My daughters checkbook cover

[ClayB]

This must be something like the cobbler's kids not getting new shoes. I was cleaning junk off the computer desk this morning and saw a juice packet under some papers. I was going to throw it away when I realized it's a bunch of juice packets sewn together. What the heck? When I turned it over, it hold my daughters check book! Guess she did ask for a check book cover a while ago. Another thing to add to my list.

[jbird]

that's a laugh can't see my self going around with that, pretty funny stuff.

Josh

[leatheroo]

lol!!!! the pressure is on now clay!!

[Crystal]

I have to give your girl an A+ on originality. I think dad should make her a checkbook cover just like her juice box one, only out of leather. If it looks like she is carting a feedbag around - that's probably her purse. Poor kid.

Crystal

[TrooperChuck]

I'm impressed with her inventiveness! I'd only start worrying if she started making clothing out of that stuff.

[MADMAX22]

That is pretty cool actually, and she did a good job too lol with getting everything spaced correctly and all that. I have to agree she's gonna give you a run for your money if she keeps up making stuff.

[yaklady]

Here I thought Jessi was only good with a gun, hunting those big bucks. She must have other big bucks she needs to keep safe. That is the most inventive checkbook cover I've ever seen! When you finally get around to making your daughter happy, you should put a big buck on it.

Kathy

[Lace]

They actually sell these in stores where I am from. They were really popular like 4 years ago. I owned a hand bag of kiwi strawberry juice. Hehe. It's the ultimate in recycling to make new things :D

[ClayB]

Well a couple days ago Jessi came up to me and said "Daddy, I need a real checkbook cover". I figured I was finally going to have to carve that frog that I have been putting off for so long, but no, she had just done a logo as an art project for school. She asked if I could put that on her cover.

Here's the picture she drew.

That didn't look too hard. It didn't take much to adjust it to fit. Carving only took a few minutes. I spent an hour or so on the coloring, and it was a failure. I tried to add lots of color with the eco flow dyes, followed that with a couple coats of block out, then finished up with tan all in one. The block out didn't block much out and it kind of looked like mud. SO, off to round 2. We decided that this one gets no color right from the start, so I had to come up with some other ideas to liven up the pattern a little. Jessi thought that a pro petal on the flames might bring them to life a little. Then she thought maybe some leather putty behind the hearts to make them pop. At that point, I decided maybe some plugs behind the initials were in order too. Well, why stop there, plug the stars and the flames too. I haven't done leather plugs in years, cuz my first experience with them wasn't very good. These were actually pretty easy to do and turned a pretty simple pattern into something kind of fun.

Here's how it turned out. She's pretty happy with it, so I am too!

[jbird]

Wow great stuff a lot better.

Josh

[Crystal]

Yeah - now that's a checkbook cover for the daughter of a leatherworker!

Jessi has some really good design sense and it sounds like she pays attention to what dad does in his shop. Flames and hearts look great with her suggestions. I like the addition of the plugs for the lettering, also. Great project!

Crystal

[Tkleather1]

I have heard a few guys talk about leather putty and plugs on here, I know that it is probably a very old idea but I have never heard of it. Could you talk me through how to do this. I like the outcome.

[CitizenKate]

Jessi definitely does have an eye for design. What a great collaboration. My dad and I used to put our heads together on stuff like this, too, and those are my fondest memories of him.

Kate

[ClayB]

I have heard a few guys talk about leather putty and plugs on here, I know that it is probably a very old idea but I have never heard of it. Could you talk me through how to do this. I like the outcome.

I use a lot of leather putty in my work, this is the first time I've used plugs in a LONG time. If you look at the tutorial I did on the buffalo here on LW, you can get an idea of how the putty works. Basically, you stretch the leather from the backside, then fill in the cavity you create with a mixture of leather dust and rubber cement. Once dry it is pretty flexible and you can mold and shape it by using tools on the front of the leather again. It works really well for things like animals where you want to create muscles etc. and you want a lot of stretch in the leather.

Plugs are pieces of leather or cardboard that you cut to shape, a little smaller than the carving, and glue to the back of the leather piece you are carving. They worked really well under the initials on this piece because I just wanted them raised a little. I started by carving the piece normally, then I traced the pattern again and cut it out a little bit smaller than the lines. You can usually see your beveling marks on the back side of your leather, and you glue the plug inside that line. Then you bevel around the plug on the front again to make it stand out. You can add more layers of plugs if you want your carving to stand out more, and you can shape your plugs by skiving if you want more detail. Al Stohlman wrote a book on embossing that explains the process of using plugs very well.

I knew I should have taken some pictures of the back of this before I put it together. I hope this gives you some idea though.