Learning tooling and carving 1st lesson results

[SamG71]

Hello all.

Being a relative newbie to leather work, I have been lucky enough to have my first few projects tutored by Nigel from @armitageleather and have under my belt, a card holder, a travel wallet and a simple glasses case. However I was also able to get a lesson with Mike @handcraftedleather earlier this week in tooling and carving. I love making, but I think I may now lose myself for many hours in honing my new found skills. Please give me any constructive criticism and pointers, especially in what tools and skills need to be learned to do feathers and animal hair, as I would like to try some designs incorporating them.

[garypl]

Looks like you are off to a great start - nice work!

[jrdunn]

36 minutes ago, garypl said:

Looks like you are off to a great start - nice work!

I concur.  Welcome to the forum!

[AzShooter]

Very nice work.  

 

[DJole]

Nice work for beginning the craft! I don't really do floral, but you have had great instructors who've given you a firm foundation for the basics of leather tooling.  
Feathers and animal hair--- definitely out of my expertise! Hopefully an expert will chime in. 
Do a search for "feathers" on this forum and you'll see some posts and pictures of feather carving. 

[chuck123wapati]

great start and smart to learn from the best before learning bad habits and having to relearn. 

[YinTx]

That is a fantastic start.  Most of us would dream to have instruction from other skilled craftsworkers, but have had to teach ourselves.  Fortunately, we still have a great resource:  the internet and specifically YouTube. As for tools, sky is the limit and you can have as many as you like or as few as necessary.  Bevelers, shaders, swivel knife, backgrounders, modeling spoons and lifters will get you most of the way there.  Figure carving bevelers will open new windows for you.  What size depends entirely on how big your carvings are.  Here are some of many tutorials on feathers:

YinTx