Leather Portfolios

[BillB]

I have not had a chance to post lately and thought I would add some of my latest work.

The Retirement present was for Admiral Vic See, US Navy. The emblem is that of the his command. I have know him since he was a Lt. Commander. The portfolio itself is my own design. I will either sew or lace the pieces together. On the back, not pictured here, is a turtle totem.

The Christmas Presents for Buddy and Mickey are the new Tandy Portfolio Kits where as Kyrie's is the older Tandy Portfolio Kit. The Celtic and flower patterns are from Tandy.

The lettering on all four was done using Metal Letterpress Type. I now have five different type sets and looking for my sixth.

I have:

12pt Century Old Style Bold

18pt Stymie

18pt Arial

36pt Cheltenham Bold Italic

48pt Century

One thing I have learned using metal letterpress type is to be careful on the Fonts. The 36pt Cheltenham Bold Italic has letters with ends that go beyond the main support block of metal for the letter. This has caused the "W" letter to fracture off one tip due to the pressure used to imprint the leather. I am now working with "Letter Preservation" in Cincinnati, Ohio to find a non-Italic's version so that all the letters are fully supported by the main metal block.

BillB

[jbird]

Very nice work it is clean and neat very nice

Josh

[Greybeard]

Nice work!

The only thing I think could be improved, would be to carve the names...but still nice...

[RustyMelton]

They look great Bill. What did you use for the colors, they look so bright. Nice job.

[BillB]

Rusty - I used Fiebings Leather Dyes.

Greybeard - I have done carved letters and could not get the clean lines or the consistency I get using the letterpress type. I would rather spend my time on the art work anyway.

BillB.

[MADMAX22]

Nice work on that celtic dragon. I did that one a while back and lets just say it didnt turn out as good as yours.

[stelmackr]

...The lettering on all four was done using Metal Letterpress Type. I now have five different type sets and looking for my sixth.

I have:

12pt Century Old Style Bold

18pt Stymie

18pt Arial

36pt Cheltenham Bold Italic

48pt Century

One thing I have learned using metal letterpress type is to be careful on the Fonts. The 36pt Cheltenham Bold Italic has letters with ends that go beyond the main support block of metal for the letter. This has caused the "W" letter to fracture off one tip due to the pressure used to imprint the leather. I am now working with "Letter Preservation" in Cincinnati, Ohio to find a non-Italic's version so that all the letters are fully supported by the main metal block.

BillB

Bill,

I have learned that lesson the hard way also. There should be some extra spaces with the font set that allow you to place a space under the letter at the end of the text. Spaces between the words seem to automatically support the overhanging letters. I have found more fonts searching eBay with the text: "letterpress".

There is an eBay guy, larrybball, who has a store where I have bought much of my metal type. He is at:

http://stores.ebay.com/larrybball

For another source, M&H Type, that I have not bought from, makes new metal type, they are at:

http://www.arionpress.com/mandh/index.htm

I have cut and tooled letters in the past, but people are asking for longer and smaller text where the letterpress type really shows off quite nicely like your portfolios.

I will look to see if I have that 36pt Cheltenham Bold Italic font and see if I have a "W" I could lend or sell you.

Bob Stelmack

[BillB]

Bob,

Thanks for reminding me about the spaces. I did get several with the set and will use them in the future. I was able to superglue the fragment back onto the W and with support from a space block I should have no trouble. I have also contacted Letter Preservation to see if they have the 36pt Cheltenham in just Bold. He was going to check his inventory and get back to me. Thanks for the info on the other dealers.

BillB