Journal Covers, Coasters, Laptop Sleeve

[particle]

Here's a few Christmas orders I recently finished up for family and customers. Feedback, good or bad, is always appreciated!

This is a prayer journal I made for my daughter. It was supposed to have an orange flower, with the background being red. But the resist failed miserably so I just made the whole thing red. Honestly, it was probably my fault for not waiting long enough for the resist to fully cure (it was in the 40's or 50's in my shop that day). Oh well, she absolutely loves it. She's 6.

This is a set of coasters I made for my aunt. All 4 coasters are subtly different - they have alternating raised/recessed lettering, and alternating swivel cut patterns. I really need a new swivel knife blade. Mine cuts like butter for about 2 inches, then starts dragging really badly. It's such a pain to have to strop between each and every cut! I'm pulling all these images from my website - I don't have non-branded versions of this particular graphic uploaded.

This is another set of coasters I made for my sister-in-law to give to her husband's dad. He has a much more subdued personality of the recipient when compared to the previous red coasters so these are very simple by comparison.

This is a sleeve for a 17" Macbook Pro laptop. It's my first attempt at a sleeve, but I think it came out pretty well. I love doing these hand-drawn graphics on leather, but need to find a way to protect the hand-colored areas better. When I was in college, we had a brush-on rubber cement like stuff. When you were done with the artwork, you just peeled off the resist. It did a great job protecting what's beneath. If anyone knows or remembers what this is called, please let me know! This was lined with pig skin suede - I really love the orange color (also the background in the previous photo above).

Here is another hand-drawn journal cover. This leather was from Tandy. Notice how it took the dye when compared to the Wickett & Craig used on the laptop sleeve above. The Tandy leather has much more marbling in the coloring and the grain texture is much more splotchy and rough. I admit it has a certain charm to it - it lends a bit of a rustic touch to the leather. But, from now on I'll be keeping myself stocked with thin hides of W&C for holster lining and journal covers.

[HellcatLeathers]

I absolutely LOVE your work! Beautiful artwork!!! What color dye/stain did you use? And how did you apply it? Sponge, wool dauber, airbrush? It's so clean and simple.....LOVE IT!

[Aurelie]

Really nice job! i love it!

[particle]

Thanks! All my dyes are applied with an airbrush, except for Red, which is Tandy's Pro Waterstain - it's applied with a sponge. The journal cover (not the red one) and laptop sleeve was a base color of Fiebing's Pro Oil - Saddle Tan with Dark Brown accents. I usually blot the darker accent color on with a t-shirt, but I'm pretty sure I didn't do that with this particular journal cover. The laptop sleeve's backgrounds was entirely airbrushed. The flowers are colored with artists markers I snagged from my 8-5 job. As you can see, the Tandy leather took the coloring MUCH differently than the Wickett & Craig leather. The Tandy leather is deceptive - it seems that as the dye dries and absorbs into the leather, the coloring continually gets darker so you have to make sure not to over apply the coloring and give it plenty of time to dry - build up your color in stages. Then, once it was oiled with neetsfoot, it got even darker... I oiled the laptop sleeve with Lexol so it wouldn't darken the leather.

[mikesmith648]

the stuff you are looking for particle..............is liquid latex

[particle]

Thanks!! For some reason I was thinking it had a name like "mastik", but it's been nearly 20 years ago since I bought it. Liquid latex is probably exactly what I need to try. Hopefully it won't absorb too much into leather...

[rosiart]

I think you are looking for Masquepen, it's a liquid frisket.

I really like all of them, even the rustic one. lol

I think I wrote to Tandy about the Professional Waterstains in regards to a sheridan style finish and if I recall rightly, they said that the pro waterstains did not play nicely with resists. Maybe someone else has tried something that works?

[particle]

Thanks RosiArt!! Frisket is the word I was looking for.

I tested the red waterstain a while back to see how well it would be resisted, but now that I think about it, the resist I tested it with was Fiebing's Leather Balm with Atom Wax. I threw the stuff away though - I was sick of it making all my colors bleed. What good is it if it lifts the underlying colors and bleeds all over my thread, etc!!?!

[Jax]

I love your work, thanks for showing it

[benlilly1]

I love all of the projects! Color and design as well! Very nice work!

[David8386]

Very nice, I wish I could free hand art like that.

David

[benlilly1]

Thanks RosiArt!! Frisket is the word I was looking for.

I tested the red waterstain a while back to see how well it would be resisted, but now that I think about it, the resist I tested it with was Fiebing's Leather Balm with Atom Wax. I threw the stuff away though - I was sick of it making all my colors bleed. What good is it if it lifts the underlying colors and bleeds all over my thread, etc!!?!

Particle, Did I understand you used the Fiebing's leather balm as a resist? I don't think it's use is for that. That's more of a finishing wax. Correct me if I misunderstood. I still think the red turned out great though.

[particle]

Yes, and no. On the red journal cover in this thread - that was resisted with 50/50 water & Fiebing's Resolene. When I initially tested the Tandy Pro Waterstain Red with a resist, it was on a scrap piece of leather with a drop of the leather balm. I got the idea to try that by looking at the photos on another leather worker's Facebook page photos - in one of the photos I could see what looked like a bottle of leather balm. He brushed it on his artwork, then dyed his piece. It seemed to work really well for him, but he's found a method I haven't quite figured out yet.

[LNLeather]

I just Love your style...

Everything is Grrrreat

I Especially love the design on the "sleeve for a 17" Macbook Pro laptop"

[veedub3]

They are all lovely pieces and I sure those that received them as gifts were overjoyed.Beautiful work!

[rivetandleatherco]

The product for protecting areas from color is called maskoid not sure of the spelling it is used for water colors and the like

The product for protecting areas from color is called maskoid not sure of the spelling it is used for water colors and the like

[Stewart]

That is some extraordinary work. as wall as patience.

That is a hard act to follow.

Joe

[RClubb]

Very nice work particle. I really like art work on the mac book sleeve.

[rivetandleatherco]

fantastic work1

[WScott]

My gosh your work is AMAZING!!

Beautiful art and leatherwork

I do see what you mean about the difference in how leather from different sources take stains differently.

I bet it varies slightly from hide to hide as well from the same supplier. Have a big enough piece to finish an entire project or your @#^$ed....you know

Edited January 6, 2013 by WScott

[JustKate]

Eric, you never cease to amaze me with your talent and creativity. Very glad I caught this, it's beautiful work.

[Imapeopleperson]

That's awesome. Great work.

[particle]

Very nice, I wish I could free hand art like that.

David

Thanks David - I spent several hours at the drawing board (lap desk in front of my TV....) drawing the design and refining the art. I started with pencil on paper, then erased and cleaned up the piece, then traced the design on vellum with a permanent marker. One of these days I may scan the individual pieces (flowers, leaves, etc.) and create template files in illustrator so I can generate the artwork a little faster, but I just hate sitting in front of the computer at night after sitting at a desk all day at work.

My gosh your work is AMAZING!!

Beautiful art and leatherwork

I do see what you mean about the difference in how leather from different sources take stains differently.

I bet it varies slightly from hide to hide as well from the same supplier. Have a big enough piece to finish an entire project or your @#^$ed....you know

You're right - I definitely wouldn't want to use something like the Tandy leather on one side, and the W&C leather on the other, but so long as the two pieces aren't immediately visible (without folding, contorting, etc.), I'd be okay with using two different hides on a project, so long as they generally look the same and are from the same tannery. For example, I just finished a lined western-style holster for a coworker. The exterior was 8oz Wickett & Craig, and the lining was some leftover Tandy (from the journal cover in this thread) - I can't remember off-hand if it was 3-4 or 4-5oz. The belt loop extends up from the back of the holster (the traditional way a western style holster is made), then folds down and is sewn onto the back of the holster so the lining layer is visible on the exterior of the holster (back side) at the belt tunnel. It's very obvious the hides were two different qualities. It was dyed black, so it wasn't a huge deal (and he got a monster discount because he's a coworker). If it wasn't lined, it would have just been the exposed flesh side of the leather, so it still was better than just seeing flesh. But it's definitely something to keep in mind as a general rule.