Demon possessed seat

[outcast]

Really nice clean design. It looks great!

Shirley

Thanx Shirley! Ever since I first laid eyes on your work I've been a big fan. You're a master at what you do. Oh, and BTW congrats on the seat article published over at Bikernet. You really pulled it off even when yer ol man was sayin NO WAY!

[TomSwede]

I love it!

Very intricate skull design with those demons.

The shading is way nice.

Is it sealed, antiqued and sealed again??

Tom

[outcast]

Tom, I put Block Out on the teeth, then stained the artwork with X-1. Then oiled it with neetsfoot, applied liquid latex to the art work, dyed the rest black with Fiebings oil dye, peeled off the latex, and sealed it with Leather Balm w/ atom wax. Buffed it to a nice gloss, and applied Fiebings Aussie leather conditioner w/ beeswax. Pretty much in that order.

[whinewine]

Outcast: I have a stupid question...

How do you figure out how many lacing holes you need to punch to make them come out even when you come back to the starting point? (In other words, how do you determine the distances between the holes so that they are all the same distance apart?)

Thank you.

russ

[bustedlifter]

X-1 ? that stuff's getting as rare as hen's teeth or frog hair.

[shirleyz]

Thanx Shirley! Ever since I first laid eyes on your work I've been a big fan. You're a master at what you do. Oh, and BTW congrats on the seat article published over at Bikernet. You really pulled it off even when yer ol man was sayin NO WAY!

Thanks Steve,

I think you are my first official fan. Judging by that seat you are probably going to be a strong rival too, and that's great. While I have other great leather workers to compete against I have to keep improving. That way the standard by which we are judged gets higher. That's a good thing.

Just don't get too good, hear? I'll have to send the boys over! lol

Shirley

[TomSwede]

Tom, I put Block Out on the teeth, then stained the artwork with X-1. Then oiled it with neetsfoot, applied liquid latex to the art work, dyed the rest black with Fiebings oil dye, peeled off the latex, and sealed it with Leather Balm w/ atom wax. Buffed it to a nice gloss, and applied Fiebings Aussie leather conditioner w/ beeswax. Pretty much in that order.

Thanks Outcast!

Very helpful info that I can use to convince my supplier (best and about the only one in Sweden) that there`s more to the leatherworld than Supersheene and acrylic spray finishes!

You also reminded me that I forgot to buy Fiebings black and latex on my trip there a couple of days ago, well it got expensive enough as you probably know, he he

Thanks a bunch for the nice help and time given to explain.

And once again, Maaan that skull is nice, makes me (almost) regret having all my tattoo viking themed.

Tom

[outcast]

Outcast: I have a stupid question...

How do you figure out how many lacing holes you need to punch to make them come out even when you come back to the starting point? (In other words, how do you determine the distances between the holes so that they are all the same distance apart?)

Thank you.

russ

Whinewine, thats not a stupid question at all. In fact the layout can be very important to the overall look of the project.

This is what I do. First I measure from the edge the distance I want my lace holes to be from top to bottom. I always go with 3/8". Scribe or mark a line as shown in the next pic.

Then I measure the distance around the scribed line. I use mig welding wire & tape it down right on top of the line all the way around. I use the wire cuz it's easy to work with, and I have plenty of it in the fab shop all the time, and it won't stretch like lace or thread. See the next pic. You might not see the wire but it is there.

After I untape the wire from the template or leather I measure it's length. This one measured 37.75" around the lace line. Next I decide how far I want the holes to be apart. IMO 3/8" looks good, but ends up being a lot more holes, & more time lacing. So, on the bigger seats I go with 1/2". I never go over 1/2". Next I take the lace line measurement (37.75"), and divide it by .5 (1/2"). I come up with 75.5 holes. Mr. Monk wouldn't like that, so I round up to an even number of 76. Then I divide the lace line measurement (37.75") by the number of holes (76), and come up with .496". That's pretty darn close to 1/2", so thats what I will set my dividers to. I always mark a center line on the flesh side of the leather, straddle the line on both ends, and make my reference marks. That makes it all symetrical. Then I just step it off, and make my marks as shown in the next pic.

Works out pretty good for me, hope it helps you too.

[whinewine]

Whinewine, thats not a stupid question at all. In fact the layout can be very important to the overall look of the project.

This is what I do. First I measure from the edge the distance I want my lace holes to be from top to bottom. I always go with 3/8". Scribe or mark a line as shown in the next pic.

Then I measure the distance around the scribed line. I use mig welding wire & tape it down right on top of the line all the way around. I use the wire cuz it's easy to work with, and I have plenty of it in the fab shop all the time, and it won't stretch like lace or thread. See the next pic. You might not see the wire but it is there.

After I untape the wire from the template or leather I measure it's length. This one measured 37.75" around the lace line. Next I decide how far I want the holes to be apart. IMO 3/8" looks good, but ends up being a lot more holes, & more time lacing. So, on the bigger seats I go with 1/2". I never go over 1/2". Next I take the lace line measurement (37.75"), and divide it by .5 (1/2"). I come up with 75.5 holes. Mr. Monk wouldn't like that, so I round up to an even number of 76. Then I divide the lace line measurement (37.75") by the number of holes (76), and come up with .496". That's pretty darn close to 1/2", so thats what I will set my dividers to. I always mark a center line on the flesh side of the leather, straddle the line on both ends, and make my reference marks. That makes it all symetrical. Then I just step it off, and make my marks as shown in the next pic.

Works out pretty good for me, hope it helps you too.

Outcast: I don't know what I did (or didn't do???), but I can't get the pictures to show for some reason...

dammit!

I'm sorry. russ

[whinewine]

Outcast: I don't know what I did (or didn't do???), but I can't get the pictures to show for some reason...

dammit!

I'm sorry. russ

Sorry for bitching, Outcast. I just couldn't get the pics to show or open. While I am primarily a 'show me & I'll learn easier...' type of person, I know I can do this with your excellent directions (it's just a good reinforcement for me to see the photos, too).

Believe me, I am greatly appreciative of your help.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

russ