RiverWRanch Report post Posted March 25, 2012 Hello All, I am a new artist and have just played around with leather. I will be making belts, bronc halters, and spurs straps along with other things of the same kind. Please be kind with your comments. All of your help is much appriciated! The painted oin up girl is on a set of barrel racing stirrup fenders, the rest is on scrap pieces of leather. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sylvia Report post Posted March 25, 2012 Hi there! Valiant efforts and for a beginner you are showing promise. In picture number 1 the main thing that sticks out at me is the tool marks where you beveled around the image. That is one of the skills that takes a while to learn so you get a smooth bevel. I still have issues now an then. But the key is to case properly, cut deep, then hover the tip of the beveler over the cut and walk the beveler down the cut as you tap with your mallet successively. Don't be afraid to back up and go over the line a little now and then. Number 2 is a great way to practice those spiral cuts. I'm sure as you work, you make sure your knife is properly sharp and stropped so your cuts go smoothly. Do some more practice to get smoothly rounded spirals. I'm practicing knife cuts as often as I can to develop a better touch and nice spirals... so I admire your efforts to tackle that. I would like to see some pear shading work on petals of the flowers of all your pieces. Keep it up! Sheridan carving is not something people learn to do well over night. Did you find the Tandy Leather Factory and other leather crafting videos on Youtube? I watch this one a couple times a week... to remind me of what I need to practice. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
capnmeow Report post Posted March 25, 2012 on all the pictures that i see here show that ur walking technique with the tool is far from good .... what i suggest u do is take scraps and practice because walking a tool is hard but u need to learn to let the tool do the walking if that makes any sense. a great way to start out practicing is to take a thin plank of wood and let ur hand rest on it so as to hold down the leather as u bevel. in large areas with a backgrounder u want to walk the tool around and have a general stopping point marked lightly. also with spiral cuts dont be afraid to rotate the leather if u have to keep working at it Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jimbob Report post Posted March 27, 2012 Hello All, I am a new artist and have just played around with leather. I will be making belts, bronc halters, and spurs straps along with other things of the same kind. Please be kind with your comments. All of your help is much appriciated! The painted oin up girl is on a set of barrel racing stirrup fenders, the rest is on scrap pieces of leather. Love the pin-up girl, ur carving still little ruff but well on its way....try differet materials, different methods and be all u can be....ohhh and lots and lots of practice!! U are doing wel...... Jimbob Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sylvia Report post Posted March 27, 2012 I came back to look again. Something bothered me about the spirals in 2 and the leaves in 3. When I posted before I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It hit me today. The areas where you have used the veiner .... I think that you can improve the look by angling the veiner instead of trying to keep the stamp perpendicular to the carved line of the leaf. This will help direct the eye around the spiral. Look at the pattern again and I think you'll see what I mean. Can't wait to see what else you do. S Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
