My first two solo attempts at tooling

[Kustomizer]

Well, I took a tooling class at Tandy Leather two weeks ago and these are my first two attempts. Please let me know what you think.

[Drac]

I'm no expert at tooling, but other than the border in a couple of spots, looks like ya did everything right to me!

[tashabear]

Oh, those are awesome! What store did you take the class at?

[8thsinner]

I too am no expert but I like the fish a lot, once it's dyed it should look really good.

The skull though, it's tooled well enough but I do not like the pattern all that much, I am not sure what it is about it but the jaw area seems kinda cartoonish or something. But thats me own personal preference.

WHe

[twofour878]

Very nice. Either that was one amazing class or you've got some natural talent

Where did you get the pattern for that skull? It's perfect for one of my friends and I need ideas for something to make for her.

[steveb]

  Kustomizer said:

Well, I took a tooling class at Tandy Leather two weeks ago and these are my first two attempts. Please let me know what you think.

wow - this is your first work? You've got some natural talent, good for you. This is excellent work for first, second and even 100th attempts!

One thing i notice about the skull is your bevelling. Be aware you can pull and push things down in a 3d hierarchy - creating a depth of field appearance.

The skull is kind of all over the place with depth of field, not clear what is your base layer, your second and so on... a little confusing.

The fish is great, good even backgrounding..this is crying out for some good antiquing!

before you begin dying or noodling with finishes, i might practice the effect your looking for, on some scraps. You dont want to try your first experimentation's of using finishes and dyes on work youve spent effort producing to get to this point...

[TomSwede]

Excellent first pieces!!

Steve's got a interesting point. When I lay down and plan a tooling pattern I like to think of it as an illusion of 3D to get my head around how to get the field of depth in order and also I like to think about how the light would fall onto an object in a real life situation (creating shadows and such).

As for carving I think you will get it into your fingers quite fast. I like to use s-curves and straight lines for practice and alternate between them. The s-curves is also good practice for trying to keep the swivelknife straight on the vertikal plane, if the blade cuts at an angle you'll get under/overcuts wich you only want when you know how to use them.

Good job!!

Tom

[bustedlifter]

I saw these pieces on the Jockey Journal Friday art show and thought they look good.Welcome to the board,now post a pic of your bike!

[Spider]

I say keep it up. You are doing good. This prolly looks like my stuff I but I leave it all rough intentionally.

[Kustomizer]

  tashabear said:

Oh, those are awesome! What store did you take the class at?

The Tandy Leather store in Bloomington, MN

  8thsinner said:

I too am no expert but I like the fish a lot, once it's dyed it should look really good.The skull though, it's tooled well enough but I do not like the pattern all that much, I am not sure what it is about it but the jaw area seems kinda cartoonish or something. But thats me own personal preference.WHe

Thanks and the skull is supposed to have a cartoonish look to it. I know that people that do skulls want them to look more evil, but I wanted to do something that had more of a 2 dimensional look so it would be a bit easier to practice on.

[Kustomizer]

  steveb said:

wow - this is your first work? You've got some natural talent, good for you. This is excellent work for first, second and even 100th attempts!

One thing i notice about the skull is your bevelling. Be aware you can pull and push things down in a 3d hierarchy - creating a depth of field appearance.

The skull is kind of all over the place with depth of field, not clear what is your base layer, your second and so on... a little confusing.

The fish is great, good even backgrounding..this is crying out for some good antiquing!

before you begin dying or noodling with finishes, i might practice the effect your looking for, on some scraps. You dont want to try your first experimentation's of using finishes and dyes on work youve spent effort producing to get to this point...

Thanks for the kind words and input, it helps a ton. Yeah, I had a real hard time figuring out what to do with the skull, which is probably why it is that way. The two areas I struggled with most are the eyes and the border around the outside of the skull. Any suggestions? Or what areas do you think I could change to improve it?

[Kustomizer]

Thanks everyone for the feedback! I really like doing this and hope to get good enough to someday sell a few things.

Bustedlifter, here is a pic of my bike.

Edited November 18, 2008 by Kustomizer