Two Bracers

[TomSwede]

Sorry for abscence lately, haven't been doing much leatherwork lately and dipping my finger into the art of tattooing...an experience just as humbling as leatherwork.

The first bracer here is the raven bracer wich is made to match the raven dayplanner posted some year ago. Same carving but a bit smaller in size, very tight to carve.

I got tired of the tandy edge beveler that seldom produce fine result no matter how much I strop it. Maybe I'm just bad at stropping?

Anyways I skipped the beveler and wetsanded the edge with a medium type sandpaper and slicked the edge with just water, best edge produced so far. I used some black wax to really finish it off.

A pic of the dayplanner is included for referal.

Next bracer is a bit more playing with my fav black and red combo. Edges turned out even better and I didn't treat them with any black wax this time.

[TwinOaks]

Welcome back Tom, glad you're still around. Nice looking bracers.

[dscott]

great work love your carvings

[alb]

I like those very much. The detail on the carving is great. The black and red one is striking. I'd like to know how you did the coloring on that one.

[TroyS]

Love the Black & Red two tone Tom!

That rocks!

Thanks for the inspiration!

[TomSwede]

Thank you very much all!!!

The two tone is quite simple to make but it takes long time with fine brushing.

I just brush the black on with a no2 brush, the brush must be unloaded a bit before you do edges because the dye will absorb and spread out if brush is to loaded. After this is done with the black i just use another no2 brush and apply red in all the cuts. Painting took 5 hrs and I do feel I rushed a bit with it. Just gotta be very careful and steady on the hand, light brushing, just pressing a bit too hard and the brush will unload and create a splodge that spreads out in the cut.

Center red section of the carving is painted with a 50/50 mix of red dye and denatured alcohol so I don't get it too dark. Then I seal with acrylic sealer (fiebings) and apply Tandys black gel antique. Let it sit for a couple of mins and then remove it with a damp cloth wrapped around my finger. I can mention also that I use E-294 tool to create the structure in that part, I tool it very hard and the leather is almost dry when I do it so that I don't push the mass of the leather up against the edges wich was beveled for depth before the backgrounder/camouflage tool.

Tom

[Leather Ink]

Great to see your work up again! How exactly do you use the sand paper and water to burnish? I use gum tragacanth and a bone folder, is it much the same?

[alb]

THanks for the reply. I should have realized there was no shortcut - just an incredibly steady hand and an attention to detail.

Again - great work - thanks for posting it!

Ann

[TomSwede]

Thx leatherink!!

I discarded the edge beveler totally and sanded the edges to a round shape before the casing went out totally. First i sand it roughly to remove material and then gently so that I don't get alot of "beard" form the fleshfibres. Finally I gently sand in one direction only to really comb of the last little "beard" left.

After that I color and rewet the backside and formdry the bracer to the arm. Last of all I rewet the edges by dipping them into a bowl of water and let them suck up some water and then I just polish/burnish the heck out the edges with Tandys bonefolder. No gum-trag...just a damp edge with regular tapwater.

Thx Ann!!

There is a shortcut tecnique for a similar result called block dyeing but gives you a little less distinct result but is very nice to work with once you get the hang of it.

Look for Citizen kates tutorial on this, I learned it from that tut.

Tom

[Tina]

Störtgillar dina armband lil'bro...Du har verkligen lyckats hitta din egen stil, Skitläckert

Edited July 22, 2010 by Tina

[TomSwede]

Störtgillar dina armband lil'bro...Du har verkligen lyckats hitta din egen stil, Skitläckert

Hallo Sis....Tack!! Vet du, jag ska ha ditt telenr nånstans men hittar inte det, skicka det igen är du snäller.

Tom