Me: I don't want to tool tiny things! Also me:

[YinTx]

Pen for scale.  It is about 3/4" wide at the widest point. Drew this entirely myself, freehand, no tracing.  A first for me.  I think it came out ok, despite the use of a huge knife.  Someday I'll get tiny tools to go with these dang tiny toolings.

Enjoy, also open to constructive criticism!

YinTx

[RockyAussie]

Can't help you with the criticism constructive or any other sort......I think you might have gone and got the hang of this and on such a little bit a that.

[bermudahwin]

Like 10% of us here could freehand that, and I am dissing nobody, If I could freehand that, I'd chuck the art and CAD packages and save a heap.

H

[bikermutt07]

Wow, Y!!! Fantastic job.

[JLSleather]

Your deco cuts are pretty shallow... leather getting dry or knife getting dull? Still, I like the design.  Are you backgrounding, or no?

Small stuff is FUN.  Ya just haven't lived until you bought the P370 shade tool and then ground some off the sides

 

[ABHandmade]

Nice! Hand-drawn ornament is very impressive!

[YinTx]

9 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

I think you might have gone and got the hang of this

I'm tryin... bit at a time!  Thanks!

8 hours ago, hwinbermuda said:

I'd chuck the art and CAD packages and save a heap.

Would love to get a CAD package, but I haven't made enough $ on the carvings to justify buying  a smaller knife, so for sure wouldn't justify the software!  I couldn't draw a stick figure as I always say, but necessity is the mother of invention, so either I learn to draw or I learn to program...   I ain't saying I'm great here or anything... it took me well over an hour to get the sketch knocked out, but it was useable!

7 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

Wow, Y!!! Fantastic job.

Appreciate that!!

6 hours ago, JLSleather said:

Your deco cuts are pretty shallow... leather getting dry or knife getting dull

I'd say you are pretty right there.  Leather prolly a bit dry, and my hand a bit shy... knife is pretty sharp, no dragging.  I tend to make wreckerative cuts, and this thing was so tiny I was afraid I'd do worse than that.  More practice to come then, I'll try and get em a lil deeper...I was going to background, but the areas I was going to are designed to have holes punched in them (this will be a dog collar) and I wasn't sure how that'd look.. I opted not to for now.  Maybe the next one, and I'll be able to compare looks.  I am fascinated by those that can do very detailed tiny work, it is difficult for me, but I keep getting tasked with it, so there it is.  

4 hours ago, ABHandmade said:

Nice! Hand-drawn ornament is very impressive!

Coming from the master of detail himself, I am humbled.  Thank you.

YinTx

 

[spacedog]

Nicely done. I find tiny stuff difficult too. 

[YinTx]

12 hours ago, hwinbermuda said:

Like 10% of us here could freehand that, and I am dissing nobody, If I could freehand that, I'd chuck the art and CAD packages and save a heap.

H

I just woke up from a much needed nap, and realized some might be thinking I freehand cut that thing.  To be clear, I freehand drew it, on paper,  then transferred it to leather as always.  My bad if I mislead anyone!

YinTx

[alpha2]

Works for me! I haven't delved into the tiny toons bit yet, I should do better with the larger scale stuff first! Looks good, work in progress.

[plinkercases]

Well done from design to execution.

[Riem]

Freehand shmeehand... Looks excellent! Main thing - are you happy with it?

[dougfergy]

Man!  That is fantastic!  I'd have to use a magnifying glass to work that small. 

[DJole]

It's got to be an optical trick...you found some giant-size tools and put them into the photo, right? 
Seriously, though... those are TINY lines you did there! I don't know how  you pulled it off, but you did. That would be a difficult how-to video to make, since the movements would be so small. 
I have a couple designs I have shelved simply because they have some very, very small and narrow lines, and I just don't want to mess with them yet. I'm considering laser engraving instead. 

[Bob Blea]

@YinTx Looking pretty good.  Nothing easy about small stuff like this.  The only suggestion I would make is to work on making smooth swivel knife cuts at this scale.  I see a couple of places where the vine work curves flatten out in spots.  Really easy to do at small scales.  It takes a lot of practice to cut a design in smoothly with flowing lines when the pattern is this small.  It's something I can achieve only about half the time.

[YinTx]

23 hours ago, alpha2 said:

Works for me! I haven't delved into the tiny toons bit yet, I should do better with the larger scale stuff first! Looks good, work in progress.

thanks much!  I had never planned to do tiny, but it keeps cropping up...

5 hours ago, Riem said:

Freehand shmeehand... Looks excellent! Main thing - are you happy with it?

Was pretty stoked with being able to draw it out myself... so yeah, happy about that.  Always room to improve myself tho..

5 hours ago, dougfergy said:

Man!  That is fantastic!  I'd have to use a magnifying glass to work that small. 

Was thinking to invest in one myself... I hear those over the head magnifiers are good for leather carvers...

1 hour ago, DJole said:

That would be a difficult how-to video to make, since the movements would be so small. 

Lol, all you'd see is my ginormous paw in the way the whole time, and me rocking my head back and forth trying to see under said paw...and thanks for the compliment.

34 minutes ago, Bob Blea said:

@YinTx Looking pretty good.  Nothing easy about small stuff like this.  The only suggestion I would make is to work on making smooth swivel knife cuts at this scale.  I see a couple of places where the vine work curves flatten out in spots.  Really easy to do at small scales.  It takes a lot of practice to cut a design in smoothly with flowing lines when the pattern is this small.  It's something I can achieve only about half the time.

 

You are right about the flat spots.  Mostly happened along the sides, where I had originally wanted to do a beaded border and have the vines sort of collide with the border, if you know what I mean, but then changed my mind later about the bead, resulted in flat disaster.  I'm sure I'd do it without the altered plan, and I try to convince myself a smaller knife would help, but I know you are right, it is the practice that will correct the flaw.  I have seen so many fine examples of detailed finger carvings to know I have a long ways to go!

Thanks for the pointers and compliments all!

YinTx

[Riem]

16 hours ago, YinTx said:

Was pretty stoked with being able to draw it out myself... so yeah, happy about that.  Always room to improve myself tho.. 

After I hit "send" on my comment I thought to myself "Ooops.. Moi can't even draw a picture of a pencil without writing a narrative to explain what it is, and now my comment could be taken as if belittling YinTx's very excellent drawing"... Apologies - your work, freehand and otherwise, is an inspiration. You can be rightfully proud of that freehand drawing.

[YinTx]

4 hours ago, Riem said:

Apologies

None needed, I get that things are lost in translation when typing on occasion (see my own comment clarifying that I did a freehand drawing on paper, not a free hand cut on leather! didn't want to mislead folks myself), so I didn't take any offense.  I do appreciate the positive comments and clarification tho!

YinTx

[YinTx]

Got some color on it, and some antique.  This Hermann Oak turns really dark fast with Neatsfoot oil, kinda kills the contrasting colors.  Oh well, it is what it is.

 

YinTx

[dougfergy]

I'm curious.  How long did you let the NF Oil soak in before coloring?  Did you dry in the sun or anything?  Just trying to learn as much as I can about how everyone is going at it!

Still looks great by the way!

[YinTx]

On 6/17/2019 at 11:09 AM, dougfergy said:

I'm curious.  How long did you let the NF Oil soak in before coloring?  Did you dry in the sun or anything?  Just trying to learn as much as I can about how everyone is going at it!

Still looks great by the way!

Thank you.  I did the dye work prior to oiling, and I let the oil set in for a couple of days because I had other things going on at the same time.  Usually, only need to let it rest overnight or so.  I did not have to put it in the sun at all.  Hope that helps,

YinTx

[dougfergy]

Oh, Okay.  I had it the other way around.  Well, the NF oil really does darken your project no matter when it is applied I guess.  I've used NF oil alone in some projects because it seemed to accent the stamp work, give me the color I was going for and I just let it soak in a few days then hit it with a couple coats of resolene to finish it and it looked good.  In my self-taught/you tube video watching experience doing leather work, somewhere along the way I started putting at least one NF oil coat on and letting it sit for a day or two, or dry in the sun one afternoon before staining and antiquing.  The idea was that the stains go on more evenly when the leather has that oil moisture in it.   Don't know if it is true, just been doing it that way for a while so I really don't recall if it made a difference when I started doing it that way. 

Your belt looks great though, and I'll bet that carved area will begin to lighten up some over time and show more of your fine craftsmanship!

[YinTx]

1 hour ago, dougfergy said:

Your belt looks great though, and I'll bet that carved area will begin to lighten up some over time and show more of your fine craftsmanship!

Thank you.  I suspect if it is like some of the other Hermann Oak leather tooling I've done, it will darken even more.  Time will tell!  I did post the final result of the finished collar in a separate thread.

YinTx