Laser Engraved Portfolio

[ArkieNewbie]

Hey everybody! This is my first post in a while. I just got this portfolio finished up for a customer and felt like it was worth sharing. This may be my favorite thing I've ever made!

What do y'all think?

[rleather]

A number of skill sets where involved in making your project. You handled them very well, I love the color choice, great job!

[KillDevilBill]

This is CLEAN. Nice design also. Nicely done!

[PastorBob]

Nicely designed.  Col 3 is one of my favorites.  I really like the closure device you selected.  Classy.  

[Dwight]

Good job in my book . . . 

May God bless,

Dwight

[bruce johnson]

Overall, looks really good. 

If you want fine tuning suggestions, read on. 

I'm not sure what is going on with your sewing but the back side wanders but the front side looks good. Round needle? Maybe shorten up that stitch length some too. My preference for "fine work" like yours is a little shorter stitch length.

Finally, the thing pounded into me by one of my resellers early on - the oversew to lock stitches. You want to put it in the least conspicuous place. Never on the front and your eyes are also drawn to the top and side of the back. Bottom of the back is the best place to "hide it". With tooled work you see the overall pattern of the tooling and borders first.  With plain leather like this, the first thing eyes are drawn to is the stitching and an obvious overlap breaks the "flow".  

Also, I would lightly round or "chip" the 90 degree corners and ends of your pockets and liners. 90 degree corners will eventually curl or lift.  

[ArkieNewbie]

On 9/12/2025 at 10:37 AM, bruce johnson said:

Overall, looks really good. 

If you want fine tuning suggestions, read on. 

I'm not sure what is going on with your sewing but the back side wanders but the front side looks good. Round needle? Maybe shorten up that stitch length some too. My preference for "fine work" like yours is a little shorter stitch length.

Finally, the thing pounded into me by one of my resellers early on - the oversew to lock stitches. You want to put it in the least conspicuous place. Never on the front and your eyes are also drawn to the top and side of the back. Bottom of the back is the best place to "hide it". With tooled work you see the overall pattern of the tooling and borders first.  With plain leather like this, the first thing eyes are drawn to is the stitching and an obvious overlap breaks the "flow".  

Also, I would lightly round or "chip" the 90 degree corners and ends of your pockets and liners. 90 degree corners will eventually curl or lift.  

Thank you, Bruce! I definitely appreciate the suggestions!

Yes sir the need was round. I couldn't figure out why that wandering happened. Would the needle shape effect it?

On 9/12/2025 at 6:15 AM, PastorBob said:

Nicely designed.  Col 3 is one of my favorites.  I really like the closure device you selected.  Classy.  

Thanks, Bob! I love those closures too! They're a lot like the Loxx brand ones but I like these smaller versions from Rocky Mountain Leather for things like this. 

On 9/12/2025 at 3:24 AM, KillDevilBill said:

This is CLEAN. Nice design also. Nicely done!

Thanks so much! 

[ArkieNewbie]

On 9/12/2025 at 9:22 AM, Dwight said:

Good job in my book . . . 

May God bless,

Dwight

Thank you sir!

On 9/11/2025 at 6:03 PM, rleather said:

A number of skill sets where involved in making your project. You handled them very well, I love the color choice, great job!

Thanks so much! Really appreciate that! 

[Gezzer]

Really nicely done !!!!!

[bruce johnson]

8 hours ago, ArkieNewbie said:

Thank you, Bruce! I definitely appreciate the suggestions!

Yes sir the need was round. I couldn't figure out why that wandering happened. Would the needle shape effect it?

 

Yes needle type makes a huge difference in the appearance and uniformity of stitches. The only times I used round needles was for nylon. I preferred LR needles for my leather, and then rolled the backside stitches with an appropriate sized overstitcher when appearance mattered like it does here. I have attached a picture of some backside stitching as it came out of the machine with one side left as-is and one side overstitched.