JazzBass Report post Posted October 11, 2018 (edited) Greetings to all the good folks here. My name is Christopher Gordan. By training and trade, I'm a professional musician in Las Vegas, NV. I started at age 9, and have spent the rest of my 56 years playing just about every style of music imaginable. Having always wanted to learn leather crafting, I've finally taken the plunge, and I'm hooked! (wish I started sooner!). So far, I've made a few belts, card cases, luggage tags, etc... I realize now that I actually jumped into "the deep end", by attempting to carve and tool (instead of stamp) script letters on the belts and luggage tags (which started out as "practice pieces"). MAN! Those letters are SMALL, with very tight curves, and really challenged me as an amateur, with both the swivel knife, and the beveler. As difficult as it was, sticking with it has given me a good start, as many other designs are huge by comparison. As an aside, for those interested, I did a video series called "Learning the Fast Draw" on my YouTube channel about ten years ago, that has been well received. https://www.youtube.com/user/ChrisGordan Examples of the latest music (audio and video) project can be found at : http://www.markdalzell.com/jj.htm It's wonderful to see so many top professionals here, enthusiastically sharing their many years of experience, simply for the love of the craft. I'll be doing a LOT more reading than posting, but I'm sure I'll have many questions as I progress. Many thanks to the good folks here! Edited October 11, 2018 by JazzBass Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JazzBass Report post Posted October 12, 2018 Just figured out how to shrink/post images. I've got a LONG way to go, but I'm enjoying every step! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bikermutt07 Report post Posted October 12, 2018 Looks like you're off to a great start. Welcome aboard. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
garypl Report post Posted October 12, 2018 Welcome to the forum - I like the backgrounding you did - looks kind of like bubbles! Gary Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JazzBass Report post Posted October 12, 2018 1 minute ago, garypl said: Welcome to the forum - I like the backgrounding you did - looks kind of like bubbles! Gary Thanks Gary. Learned it on YouTube LOL! It was called a "faux frog skin". Some say "pebble" texture. There's a trick to it, but it's easy - 3 seeders - start by running the largest ones in tight, meandering and criss-crossing lines. Fill in all the spaces you can with the mid sized, then the remaining space with the smallest. Now the trick--- RE-stamp all the big ones - they can get distorted by the ones around them, and "dome-ing" them back up gives that effect. It's easy, and it goes a lot faster than expected for so many impressions, since it's a random pattern. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
garypl Report post Posted October 12, 2018 Thanks for sharing the stamping process - we all learn when we share ideas! Gary Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
