Another Cigar Case

[Daniel Tyack]

Here's a cigar case I made for myself. It was my first legit floral carving attempt and the second box I have ever made and needless to say it took me WAAAY too long! Oh well, I dig it and I'm pretty stoked on how it came out

I got the this design (with permission of course) from one did for a water bottle. It just happened to fit perfectly.

I also made a quick video detailing the construction you can check it out here.

Tell me what you think! And for the pros out there please do tell if you see things I can improve on, I want to get better!

Enjoy!

[Aggiebraider]

Hey Daniel,

Thanks for posting that I really liked the first one you did and like this one even more. I would like to make a cigar case similar to this for my girlfriends dad, but I am not sure what size cigars he smokes, or what is a good size to make it so he can fit different sizes in. I also enjoyed seeing your workshop, always nice to see how different people set up their spaces. What kind of head knife is that sitting on your tabletop at the end of the video?

CW

[Daniel Tyack]

Hey Daniel,

Thanks for posting that I really liked the first one you did and like this one even more. I would like to make a cigar case similar to this for my girlfriends dad, but I am not sure what size cigars he smokes, or what is a good size to make it so he can fit different sizes in. I also enjoyed seeing your workshop, always nice to see how different people set up their spaces. What kind of head knife is that sitting on your tabletop at the end of the video?

CW

The main body of this case is 5.5" tall and is designed to fit cigars about the size that I like. What you can do is make a 5-6" main body and a 3-4" cap which will slide to accommodate the length. The best bet would be to find out his favorite cigar and get the measurements. Some guys like smaller sticks and some like big ones so you're going to have to find out. If you are working up a design run it by me and I'll tell you if you got your sizes right. I also found that a body piece 8" long or so works great for 4 cigars.

The head knife is one of the Al Stohlmans that Tandy sells. Glad you liked the shop, maybe I'll get a video one day when it's not so dark

[dscott]

man that one turned out great like the carving and desgin thanks for posting pics and video

[TomSwede]

That is an awesome cigar case :-)

Nice work and good job on the florals!

Tom

[builderofstuff]

Awesome work Daniel!

Chris

www.builderofstuff.com

[Stewart]

Hi Daniel

Some people have the gift of doing a lot of things good-your one of them

I would like to know # tool that you used for the matted background ? I am doing a personal flask cover for myself

and that background woluld look perfect i am going to tandys today for some scrap leather.

Thanks Joe St.

[King's X]

DT: That came out really nice. I am glad the design worked out for you. On my facebook site, I have posted a few more patterns free to use in case you have a project coming up. Too bad I gave up smoking sticks.....it would have been a nice project for me.

Best of luck

[dirtyernie]

Here's a cigar case I made for myself. It was my first legit floral carving attempt and the second box I have ever made and needless to say it took me WAAAY too long! Oh well, I dig it and I'm pretty stoked on how it came out

I got the this design (with permission of course) from one King's X did for a water bottle. It just happened to fit perfectly.

I also made a quick video detailing the construction you can check it out here.

Tell me what you think! And for the pros out there please do tell if you see things I can improve on, I want to get better!

Enjoy!

Wonderful!!

Edited August 11, 2010 by dirtyernie

[Fredo]

Very nicely done, I am still strugling with fit and finish on most of my projects. You seemed to have mastered that part quite well

You get bonus points for the choice of the rocky-p's. I'll take a maduro robusto please.

Edited August 11, 2010 by Fredo

[Daniel Tyack]

Hi Daniel

Some people have the gift of doing a lot of things good-your one of them

I would like to know # tool that you used for the matted background ? I am doing a personal flask cover for myself

and that background woluld look perfect i am going to tandys today for some scrap leather.

Thanks Joe St.

Joe, thanks for the kind words! I do appreciate it

I found the backgrounder at Stonehedge Leather in San Diego. I'm pretty sure it's by Hidecrafters though I can't find the exact tool on their site... All the matting was done with a very small head backgrounder that has the label's "SKA 104-1" and "Craft Japan". I found this one on www.hidecrafter.com but I'm not certain it's the same stamp. They shape was the same as this but that seems to be smooth... I got that stamp because it seemed to have very defined points and a very clean cut (not like the craft tool ones that have the valleys filled with chrome plating). I liked it so much that I bought a second one and ground it down to about half the size for really small detail work. It's likely that the one I got was an old model with an old SKU number, I would call Hide Crafters and ask. I think

Thank you all for the encouragement! I'm still new at this and do appreciate it

[King's X]

Your diving in and hitting it hard............that is all that matters!

[JohnBarton]

This is really nice. As a construction fanatic I am always far more interested in how things are made rather than how they are decorated. So I was very pleased to see what you did on the seam. I think that seamless or flush-seamed closed shapes are one of the holy grails of leather working.

I don't really see anything that I would say you should do "better" - a couple things here and there where it still has a tiny bit of being not quite straight, not quite "tight" yet but overall a nice piece. I am sure that if you keep doing these the ones you do a year from now will be as near to "perfect" as humanly possible.

To me as a constructionist I have the feeling when I am looking at this that you were figuring out what you wanted to do on the fly as you were building it. I don't know if that's how you work but it's how I work when I get going.

I have other comments relating to the layout and symmetry but as I said I see this as a practice piece so I doubt highly that you were too concerned about that aspect at this point.

[buffalobill plus Ed D]

Hey...you are killing me with those pictures...what camera/lens do you use???Oh...the cigar thing it's nice too...lol...love your work !!!

[Daniel Tyack]

This is really nice. As a construction fanatic I am always far more interested in how things are made rather than how they are decorated. So I was very pleased to see what you did on the seam. I think that seamless or flush-seamed closed shapes are one of the holy grails of leather working.

I don't really see anything that I would say you should do "better" - a couple things here and there where it still has a tiny bit of being not quite straight, not quite "tight" yet but overall a nice piece. I am sure that if you keep doing these the ones you do a year from now will be as near to "perfect" as humanly possible.

To me as a constructionist I have the feeling when I am looking at this that you were figuring out what you wanted to do on the fly as you were building it. I don't know if that's how you work but it's how I work when I get going.

I have other comments relating to the layout and symmetry but as I said I see this as a practice piece so I doubt highly that you were too concerned about that aspect at this point.

Now your talking! This case was very much an exercise in both carving and construction. Even though I like it a lot there are a lot of things I would changes and am in no way completely happy with the final product. I did make it up on the fly and there are plenty of things I would do differently.

I would LOVE to hear your comments on layout and symmetry!

[Stewart]

Daniel

Thanks for the info. Googled the # and it belongs to hidecrafters.

i did buy a 6885-00 from Tandy. I tried It out and liked the impression. But HideC.they. will be getiing a e-mail.

The flask will have Hobo Joe on each side of Hinze Lable in the middle. Also a Hobo symbol thats a square with a line

coming off the right top corner. Meaning alcohol aloud here. Also" rye wiskey only" on left bottom.

Joe Stewart

[Daniel Tyack]

Hey...you are killing me with those pictures...what camera/lens do you use???Oh...the cigar thing it's nice too...lol...love your work !!!

Shhhh! Don't tell everyone that pictures make or break a product

I'm shooting with a Canon 400D (Rebel) and those were with the Canon EF 50mm F1.4 USM.

I uploaded the the pictures to my Flickr so you can check out the meta data if you are wondering what settings I was using for each picture. I was too lazy to set up strobes to get some great lighting so I just made my shop lights work They are daylight balanced and show pretty accurate color (Doesn't everybody use daylight balanced lights in their shop... ). The overall hugh of the pictures is pretty warm (yellowish) but that's just because the bench is yellow and the leather is brown. The color of the case in the shots is very accurate.

[abn]

Daniel, great work on this project... Glad you get to keep and enjoy it!

[JohnBarton]

Now your talking! This case was very much an exercise in both carving and construction. Even though I like it a lot there are a lot of things I would changes and am in no way completely happy with the final product. I did make it up on the fly and there are plenty of things I would do differently.

I would LOVE to hear your comments on layout and symmetry!

Ok, well since you asked....... :-)

A few years ago I had a conversation with Jim Murnak who is a leather worker in New York. Jim said something that stuck with me and which I have tried to follow ever since. He said that one should not fill up a space with as much carving as possible and let it ramble because then it's not any different than wallpaper or printed fabric.

He said that the art in carving leather lies in planning to fill the space just for that space. The more I thought about it the more sense it made.

So I started looking at carving differently and really began to appreciate the carvers so much more who obviously drew their patterns just for an exact space. They filled the space with care and detail with no parts summarily cut off, nothing distorted to fit etc..... To me that shows major care and love.

Then the subject of symmetry and asymmetry. A lot of what we do is asymmetrical in that it won't be a mirror image on both sides but will have a theme throughout that ties in. I believe heavily in achieving balance in the piece when it comes to design. I don't like to have any elements covering any other elements without there being some blending.

So what does this mean for your piece?

Well as mentioned above I wouldn't allow the florals to be cut off. To me that looks like someone just cropped a picture. You piece is asymmetrical which is fine but I would have tried to balance the body and the lid more by tying in the design or even doing the lid in a completely different way. For example one idea that springs to mind would be to do the whole lid in the basketweave with your initials in the center and then focus on the body florals making them fit inside the space with the larger flowers visible when the lid is closed and then when the lid comes off it reveals a really cool vine pattern going around the piece. So in essence a surprise for the person taking the lid off.

This type of case lends itself wonderfully to whatever type of expression you want to do with it. So my advice on the decoration is to work on filling the space creatively with a lot of care and detail rather than overlaying the pattern and cutting it off when you run out of space.

Not that I want you to be like me but you can see how I approach this by looking at some of our more heavily tooled pieces. You will see some of our work violates the "rules" I stated above but most of those were done prior to my awakening so to speak. And please don't think that I somehow hold myself as better than anyone else when it comes to decorating leather. I have a folder called "exceptional tooling" which is full of pictures of just that. I frequently go to browse these pictures and dream of someday creating items that begin to approach those in beauty and execution.

For a great example of balance and symmetry look here: Peter Main Now Peter has an advantage in that he is an artist and he worked with the Stohlmans and he's been doing this since God first made leather. But to me he is the gold standard for fine elegant work. Again not saying everyone has to copy Peter's style. Just saying that in leather work paying attention to working the space carefully pays off.

I will truly enjoy following your progress. To steal a line from one of my favorite movies and butcher it with a paraphrase, 'you're gonna be one of the great ones'.

Now, you can return the favor and tell me how to take better pictures because yours ROCK.

Edited August 13, 2010 by JohnBarton

[Daniel Tyack]

Ok, well since you asked....... :-)

A few years ago I had a conversation with Jim Murnak who is a leather worker in New York. Jim said something that stuck with me and which I have tried to follow ever since. He said that one should not fill up a space with as much carving as possible and let it ramble because then it's not any different than wallpaper or printed fabric.

He said that the art in carving leather lies in planning to fill the space just for that space. The more I thought about it the more sense it made.

So I started looking at carving differently and really began to appreciate the carvers so much more who obviously drew their patterns just for an exact space. They filled the space with care and detail with no parts summarily cut off, nothing distorted to fit etc..... To me that shows major care and love.

Then the subject of symmetry and asymmetry. A lot of what we do is asymmetrical in that it won't be a mirror image on both sides but will have a theme throughout that ties in. I believe heavily in achieving balance in the piece when it comes to design. I don't like to have any elements covering any other elements without there being some blending.

So what does this mean for your piece?

Well as mentioned above I wouldn't allow the florals to be cut off. To me that looks like someone just cropped a picture. You piece is asymmetrical which is fine but I would have tried to balance the body and the lid more by tying in the design or even doing the lid in a completely different way. For example one idea that springs to mind would be to do the whole lid in the basketweave with your initials in the center and then focus on the body florals making them fit inside the space with the larger flowers visible when the lid is closed and then when the lid comes off it reveals a really cool vine pattern going around the piece. So in essence a surprise for the person taking the lid off.

This type of case lends itself wonderfully to whatever type of expression you want to do with it. So my advice on the decoration is to work on filling the space creatively with a lot of care and detail rather than overlaying the pattern and cutting it off when you run out of space.

Not that I want you to be like me but you can see how I approach this by looking at some of our more heavily tooled pieces. You will see some of our work violates the "rules" I stated above but most of those were done prior to my awakening so to speak. And please don't think that I somehow hold myself as better than anyone else when it comes to decorating leather. I have a folder called "exceptional tooling" which is full of pictures of just that. I frequently go to browse these pictures and dream of someday creating items that begin to approach those in beauty and execution.

For a great example of balance and symmetry look here: Peter Main Now Peter has an advantage in that he is an artist and he worked with the Stohlmans and he's been doing this since God first made leather. But to me he is the gold standard for fine elegant work. Again not saying everyone has to copy Peter's style. Just saying that in leather work paying attention to working the space carefully pays off.

I will truly enjoy following your progress. To steal a line from one of my favorite movies and butcher it with a paraphrase, 'you're gonna be one of the great ones'.

Now, you can return the favor and tell me how to take better pictures because yours ROCK.

Thank you sir! This is fabulous advise and I do agree. Your analysis was spot on as I just took another design and made it fit! I'm not much of an artist so Im just going to have to practice drawing florals

Honestly, this is great advise and will be re-visited often!

As for lighting, I'll do an official tutorial for lighting and shooting leather products this weekend but my advise for now is "it's all about lighting". We are used to looking at everything in ambient light (reflected) with a bit of direct light. It's mostly dull and boring. To attain eye popping photography you just have to hit the product with "larger than life" off axis lighting. When you introduce different light sources (essentially more or them or more dramatic than you are used to looking at) it accents shading, brings out color and actually confuses the observer a bit causing them to go WOW.

If you really want good photography, start studying light. Just look at how it lays on everything, note the axis it's coming from, if it's direct or ambient, how it creates shadows etc. Do that for a couple days, then when I post a tutorial you may just have another awakening I do shoot with a mid range SLR and a decent lens and that helps but you can still attain good photos with a point and shoot with good lighting.

I think for the tutorial I will purposely take good photos with my iphone camera and bad photos with my SLR... Sounds like fun!

Thanks again for the awesome analysis.