MendellLeatherOK Report post Posted September 13, 2017 Hello all! Latest project to come out of the shop. Wedding gift for my sister, as well as, entering it in the Tulsa State Fair come Saturday. First time I've entered any of my work. This is a Don Gonzales pattern. Made from 8/9oz vegtan with a stiffener in the panels, lined with 3/4oz veg tan. Background dyed with Fiebings Chocolate Oil Dye, soaked up some Neatsfoot oil overnight and antiqued with Fiebings Antique Finish in Dark Brown then sealed with Tan Kote. Critique Welcome. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rolandranch Report post Posted September 13, 2017 Wow! That looks great! How long did that take you from start to finish? Pardon this question, but why does it seem like it opens from left to right? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MendellLeatherOK Report post Posted September 13, 2017 10 minutes ago, Rolandranch said: Wow! That looks great! How long did that take you from start to finish? Pardon this question, but why does it seem like it opens from left to right? Funny story on the opening, didnt even realize it did that until I was finished. Was certainly NOT going for that, ha. If it was for a customer, I probably would have re-done it. The tooling on each panel took me around 8 hours each excluding the knife work. I would say in total, I have probably 60 or so hours in it. That is from very beginning to very end. I work in the shop after my regular 8-5. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cowboycolonel Report post Posted September 13, 2017 I did the "left to right reversal" several times when I first started. I even built a belt backwards once. What a waste of leather! Your work is beautiful, though, and not easy to keep the tooling area from stretching out under the stamps. You should be proud to be able to do such beautiful work. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MendellLeatherOK Report post Posted September 13, 2017 9 minutes ago, cowboycolonel said: I did the "left to right reversal" several times when I first started. I even built a belt backwards once. What a waste of leather! Your work is beautiful, though, and not easy to keep the tooling area from stretching out under the stamps. You should be proud to be able to do such beautiful work. Thank you very much. I use packing tape on the back of everything as I'm tooling. It keeps the leather from stretching especially on belts, K Adam Tanner even glues his with rubber cement (easy to peel off) down onto plexi glass as he is tooling. Surprisingly this is the first time the left to right has happened to me! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cowboycolonel Report post Posted September 13, 2017 ... and I'm still waiting for someone to order a left-hand gun belt. You can do the left-to-right conversion quickly if you wait until you're almost done and then put the Makers Mark on upside down. I use plexi glass too - works like a charm and allows you to turn the work as required. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MendellLeatherOK Report post Posted September 13, 2017 1 hour ago, cowboycolonel said: ... and I'm still waiting for someone to order a left-hand gun belt. You can do the left-to-right conversion quickly if you wait until you're almost done and then put the Makers Mark on upside down. I use plexi glass too - works like a charm and allows you to turn the work as required. I need to find some plexi glass pieces to use with my smaller stuff! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cowboycolonel Report post Posted September 13, 2017 The glass shop sells the stuff here. I just go down and have them cut it to size. Seems to me that tape is the better option for smaller pieces. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stetson912 Report post Posted September 13, 2017 I recognize those patterns! Hehe I made the portfolio, I see you just made it a bit wider to accommodate the photo album guts. Looks nice to me. Sorry it's "backwards" lol. We've all been there I wanted to ask too, how you carve your letters. Are they inverted? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MendellLeatherOK Report post Posted September 14, 2017 17 hours ago, Stetson912 said: I recognize those patterns! Hehe I made the portfolio, I see you just made it a bit wider to accommodate the photo album guts. Looks nice to me. Sorry it's "backwards" lol. We've all been there I wanted to ask too, how you carve your letters. Are they inverted? Thank You! He seriously has the best patterns! I've bought all I can from him! One reason I put the border on like I did was to accommodate all the extra space, kinda a fluke deal with that! I had to put something there cause of all the space it had. it came together pretty well! I actually used Word on the letters. I found a font I liked and fit it to the size I needed then traced it on and carved like regular beveling the outside like I would anything else. I usually paint letters but I used my dye on these. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stetson912 Report post Posted September 14, 2017 That's my process too, except I carve my letters inverted. Mainly because it's easier to dye. I have a belt I'm still working on that has a lot of lettering that will be posted once I can stitch it up haha Looks good! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
