Clay Report post Posted July 2, 2008 Here in the US, July is a patriotic time of the year. We celebrate our heritage with fireworks and barbecue. We think of special images like the Bald Eagle, the Statue Of Liberty, and Mt. Rushmore. So for this months challenge I challenge you to tool in leather that which celebrates the heritage of your home land. LW has members from all over the globe and it will be great to see all of the wonderfull and patriotic items our members can show. As an added incentive to take the challenge, one member who posts a piece for the challenge will be randomly drawn to win an Al Stohlman Brand Round Knife donated by the Rapid City Tandy Leather Factory Store. Good Luck I am looking forward to this challenge ClayM. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elktracks Report post Posted July 2, 2008 Clay, Here's one done a while back that will be the project everyone does ine the August workshop scheduled in Ft. Worth. Jim Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ClayB Report post Posted July 3, 2008 Hey Bert, Great idea for a challenge. I am looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with for this one too. And just so everyone knows, I saw some eagles that Clay carved while I was visiting his store last week and he cant get away with saying he isn't good at figure carving anymore. They were really well done. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leatheroo Report post Posted July 4, 2008 There was no technical challenge with this piece but i wanted to do a simple representation of our aboriginal art. Our native people are a very ancient race with lots of symbols. The hundreds of dots represent the desert The thick straight line is a track The thick wavey line is a river In the left hand corner, the four lines with little dots are rain The three wavey lines near the middle are snake tracks Three curved lines at bottom left represent mountains The symbols at the top and bottom that look like legs with feet pointing up and kangaroo tracks On the right side, the symbols that look like arrows are emu tracks The three circles with four lines coming off each side represents a journey with resting place. Aboriginal art often depicts stories or places. Hope you like my little landscape. caroline from australia Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ferret Report post Posted July 4, 2008 With over 2 thousand years of history it's not easy picking something, but there are 2 significant dates that most English people can remember. I haven't tried portrait carving yet, so the 1966 England team is a non starter and I've already done the research for the other one. Taken from the last section of the bayeux tapestry, depicting King Harold's last stand against the norman invaders at the battle of Hastings 1066. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Denise Report post Posted July 4, 2008 Neat contributions from both of you! I can see a lot of learning happening in this thread even without the leather aspect. Thanks for posting your work and the explanations! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Clay Report post Posted July 4, 2008 Wow, we are off to a great start on this challenge. These are examples of exactly what I was hoping to see. Leatheroo and ferret great job!!! Thanks!!!!! ClayM. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
carr52 Report post Posted July 8, 2008 Hope I got the theme right. I am from South Carolina,USA. HOOAH!!! This is a small pocket journal I made to use when I go metal detecting. I dont like to hunt all over looking for the place I found something interesting so I just log anything important in my book. Our State flag has a white Crescent and a white Palmetto tree on a blue background. I didn't want to hide the natural look of the leather so I chose to use blue thread to represent the background colors. I guess a little history of the flag is in order. The Crescent comes from a banner carried by protesters against the Stamp Act in 1765. The Palmetto Tree comes from the logs used in 1776 to build the fort defending Sullivans Island which was under attack by the British. The cannon balls fired from the British War Ships just sank into the tough soft Palmetto wood. The flag that flies over the State of South Carolina today is the same design that flew over the Independant South Carolina during the Civil War. Tom Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
carr52 Report post Posted July 8, 2008 I forgot to add that it is 4"x 5 1/4" x 1/2" closed. Tom Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ClayB Report post Posted July 19, 2008 I have always thought that Jim Linnell's feathers with an embossed eagle on them were pretty cool, but didn't know for sure how he did it. I got to see one that Clay Miller did when I was visiting with him at his store a few weeks ago and decided maybe I could figure it out. So, I did one, and thought it would fit here for this months challenge. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leatheroo Report post Posted July 19, 2008 sweeeeeet piece clay!!! what is the size of this? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ClayB Report post Posted July 19, 2008 Thanks Caroline, The feather is about 12 inches long, 3 inches wide. The eagle is about 2 inches wide and 3 inches long. The whole thing is a little bigger than I had planned, but that's about as small an eagle as I felt comfortable trying to cut feathers on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TomSwede Report post Posted July 21, 2008 (edited) Well I'm just worked my way through this bracer wich is for a customer in Wales UK, disregard my post if it is not ok to apply with commercial product.. There will also be a female version as an sort of engegement thing. Both is heathen minded and into viking stuff so I choose this motif with the two dragons and the uniting ring (that leaps through the hammerhead). It is suiting that the dragons is back to back because He live in Wales but She lives in Sweden so the turned backs is representing the huge gap between them. This is not the typical dragons we see on vikingtime runestones and I'm not sure if this exact type exists at all historically on the stones here in Sweden but they're not far off. Tha golden figure is the hammer of Thor, god of thunder. He is pulled in his chariot by two goats (tanngrisner and Tanngniostr) and this makes the sound of rolling thunderas the chariot roll across the sky during the thunderstorms. He is known to strike first and ask questions later. He carry a hammer with a shaft that is to short and it never misses when he throws it upon something, mostly giants. He is the bane of giants. On top of the hammer there is two sets of birds heads. I think the top one is a falcon and the one below an eagle but not sure, memory fails me. This hammer was found in a viking grave or burial mound in Skåne, Sweden. I've heard that the hammer as an powersymbol from the vikingage is so strong that it is the reason why for example judges and people with high influence/power use them as an item to manifest there power, decision, ruling etc even today. The bracer itself is an archers type really and ties at the side of the arm and gives good protection from the bowstring and rigid support yet good movement to the bowarm. It is very comfy to wear. The construction phase is available at my blog if anyone would be interested. Well.. you know me, I'm Tom and can't stop meself writing Edited July 21, 2008 by TomSwede Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leatheroo Report post Posted July 21, 2008 great piece tom, i especially love the goldy color, any archer would be proud to wear this. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TomSwede Report post Posted July 21, 2008 Thank you Roo! I'll have a looksee tonite and try to get a decent scan and post the pattern wich will be tomorrow morning for you then and afternoon to our regular friends in US. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yaklady Report post Posted July 23, 2008 I have always thought that Jim Linnell's feathers with an embossed eagle on them were pretty cool, but didn't know for sure how he did it. I got to see one that Clay Miller did when I was visiting with him at his store a few weeks ago and decided maybe I could figure it out. So, I did one, and thought it would fit here for this months challenge. Jim taught me how to do his feather a few years ago. I think they're pretty cool, too. Here's a picture of the one I did in class. It's the same size as Clay's feather. OOPS! How did that get in there??? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Clay Report post Posted August 5, 2008 I would like to say thank you to all of the members who took last months challenge. There were some really nice pieces presented. Congratulations to carr52 who is the randomly drawn winner of the ASB Round knife provided by Rapid City Tandy Leather Factory. carr52 I will send you a pm to get your info, If you dont get it send it to me so that I can get your knife on its way. This months challenge will be anounced shortly. ClayM. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
carr52 Report post Posted August 7, 2008 I would like to say thank you to all of the members who took last months challenge. There were some really nice pieces presented.Congratulations to carr52 who is the randomly drawn winner of the ASB Round knife provided by Rapid City Tandy Leather Factory. carr52 I will send you a pm to get your info, If you dont get it send it to me so that I can get your knife on its way. This months challenge will be anounced shortly. ClayM. Tell the folks at Rapid City Tandy Leather Factory I said thank you. Does anybody want to start a pool to see how long before I cut myself with it? LOL. Thank you. Tom Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
