Tandy kits done by novice

[BigAlC]

Hi All

I suppose that this is a case of put up or shut up.

I am an absolute novice and over here in North East England I have very little guidance. God bless the Tandy website.

Here are a couple of Tandy kits that I have completed. Comments would be VERY welcome.

The First is a cig case

Second is a couple of Hip Flasks

And third a Ropers wallet

Tear me to Bits

!!!!!!

[abn]

Big Al,

If you're looking for criticism, I don't have much to offer. I think you did a really great job on all of these projects. I've tried my hand at the Tandy kits and can never make them turn out right, so congratulations on your success!

Keep up the good work; it's obvious you have a talent for leathercraft.

Regards, -Alex

[Gregory B. Moody]

Ok,,, lets talk about the Roper Wallet ... and center section leaf on the side opposite the initialed side..

On the upper side of the carved vein the decorative cuts went far enough that they wound up pointing away from the center line of the leaf... on floral carving everything should be contributing to the ' flow' downstem...

Also, decorative cuts should be deep at the beginning and fade out to sharp points at the end ( which is going to be downstem ).... they should be like apostrophe's... where your decorative cuts end I can see the impression of the shape of the swivel knife blade... so you need to be gradually withdrawing it as you near the end of the decorative cut.

I am pretty much against dyeing parts of a project in the first place.. and this one gives a good example of why. When you look at it one of the first things to catch the eye is unusual pattern of black...

The irregular black pattern caused by the decision to only color parts of the background which are 'captured' in the floral pattern.. as compared to dyeing the entire background takes away from the impact of the floral pattern because it is more prominent color wise. I am also against dyeing all the background... particularly on an item which gets the friction wear of a wallet... It is a lot of time and work... and at some point will require a lot of time to try to bring back to nice looking (redyeing )... { and other finishes are available which won't }.

Specifially on this pattern is also causes a blip in the visual impact where two leaves accidentally appear to be one leaf with black painted in the center... when in fact you were following the rule you were using for the rest of the project...

It is very important to case your leather several hours... if it is not evenly moist all the way through at some point then it is very hard to get nice clean curves... I know that most books claim you can just wet and go but even with the background I have I never consider not properly casing a project. It makes at least 25 percent difference in the way your carving and stamping looks... and few are so good that giving up that 25 percent won't show up in the visual impact.....

At some point you will want to cut out your own projects so that you won't be using round holes with flat lace... and some kits are not too good about having the holes match up anyway... and remember... anytime you are going to sew or lace anything you glue it together with contact cement before punching the holes.

Here is a practice piece I did a few days ago trying to get my hand back in shape to do decorative cuts..

Greg

Hi All

I suppose that this is a case of put up or shut up.

I am an absolute novice and over here in North East England I have very little guidance. God bless the Tandy website.

Here are a couple of Tandy kits that I have completed. Comments would be VERY welcome.

The First is a cig case

Second is a couple of Hip Flasks

And third a Ropers wallet

Tear me to Bits

!!!!!!

[Johanna]

When you are lacing, always start (and end) in the most inconspicous place, and never on a place subject to stress. It really helps to double up a few times around the corners for a neater appearance, and bang it flat with the back end of your mallet when you are through, then burnish the edge with a wheel or antler. When you start doing your own patterns, I would suggest punching holes as slits with chisels rather than round holes like kits have. If you are lacing right, the stitch is pulled to the top, and when held up to light, you can't see any holes.

If you're wondering why I have not mentioned carving (which you show an obvious talent for) it's because I am possibly the world's worst carver, and probably always will be.

Johanna

[BigAlC]

Hi All

Many thanks for the constructive critisism. It was very helpful. I am particularly interested in the comments about casing. I use the "dampen wait ten minutes and go" system. I look forward to trying the altenative.

Thanks again

Al

[shirleyz]

Hey Big Al,

You're off to a great start! Welcome aboard, you'll learn a lot from these guys, I have. I've never completed a kit yet. Started a bag once. Tooled it, dyed it, put it back in the box. I'll finish it one day. To be honest, it was one of the first things I tooled, and now I don't really want anyone to see it. I don't think it's nice enough to show. So kudos to you for jumping right in.

I am also from the Northeast of England originally, Leeds to be exact. Prefer the desert weather now though. It's nice to see another limey around!

Shirleyz