advice needed on Sheridan style drawing

[cowboy316]

howdy pards
been rackin my poor brain for ideas for the Sheridaqn show and im gonna enter 2 sets of spur straps
and was told if i wanna do well i need to do my own design so i sort of drew up a flower for a set of dove wings
but cant get the scroll work part of the design figured out and advice would be greatfully welcomed
im attaching a pic of the spur strap with the flower and alson a sample carving of the flower
all advice taken greatfully
thanks pard for the support this last year you pards rock
Cowboy316

[FEATHERS]

G'Day Cowboy,Sending you an email.Feathers

[cowboy316]

pm sent Feathers
Cowboy316

[Josh Dabney]

Cowboy316,

I've never done any sheridan style carving personally so TIFWIW.

From a Purely design standpoint I will make a couple suggestions.

Due to the strap not being a mirror image from left to right I wouldn't shoot for a design where the carving is done in this fashion.

I would at least try the idea of flipping the right flower upside down and then connecting the stems with an S scroll (or a variation not necessarily connected) as the main element of the scroll work.

From there you would definately know better than me how to fill the rest of the space with leaves offshoot scrolls etc etc.

To me this will add flow to the design and lead the viewers eye from one side to the other  taking in the details along the way as opposed to a mirror image style carving that will possibly make the center the main focal point.

This is a personal preferance thing but I love carvings that are bordered where elements of the carving very slightly break through the border in places bringing the carving to the forefront of the border.   Using a border would help to tie in the ends of the strap where the buckle and conch will be into the carving for a homogenous look. 

Again just a couple of my thoughts that are based on design more so than the Sheridan style

-Josh

[cowboy316]

howdy Josh
thank you for the input ill be trying that here today  and as for drawing i cant draw a stick figure let alon a good flower LOL
thanks again and any advice on drawing carving patterns will be taken greatfully
Cowboy316

[cowboywc]

Howdy Cowboy
I would be looking at a figure 8 pattern for that.
Something about like this.
WC

[Josh Dabney]

Cowboy,

I'm not formally educated in any art form but drawing has always been a hobby so this is just how I go about things.

1.  Define the area to be carved !    This is VERY important as the basis for the rest of the design.  For example.  if you make a complete design concept then decide to alter the original outline of the carving it will throw the proportions of the rest of the design off resulting in re-designing the details.   I'm talking about the BASIC outline of the carving and minor changes to that may not alter anything at all.  Say for exapmle the carving is a rectangle picture frame. deciding to radius the corners would probably have little effect as the basic rectangle remains.

2. Work on defining the MAIN lines of the carving like your flower outline in your first pic.  At this stage the details like shading, contouring, and how to fill the backround aren't important as we're just deciding how to divide the design into good proportions and create the "flow" or lack of "flow" that is wanted.     An example of flow would be what I mentioned in my first post.  Lack of flow would be to keep the flowers independant from one another where the stems maybe curled in a C shape basically meeting in the middle.  In this example the there would end up being two independant focal points contained in one border.

3. Now continue to the Main lines of the details and establish any negative space you may want left un-carved or stamped down with a backrounding tool.

Once your at this stage it's time to start determining how to shade, mold, stamp, etc. to achieve the depth of the carving and affects you need in your design.

A feller with your carving ability probably doesn't need to go past step 3 with your drawing to actually have the "Carving Pattern".  I like to make a drawing of a pattern in actual size with as much detail as possible.  When satisfied with the design I use tracing paper to copy only the lines that represent swivel knife cuts then use that to tranfer the pattern to the leather then wing it from there.

I have yet to try anything Sheridan style but I like it and someday will study it.   My thinking for designing original Sheridan Patterns is to begin with specific elements of the style (like your flower which looks AWESOME !) and practice on mastering single elements individually.   As the skills progress I believe that once the main element of the carving is established the remaining space will almost take care of itself.

Thats how I would go about making an original design.   I will admit that the designing is easier said than done at times, LOL.  In making designs for silver wire inlays I may work on each step 3 or 4 hours to get it just perfect on paper.

Hope this helps with your drawing.   Josh