DoubleC Report post Posted January 13, 2012 from a picture of my horse. I apologize for my picture, I know it's blurry, as all mine are unless taken from a distance. I don't have my scanner hooked to this yet but will get another picture when I ever do. Anyway I went for it all, LOL, everything I've heard people talking about on here, like undercutting. I want you're honest opinion; you don't even have to be nice, LOL Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ferg Report post Posted January 13, 2012 You are going to need to do a lot better with your photo than what you have. Impossible to see anything much. The photo is pixelated. ferg from a picture of my horse. I apologize for my picture, I know it's blurry, as all mine are unless taken from a distance. I don't have my scanner hooked to this yet but will get another picture when I ever do. Anyway I went for it all, LOL, everything I've heard people talking about on here, like undercutting. I want you're honest opinion; you don't even have to be nice, LOL Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SheWolfSilver Report post Posted January 13, 2012 You can't tell anything from the picture. I was very excited to see it too. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DoubleC Report post Posted January 13, 2012 You are going to need to do a lot better with your photo than what you have. Impossible to see anything much. The photo is pixelated. ferg I know Ferg. I'm transferring my all-in-one right now, but couldn't find the installation disc so having to download everything from Epson. I I'll and have a better photo up tomorrow. Thanks for looking. Cheryl Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DoubleC Report post Posted January 13, 2012 You can't tell anything from the picture. I was very excited to see it too. I'm really sorry She....better one tomorrow after I get my scanner set up. Cheryl Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DoubleC Report post Posted January 13, 2012 Ok, the scanner hooked up and a new pic straight off the press......Thanks, Cheryl Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sylvia Report post Posted January 13, 2012 Ok, the scanner hooked up and a new pic straight off the press......Thanks, Cheryl "Sometimes I feel like.... somebody's watching meeeeee...." Sorry... it made me think of that song. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DoubleC Report post Posted January 14, 2012 "Sometimes I feel like.... somebody's watching meeeeee...." Sorry... it made me think of that song. You crack me up woman! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tree Reaper Report post Posted January 14, 2012 (edited) That's the thing with working on leather carvings for the first time and not getting the proper instruction to help you advance. I'm just as new to carving and my experience is the same, don't expect to get it right the first time. That eye has a lot of surface area and appears flat because the leather is flat. One thing you can try is to raise the eye from the back side with a rounded tool large enough so that is doesn't leave small marks in the leather or maybe a modeling spoon. Keep thinking and trying different methods on scrap until you get what you want or a result that you are happy with. I have your picture so I can experiment on it a bit, not that I know what I'm doing but it's hopefully better than no help at all. Kevin At 1 I think you need to bevel the eyeball to get rid of that sharp edge and at 2 I think that needs to be cut and beveled in the same manner. It's not that far out when looking at it when made smaller and a little tweaking is all it needs but do it on scrap first, that's what I learned on the dog carving. Edited January 14, 2012 by Tree Reaper Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DoubleC Report post Posted January 14, 2012 (edited) That's the thing with working on leather carvings for the first time and not getting the proper instruction to help you advance. I'm just as new to carving and my experience is the same, don't expect to get it right the first time. That eye has a lot of surface area and appears flat because the leather is flat. One thing you can try is to raise the eye from the back side with a rounded tool large enough so that is doesn't leave small marks in the leather or maybe a modeling spoon. Keep thinking and trying different methods on scrap until you get what you want or a result that you are happy with. I have your picture so I can experiment on it a bit, not that I know what I'm doing but it's hopefully better than no help at all. Kevin At 1 I think you need to bevel the eyeball to get rid of that sharp edge and at 2 I think that needs to be cut and beveled in the same manner. It's not that far out when looking at it when made smaller and a little tweaking is all it needs but do it on scrap first, that's what I learned on the dog carving. Oh for heaven's sake, I had to come back and edit because I downloaded your pic of the eye and was going to copy and paste what you said and I missed all of the first part. Thank you Kevin, it is hard when you are trying to figure out by trial and error and any help you can give will be greatly appreciated. I'm going to let you see the picture I went from, that might help. All of these are pretty much scrap conchos. I started out making blinged up leather concho sets that no one wanted so now I have tons left over. You're quite right about the two places, and it really looks like an eye on the 2" concho, LOL or if not turned right, pop art done badly. I drew it all first, and then tried to use my beveler but it was going to mash my other things. so I ended up using a utility knife and pushed the edge back with a nail. Actually I made the whole thing with a stylus, utility knife, small round metal concho and nail. I guess I'm saving all my tools for something else :-) The same thing happened with the eyelashes like I told you, didn't pre plan so ended up having to carve and paint them 4 times and and not so well by number 4. I learned a lot about carving as far as PLANNING on this. On the pic I was looking at it was 2 dimensional, and I didn't realize that to carve this, I needed to do it in layers, or stages or something. Kevin what do you do your cutting with before you bevel it? I had just heard about 'undercutting' on here and wanted to try it on here. I learned it's not with a utility knife and nail :-) Thank you so much for the help. Cheryl Edited January 14, 2012 by DoubleC Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tree Reaper Report post Posted January 14, 2012 (edited) Cut and bevel. You have two raised areas, one being the area around the eyeball and the other being the eyeball itself so I see back to back beveling to raise both areas to reduce the flatness of the leather, probably use blockout around the lighter areas of the lid if using dye. Under cutting the leather won't do anything for this that I can see. You can see the raised affect by using a modeling spoon on the back of the damp leather after all the work is done. Each step in the eye is a raised progression. I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for but you can let me know. I didn't have the lighter blue so my eye looks like it was out a little later at night than yours! Kevin Edited January 14, 2012 by Tree Reaper Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DoubleC Report post Posted January 14, 2012 Cut and bevel. You have two raised areas, one being the area around the eyeball and the other being the eyeball itself so I see back to back beveling to raise both areas to reduce the flatness of the leather, probably use blockout around the lighter areas of the lid if using dye. Under cutting the leather won't do anything for this that I can see. You can see the raised affect by using a modeling spoon on the back of the damp leather after all the work is done. Each step in the eye is a raised progression. I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for but you can let me know. I didn't have the lighter blue so my eye looks like it was out a little later at night than yours! Kevin Once again, I didn't get the rest of this message, this time just the first. It is incredible how you did that Kevin and in such a short time. Shame on you letting your horse 'run wild' on weekends, LOL. I like this much better. Thanks again, Cheryl Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tree Reaper Report post Posted January 14, 2012 After it was done I could still see errors from the tracing. It would be nice to have the image on a laptop next to you for clarity. The white lines in the image show the deviations to be corrected. Anyway I think you can see how it raises up from being flat. On thicker leather you might have to skive the back to use the modeling tool. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DoubleC Report post Posted January 14, 2012 After it was done I could still see errors from the tracing. It would be nice to have the image on a laptop next to you for clarity. The white lines in the image show the deviations to be corrected. Anyway I think you can see how it raises up from being flat. On thicker leather you might have to skive the back to use the modeling tool. Oh yes, I can see how it raises the design. And I actually did have Sienna's eye on a laptop in front of me when I did it. But instead of painting to try and add definition, I want to try what you did to get the definition, and use dye instead of paint. You took less and made it more and no it's not perfect as to shape, mine was too rounded even though I had the picture right in front of me. Horses have round eyes that are actually almond shaped when they are calm and soft like she was the day I took the picture. I was brushing her, and afterward I took the picture, and her eyelid had drooped from relaxation. I looked at my dog after we talked about your Golden and said, 'yes of course, when I get better I will immortalize you in leather too.' I think if I can get my all-in-one or SOME program on this thing which I think I've used before but I'm not sure, to convert sienna's eye to B/W then I can print it out and make a template for carving, and the use the techniques you've shown me to define something very hard to define, an eye. It's only so hard to do Kevin because it IS the window to the soul (mood, whatever you want to call it) and getting that down on leather is hard. It's hard even in a picture if you don't have the exact angle but I know this is only going to get better. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tree Reaper Report post Posted January 14, 2012 Clay B might be the eye guy ... http://www.dimensionsinleather.com/workshops3.htm Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DoubleC Report post Posted January 14, 2012 Clay B might be the eye guy ... http://www.dimension.../workshops3.htm ROFL, those were workshops held last year, and NO WHERE could I find out where in America they were held. I don't think they've updated their site yet for this year. Now I could get into a 6 day conference in Queensland, but that would be a fer piece to swim :-) I think YOU are the eye guy and I'm going to try your techniques and continue carving these until one of us gets them right, or good enough to fool the average smoe :-) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yaklady Report post Posted March 18, 2012 Check out "Carving Horses" under the figure carving heading. There's a tutorial on carving horse eyes there. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DoubleC Report post Posted March 18, 2012 Check out "Carving Horses" under the figure carving heading. There's a tutorial on carving horse eyes there. Hi Yaklady. Thanks. This is rather an old thread and things have come a way since then, but that doesn't mean I won't check it out. I'm always looking to improve. Kevin (Tree Reaper) took my best one and made a mold for me. This is how 'we're' looking these days Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yaklady Report post Posted March 18, 2012 Sorry I didn't see this sooner. It looks like you've made some progress on it. Looking good. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DoubleC Report post Posted March 18, 2012 Sorry I didn't see this sooner. It looks like you've made some progress on it. Looking good. Oh don't apologize. I still have my very first on I tried to make that looks like a deformed microbe. I like the reminder of where I've been and rwhere things are now. Cheryl Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
