prizes for the oak leaf carving contest

[Luke Hatley]

MIKE DONT CUT YOURSELF TOO SHORT, DO THOES OAK LEAVES AGAIN

AND LEAVE THEM NATURAL WITH MABEY A LITTLE ANTUQUE ON THEM..

IMHO.....

[Patrice]

My God!

Each time i see good carving such as the one made by Mr. Linell, i must confess that i'm getting discourage by my own carving. It seem that i'll never be able to achived amazing results such as professionnels

I know, i know, practice, practice, practice

[Regis]

Patrice & others. Don't be toooo discouraged because I just discovered that the oak leaves in my yard even look bad compared to Jim's. Even tossing in a few acorns and arranging in nice display, the leaves in my yard are flat and uneven.

[elktracks]

I can still remember studying every detail of Al Stohlman's carvings in Tech Tips, Belts Galore and his many other books when I was first learning to carve leather. I dreamed of being able to do leatherwork that looked nice. I only had a basic 7 set of tools then, but that didn't stop me from dreaming. It seemed that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get my work to even come close to measuring up. But doing leatherwork to that degree was still my goal. I got to the point where I could do work that others thought looked good and I eventually convinced myself that the photography had to make Al's work look better in the books than it actually was. I was comfortable with my work until the day I got to actually see some of Al Stohlman's work. I got to hold it and examine it...............and I was humbled.

That was a turning point for me and my leatherwork. In that moment, I realized how far I was from ever having my work compare to Al Stohlman's and yet at the same time I realized that it really can be done. I was holding the evidence in my hands. This realization inspired me strive all the harder to continue to refine my knowledge and skill. I applied myself to leather carving with a deep determination that one day I would do that kind of work and people would compare their work to mine.

It is my hope to inspire those who study my work to say to themselves, "I can do that". Please study my work and be convinced that it can be done and that yours will look that good or better one day. The skill and talent to carve leather the way I do, was not discovered until I was inspired to develop them. I pray you will have as much joy developing your gifts as I have mine.

Jim Linnell

Edited December 22, 2007 by elktracks

[johnny7]

Beautiful work, Jim and welcome to the forum. Guess I will downloading some of your patterns from Tandy and getting to work.

Johnny

Edited December 22, 2007 by johnny7

[Beaverslayer]

Welcome to the forum Mr. Linnell, I feel honoured and priveledged to have you on the same forum as I. Your work is very inspiring, and I too hope that one day I will be as good as you. Although I do not lean toward the oakleaf and such, I have been tempted to give them a try just to see if I can. Thank you for you words of encouragement, and hope to see lots more of you work, and read your comments.

Ken

[Don101]

Hi Jim welcome to the forum we are very glad to have you here with us, i have now seen lots of your work and really like it ive got a small collection of pics from your work and peek now and then to admire the craftman ship, i realy like the knife sheath with the buck on the front,

before i joined this forum all i knew was old west carving and nothing else realy interested me, then i saw work from the likes of Clay, and it blew my mind as it was a whole new ball game the same with beza and david with there seats, i could go on and on and mension nearly every member on this forum as they all have there own ideas and styles, its just great to have so many tallented poeple here, Don

[Roger]

Welcome to leatherworker Jim!

I hope you can find the time to stop in now and then!

I am a big fan of your work. I've used quite a few of your patterns.

Your oak leaves are very inspiring to me!

[Guest]

Jim's work looks great on the internet; but you should see it in person! Some of us lucky folks here in Cincinnati had a chance to do just that when Jim stopped in to our Wednesday night work group several months ago. (We meet every other Wednesday at the Cincinnati Tandy store.) Watching Jim carve is a treat indeed.

Hello again Jim, and welcome to Leatherworker.net.

David Theobald