A Ram's Horn Bag

I am reluctant to take on prototype projects, but the challenge of carving a lion was just too much!  [A lion's face does not have many swivel knive cuts and is tooling wise not easy.]  I embossed the lion face slightly, but did not leave a plug in there, so the embossing is quite subtle.

Further more, the bag is for a Ram's Horn, like in the Old Testament, but it is not one used in a Jewish community - as in a Hispanic Protestant Church.

So, as with all my projects, I did quite a few practise pieces to see how things would work.  

This paid off, because I got the best background dye around the lion's head with the new Pro Waterbased Stain!  So all the veg tan leather was dyed with this new stain.

A little gold acrylic added a bit more prominence to the lettering.

["The Lion of the Tribe of Judah"]

I decided to use the same opening as for the Huarachi pouch, as it lies flat, but the challenge came in that there was now lining and padding inside the pouch as well and the bag was also stitched inside out and turned in.

And there it is - all done!

I just put a cow horn in there to show how the horn would go into the bag opening.

Dubbin was King

I decided to convert my few static web pages about leatherwork, into blog entries and so here is the first one:

 

DUBBIN

The Ultimate Leather Finish / Dressing Any Leathercrafter can Use!

I have successfully made my own Dubbin: I rendered sheep fat for the tallow (beautiful white stuff - also good for cooking and preparing cast iron cookware), and then I added Beeswax and Neatsfoot oil and a few other extras. The result is all I expected and I do not feel anxious any more about having to import my Dubbin from South Africa!

• Etherington & Roberts says it is made of tallow and cod oil.
•  Thelma Newman, in her book "Leather as Art and Craft" describes DUBBIN as a mixture of Tallow and Codliver Oil.

 Why I Like DUBBIN so Much! 

• DUBBIN feeds and protects the leather from the inside and replaces all the oils taken out of the leather during the tanning process.
• DUBBIN brings out a deep glowing color in leather. In un-dyed leather it will cause the leather to turn a golden honey color when exposed to light.
• DUBBIN is very good for your hands - especially in winter. I always apply it by hand - it allows me to regulate exactly how much I put on.
• DUBBIN never acentuates stains on leather - it rather tends to clean up any water or light stains.
• DUBBIN Can be used over any non-sealing finish, such as spirit dyes and water based dyes as well as water based inks.
• DUBBIN allows leather to become supple without loosing its shape - it helps the leather to stay "alive" and always as beautiful as new.

Answers to DUBBIN critics

• It is sometimes said that DUBBIN rots stitching on leather articles. When applying DUBBIN you must simply make sure that you do not leave chunks of Dubbin in folds or seams of the leather - this will collect dust, trapped by the thick DUBBIN and the dust will then rot the stitching. I always polish a project that I have just applied DUBBIN to, with a soft brush - there seems to be some beeswax in DUBBIN that will cause the leather to have a natural shine when treated like this.

Some of Gary Arvedson's work

Monday evening was a big show and tell evening for Gary,  He brought in some very well made projects, proving what an accomplished carver he is.

The following photographs are from a gun bag he had made.  The tooling was to drool over - digital photography outside a studio just cannot capture the beauty of the work.

Of course, the eye catcher of the evening was the chair he had made for his grand daughter!   Wow!

Cover a Can!

On June 13, we will be fooling around with covering a can with leather!   Great gifts / great little project / great practice / great project!

Here is my next can cover. (Click on the link ...)

And here are a few cans I covered long ago:

This one was just some suede wrapped around the can and an off-cut from a pre-embossed belt glued around the bottom.

Some detail of the belt piece:

Chaps

Jerry Hanscomb made these pair of chaps with his particular fine attention to detail.

Gifts

Bill Anderson presented each Guild member with one of these flowers that he had painstakingly made:

Thanks, Bill!

Made by Eric

Eric R made these using stingray and the Latvian seam:

Here is a close up of the noseband:

This is part of a breast collar for a horse:

These are water bottle holders that you carry on your belt: