Fire Dancer Leather Bracers

[ElVaqueroMuerto]

I recently finished a commission on two bracers for the fire dancer, Unity. They were her birthday present from her boyfriend and they should keep her forearms from getting burned when she dances. I welcome and strongly encourage critique, comments and suggestions. I want to grow in my leather work and especially lack experience in the construction aspect of leather, so anything I can learn or grow in would be invaluable to me.

Thank you.

El Vaquero Muerto

[Hammerhead]

I've done Skeletons and I've done Boobs but never thought of mixing them, good job

[Luke Hatley]

YOUR WORK IS VERY CREATIVE, THANKS FOR SHOWING IT.

[Storm]

Hey Muerto...  Nice! Shades of Day Of The Dead.  Very innovative and cool! Like to see some more. I saw your other gear and it is tight! Your approach to the genre is right on.  Your contruction looks good too!  Thanks to Leatheroo we can now see some very alternative and innovative stuff

Storm

Edited July 24, 2008 by Storm

[sodapop]

I've done Skeletons and I've done Boobs but never thought of mixing them, good job

their smoooookin!!

darryl

[jammon]

Love the style of your stuff, nice work!

[Tpsorion]

Very creative and cool. Love the colors. Thanks for sharing your talents.

[Jimnx]

Amazing use of color, I cant believe how vivid and striking the colors are, I love the graphics, it really jumps out at you.

Very nicely done, I would be very happy to own a pair like that. Good job!

[bustedlifter]

Neat-o. Those are really cool!

[ElVaqueroMuerto]

I've done Skeletons and I've done Boobs but never thought of mixing them, good job

I love skeletons, I love boobs. I thought it only proper to blend my passions.

YOUR WORK IS VERY CREATIVE, THANKS FOR SHOWING IT.

Thank you. I hope to have much more up soon.

Hey Muerto... Nice! Shades of Day Of The Dead. Very innovative and cool! Like to see some more. I saw your other gear and it is tight! Your approach to the genre is right on. Your contruction looks good too! Thanks to Leatheroo we can now see some very alternative and innovative stuff Storm

Why thank you. I have quite a bit more work up on my Deviant Art account, at www.elvaqueromuerto.deviantart.com. I hope to have more up here soon!

Love the style of your stuff, nice work!

Why thank you. I want to develop it even further and do more large-area projects.

[ElVaqueroMuerto]

Amazing use of color, I cant believe how vivid and striking the colors are, I love the graphics, it really jumps out at you.

Very nicely done, I would be very happy to own a pair like that. Good job!

Why thank you. I really try to make my work as high-contrast as possible. I come from a miniature painting and illustrator background, so that is why I think it all comes out the way it does.

[skcricket]

OMG those are beautiful!!! Graphics and your painting!!

Would you be willing to share your pattern?? If not, its ok, but cant hurt to ask!

[UKRay]

I'd add a request for the pattern too if it is available. Cool use of colour and the shape is great.

[Spider]

Hey brother,

This looks awesome!!! It was great seeing you stuff in person also. Thank you for coming to my show. I look forward to more of your art.

[calanneh]

Wonderful pieces!! The construction looks great! Some things you may want to make sure of in pieces like these (even tho I see nothing wrong in the picture) is the edges being slicked and the insides being sanded so they are soft.

The lace holes are lined up very nice with a groove...there is just nothing in the picture that can be critiqued buddy!

Thank look great!!!!

cal

[TomSwede]

Outstanding pieces of art!! The way you work with "living" backgrounds and sorta make 'em to blend in as natural border towards the edges is very nice.

Tom

[ElVaqueroMuerto]

Why thank you. Right now I am trying to establish myself as a leather artist and really get known for my style of art and leather carving, so I am not currently putting out patterns. But sometime in the future, once I am established, I hope to do a whole book of patterns and projects!

OMG those are beautiful!!! Graphics and your painting!!

Would you be willing to share your pattern?? If not, its ok, but cant hurt to ask!

[ElVaqueroMuerto]

It was great to meet you and see your work at your show. I hope to get together again sometime. I still have the dream of us Los Angeles area leather workers doing shows and such together. Also, I wanted to talk to you about cutting and dies and such because I would really like to be able to cut out my bracelets from the raw leather easier so I can focus more on the carving and color work. My number is 602.796.3995. Call any time.Just a note for everyone else, feel free to give me a call if you want to get together with another leather worker or have questions or tips or anything!

Hey brother,This looks awesome!!! It was great seeing you stuff in person also. Thank you for coming to my show. I look forward to more of your art.

I did slick the edges, though I should have sanded the underside. Good suggestion! Thank you.

Wonderful pieces!! The construction looks great! Some things you may want to make sure of in pieces like these (even tho I see nothing wrong in the picture) is the edges being slicked and the insides being sanded so they are soft.The lace holes are lined up very nice with a groove...there is just nothing in the picture that can be critiqued buddy!Thank look great!!!!cal

Thank you everyone for your kind words and support. It is awesome to be among others who share my passion for leather. I hope I get the chance to share my work with you and see your work for a long time to come. Once more, any Southern California leather artists who want to get together, let me know. I am serious about us all coming together here and really creating something good.

[Bree]

Pretty toxic EVM! I like them.

[ELAD]

Visited your profile and you have a very nice style going on there. Dark and whimsical. I like it a lot. Keep it rolling and post more pics.

[swivelsphinx]

Very pretty. Are you using ink or stain for your color? brush or airbrush?

If I were going to consider *one* thing on construction, I don't know how long your friend's forearms are. Most men have longer/ wider muscled forearms than their female counterparts. Dancers/Firespinners move around fairly rapidly, often swinging their arms in circular motions. bending at the elbows brings the bottom edge down towards softer tissue which *can* get sore when pressed due to constriction (regardless of the presence of sleeves). I usually like to end my vanbraces 3/4 down the forearm on the inside for this reason. I used the "Cowboy Cuff" available from Tandy for my first Vanbrace model. They were a very practical design, and easy to modify.

Thanks for posting!

[Jarl]

Very very nice! I'll tell you now...if I was walking around a show and saw those I would easily drop whatever kind of money those were priced at!

Question for you though: How did you get the colors to be so vibrant? (or perhaps the better question would be is it paint or what, and if so what kind?)

Hahaha, sorry for the noobish question, I just really like them

[ElVaqueroMuerto]

Thank you all for your comments. My color work is a combination of leather stains and dyes and acrylic paints. Rather than use Cova Color or something like that, I use artist acrylic paints. Golden is my favorite brand. The flames, for instance, were dyed with Eco-Flow Cranberry first (I always put a dye or stain down first, never acrylic on raw veg-tan). Then I added thin coats of Light Magenta. Then I went in with Quinacrodone Magenta and did a watery, light random pattern. Then, within that pattern, I went a bit heavier, again in a random pattern. Finally, I went with un-watered dabs of paint, which gives the intense magenta. Then I went in with Eco Flow Antique Black and blended the black into the magenta. I also put a few black dabs inside the magenta flames, to darken them up a bit and intensify the color effect.

And that is how I did the flames.

If you want to get into using more acrylic to intensify your color work, I recommend taking a few scrap pieces of leather and dyeing each one with a different stain or dye. Then take your acrylic paints and put a light coat on a small area of the dyed/stained leather. The dyes and stains will soak into the acrylic, changing and modifying its color. So these "color chips" are so you can figure out what the final result will be when you mix certain dyes/stains with different paints. I also recommend spraying each chip with leather sheen, as this can sometimes cause the dyes to create different colors in the acrylic from when they were first put down. For instance, when you put white acrylic down over Feibing's Black, it generally stays white. But add Leather Sheen and, for whatever reason, the white becomes blotchy with pinks and purples. It is really very odd. Only experimentation will show you what the final product will look like.

Also, might I add, brush-on finishes are no good for intense color jobs with lots of variation in dyes/stains/colors. At least in my experience, I have found that, especially when stains are employed, the brush-ons tend to pick up color and transfer it to other color sections, resulting in color contamination. That is why I use the spray. For those of you in California who, like me, cannot purchase the spray because of rediculous environmental laws that did nothing to curb pollution by big companies but screwed the little guy royally, contact me. I am going to Arizona to see family in October and will happily bring you back a can or two.

Hope this helps!

VM

[ClayB]

VM,

You do a really great job on you coloring and I just wanted to thank you for sharing some of your tips. I know there are lots of us here that are always wanting to learn more about different coloring techniques that work on leather and this post has some interesting things to try. Thanks!

[ElVaqueroMuerto]

VM,

You do a really great job on you coloring and I just wanted to thank you for sharing some of your tips. I know there are lots of us here that are always wanting to learn more about different coloring techniques that work on leather and this post has some interesting things to try. Thanks!

Why thank you. I really enjoy the community here and want to give back a bit. I am going to start providing more technical information in my postings so that others can weigh in and learn from my techniques and processes and so hopefully I can develop them even more.

VM