Lionshead with wings bracer finished!

[TomSwede]

Sometimes it is necessary to create something new and try to pushthe limits of what you do. I constantly do this but this time I feltlike figurecarving and more realistic art should happen. I spottedtheese wings when I looked for designs for thee previous bracer LochVostok and thought it’d look nice to have them on a bracer withoutborders. The lionshead comes from a drawing of a lionstatue so Ididn’t aim for a realistic lion.

The wings are handpainted with brushes and white diluted covacoloracrylic paint and I used a sharpie to paint the decorative feathers.Then I sealed them with Fiebings leather sheen wich I painted oncarefully because the white dissolves easily wich makes the black colorto run so very light touches with applying the sheen. Once dry Iapplied Tandys new eco-flo gel antique black to create shadows andtexture to the wings.

The Lionshead is handpainted with brushes and very diluted blackspirit dye. I tried to keep it as even as possible wich is very veryhard but I wanted to give that statue look. I used no antiques oranything else on it.

Tom

[BradB]

Tom,

This is awesome work brother!!! I like it!! Don't expect these to sit around to long before someone wants to buy them!! Are they for sale??? lol

B

[Luke Hatley]

MY O MY...... EVERYTIME I SEE A FINISHED ITEM THAT YOU HAVE DONE IT IS BETTER THAN

THE PREVIOUS ONE.......A TRUE LEATHER CRAFTSMAN.

LIKE I SAID BEFORE YOUR LEATHER WORK MAKES ME PROUD TO KNOW YOU...

[BradB]

MY O MY...... EVERYTIME I SEE A FINISHED ITEM THAT YOU HAVE DONE IT IS BETTER THAN

THE PREVIOUS ONE.......A TRUE LEATHER CRAFTSMAN.

LIKE I SAID BEFORE YOUR LEATHER WORK MAKES ME PROUD TO KNOW YOU...

Well put Luke, his work does seem to get better with every piece doesn't it? So it's not just me who noticed!! Hehe

[Storm]

For crying out loud. If you keeping going on like this Tom's going to get a bigger head than he already has.  I like what you did with the blending of the to images into the one. Better watch out you are fast becoming the Scandanavian Bracer King!

Storm

[CitizenKate]

Beautiful work, Tom! I agree with the others... if you are trying to reach new heights in leather artistry, I'd say you are succeeding!

Kate

[DG Leather]

Beautiful work, Tom! I agree with the others... if you are trying to reach new heights in leather artistry, I'd say you are succeeding!

Kate

All I can add is the canadian expression NO S-H-!-T (notice i used an exclamation for the i....)

[TomSwede]

Thank you very much all!!!!

Very glad to hear this Luke, I have at least passed 49 bracers a long time ago ha ha ;-)

Nah Storm I don't think we have to worry so much about my head becoming all that blown up and if it does I expect you to be on the job, get a ladder, climb up and pull me back down again ;-)

I agree that the blending of wings and head worked out great. It was just one of those times when you get an idea and it falls together byitself.

I'm glad the Ecoflo antique worked so great.

This one was all about pushin my skills furhter and explore and learn more about figure carving. I hope that someday I'll be landing in N.Dakota and Kathy and ClayB will force me to carve a pregnant yak so better start practicing on me animals. Cheated with a statuetype here ha ha 48 more and I'll make a furry Lion too ;-)

Thanks!! Without this board it would have been hard to take in the knowledge gathered the past two years. Owe it all to the members, Johanna and the Team!!!

Tom

Edited November 21, 2009 by TomSwede

[leatheroo]

way to go tom!!! these are gorgeous!! was it hard not to add some red????lol!!!

[TomSwede]

way to go tom!!! these are gorgeous!! was it hard not to add some red????lol!!!

HA ha thanks Roo!!! White takes longer than red for sure but I really enjoyed working with this one. NO letters...a relief!!!

NExt one should be black and red, I agree ha ha!!!!

Tom

[Crystal]

Wonderful, Tom!

I really like how you combined the wings and the lion. I don't think I'd have been able to put the 2 together. Great job all around! Congrats on the white... it's a bugger to paint.

Crystal

[BWL]

Sometimes it is necessary to create something new and try to pushthe limits of what you do. I constantly do this but this time I feltlike figurecarving and more realistic art should happen. I spottedtheese wings when I looked for designs for thee previous bracer LochVostok and thought it'd look nice to have them on a bracer withoutborders. The lionshead comes from a drawing of a lionstatue so Ididn't aim for a realistic lion.

The wings are handpainted with brushes and white diluted covacoloracrylic paint and I used a sharpie to paint the decorative feathers.Then I sealed them with Fiebings leather sheen wich I painted oncarefully because the white dissolves easily wich makes the black colorto run so very light touches with applying the sheen. Once dry Iapplied Tandys new eco-flo gel antique black to create shadows andtexture to the wings.

The Lionshead is handpainted with brushes and very diluted blackspirit dye. I tried to keep it as even as possible wich is very veryhard but I wanted to give that statue look. I used no antiques oranything else on it.

Tom

Tom

You have inspired me to make a pair of bracers for myself. I went to the local Tandy Store and bought a pattern (pattern attached) wish me luck!

Michael

Edited November 21, 2009 by Barbed Wire Leather

[TomSwede]

Wonderful, Tom!

I really like how you combined the wings and the lion. I don't think I'd have been able to put the 2 together. Great job all around! Congrats on the white... it's a bugger to paint.

Crystal

Thanks Crystal!!! I just drew the wings onto the tracingfilm first and then put it over the lionshead and filled in the blanks. You can see if you look closely that I'm fading in the white from the lion forehead so the transition is smooth there. Thats all.

Yeah, white is a bugger to paint.

Tom

You have inspired me to make a pair of bracers for myself. I went to the local Tandy Store and bought a pattern (pattern attached) wish me luck!

Michael

Thanks Michael!! It is great to know that people get inspired from my work, I keep getting inspired too and it's great for the creativity!!!

I can't see your pattern but PM me when you have something posted, I like to see it!!

Tom

[Tina]

Hi lil'bro,

Your designs is getting more and more interesting...Great work on these:-)

ps...Hittade ditt mail igår, har missat totalt i flytt och allt, skriver en rad under morgondagen

[ClayB]

These turned out really great Tom, but I cant wait to see the pair with the pregnant yak on them!! I'll be looking forward to the day you come to visit. I know we'll have a lot of fun.

[TomSwede]

Hi lil'bro,

Your designs is getting more and more interesting...Great work on these:-)

ps...Hittade ditt mail igår, har missat totalt i flytt och allt, skriver en rad under morgondagen

Thanks bigsis!!

One has to try and improve so glad it shows!!!

Förstår att ni haft mycket att syssla med, jag också!!!

These turned out really great Tom, but I cant wait to see the pair with the pregnant yak on them!! I'll be looking forward to the day you come to visit. I know we'll have a lot of fun.

Thanks Clay!! Yeah I bet Kathy want me to do yaks!!!

I'd like to do a longer trip and hook up with some people so I'm at least considering waypoints and coordinates. I have something exciting going on at the moment so I might end up visiting US sooner than I've planned but prolly wont have time to travel around if it works out. We'll see, it's just in initial phase at the moment and has to with leatherwork.

Tom

[canemaker]

True art !!!!

Thank you Tom for your passion for the craft. ( every piece you do is an inspiration to fledglings like myself )

Whats next I'm Hungry for more.

THANX AGAIN

Mike

[rhona]

Sometimes it is necessary to create something new and try to pushthe limits of what you do. I constantly do this but this time I feltlike figurecarving and more realistic art should happen. I spottedtheese wings when I looked for designs for thee previous bracer LochVostok and thought it'd look nice to have them on a bracer withoutborders. The lionshead comes from a drawing of a lionstatue so Ididn't aim for a realistic lion.

The wings are handpainted with brushes and white diluted covacoloracrylic paint and I used a sharpie to paint the decorative feathers.Then I sealed them with Fiebings leather sheen wich I painted oncarefully because the white dissolves easily wich makes the black colorto run so very light touches with applying the sheen. Once dry Iapplied Tandys new eco-flo gel antique black to create shadows andtexture to the wings.

The Lionshead is handpainted with brushes and very diluted blackspirit dye. I tried to keep it as even as possible wich is very veryhard but I wanted to give that statue look. I used no antiques oranything else on it.

Tom

Tom,

Your work is kick-ass!! You rock, man!!

Keep on pounding! Hehe

rhona

[Tao]

Those look great!

[kimberangel]

Tom ,

These are beautiful. How do you get your eyelets so pristine?

kimber

[Desiree]

I love the texture in the lion's face. Is that mostly done with a background tool?

[TomSwede]

Those look great!

Than you very much Tao, sorry for late reply.

Tom ,

These are beautiful. How do you get your eyelets so pristine?

kimber

Thank you Kimber!! Yeah eyelts have been discussed alot. The eyelet setter (the bottom pice) from Tandy is less than average in function. My solution: I have a marble tabletop so I just lay the leater with eyelets down on the table and give it a good whackin (about three blows) with the top part of the setter. I developed a feeling for when the eyelet is setttled okay since the marble is so hard, it lets me know through the hammershaft when it's done. To much force will flatten the eyelet ( I guess, haven't had that happen...yet).

I love the texture in the lion's face. Is that mostly done with a background tool?

Thank you very much Desiree!!!

There is no particlar texturing done in the face. I used a checkered beveler for major contours and modelled the rest with a regular modellingspoon (small). The eyebrows and eyelids is a bit "lifted" meaning I used the sharp edges of the spoon to cut inunder the conturs and raise them even a bit further to make more realistic eyes. The entire nose section is raised just a little bit to make it "pop out" a bit more. I used a larger modellingspoon for that wich was used to push out the leather from the fleshside. It doesn't protrude much but just gives it a little extra pop. Oh another thing..the whole lions face is painted with very diluted black dye (light grey is a more accurate term on the color) so maybe that contributes to what you feel is texture?? No antiques on the face, just handpainted with that grey color.

Tom

[Greybeard]

Nice work Tom!