My First Ringwork

[Sovran81]

24 plait handle, red and black roo. Experts please critique so my next one is better.

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?app=galleryℑ=23050&size=medium

[KnotHead]

I like it. Looks real good from my look. Nice work.

Brian...

[bucksnort]

No expert, but it looks really nice. Well done. Buck

[megabit]

Nice fid work. I am going to have to learn how to do that.

[acox4t4]

cool, keep on learning Bernie would be a good one to show that to.

[Peter T]

That is a very nice and tidy piece of work, Sovran81. Well done. Any critique will be really picky because you've done a really good job. Here are some of my thoughts as this is how I would look at my own work.

The angle of your strands is pretty well spot on, which means that you cut them to the correct width. Your patterns and lines are very straight. Are the 'rings' straight as they go around the handle? They certainly look like it from what we can see. Test that by rolling it across your bench to see if they are straight or whether they wobble.

The only things that I can pick up is that the horizontal line of 6 single diamonds in the pattern towards the right is slightly offset to the 6 in the pattern towards the left. Both lines are good and straight, just not quite in line with each other which would be the best outcome. Also, some of the strands are slightly uneven in width which is why some of your single diamonds are different sizes. Hard to tell whether this was due to strands being cut slightly different widths or some strands stretching a bit more than others while plaiting but these are some possible causes.

Like I said though, that is being very picky! That's the sort of thing I look for in my own plaiting and I look forward to the day when I can't find any of those issues in my own work!

Keep up the good work.

Pete

[Sovran81]

Thank you all for the compliments.

@Peter T Thanks for the critique. That was exactly what I wanted. People to be very picky and provides some tips. Like rolling it to see if its straight vertically. I never thought of that even though I rolled it to compress the strands. Some of the strands stretched a bit even though they were prestretched. I used the belly and flank strands.This was a first time cutting a roo hide. While aware of belly and flank stretch, I couldn't bring myself to waste leather that is $19 per square foot. The upside is now my two hides are pretty well trimmed, so the next attempt should be better.

I wasnt sure how much space the pattern would take so I made the pattern short then measured the pattern after braiding it. I discovered just enough room to repeat the pattern. Even though I had marked the first strand something went wrong(this has been bothering me). That line came out 1-2 diamonds off the line. I reworked at several times until finally I got it to line up for the most part.

I sure hope Santa brings me some pattern books this year. I keep making patterns that dont fit evenly to the plait count.