New set of bracers for a metal band

[TomSwede]

Theese were made from their logotype. The white/grey behind the REV letters was an attempt from me to simulate the stone background they have.

The logotype was very hard to carve beacuse of the demand for long straight and accurate lines and keeping it symmetrical. I carved it pretty dried out and didn't go to deep either just to keep it symmetrical. The REV letters is inverted in order to make the thin white lines to pop out a bit more from the leather. They are just to narrow on the horisontal plan to bevel in a good way. They had high demand in keeping the logo as intact and true to the original paper version as possible.

They will be fitted on the guitarists and I think they will rock on stage. Their singer has the black/red Kaos bracer shown a couple of weeks ago.

It's impossible to get true pictures with the lighting situation after they are sheened and normally I do the photos before the sheen wich actually produces quite a true image. I buffed them thoroughly but not to the point of the black/red one wich is extremely cool with it's high gloss.

Any criticism welcome, this was my first attempt with acrylic so any point will be valuable. I used the cova colour.

Tom

[CollinsMS]

I think you did a great job on the straight and accurate lines and keeping it symmetrical. They look good, the colors work good for acrylics. Maybe it is just the lighting but how did you get that bumpy looking background? I am amazed at the number of clients you have that use these. Very cool.

[ArtS]

They turned out awesome Tom!!!

ArtS

[rdb]

They are great!.

I don't wonder why you have so many customers who want these.

[sodapop]

be cool if ya could get some band pics tom with them wearin or rockin them...be a nice promo thingy to add on your site

lookin good man!!

darryl

[TomSwede]

Thank you so much all!

CollinsMS: I used the Craftool E294 stamp on very dry leather to just get a bumpy structure that did not sink in too much. It is used both under the white behind REV and to the black background to the sides. I had to be very careful when I used it to the the white area as REV is inverted and not beveled deep too avoid colappsing it to much and loose the inverted feel.

It was difficult to paint the white in such a way that I'd get a stonelike surface with shifting white/gray/black texture like a real stone piece since that require some swift brushing and that couldn not be done in this small area.

Anyone ever tried to do a stone surface??

Thanks Art!

Thanks rdb! Yeah I have hit it off with the right people lately. Next bracer is for the president of a viking (??) mc club and possibly I'm making more of that one for the club during winter. He thought 10-15 perhaps:-)

Thanks Darryl! That'd be nice I'm invited to their show on Sunday but money, time and blah blah prioritys says I stay home. Too bad I have the photoequipment to do it.

Gunna ask them if they have photos laterz, they are really a bunch of great guys so prolly not impossible.

Tom

Edited September 23, 2008 by TomSwede

[Bree]

Nice job! I like the design and the shape.

I am eager to see what you do with those Viking braces. The last ones I did were kind of a Viking theme with berber fleece lining extending out beyond the leather. I did them for a train engineer as a birthday present. I thought they would look cool on an engineer driving a big locomotive.

[leatheroo]

another great creation tom,

isnt it hard to photograph glossy projects...the color is never true

i have tried inside..outside..in the sun...in the shade...my cheap camera doesnt help either!!

[TomSwede]

Nice job! I like the design and the shape.

I am eager to see what you do with those Viking braces. The last ones I did were kind of a Viking theme with berber fleece lining extending out beyond the leather. I did them for a train engineer as a birthday present. I thought they would look cool on an engineer driving a big locomotive.

Thanks Bree! The shape is very nice and comfy!

Oh the next one is just a variation of this one layed out to be similar to a runestone but the design is not set really yet so it might come out quite close to this one.

The guys I work for is a bunch of friends so they see each others and want similar ones.

So have you seen him operate the locomotive with it?? I love old steampoered locomotives, you can't find anything more heavy metal than that on land;-)

another great creation tom,

isnt it hard to photograph glossy projects...the color is never true

i have tried inside..outside..in the sun...in the shade...my cheap camera doesnt help either!!

Thanks Roo! I have quite expensive camera gear and that doesn't help either. What you would really wanna to do is to control the lighting, the absolute biggest factor in all photography, in this case soft boxes and some good flashes would be nice and perhaps even after that lots of photoshop.

Next time I go at it before sheen then add some contrast via unsharp mask (Amount 25% 10-15 usually best for black leather, Radius 250 px, Threshold 0, try it you'll be amazed what you can do with it. New life to flat pictures guaranteed)

Tom

[ElVaqueroMuerto]

Tom,

Fine work buddy. Now that I see them, I understand more of what you were talking about doing with them. You can also get a mottled look with the white if you apply a very water coat of dark gray acrylic after the white dries, then wipe it off a little. This is called a "wash". Then, to pull the white out a bit more, get some white on your brush and brush it onto your skin until the paint on the brush is a bit dry and does not go on evenly. Then lightly brush it across the tops of your texture. This is called "dry brushing". These are just extra tips to make things easier for you. This piece looks good, man. Keep it up!

El Vaquero Muerto