Background thoughts?

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Hi All,

Id like some advice on what to do with the background on this archers bracer.

My second piece of leatherwork on show here. Various parts are in different stages of completion, because well, Im still learning and deciding on which technique is the best.

First thing I found was inadequate tools. I didnt have any small delicate bevlers or shaders to get into the little nooks, using the big ones on edge just made a mess in parts. So this I know.

I think Id like to put some more cracks in. As I was playing with cracking the leather I realised it was going to be hard to get it symetrical ..ie like over both the ring dragons.

The holes are ventilation for sweat. I should have used a smaller punch for inside the main dragon especially towards the head and tail. This was a learning mistake. My punch would not go thru the 3.3m leather, by the time it did it had made a massive hole cause its tapered isnt it..dulp. I actually ended up drilling them which worked real well. Ill need to burnish the vent holes, might make up a little cone shaped piece of dowl and slick it like an edger.

The dragon came out well , I elongated the aspect ratio to compensate for the curve around the arm. This worked, once cuved it doesnt look fat or thin but just right. The scales are not pronounced as much as Id planned. Hopefuly some stain will fix this.

Even with a sharp round knife I found it hard to cut the leather shape out especially the corners. Luckily I left some room for sanding back this time:)

I need to drill some holes for the lacing down both sides, but Ill do that in the final fitting.

The two pointer like designs. Hmm had lots of trouble with these. I wanted them inset like carved into stone. The left hand side I tried a bumpy aggressive look while the right is a little smoother. Im going to fill them with black(die or acrylic paint?) and thought that any texture would have to be aggressive for it to show thru? I may have over done it. I need to clean up the edges once I get a suitable tool.

Now the background.

You can see on the main dragon I matted some of the inner knotwork. I think I prefer this to the non matted ones, makes the body stand out more. What Im not sure of is whether to matt the entire peices background or just go to the edges of the designs.(like the ring ones)

Boarder. not sure to leave that flat as is remembering there will be lacing holes either side or to stamp some boarder in there.

I was also thinking of skiving the pointy bit as its much stifer than expected, but then I dont want it to end up floppy and curving outward.

Next step is to clean up, then background, case it to fit my arm then dye it.

This is not going to be a masterpiece ;lol but if it protects the arm ill be happy.

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Finished this off some time back but forgot to post.

I ended up with a sqwiggle line(veiner) that all pointed to the tongue.

Had some trouble with the metalic paints smudging with the dye. I even tried sealing the metalic paint first but the dye still cut thru the sealer and removed some of the paint.

All in all Im happy with my first attempt. As an armguard used for archery it works extremy well.