Started the tooling on one of my holsters

[amin ledbetter]

I began the tooling on one of holsters. I did not anticipate what tedious work this is. My arthritis was really talkin to me buy the time I got this much done. But it was still fun regardless of how bad my hands and wrist hurt. I put it down for the night, but will try and do some more tomorrow. I have all the carving and beveling done, and a good start on the background. Any suggestions on how to make the scroll work and symbols stand out more??? Here are some pics.







Do I need to do something to the rough backside of this leather? Do I apply dye to it the same way I do the front of the leather? Is there something I can do to the rough side that will make it more supple or soft or maybe even smooth? I keep looking at the back side and wandering what to do with it. This rough side is also of coarse the inside of the holster, and I just don't care for the rough look of it. Clueless as to what to do about it though! I hope I'm not askin to many questions. 

[Marshal Will Wingam]

That's looking very cool, amin. I like the way you encorporated the tools into the design elements other than just the emblem. Very well thought out.

As to dye, I usually just dye the whole thing at once. A little conditioner and oil and the leather will do fine. I seldom do more than that.

[Curley Cole]

Nice work Amin.

They use bevelers and shaders to help bring up the images...

and now ya know why I can't do leatherwork anymore....

good shootin
curley

[cowboywc]

Howdy
Looks good so far.
You can slick down the flesh side of the leather by wetting it and using a bone folder or even a butter knife.
WC

[amin ledbetter]

Howdy
Looks good so far.
You can slick down the flesh side of the leather by wetting it and using a bone folder or even a butter knife.
WC

Wet and slick in other words right?? Kinda like you do on the edges once they are beveled? s that what your sayin? 

[Gun Butcher]

  Amin, you might want to look at some of the Hi-Liter dyes to make your tooling stand out more. Tandy leather has some videos showing the use of different dyes on their web site. I really like the pattern, its different without being over the top.

[cowboywc]

Wet and slick in other words right?? Kinda like you do on the edges once they are beveled? s that what your sayin? 

Howdy
Yes that is it. You can use Gum Trag to help hold it down also.
WC

[amin ledbetter]

Howdy
Yes that is it. You can use Gum Trag to help hold it down also.
WC

Cool WC! UPS just just dropped off my bag of remnant leather from Tandy. I will try a piece of it and see how it looks. Thanks a bunch pard!

[larrupin]

Looking good amin, I like the pattern!

There's a lot of folks on here with a whole lot more smarts than me on carving leather but I can tell you from my own experience one thing.
When I was first doing carving I was holding the tools way tighter than I needed to and was making my hands cramp and hurt.
When I let up on that pressure and relaxed a little it has made a huge difference.

Just my 2 cents.

Good luck!

Larrupin

[MontanaSlick]

amin, I like yer talent, nice job and the symbols look familiar, you planned that pattern out real well.


M.Slick

MM

[EE Taft]

With something that original and nice I would just line it. You will like the outcome that much more, and that way you don't have to do much to the back side of the leather.

I like your design, very cool!!

~EE Taft~

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

    Your coming right along pard, keep up the good work

       tEN wOLVES 

[Wiley Desperado]

Howdy Amin, very nicely done what a great pattern and your carving is coming along really well. 
Wiley 

[knucklehead]

nice job on the carving.


i would coat that piece with saddle oil let sit up over nite.
then i would color it with saddle tan dye inside and outside.
let that sit up over nite then a good coat of bee natural resist finish let set up according to instructions. then i would use the antique black over the whole tooling.
antique black cover the whole thing like you would staining a block of wood then wipe off excess.
for bee natural products check out their website. also they have a short video on antiquing leather tooling.
this way the antique will stay in the carved areas thus give a two tone look to the tooling.

or you can get a small painters brush from the local hobby shop and paint all the backgroung area with black dye.