Dragon Flask, Tree Frog Wallet

[5avan10]

My latest two pieces. The dragonfly wallet/purse thing is for my wife who doesn't like purses but complains about her old wallet being too small and not having a coin pouch.

I'm open to any suggestions for making the cross-loop lacing more seamless where I finished it off. I just watched a Youtube video to learn from, and I couldn't get the ending to look as seamless as I'd like (you can see it in the upper left above the dragonfly). Are there any tricks to doing this step?

[Jimbob]

cool stuff......love the frog thingy....and the idea of wrapping a bottel or container ur way is neat....very nice carving and coloring....

jimbob

[5avan10]

Thanks, Jimbob! Actually the bottle is made from leather and beeswax- there's no bottle inside of it. The beeswax makes it very hard and waterproof!

[cst]

That flask is cool. I'm gonna have to try one of those. No membrane? Just wax?

[5avan10]

Just wax. I use a method which is basically the same as this tutorial here:

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=3084

You can mix the beeswax with brewer's pitch if you like, but I use straight beeswax.

[Jaymack]

Nice work! You've got me thinking!

[keableleather]

Looks good....both projects that is..... I am sorta wondering how you got that lace fault? I usually follow the same technique and go up to the starting position as you have, then i would go 2 holes passed to make it blend, my tip here is to skive your lace down for a few inches so as not to look bulky or doubled over.... then i apply a cement on the lace where it will exit the final hole, pull it out hard and trim it off clean... it will then disappear in the hole.

I also can't see enough details from the image, but it nearly looks like your a hole out or a plait out.... sorry... wish i could see it better.... it's also very important to make a hidden start to your lace if your going to be coming back to join into it.... like a rope splice sorta... that's where i can't make out the actual start and where the intersection is... hope this helps somewhat.... cheers Jace

[Solofalcon]

I had similar problems when I started lacing. The best thing I can tell you is to loosely lace the beginning three holes to give you slack to finish the job. The lacing directions in the Leatherwork Manual by Al Stohlman are a great reference for lacing. Just keep working with it and it will start looking how you want it. Nice work.

[5avan10]

Thank you, I appreciate the advice! I'll see if I can find that manual in the library, but I think keeping the first few stitches loose might just do the trick.

[olds cool]

That frog has some really nice detail and the coloring is right on. I waited a few days to click this topic because I didn't think it was my cup of tea. I'm glad I clicked though because otherwise I would have missed some outstanding tooling.

[Blazin]

Wow that flask is stellar! Got to show me how you did that. Extremely nice work.

[jlrowe]

...tooling and coloring is fantastic top notch!!!!!!!!!!

[Chit]

Looks awesome! Keep it up!

[LNLeather]

Awesome flask - Awesome wallet! Love that frog! Great tooling & design!

Would you share? - What did you use to paint the dragon flask with?

[5avan10]

Thanks for all of the comments!

LNL, I don't mind sharing. On the flask I used Liquitex iridescent gold and silver and just a touch of blue. The base is not painted; the process of sealing it with wax gives it that color. Any coloring you want to do must be done prior to wax sealing- once it is waxed, no paint or stain will adhere to it.

[Bob Blea]

Really great work. I especially love the artwork on that purse, but they are both great!

Bob