Fresh Off The Bench...

[Go2Tex]

I don't think it is too busy. You have too many cross over stems too close together is all. Adding a few more filler items will help break up the monotony that sometimes happens in Sheridan style tooling as well as add more interest in the pattern. Pattern is a bit choppy and hard to follow at leaves and some of the junctions. Not having stems circling all around the flowers all along edges helps to avoid the "grid" look also associated with Sheridan style.

As for the wool; try carding the wool along the edges and re-trimming. sometimes takes a couple of trimmings to get that smooth final bevel. Not so drastic as new clippers!

Another question regarding your handstitching: do you use an overstitch wheel after you stitch?

Keith

Thanks again for the ideas. Yep, those crossovers is what I was referring to as busy. Just too much goin' on and over and under and it got a bit wild and hard to follow. I saw that as soon as I finished it and looked at the pictures.

What do you mean by carding the wool? I think one problem with the wool is that is wasn't really dense and that made it difficult to keep an even trim, but yeah, it could use a bit more work, especially for the pics. Funny, I didn't even notice that before ya'll mentioned it.

[Go2Tex]

Top picture

First and foremost...this is a great looking saddle. I REALLY like the tooling.....A Sheridan style with an engraving flare thrown in. Great execution on it (depth, flow, etc..). The pictures are nicely done as well with the fading border.

A couple of things jumped out at me. The tooling abruptly stops at the rear dee. You could have extended that past the rear dees. The other item is that the shearling appears not to be beveled the same towards the rear of the skirt (May be the picture but it looks as if there is a transition there).

Cantle from the rear

The shearling also appears to be uneven here as well.. A couple of places almost appear as though the shearling was nicked....once again it may just be the picture.

Horn/Fork Closeup

I have nothing...Looks great.

Top View & Cantle View towards rear

Cropping of the pictures could have been a little neater. These both throw you off in looking at the pictures. The cantle shot throws you off quite a bit in the smoothness of the cantle. (top is actually pretty good except for the white showing around the edges.

The cantle stitching appears to be a little off on some of the stitches (some variability there).

I really like the fact that you took so many pictures that detail your work, Documenting great work like this helps market your work. This is great work and your pictures can only help you sell more work. Keep up the great work.

Regards,

Ben

A couple of folks have mentioned the way I blanked out behind the rear dee. I actually copied that idea from another guy because it made sense to me. That area gets a lot of wear and the tooling will just be mashed down anyhow, so why not leave it blank, sort of like around the front rigging plate. But now that I did it, I have somewhat mixed emotions about it myself. A hard border design might work better for this concept.

Appreciate the comments, though, everyone. Thanks for all the ideas and tips.

[gtwister09]

BOTTOM LINE - It still looks great.

Regards,

Ben

[steve mason]

Thanks for the comments, Steve.

Yeah, there is a lot goin' on in there. Maybe a bit too much goin' on. It's a little busy in spots. I'm going to simplify the next one a bit, I think. Always looking to improve it.

Ben; I just wanted to clarify my comments on your carving, I really like the carve job you did, it has the sheridan style to the stamping but the layout is much more interesting that a lot of the typical sheridan style carving I see. I like all the crossover's etc, not just plain old circle after circle. Good Job.

[kseidel]

What do you mean by carding the wool? I think one problem with the wool is that is wasn't really dense and that made it difficult to keep an even trim, but yeah, it could use a bit more work, especially for the pics. Funny, I didn't even notice that before ya'll mentioned it.

People who show sheep use a tool called a "card" to lift the wool to a uniform smooth finish. The carding tool is like a brush with thin wires for bristles about 1/2" long and all bent about half way down the bristles. The brush body is curved from tip to handle. You simply stick the bristles in the wool and lift the handle to lift and fluff the wool. In the saddle shop, a sole ruffer works fairly well to achieve the same result. Just lift the wool all around the edges and trim. I usually card the edges and trim twice to get all of the fly-aways.

Keith

[Go2Tex]

People who show sheep use a tool called a "card" to lift the wool to a uniform smooth finish. The carding tool is like a brush with thin wires for bristles about 1/2" long and all bent about half way down the bristles. The brush body is curved from tip to handle. You simply stick the bristles in the wool and lift the handle to lift and fluff the wool. In the saddle shop, a sole ruffer works fairly well to achieve the same result. Just lift the wool all around the edges and trim. I usually card the edges and trim twice to get all of the fly-aways.

Keith

Sounds like the same kind of wire brush usually sold with the welding stuff. short, bent, fairly small wires for cleaning the weld, I guess. I use it for roughing sometimes. Usually just use sandpaper for roughing. So yeah, I will definitely try that on the next one. Thanks a bunch for that tip!

[ArtS]

Wow! That is a really beautiful job!

ArtS

[Hennessy]

Wow! That is a really beautiful job!

ArtS

i've scratched at leather for 40 years,on two continents,i shoulda stuck with truck drivin,artists are many on this site u sir are one of em!adios peter john