A Christmas/Birthday Belt

[JMcC]

A belt that I finished up recently. I was pretty pleased how it turned out as this is my first belt that I've done. It was done for my brother at his request. I was a little scared of it not being the right size as he lives in another state and all I had to go by was his pants waist size that he gave me over the phone. Turns out that it was a perfect fit for him! Thanks for looking.

[bikermutt07]

Great job. Love that two tone.

[garypl]

Very nice looking belt and you did a good job on the background.  What kind of leather, dye, finish did you use?

Gary

[alpha2]

Great first belt! You dodged a bullet with that waist size. Lucky lucky.

[JMcC]

4 hours ago, garypl said:

Very nice looking belt and you did a good job on the background.  What kind of leather, dye, finish did you use?

Gary

Thank you garypl. The belt was a blank that I ordered from Tandy's, the background dye was Fiebing's "Light Brown" applied with a small brush and the finish was Fiebings "Leather Sheen" which comes in an aerosol spray can and since discovering it, I use on all my projects. It is easy to apply and gives the work a flexible wax finish.

Edited January 5, 2018 by JMcC

[JMcC]

5 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

Great job. Love that two tone.

 

2 hours ago, alpha2 said:

Great first belt! You dodged a bullet with that waist size. Lucky lucky.

Thanks guys! I had between 30-40 hrs. in that belt. I enjoyed doing it and yes, I did dodge a bullet on that fit for his waist size!

[YinTx]

Those acorns are spot on!  Tell us how you do that!  and some close ups would be cool...

YinTx

[JMcC]

8 hours ago, YinTx said:

Those acorns are spot on!  Tell us how you do that!  and some close ups would be cool...

YinTx

Thanks Yin! Here is a closer view of the acorns. Just traced the pattern onto the leather and then very carefully cut the lines with a swivel knife. After finishing all of the swivel knife work, then started on the shading with the different size bevelers around the outside edges of leaves and acorns being careful to study the acorns to figure out which way the lighting would actually show the shadows  on the acorns and the leaves. Used different shaped pear shaders for the leaves. The lines for the bottom part of the acorns were done using my swivel knife by cutting the lines diagonally, closely spaced and then going back across them in the same fashion. It helps to have a small sharp blade in your swivel knife for doing detail work. Lots of stropping while cutting as well. I bought my swivel knife from Leather Wranglers and it is one of the best investments I have made when it comes to tools. I highly recommend their swivel knives.

[JMcC]

Oh yeah, if you will notice on the second set of acorns from the left, the bottom acorn I screwed up on by beveling it the wrong way and then had to go back and re-bevel it on the correct side near the bottom . You can definitely tell if you know what you are looking for. It is the only one I screwed up on and is what happens when you get in a hurry and don't pay attention

 

[YinTx]

I hadn't thought about "casting shadows" when doing acorns.... might make a big difference on my next set!  I have 4 swivel knives that came with a bunch of stuff I bought at the same time, 2 of them don't really swivel, one is a filigree knife so I haven't used it much, one is a really big knife, and two are cracked ceramic blades, so the big knife is the one that gets the use.  The swivel is ok, it's a Craftool Pro.

Your leaves have a lot of details in them, right down to the leaf liner.  I think I might have a pattern for a belt similar to this, I'll make a belt out of it and try to pay attention to those details, maybe my acorns will come out better.  I've done some leaf work, shown on a separate thread, they are a lot different from yours.  Acorns not so good on mine I think.

Your border bead is absolutely perfect all the way around to.  Admirable work!  Was that simply carved with the knife, or did you run a border tool around it?

YinTx