New member

[Dagr]

Morning all! Stopping in to say hi since I'm new to these forums. I've been working with leather off and on for over 30 years. Do alot of Ren Faires, and belong to the Adrian Empire (medieval reenactment group) so alot of my stuff is geared towards that. Belts, some armor, scabbards, baldrics, that sort of thing. However, by no stretch of the imagination, do I know everything about leather, but would like to learn what I don't. Without a doubt, I will be happy to share what I do know.

Wrap I made for a friends mug.

[Regis]

Dagr,

Welcome to our friendly and helpfull forum. this is a great place to share ideas, techniques, and leather conversation.

Good looking wrap and am looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Regis

[Pip]

that is really nice, and welcome, everytime someone new joins us the amount of knowledge grows exponentially. That is beautiful work.

[TomSwede]

Hello Dag and welcome to the board!

I've done a few bracers and must say the one you showed here is looking really good and gave me a nostalgia trip. Done many celtic and viking patterns and currently I'm dabbling alot with those silver/gold dyes. Most often on lettering, names and such but also for highlighting/colouring of lines like you do.

I have one question about this for you, I found it really hard to paint it on evenly at the edges of the line to paint because of glares (from my lightsource) that hides the edges. It looks all ok when I'm painting but when I take it outside for example the edges are not very smooth and the dye is unevenly going down the edges. Take it in to my shop and it looks really good there wich makes it very difficult to make the according touch ups. I could take my work outside but that solution doesn't work for winter.

So do you recognize any of this problem and if so how do you get around it. I have very bad natural lighting in my shop so I have to depend on alternative lighting sources. Thinking about trying to soften them down to be able to see what I'm doing with the brush.

Tom

[Dagr]

Thanks all

Tom, I've got my shop lite pretty well with over head florescents, a halogen one over the bench, and another under a shelf that is about 18" above the work surface. So I can see pretty well, inspite of now needing glasses for up close stuff, getting old sucks, lol. The gold and silver on my work is actually acrylic paint, straight out of the bottle. It works really well. I used to paint miniatures in my younger days, so have always had pretty good brush control. I'm thinking, change/add lighting, choose your brush well, and above all, take your time. I've gotten cocky and in a hurry before, and ended up sorry for it and redoing a few pieces.

[pete]

Hello Dag and welcome to the board!

I've done a few bracers and must say the one you showed here is looking really good and gave me a nostalgia trip. Done many celtic and viking patterns and currently I'm dabbling alot with those silver/gold dyes. Most often on lettering, names and such but also for highlighting/colouring of lines like you do.

I have one question about this for you, I found it really hard to paint it on evenly at the edges of the line to paint because of glares (from my lightsource) that hides the edges. It looks all ok when I'm painting but when I take it outside for example the edges are not very smooth and the dye is unevenly going down the edges. Take it in to my shop and it looks really good there wich makes it very difficult to make the according touch ups. I could take my work outside but that solution doesn't work for winter.

So do you recognize any of this problem and if so how do you get around it. I have very bad natural lighting in my shop so I have to depend on alternative lighting sources. Thinking about trying to soften them down to be able to see what I'm doing with the brush.

Tom

Tom- have you considered using a sheridan style beveler? It will give you a sharper "edge" and will square off better making it easier to paint, dye etc. Then you can go over it with a modeling tool if you want to round the edges. You might also try a filagree blade for a sharper more vertical cut leaving a squarer edge.

pete

[TomSwede]

Tom- have you considered using a sheridan style beveler? It will give you a sharper "edge" and will square off better making it easier to paint, dye etc. Then you can go over it with a modeling tool if you want to round the edges. You might also try a filagree blade for a sharper more vertical cut leaving a squarer edge.

pete

Hey Pete! I don't know really what the sheridan style beveler is but I'm guessing it's the smaller steep beveler, looks almost lika a little foot. I have Craftools one of this style ( Craftool B80) and I did use it alot before but it dosn't feel suited for the projects I've done lately. I use mostly checkered bevelers ( Craftool B802 and A104). I use the ceramic blade wich is the best I can get around here and I used alot of filigree too but as always I manage to blunt the steelblades when trying to sharpen them up.

Best for me to work with is an even sharp edge and just streak the brushes side in the same angle over it and that will get an even paint, I probably "got creative" and overworked the last time and due to to the lighing situation I thought I got it right but apperently not. I did go over it with the modeling tooling, making the edges a bit rounder and smoother so maybe that's a bit of the prob too. Next time I try to get as square edges as possible, just for testing with it.

Do need to work on the lighting tough and maybe try and find a magnifier too.

Thanks for your help Pete!

[TomSwede]

Thanks all

Tom, I've got my shop lite pretty well with over head florescents, a halogen one over the bench, and another under a shelf that is about 18" above the work surface. So I can see pretty well, inspite of now needing glasses for up close stuff, getting old sucks, lol. The gold and silver on my work is actually acrylic paint, straight out of the bottle. It works really well. I used to paint miniatures in my younger days, so have always had pretty good brush control. I'm thinking, change/add lighting, choose your brush well, and above all, take your time. I've gotten cocky and in a hurry before, and ended up sorry for it and redoing a few pieces.

You probably hit the nail on the head, -I (probably) got cocky!!!

Gotta work with the lighting situation but one thing comes to my mind, I didn't wear my forehead LED light as I usually do. I'll do the touchups with that one on tomorrow to figure out. I've done ok most times before so this time I just got a real surprise.

The silver/gold/kopper dyes I get from Danish company ROC is really fun to use and applies without any streaking. They go on top of black and all. Think there are silvery dyes availables in US to but from other companys.

Tom

[carugoman]

Hello all y'all!

To cut down on glare,when I work with silver,gold and gems; I don a pair of Polaroid sunglasses. This eliminates refracted light at right anples to the plane of observation.

[Cglemby]

Welcome and I love your work you displayed.

[Dagr]

Welcome and I love your work you displayed.

Thank you!

[anne newkold]

I had been thinking about making some thing similar..... I had thought about using the cardboard cup holder that 7-11 has for the coffee cups as a pattern for making a tooled leather ones..... I have some patterns drawn out just have been too busy with other projects to do this right now.

Love what you made for that cup.

[Dagr]

I had been thinking about making some thing similar..... I had thought about using the cardboard cup holder that 7-11 has for the coffee cups as a pattern for making a tooled leather ones..... I have some patterns drawn out just have been too busy with other projects to do this right now.

Love what you made for that cup.

Thanks Anne!

I think that will only work for you if the cup you're trying to wrap is the same size/shape as the 7-11 cups. Over the years I've created templetes for some of the more common sizes and shapes most of the faire mugs come in, or at least the ones people I know use.

Looks like you're close if you're in Reseda, I'd be more than happy to show you what/how I do it.

[Rawhide]

Very nice mug wrap. Welcome to the forum.

Marlon

[Grunt]

Nice work! Glad to have you aboard!

Nick

[Dagr]

Thanks very much gang. I'm feeling very welcome and at home here, and truely inspired by all the fine work I've seen. I've got all kinds of ideas now floating around in my head, begging to get out. LOL

[anne newkold]

Thanks Anne!

I think that will only work for you if the cup you're trying to wrap is the same size/shape as the 7-11 cups. Over the years I've created templetes for some of the more common sizes and shapes most of the faire mugs come in, or at least the ones people I know use.

Looks like you're close if you're in Reseda, I'd be more than happy to show you what/how I do it.

We will have to get together soon. It would be nice to meet some other leather crafter here in the Valley. In September our guild will have a display at the West Branch Library you should let us display some of your work too.

[Dagr]

Hmmm, maybe one of those new ideas will force its way onto some leather by then. I'd be honored if you took my work with you.