Oak Leaf Holster

[Rohn]

Thanks Dan & Snubbyfan. Appreciate the comments.

[bullmoosepaddles]

I love your work. The old work I did 30 years ago was all Stolman/Sheridan stuff. It speaks to my first impressions of leather work. You offered to answer questions, I have often wondered what you use for lace, and do you cut and make your own?

Thank you Sir.

[Rohn]

Bullmoosepaddles,

Thank you for the nice complement.

To answer your question, I do not make my own lace. Trying to find good quality lace has been a tough one for me. A few years ago I used lace from Tandy but something happened to the quality of it and I quit purchasing lace from them because I could not finish a project without the lace breaking as I was stitching. In the past I have used Kangeroo lace, this is very good lace, but it is extremely expensive in my opinion. Springfield sold a calf lace that I found to be very strong but when I tried to order some of it a couple of weeks ago they said the company that made it went out of business. I ended up buying "Realeather craft lace" made by Silver Creek Leather Co. It is a calf lace and seems to be good and strong. I bought this from Springfield Leather but after checking the price I found that I can get the same thing from Weaver Leather at a better price.

Hope that answers your question.

[bullmoosepaddles]

Thank you for the kindness and the information.

[rickdroid]

Rohn, that is a very beautiful piece.

I have not yet tried carving, other than practicing on some scrap and so far the results are less than stellar.

When I look at your work, the overall layout of the design, the fine detail in each leaf and the choice of the background I wonder if I will ever be able to come close to the quality that I see in your work.

I was wondering how your general artistic skills are. Are you an artist? How are your drawing skills? Were you a good artist when you started carving or did you learn along the way?

I ask because my artistic skills are non-existent and I wonder if I would ever be capable of your level of work no matter how long I try..

Anyhow thanks, I really like seeing your work. It always makes me want to know more.

rick

[Rohn]

Thanks Rick for the nice comments. To answer your question, I don't consider myself an artist. All my carvings are tracings from other work that I put together to make stuff like you seen on this holster. Most of my carvings are copies of Al Stohlman's works or parts of them put together. You need to get some of Al's books and study his methods. If you do you will be able to develop some good carving skills.

[rickdroid]

Thanks Rick for the nice comments. To answer your question, I don't consider myself an artist. All my carvings are tracings from other work that I put together to make stuff like you seen on this holster. Most of my carvings are copies of Al Stohlman's works or parts of them put together. You need to get some of Al's books and study his methods. If you do you will be able to develop some good carving skills.

Thanks for taking time to answer. I do have three of Stohlman's books but they cover basic skills which i still need a lot more work on.

Thanks again for the reply, gives me some hope that some day I can make something I am proud enough of to post pictures of.

rick

[cgleathercraft]

It's been said before (multiple times) - the lacing is superb! I wish I had the patience to sit down and do it. When things slow down i'll give it another chance

[DonorLeather]

Nice work on the holster =) One thing I would change (if anything needed to be changed) is the position of the artwork in relationship to the straps. Your fine artwork is being covered by untooled straps with snaps. One thing I like to do with my work, is lay all the pieces out and try to design my artowrk around where the straps will lay, if the artwork is too large to work around the straps I will continue the artwork into the strap. That way if the strap has to go across my artwork, then the artwork isnt covered. Here is an example of what I was speaking of... When this purse is closed it covers some of the artwork tooled into the bottom, so as I have the pieces all cut out, I simply laid the cover down and continued the artwork on it.... that way no matter if its open or closed no artwork is covered.

Awesome job on the holster!

[Rohn]

DonorLeather,

Very good point. I have carved another holster with the wild rose and I am making it different in that there is no strap that holds the belt loop, instead I am sewing the belt loop on to the back. I'll be finishing and posting it probably next week.

Thanks so much for the tips and the picture. I appreciate it. I can use all the help I can get.