First Gun Belt with Cartridge Loops

[Crystal]

Hi All!

First let me give a big "Thank You" to everyone that I have pestered with guestions on this project! I couldn't have done it without all of your help.

Lots of boo-boo's, oops's, and one really big that I managed to hide. Still need to get better with my edges and my sewing. Ahh, that sewing, somehow I get it okay on the front side and messy on the back side. I will get it figured out sometime.

As always, I am open to any critiques, "shoulda done's", or "ought-to-do's".

Thanks for looking!

Crystal

[coldmaker0]

excellent job,love the two tone color,would like to have seen the holster two tone also

[Timd]

That looks great, Crystal. Very clean, very professional.

[jbird]

Crystal

I am proud of you awsome work you are a real talent.

Can you go in to how you got the two tone look are the seprate pieces or just dyed that way.

Great work hers a glass of Milk

Josh

PS thanks for sharing I love it

Edited June 22, 2009 by jbird

[Crystal]

excellent job,love the two tone color,would like to have seen the holster two tone also

Thanks! The holster was made first for a .44 Ruger, the guy didn't want this style he wanted a molded one. Hubby was the go between in the order... I am wondering if he messed it up just to get a holster for himself? lol I thought about re-doing the holster to match, and probably will someday.

Crystal

That looks great, Crystal. Very clean, very professional.

Thanks alot, Tim!

Crystal

I am proud of you awsome work you are a real talent.

Can you go in to how you got the two tone look are the seprate pieces or just dyed that way.

Great work hers a glass of Milk

Josh

PS thanks for sharing I love it

Thanks, Josh. The two-tone is just dyeing. I came in about 1/2" from the edge and lightly scribed the line. Then I ran a creaser on that line to give it a little more definition, and just used a small paint brush to paint it on.

Thanks for the glass of milk!

Crystal

[jbird]

Well you did a fantastic job with the dying.

Josh

[MarkB]

Crystal

The late nights and sore hands payed off. We talked a lot on the live chat about this project and I knew you would finish it. You did a Great job on it, the two tone looks really nice and the whole thing turned out. I'm really glad that you posed it for all to see.

Keep up the great work.

Mark

[kenneth]

Crystal, That sure is a very nice gun belt. I have been wanting to do one but havent got up the nerve yet. I do like the two tone colors. All in all I think you did a great job, just hope my first one will be that good.

Keep up the good work

Kenneth

[MADMAX22]

Great job, I as well really like that two tone color scheme you did. Excellent work.

[Crystal]

Crystal

The late nights and sore hands payed off. We talked a lot on the live chat about this project and I knew you would finish it. You did a Great job on it, the two tone looks really nice and the whole thing turned out. I'm really glad that you posed it for all to see.

Keep up the great work.

Mark

Thanks, Mark. I appreciate you keeping me motivated!

Crystal

Crystal, That sure is a very nice gun belt. I have been wanting to do one but havent got up the nerve yet. I do like the two tone colors. All in all I think you did a great job, just hope my first one will be that good.

Keep up the good work

Kenneth

Thank you, Kenneth. For me the hardest part is just getting started, so go ahead and give it a try! Be sure to post it when you get it done!

Crystal

Great job, I as well really like that two tone color scheme you did. Excellent work.

Thanks, MadMax! I wanted to do something decorative, but was a little intimidated to try to carve something that large. So I ended up playing with the dye.

Crystal

[badger]

Really nice piece, I love the colours.

Only two things, since you asked for a critique

1. Stitch around the slot where the holster comes through the drop-loop. This is a high-stress area and will probably come apart eventually if just glued.

2. The main belt keeper, the large one, can be skived down and inserted and stitched between the two layers of the main belt so it isn't visible on the front. I prefer this personally, but it's a matter of taste.

Really nice job though.

Badger

[Crystal]

Really nice piece, I love the colours.

Only two things, since you asked for a critique

1. Stitch around the slot where the holster comes through the drop-loop. This is a high-stress area and will probably come apart eventually if just glued.

2. The main belt keeper, the large one, can be skived down and inserted and stitched between the two layers of the main belt so it isn't visible on the front. I prefer this personally, but it's a matter of taste.

Really nice job though.

Badger

Thank you, Badger!

Stitching around the holster slot is something I will do. I was having a problem with the holster flap fit the way I had originally made it. I finally fixed that problem so everything would fit thru the original slot - but until that point I was leaving some wiggle room to make the slot wider.

I will use your suggestion for the back keeper next time. I didn't like the bulk either with that, and just couldn't think of another way to go with it.

Thanks again!

Crystal

[badger]

My pleasure!

Badger

[hidepounder]

Great job Crystal....looks really nice! The two tone spices it up.

Bob

[Crystal]

Great job Crystal....looks really nice! The two tone spices it up.

Bob

Thank you, Bob! I am happy that the two-tone is looking good to everyone. I liked it, hubby didn't (he's a minimalist) -so I wasn't sure how it was going to look to others.

Crystal

[rhall]

Nice work Crystal, looks good to me!

[Casey Jordan]

Crystal,

Very nice and professional!

I do have one question about the bullet loops. Since you did an excellent job of getting them nice and tight it is hard to tell if you sewed between the loops or just run the bullet loops through slots. I'm guessing through slots.

Either way it's very nice.

[Crystal]

Nice work Crystal, looks good to me!

Thanks, Bob. I saw that you got your new machine... I get into another one of these I may beg to come down for you to sew it for me...ahhh..,errrr... give me a demonstration.

Crystal

Crystal,

Very nice and professional!

I do have one question about the bullet loops. Since you did an excellent job of getting them nice and tight it is hard to tell if you sewed between the loops or just run the bullet loops through slots. I'm guessing through slots.

Either way it's very nice.

Thank you, Casey! I did the slots. I might try sewing next time instead. The slots worked well and seemed to line up pretty good. More accident than planning, I think.

Crystal

[Casey Jordan]

Thank you, Casey! I did the slots. I might try sewing next time instead. The slots worked well and seemed to line up pretty good. More accident than planning, I think.

Crystal

Well it looks real good, accident or not.

The reason I asked is because I hand sew between all of my loops on my miniature bullet loops to get them nice and tight. I might try the slot method to see if it will come out as nice as yours on a miniature.

[Crystal]

Thank you, Casey! I did the slots. I might try sewing next time instead. The slots worked well and seemed to line up pretty good. More accident than planning, I think.

Crystal

Well it looks real good, accident or not.

The reason I asked is because I hand sew between all of my loops on my miniature bullet loops to get them nice and tight. I might try the slot method to see if it will come out as nice as yours on a miniature.

Casey - I just have to ask... are your miniature guns and ammo real? Was trying to think of what size casing you would need for a miniature belt then got to thinking about the guns that go with the belts....

Crystal

[Casey Jordan]

Casey - I just have to ask... are your miniature guns and ammo real? Was trying to think of what size casing you would need for a miniature belt then got to thinking about the guns that go with the belts....

Crystal

I have used .22 shorts for bullet loops on the miniature gun rigs. They look fine but are just a tad big for scale. I have also used some hand made bullet dummys that were better scale for my miniature Bholin gun rigs.

As for the guns, I have used the cheaper miniature replica guns that work very well and don't jump up the price much. The hammer and trigger work and the cylinder will spin but they will not fire.

I have also used Uberti miniature guns which run from $500.00 and up. Obvisouly not everyone will pay this for a miniature gun rig. These guns are made by gunsmiths in Italy and are exact replicas of the real thing, right down to the serial numbers.

The older models had a hollow barrel and some say they would fire a bullet. I don't know this to be a fact, I have never seen it done and I don't know if any ammo would fit in the cylinder.

The newer models have a solid barrel in the center so they won't be able to fire anything.

Hope this answers your questions.

[Crystal]

I have used .22 shorts for bullet loops on the miniature gun rigs. They look fine but are just a tad big for scale. I have also used some hand made bullet dummys that were better scale for my miniature Bholin gun rigs.

As for the guns, I have used the cheaper miniature replica guns that work very well and don't jump up the price much. The hammer and trigger work and the cylinder will spin but they will not fire.

I have also used Uberti miniature guns which run from $500.00 and up. Obvisouly not everyone will pay this for a miniature gun rig. These guns are made by gunsmiths in Italy and are exact replicas of the real thing, right down to the serial numbers.

The older models had a hollow barrel and some say they would fire a bullet. I don't know this to be a fact, I have never seen it done and I don't know if any ammo would fit in the cylinder.

The newer models have a solid barrel in the center so they won't be able to fire anything.

Hope this answers your questions.

Thanks for the information, Casey! It is very interesting to learn what collectors want, and the miniature guns are very interesting. I did a quick look online and found this site: http://miniaturefirearms.net/index.html I can't believe it, Miniature Gatling guns! Miniature rifles! I had no idea such things existed. I need to get out more...

Thanks for the info! It lead to some interesting places!

Crystal

[sdkid]

Looks great C. The 2 tone is a hit wit me.

[manfrommuc]

@Crystal

very fine work looks great.....and the color looks good to

@Casey

what kind of belts are on your webpage??

Its not for motorcycle riding I think!

Greetings

Johann

[TomSwede]

HOW CAN I HAVE MISSED THIS ONE!! DROP DEAD GORGEOUS MY FRIEND!!

I often get so caught up in all this business with tooling and all that and seeing a sweetie like this every once in a while is just a great reminder of the core in what we do, this is truely a fine piece of excellent leatherwork!!

Thank you Crystal, you made my day!!

Tom