Buffalo Feathers

[ClayB]

I showed this picture before the crash, and was asked if I did a tutorial on it. I hadn't, but decided to carve it again, and I am trying to remember to take pictures and write down what I am doing as I go. Not sure when it will be finished, but I'll post the how to when I get it done. For now, here is the pattern, and the buffalo carved. I got the idea from the tattoo book that Tandy is selling. The hair on that buffalo reminded me of feathers, so I decided, why not?

[Beaverslayer]

WOW...no I mean WOOOOOW. Clay, you have mentioned in another post about having work by the "Masters" on your wall. Well Clay, in my humble opinion, you are one of the "Masters". That is just awesome.

I am curious, did you emboss it as well, if soo, how?

Ken

[ClayB]

Thanks Ken, but really, I am still learning and feel like I have a long ways to go. This picture is embossed. The leather was pushed out from the back side. Then the cavity that was formed is filled with putty made from ground up leather and rubber cement. The buffalo is also cut loose on from the background from the tip of the nose to the back of the hump. Then that area is filled with putty too, giving the picture even more depth. The hard part then is trying to hide the putty by giving it the same texture as the carved leather. Then if you can paint it right, it's hard to tell the putty from the leather. Jan Schoonover is the master at that. Check out his website at sculpturedleather.com

When I get this done, I should have a very in depth step by step to show and it should answer most any questions you have about this technique.

Clay

[freak]

Clay my man, i gotta tell ya... I love the fact that you're so humble and sometimes i don't think you really know how good you are and how luck we are to have you here. That's a little out there some may say, with it having feathers on it's head and all. Other buffalo may call him a freak. I like , i like it alot. Not just the idea but your work as well. I look forward to seeing the finish master piece and read the how to write up.

buffalo always make me think of cowboys and Indians. Mostly Indians to tell ya the truth. The fact that you added feathers to the head like that, really makes me think it is some type of Indian war buffalo. Again i really dig it man.

Now i'm gonna go see if i can find some feathers to put on my head.

[wolvenstien]

You sure you didnt carve that into a piece of wood? Damn nice....

[whinewine]

Clay, now I know where they get buffalo wings.

Now if pigs could fly...

[ClayB]

Pigs are the Yak Lady's specialty. Maybe she can carve up a flying pig for ya all.

[Tina]

Truley Impressed with your work Clay.

You're absolutly an artist in your own right, both with the carving and how you come up with your ideas. Loooking forward to see the rest...Awesome:-)

[Clay]

Very Cool Ernie!!!

Next I want to see your version of "Oh horse feathers!!"

Bert

[HorsehairBraider]

Beautiful! And what a really cool technique. It sounds like a lot of work, but really fun too.

The shaping and the muscles you got are just masterful. I looked at the picture before I read your post and just marveled at how much detail you have. I can't wait to see the step by step, and what it will look like painted and finished!

[Don101]

Clay that is trully amazing, i cant wait to see how you know where or how you push from the back to give it that 3d look trully a master, Don

[leatheroo]

Oh clay, soooo nice. I have tried to make a full face mask for a wall hanging, but i cant get the nose right. Everytime i try to wet stretch the leather for the nose, the surrounding leather gets all wrinkly and gets stretch marks. Do you stretch from the back or from the front and then pop the stretched area back out?

[ClayB]

Guess I better do a really good job on the how to part of this, huh? Thanks all of you for the nice comments. I'll try not to disappoint anyone. For years and years, all I did was carve other peoples patterns and finally started trying to come up with some original (or mostly original) stuff, and it has been working out pretty good. I have sort of a team of consultants that I run things past once in awhile when I get stuck. Kate, (the amazing forum fixer) Kathy (Yaklady) Charlie, and Dale have been a lot of help, and they have great imaginations.

Caroline, I stretch from the backside of the leather. Try just wetting the part you want to stretch, leaving the rest of the face dry, or at least drier than the nose. Then you might want to stretch it in steps. Stretch as far as it goes easily, then let it dry. Then re-wet it again, stretch some more. You might have to do that a few times. It also depends on your leather. Some just stretches more easily. When I have a picture I want a lot of stretch from, I choose an area closer to the belly of the hide to cut it out from. The piece I did this buffalo on was way down on the belly and really stretched easily. That part of the hide, you couldn't have used for making anything out of that required strength, but for pictures, or for your masks, I think it works really good.

Clay

[leatheroo]

thanks clay

[Bucky]

Hi I love your work, so cool! now if I could do so Good Donna

[ClayB]

I decided to put the tutorial on my photo site until it finds it's way here to the forum. You can see the step by step process of how I made this picture for now. If you click on a picture, the caption with a description of what is being done should show up. It's not the most convenient way to see it, but it should work until something better gets put up.

****Here is the link****

http://leatherworker.net/bufffeathers/index.htm

Clay, why don't you make a separate post for this so it doesn't get lost in the shuffle?

Edited March 12, 2008 by Johanna
added link

[Don101]

ERM Er What do i Say just watched the show and im lost for words of how to describe it, WOW im gonna have to try it, now i know how its done LOL theres so much detail, Don

[Tina]

I'm super impressed,

really useful tutorails (both) and I can for sure apricitae the patience it most have taken:-) As usual you do things in a way that is stunning. Thank you for sharing your knollage.

Have a great evening//Tina

[Clay]

Ernie,

Great job on the tutorial. You make that look so easy, howcome when I have tried to do this it comes out so flat looking and the tooling seems to dissapear? I think that I would do more of this kind of work if I was more satisfied with my results.

Bert

aka ClayM.

[ClayB]

Thanks you guys (and gals). I have been working at learning the extreme embossed stuff for a few years now and between all the lessons from Jan Schoonover and Robb's videos, I am getting the hang of it. I don't think there is a whole lot written about the process, so hopefully this will be a start. I see a couple of the captions are on the wrong pictures, but close enough that you should be able to follow along.

Bert, you will always lose some of the carving detail when you stretch and emboss. After the stretching is done and the cavity filled with putty and dried, you have to go back and do all the detail work again. Just wet the leather and go at it. The putty is still workable even when it's dry. If you want more shape, get agressive with pear shaders and such. But it is also firm enough that you can tool detail back in. Tooling on it once it's filled with putty is different than when it's flat, but you can do it. A lot of the detail can be just worked back in with a modeling tool too. If you have any questions, I'll try and answer them. Maybe later on this year I can come down to Rapid and do a demo or class on something like this if you want (with less feathers though or it will take a week)

[Johanna]

"Hello? You have reached the complaint department. Press one for English!"

Send me a list of what captions need to be moved and I will be glad to fix it.

Johanna

[Tangent Creations]

As always, beautiful work! You're a major inspiration for me to try that kind of embossing! It looks like it's carved from a block of clay! Just stunning....

[Clay]

Ernie,

Thanks for the informative answer. You are welcome to come down and do a class any time, just give me a few weeks to let the customers know.

Bert