, and then the antique gel and BAM!!! The parts that I left undyed, well it got dyed...

So if you could help with how you did it, I would be greatly appreciative 

Edited March 29, 2023 by Chux
Spelling

[doubleh]

Excellent work IMO. I would have refused the laced belt remembering how much I hated doing just a wallet known as a billfold back when I did them.

[AlexOstacchini]

6 hours ago, Chux said:

How do you do your dye jobs? I tried doing a design where I wanted the main focus to stay a natural color and have the background darker, so the main part "popped" like the pouch you show in 9.  I dyed the background, applied resist, and then the antique gel and BAM!!! The parts that I left undyed, well it got dyed...

Thanks, much the same as you describe really. My process is as follows-

1. dye the base colours. For most of my background texturing I will paint the dye in with a paintbrush.

2. Neetsfoot oil, applied over the whole piece with a sponge, but focusing mainly on the natural areas. Be aware though that this darkens colours quite a lot. 

3. Resist- I use fiebings tan kote for this. Quite often now I will give it a second coat after the first has dried.

4. Antique. Fiebings antique finish in this case, worked into the recesses with a sponge, then wipe off excess.

5. Once this has dried I give it a final polish with tan kote, which cleans off any antique that is still on the raised areas. 

I always try and give each stage a day of drying time. Maybe not necessary but it works for me and when I have tried to rush through things it never seems to come out very well. What product are you using for the antique? I used to use the eco flo gels and couldn't get the results I wanted, then switched to the fiebings finishes and it was problem solved. Hope this helps!

5 hours ago, doubleh said:

Excellent work IMO. I would have refused the laced belt remembering how much I hated doing just a wallet known as a billfold back when I did them.

Thanks, yes a very slow process, I certainly undercharged for how long it took, but I will know for next time! 

 

[AlZilla]

Impressive work and the photography isn't too shabby, either!

Thanks for sharing.

[Chux]

On 3/29/2023 at 4:13 PM, AlexOstacchini said:

Thanks, much the same as you describe really. My process is as follows-

1. dye the base colours. For most of my background texturing I will paint the dye in with a paintbrush.

2. Neetsfoot oil, applied over the whole piece with a sponge, but focusing mainly on the natural areas. Be aware though that this darkens colours quite a lot. 

3. Resist- I use fiebings tan kote for this. Quite often now I will give it a second coat after the first has dried.

4. Antique. Fiebings antique finish in this case, worked into the recesses with a sponge, then wipe off excess.

5. Once this has dried I give it a final polish with tan kote, which cleans off any antique that is still on the raised areas. 

I always try and give each stage a day of drying time. Maybe not necessary but it works for me and when I have tried to rush through things it never seems to come out very well. What product are you using for the antique? I used to use the eco flo gels and couldn't get the results I wanted, then switched to the fiebings finishes and it was problem solved. Hope this helps!

Thanks, yes a very slow process, I certainly undercharged for how long it took, but I will know for next time! 

 

Sorry for the late reply, life gets in the way sometimes. I used Fiebings light tan leather dye, followed with their pro resist and then used their vintage gel in medium brown. I'll admit I didn't allow as much drying time in between as you described. Nor did I use the neatsfoot oil, I'm going to have to pick some up the next time I'm out. Thank you for answering! That's one of the things I love about being here, everyone is so willing to share their knowledge!!

[AussieTanker]

On 3/30/2023 at 6:43 AM, AlexOstacchini said:

Thanks, much the same as you describe really. My process is as follows-

Absolutely stunning work.  It's very inspiring.  And thanks for sharing those tips on how to achieve it.

 

[Basically Bob]

Beautiful work! 

[BradA]

I'm new to leatherwork, haven't even posted till now. I'll never be able to tool like that just don't have the artistic ability but I would love to know how you keep the leather so perfect! I always wind up with dings on what should be smooth. Any advice would be appreciated! Beautiful work!

[Littlef]

1 hour ago, BradA said:

I'm new to leatherwork, haven't even posted till now. I'll never be able to tool like that just don't have the artistic ability but I would love to know how you keep the leather so perfect! I always wind up with dings on what should be smooth. Any advice would be appreciated! Beautiful work!

I'm a newby too, and here's what I've done trying to mitigate the same marks.  1 cut your nails short, and file them smooth. The shorter the better.  2.  Use a stitching pony.  The less you handle the leather, the less opportunity there is to mark it up.  3.  When you are stamping, hold the tool higher up, so your fingers are not in contact with the leather.  The more you drag your fingers around on the leather, the more opportunity there is to mark it up.  4.  I actually bought a pair of thin cotton "quilting gloves" They are designed to give you grip when feeding bulky layers of fabric through a sewing machine, but they are thin, and have grip in the finger tips, so you still have dexterity.  I just tried using them when working on my last holster, and it eliminated 99% of the stray fingernail marks.

[Littlef]

 - and I thought of a #5. - Clean your work space, and get rid of clutter.  This especially applies when the leather is wet.  The less junk you have sitting around on the workspace, the less things there are to bump the leather into that can make a mark on it.