Moderator immiketoo Posted June 25, 2018 Author Moderator Report Posted June 25, 2018 48 minutes ago, Johanna said: Craftaids are a good place to start. After you've developed a feel for the leather and your tools, like Mike said, you can carve an original piece. If Kathy reads this post she will think "Huh?" and wonder if you're okay, JLS. I don't know what it is exactly, but I feel like you're picking at Mike, and I don't know why. Both of you have spent many hours helping others, so you share the same objective. Please be mindful that we are all friends here, and there is no need to go out of the way to be rude. Charging for lessons: The old man I learned from explained that any time away from the bench cost us money. He could carve a good pic of your sailboat or girlfriend and that's how he made his money. His leatherwork was personal. I learned everything at his elbow trying to do things so he could do what only he could do, carve leather his style and the customer's way. No one is getting rich selling lessons except maybe Tandy. The lessons being offered now by Elktracks and Learnleather.com are state of the art, and expenses have to be paid. It's a fair trade, IMO, and it's helping people. Video technology has made huge strides, and most of us can understand it better when we see it, rather than read it. Most of us learned by the standard of the father of leatherwork, Al Stohlman. He was the one that wrote the books, he wasn't the best leatherworker in the world necessarily. History is always made by those who write the books. PS Mike, FB is holding LW's posts and shares hostage, so as an experiment I "boosted" the promo Dave made. For whatever reason they aren't showing it outside the US. I'm annoyed with FB because they want us to use them to crosslink, but they want to charge me money to share info that interests a lot of people. I'll keep you posted. ~J Thanks for the heads up about the boost, Johanna. FB is a necessary evil, unfortunately. 35 minutes ago, JLSleather said: Caught me replying, so I'll continue, but let me put this in at teh top of what I started. I don't pay for "lessons" or "classes", but it makes no difference to me if the NEXT guy does. Not my business or my concern. Now, here's what I had started to reply... ______________ Hmmm... musta read it wrong But if "carving and content go hand in hand", then everybody who used the craftaid would all look the same, right? No matter. Regardless of where I "got" it, I got it. Here's one that is colored ONLY -- not carved at all. It IS from a "craftaid", if I remember right. For those wanting to carve it, simply hit it deeper where the color is richer, and there ya go (lightly double bevel down the center of the leaves). SHOOT..... shoulda maybe added that if'n a guy wanted to , could reverse engineer that rose... go from the rose to the drawing .. just as easy .. Jeff, even professional athletes pay for coaches to critique and offer new techniques. Pro golfers have others evaluate their swing to get the hitch out of their giddyup. Leather carvers enter contests to have their work judged by pros in order to get a critique and maybe a prize. If you think you have it all figured out, and you're happy, then so be it. But, you might be surprised at what you could learn from someone else in a class setting. You're using a logical fallacy regarding my statement about carving and content. "But if "carving and content go hand in hand", then everybody who used the craftaid would all look the same, right?" Wrong. Obviously, everyone has different abilities and perceptions. Different TOOLS. Some have finer control of their knife or tools. Some have better attention to details than others, and some are perfectionists, while others are not. No matter how many people carve a craft aid, no two will look the same. Period. However. I will grant you that the results 100 people carving a craft aid will look more similar than the results of 100 people carving a portrait from a photograph. The variances involved in interpreting the image and applying it to leather are much greater than when its spoon fed with a step by step photo carve. Much like the dance steps where you put the shoe outlines on the floor and try to do them in order. Eventually you might be proficient at putting your feet (tools) in the right places, but it doesn't make you a dancer. Quote Learnleather.com
Contributing Member JLSleather Posted June 25, 2018 Contributing Member Report Posted June 25, 2018 Okay. Quote "Observation is 9/10 of the law." IF what you do is something that ANYBODY can do, then don't be surprised when ANYBODY does.
Rockoboy Posted June 26, 2018 Report Posted June 26, 2018 4 hours ago, immiketoo said: No matter how many people carve a craft aid, no two will look the same. Period. As a relative newbie to this thing called 'leathercraft' and even newer to carving, am I missing something in believing a craftaid is merely a means to an end, just a way of transposing a design on to leather so the crafter knows where to cut? If I was a half decent artist, I could draw a picture with a stylus on the leather, but I barely know which end of a stylus or pencil is which. Is it perceived as 'cheating' or lower-in-quality in some way, if a crafter uses a craftaid? Quote Kindest regards Brian "Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you are right" Henry Ford Machines: Singer 201p, Kennedy, Singer 31K20, Singer 66K16 ("boat anchor" condition), Protex TY8B Cylinder Arm (Consew 227r copy), Unbranded Walking Foot (Sailrite LSV-1 copy)
Moderator immiketoo Posted June 26, 2018 Author Moderator Report Posted June 26, 2018 2 hours ago, Rockoboy said: As a relative newbie to this thing called 'leathercraft' and even newer to carving, am I missing something in believing a craftaid is merely a means to an end, just a way of transposing a design on to leather so the crafter knows where to cut? If I was a half decent artist, I could draw a picture with a stylus on the leather, but I barely know which end of a stylus or pencil is which. Is it perceived as 'cheating' or lower-in-quality in some way, if a crafter uses a craftaid? You're absolutely correct. Its to transfer a design to leather. The same can be done with a piece of paper and a pencil. Or a stylus or whatever. They are handy if you want to reproduce the same image multiple times, or you have a shaky hand. The quality is up to the carver regardless how the image is transferred to the leather. Quote Learnleather.com
Members Sheilajeanne Posted June 26, 2018 Members Report Posted June 26, 2018 15 hours ago, JLSleather said: That horse carving discussion IS amazing - but don't thank me, thank HER. We need a 'thumbs up' icon for this site! Quote
Members Raksha Posted June 26, 2018 Members Report Posted June 26, 2018 1 hour ago, Sheilajeanne said: We need a 'thumbs up' icon for this site! Agree! I am on a dog forum and there we have a "like" button, I miss it on this forum! Quote
Members kiwican Posted February 8, 2019 Members Report Posted February 8, 2019 So I've been insanely impressed with these 3d carving and sculptures. So much so that I've tried my hand at a koi fish. For an experiment it turned out OK. I'll upload a pic when I figure out how to resize things. But I'm really interested to know how to make it pop. How to really make the relief stand out. And how to keep the flat bits flat and formed bits formed! So far I've just used a swivel knife and modeling spoon. Tips and advise really really apreciated! Quote
Contributing Member JLSleather Posted February 9, 2019 Contributing Member Report Posted February 9, 2019 13 minutes ago, kiwican said: But I'm really interested to know how to make it pop. Carving leather is not nearly as difficult as some would like you to think. Course, if you get thinking it's both easy and fun, then I suppose they sell less patterns and instructions. About 95% of leather carving is getting the moisture content right. That's a made-up, random, off the cuff number .. meaning I just mean that's very important. Percentage means nothing. To carve leather, you need good leather, and the moisture content will come quickly with a little experience. WHAT you carve - at least at first - is IMMATERIAL. I used craftaids and stohlman's belt book patterns simply so I could concentrate on the CARVING. I bought a double shoulder of 9 oz cow and cut it into strips, started making [sort of] belts. When it was not good (i mean seriously not good) i didn't pitch it.. I tossed it off to the side in a box and started another. When I knew it wasn't looking like I wanted, I finished it anyway. By the time I got across that shoulder (I think it was 16 or 18 belts) they didn't look too bad -- AND I had a handle on why the not-so-good parts weren't so good. STOP THERE? Uh..no. I took those "fails" and practiced the COLORING. MUCH of that failed too, some worse than others. But I pitched em right back in that box. Later used the same ones to test different types of finish recommended by the book and the Tandy up the road. I didn't take their classes or groups because I could see that the people in them certainly weren't making ANYTHING REMOTELY LIKE the pics in the books they were using (though that slim gal was CUTE). Seriously, you're an intelligent guy -- get some GOOD leather, bowl o water, set of bevelers (regular and figure bevelers) and have at er. You'll likely destroy some of the leather, but every piece can be lessons gained if you go about it meaning to "get" it. Quote "Observation is 9/10 of the law." IF what you do is something that ANYBODY can do, then don't be surprised when ANYBODY does.
Members kiwican Posted February 9, 2019 Members Report Posted February 9, 2019 Agreed. I could certainly see that the moisture content was a crucial component. I need to get a figure beveler for sure. And then like any other skill practice until ya bleed! Quote
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