Henry Rifle Forums

After about a month of practicing, and five or six passes at this particular pattern, I am thinking this is beginning to look like something. I hope to get it down pat and then use it as the lid insert on a Christmas box for my daughters. It's from a pattern book I got at Tandy. After tracing the pattern, you transfer it to the leather and cut it in with your swivel knife. After that, I shade the background areas.
Next you work the pattern to make it come alive.
Then you dye and treat the leather with Mink Oil to soften and preserve.
This is still just a practice piece, but it's looking a lot better than the ones I was doing when I started.

Still a hack, but still hacking.

Looks good to me. I love leatherwork.

I hate to show my naivete but that looks first class to me.

Great work BrokenolMarine............

That turned out pretty good. Just imagine what you will be doing if you keep at it.

I am still hacking at it and have been practicing in the evenings and the days where I can't get into the shop. Have a string of those due to the cold damp weather. This is a practice panel that ties together a number of things I have been working on. The border is a "Running W" or "Carlos" that I saw in a YouTube Vid... I have been playing with it for a couple weeks... the first couple tries were dismal failures, but I learned from them and kept hacking away. To start I had to buy a tool and modify it on the bench grinder to even try it. Meh, why not, I liked the looks of it.

The leaves and acorn thing is a bit more masculine than all the roses and other flowers... at least it seems so to me. My daughters love the roses and the Morning Glory stuff though.

Anyway... The boss and I ran into the Metro area and popped into Tandy again. I picked up more tools, and some supplies, including more dies, practice scrap leather and ADVICE. I saved this practice piece without finish on it until I asked a few questions, then came home, tweeked a few of the edges, touched up a few of the backgrounds and then applied the dies, antiquing solution, and the mink oil finish.... here's what I ended up with.

A long way from the crap I turned out the first couple tries...
Still a long way to go..