Bear paw lesson

[ClayB]

thanks, Clay for the info on the hair tool.. i'm going to try to make one with a dowel and see how that works first.. thanks again..how do you make or were do you buy the filler dust for your embossings?

Hidecrafter used to carry the leather dust, but I am not sure if they still do or not. I just looked quickly through Tandy's catalog and I dont see it in there either. I know that you can get it from Jan Schoonover, that's where I got my last order from. He gets it from a tannery in Texas I think, but I dont know which one. I think it's the dust they get when they sand down the back of hides to make them even. I you want some, let me know and I will find some for you. I was told once that you can make it yourself by using a coffee grinder. I tried it with a cheap electric one and the blades in it lasted about 30 seconds. Maybe an old hand crank one would work better, I dont know. I also dont know how fine that dust would be. The stuff I get from Jan is really fine powder and works the best out of any I have ever gotten.

[Rawhide]

Hidecrafter used to carry the leather dust, but I am not sure if they still do or not. I just looked quickly through Tandy's catalog and I dont see it in there either. I know that you can get it from Jan Schoonover, that's where I got my last order from. He gets it from a tannery in Texas I think, but I dont know which one. I think it's the dust they get when they sand down the back of hides to make them even. I you want some, let me know and I will find some for you. I was told once that you can make it yourself by using a coffee grinder. I tried it with a cheap electric one and the blades in it lasted about 30 seconds. Maybe an old hand crank one would work better, I dont know. I also dont know how fine that dust would be. The stuff I get from Jan is really fine powder and works the best out of any I have ever gotten.

The dust is still available at hidecrafters.

Marlon

[yaklady]

Our Tandy's manager made some leather dust using a sander. I forget how many days he said it took to get a bag full. It certainly wasn't worth the time. Like Marlon said, Hide Crafters still carries it. At the show, it was about $5 a one pound bag.

Another way you can make a multi-blade knife is to use a large x-acto knife handle. You can stack the blades like Clay said, and have to "trim" the outside edges a bit, but they will fit. Hide Crafters used to sell a knife like that. Their stacked blades were glued together somehow, and you may have to glue them as well. Roz Kaohn sells a knife like the one Clay explained, using a handle like the ones you would have a fountain pen tip in. Just use your imagination, you'll come up with something good.

Kathy

[Myriam]

Cool tutorial, Clay. I was wondering how you got that hair looking so neat. Thanks for sharing!

[carr52]

Earlier this year I experimented with trying to create a realistic looking bear paw using extreme embossing techniques. The project turned out better than I had hoped for. The pattern I used came from a drawing out of a book called "Bear, The Ultimate Artist's Reference" by Doug Lindstrand. Mr Lindstrand's books have been a really good source of pattern ideas for me. They include really good closeup photos of wildlife along with detailed drawings and field notes. He has authored several books on different wildlife species, and several more that contain chapters on many different species.

When I finished up my first bear paw, it didn't work on the project I made it for, so I decided to make it into a keyfob and entered it into the spring show in Michigan City where it ended up taking a best of catagory ribbon. It seems that some of the judges couldn't decide if the claws were real, made of plastic, or actually leather. When I was in Sheridan, I showed my latest paw to Jan and Alice Schoonover and Alice asked the same questions about the claws. Jan Schoonover has taught me most of what I know about extreme embossing and coloring leather, so when his wife couldn't tell if the claws were real or actual leather, I took that as a real compliment.

I have come up with a lesson on how I created these bear paws, and Johanna has made them available here on Leatherworker.net. You can see them by clicking here If you have any questions, let me know and I'll do my best to answer them.

OUTSTANDING is all I can say. Just OUTSTANDING. I love it.

Tom

[trastu]

hard work is very nice.

[Aurelie]

just "whoa"

really nice job!!

[Rattlerman]

My belt sander is very handy for leather dust.

[gunter]

damn awesome!