TVvoodoo's Straplab
- Thread starter TVvoodoo
- Start date
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- guitar straps
C-Grin
Ambassador of Wonderland
The art is awesome, and it didn’t take much patience on my part as you got it done in the same amount of time it took me to figure out how to send you money. I honestly thought it would be a longer wait but you got it done very quickly and did a spectacular job. Thank you sir!!
OP
TVvoodoo
Ambassador of The Comfortably Slung
Ok, bluey/green then lightly over-dyed with black, padded, 3" wide, sewn and riveted with gold rivets. How'd I do?
Of course a fellow never really knows until it's on the guitar in person.
Also several new "Canadiana" guitar straps in stock in the store. this one is going to be such a conversation starter, particularly for history buffs who understand what this is.
Great acoustic strap!
3" wide, padded, beautiful Nubuck leather, and all that genuine, surprisingly strong, wool!
Hope your week is going fine, I'm about to fry me up some chicken parts for dinner!
Of course a fellow never really knows until it's on the guitar in person.
Also several new "Canadiana" guitar straps in stock in the store. this one is going to be such a conversation starter, particularly for history buffs who understand what this is.
Great acoustic strap!
3" wide, padded, beautiful Nubuck leather, and all that genuine, surprisingly strong, wool!
Hope your week is going fine, I'm about to fry me up some chicken parts for dinner!
OP
TVvoodoo
Ambassador of The Comfortably Slung
Three new No Prisoners series straps now in the Reverb store!
"KingMaker"
"Slither"
And "Blue Steel"
These are all 3" wide (or near it), heavy garment leather base with rolled edges and a feature belt affixed on top either by stitching or rivets. They are among my most padded/comfortable, all reach approx. 60" in length, and the funnest thing about this series is I NEVER repeat the same strap twice, so if you own one, it's going to be a 1/1 nobody else can have, unless they manage to make one themselves!
"KingMaker"
"Slither"
And "Blue Steel"
These are all 3" wide (or near it), heavy garment leather base with rolled edges and a feature belt affixed on top either by stitching or rivets. They are among my most padded/comfortable, all reach approx. 60" in length, and the funnest thing about this series is I NEVER repeat the same strap twice, so if you own one, it's going to be a 1/1 nobody else can have, unless they manage to make one themselves!
OP
TVvoodoo
Ambassador of The Comfortably Slung
New in the store today is "Safari" - actually two of them -
Kind of hybrid of two of my popular lines "1969" and "Wild Things." It's 3" wide, black leather, padded, and both of the go pretty long. One goes to 58" max, the other as far as 62" if you need that extra room to express yourself on stage. This strap will give any rig a little extra "RAWRR!"-factor
REVERB STORE NOTE - I will be traveling for a few days, so after tonight gotta shutter the store for little bit. If you need to contact me, I'll be checking in. If you're interested in custom work, when I return I'll have a fairly clean slate, there would be little wait time. Also, as of today, I don't believe any recent trade barriers will affect the price you pay, but that may be subject to change. All in all, customers in a better to place to compare my work with the work of other makers continue to mention I could probably ask more for the level of product and service I supply. However, as it stands right now, I have NO plans to raise my prices.
Kind of hybrid of two of my popular lines "1969" and "Wild Things." It's 3" wide, black leather, padded, and both of the go pretty long. One goes to 58" max, the other as far as 62" if you need that extra room to express yourself on stage. This strap will give any rig a little extra "RAWRR!"-factor
REVERB STORE NOTE - I will be traveling for a few days, so after tonight gotta shutter the store for little bit. If you need to contact me, I'll be checking in. If you're interested in custom work, when I return I'll have a fairly clean slate, there would be little wait time. Also, as of today, I don't believe any recent trade barriers will affect the price you pay, but that may be subject to change. All in all, customers in a better to place to compare my work with the work of other makers continue to mention I could probably ask more for the level of product and service I supply. However, as it stands right now, I have NO plans to raise my prices.
OP
TVvoodoo
Ambassador of The Comfortably Slung
Today it's the red and black attack!
Reverb store is back open, the shop is once again inundated with the glorious aroma of dangerous glue solvents, and other various noxious odors LOL!
New off the bench today... a pair of straps I call "Crusader" - actually picked up this side of gorgeous hot red leather on my travels, put some of it to it to work on the first day back
These metal gothic crosses are attached with five rivets, sitting on croc embossed strips.
all came togther quite nice. Padded, long, stitched comfy and strong!
Got a nice photo back from Dennis in Quebec... he's a relatively new player, taking up Bass later in life than most, but he's having fun. As a bigger fella, he couldn't find a store strap long enough -
Dennis: "Hi Brad, I received the strap today. It is unbelievable, the picture doesn't do it justice...
I love it and thanks for the other goodies."
Reverb store is back open, the shop is once again inundated with the glorious aroma of dangerous glue solvents, and other various noxious odors LOL!
New off the bench today... a pair of straps I call "Crusader" - actually picked up this side of gorgeous hot red leather on my travels, put some of it to it to work on the first day back
These metal gothic crosses are attached with five rivets, sitting on croc embossed strips.
all came togther quite nice. Padded, long, stitched comfy and strong!
Got a nice photo back from Dennis in Quebec... he's a relatively new player, taking up Bass later in life than most, but he's having fun. As a bigger fella, he couldn't find a store strap long enough -
Dennis: "Hi Brad, I received the strap today. It is unbelievable, the picture doesn't do it justice...
I love it and thanks for the other goodies."
OP
TVvoodoo
Ambassador of The Comfortably Slung
A brand new design style emerges... well actually I made a custom similar earlier in the year, but liked the effect, and learned some stuff... figured I'd add it to my strapertoire - I plan to make a good number of these, in various colours and configurations, and it's a nice way to use up a fun bunch of bits and pieces I've saved over the years. Will totally undertake custom versions to compliment any special instrument you might have.
Calling it the Well-Hun "Oh Gee!" series basically it's a resurrection of the retro-style 50's, bringing back a vibe I don't will command attention these days,
works particularly well with all those musty old guitars you fellas have, and your hipster grandpa sweaters LOL!
I envision this one particularly great for a silverburst type... battleship grey leather, with some embossed skulls on the main diamond,
and two shiny patent leather diamonds top and bottom.
All 3" wide, rolled over edges, and padded in the typical Well-Hung way, with plenty of extra length too. 44-59! That's about 8 inches more than you'll get of out many typical strap manufacturers. Heavy leather nose ladder and tail strap in black. It's wide, long, comfy and strong, ready to draw out your inner badass, no matter how hard you try to hide it.
Speaking of musty old guitars forum brother elsewhere randomly posted online other day, proclaiming his joy out of nowhere! Thanks my friend! Deeds like this are why he, (and others here) have become an exemplary Well-Hung Tribal Warriors! He says his junior is a '58, and he's got it hanging on a Well-Hung "Shock & Awe" strap he picked up several years ago. It's my hope when this guitar is shown off in 2085, this same strap will also still be at work with it.
Happy Friday, how about a Suno tune? I wrote the lyrics way way back in 1995, and Suno found a raspy gal to sing it for me. Funny thing, the lyric was written "usin'" not "oozing" but these programs do that sometimes. Still, I thought it turned out pretty good overall with that meth'd up chick sangin' a pretty decent performance. The slide guitar is pretty convincing too - it's fun dusting off my old VERY AMATEUR songwriting work then breathing new life into 'em with Suno
suno.com
Calling it the Well-Hun "Oh Gee!" series basically it's a resurrection of the retro-style 50's, bringing back a vibe I don't will command attention these days,
works particularly well with all those musty old guitars you fellas have, and your hipster grandpa sweaters LOL!
I envision this one particularly great for a silverburst type... battleship grey leather, with some embossed skulls on the main diamond,
and two shiny patent leather diamonds top and bottom.
All 3" wide, rolled over edges, and padded in the typical Well-Hung way, with plenty of extra length too. 44-59! That's about 8 inches more than you'll get of out many typical strap manufacturers. Heavy leather nose ladder and tail strap in black. It's wide, long, comfy and strong, ready to draw out your inner badass, no matter how hard you try to hide it.
Speaking of musty old guitars forum brother elsewhere randomly posted online other day, proclaiming his joy out of nowhere! Thanks my friend! Deeds like this are why he, (and others here) have become an exemplary Well-Hung Tribal Warriors! He says his junior is a '58, and he's got it hanging on a Well-Hung "Shock & Awe" strap he picked up several years ago. It's my hope when this guitar is shown off in 2085, this same strap will also still be at work with it.
Happy Friday, how about a Suno tune? I wrote the lyrics way way back in 1995, and Suno found a raspy gal to sing it for me. Funny thing, the lyric was written "usin'" not "oozing" but these programs do that sometimes. Still, I thought it turned out pretty good overall with that meth'd up chick sangin' a pretty decent performance. The slide guitar is pretty convincing too - it's fun dusting off my old VERY AMATEUR songwriting work then breathing new life into 'em with Suno
Why You're Leavin' by @tvvoodoo | Suno
gritty red dirt contemporary blues rock female vocal song. Listen and make your own with Suno.
OP
TVvoodoo
Ambassador of The Comfortably Slung
Stickin' with the OG series for a bit. "Badlands" and "Uptown" feature the retro-style diamond pattern with a bit of brightwork for accent.
Both of these on the most elegantly glossy black leather I've ever worked with. Kinda fun, sexy
and perfect for those real glossy black rigs and that fancy-pants high paying gig most of you only probably dream of LOL!
Both are 3" wide, cadillac padded, rolled edges and non slip linings. approx 45-59" (LONG!!)
The "Uptown" one will be in the Reverb Store tomorrow, "Badlands" up right now. One only on each of these.
This format is highly customizable with all kinds of leathers if you fancy becoming an OG warrior!
Both of these on the most elegantly glossy black leather I've ever worked with. Kinda fun, sexy
and perfect for those real glossy black rigs and that fancy-pants high paying gig most of you only probably dream of LOL!
Both are 3" wide, cadillac padded, rolled edges and non slip linings. approx 45-59" (LONG!!)
The "Uptown" one will be in the Reverb Store tomorrow, "Badlands" up right now. One only on each of these.
This format is highly customizable with all kinds of leathers if you fancy becoming an OG warrior!
GrooVey
Well-Known Member
Love that black!
OP
TVvoodoo
Ambassador of The Comfortably Slung
It's very different that what I'm used to. I've purchased a lot of black leather over the past 14 years, but have never seen anything so glossy.
It'd be like a mirror shine if it wasn't for the a hint of grain that shows through. The way it reflects light and colour is interesting.
It's not something I would have purchased at full price, but I got it off a lady who was quitting her purse-making craft, closing out her leather stox,
so it was about half price what it would normally go for, and worth a taking a chance on.
Once I had it cut into 4" strips and made padded bases out of it, I knew it had potential. I don't think I've seen any actual black leather
guitar straps with such a shine on them, except maybe in vinyl, so it's kind of standout. I plan to make a few later on just plain black,
no extra designs, just for something different in the shop. Not sure when, but in the next month or two. A custom always available though.
I have a couple of plainer straps in a sporty British Racing Green on the bench now, hoping to complete then tomorrow for St. Patricks.
Another piece of leather I grabbed from the purse crafter. It's also really nice leather, matte. The lady had an eye! Too bad her machine
packed it in, forcing her to give it up, so she told me. I offered to have a quick look, but I was traveling too. Might have just been knocked
out of time. Repair shops charge $200 minimum to fix machines, but many industrial machines can be timed fairly easily in about 10-15 minutes
if you know what you are doing. I'm glad I took the time to learn some of the more common repairs, and that some knowledgeable
guys made some handy youtube vids.
OP
TVvoodoo
Ambassador of The Comfortably Slung
If you happen to be a rock fan, you'll know "Donington" is a rather large rock music festival held annually in Britain. Most any band worth their chugga-chugga,wheedly-wheedly salt has appeared there, and a wonderful good time is had by all. What you may NOT know is, Donington Park is also one of England's tip-top raceways. That's why I named this strap Donington... for the beautiful British Racing Green leather these straps are mostly made of.
The Well-Hung "Donington" is not a fancy strap - quite plain, actually. In fact, I don't even know why I've made this. Frankly, green straps tend to sell HORRIBLY in my Reverb store. But I figure just in the spirit of St. Paddy's I'd whip up a couple greenies. Not of kelly or shamrock green, but the richest, sexiest green I know of, that of a finely pedigreed English sport touring coupe. You'll get to enjoy all the hidey aroma, the beautiful contrast stitching, the luxurious feel of this leather, and imagine wind in your hair and a rather pointy female companion laughing gaily beside you in the passenger seat, marveling at your double-shifting and cornering skills. And, luckily, because this is fully NOT a motorcar of any sort, you will avoid all of the demonically vexing electrical issues Limeys love to build into their automobiles. Brilliant!
Weekend is over blokes, but no grumpy Monday can stand up to a few pints of green beer!
The Well-Hung "Donington" is not a fancy strap - quite plain, actually. In fact, I don't even know why I've made this. Frankly, green straps tend to sell HORRIBLY in my Reverb store. But I figure just in the spirit of St. Paddy's I'd whip up a couple greenies. Not of kelly or shamrock green, but the richest, sexiest green I know of, that of a finely pedigreed English sport touring coupe. You'll get to enjoy all the hidey aroma, the beautiful contrast stitching, the luxurious feel of this leather, and imagine wind in your hair and a rather pointy female companion laughing gaily beside you in the passenger seat, marveling at your double-shifting and cornering skills. And, luckily, because this is fully NOT a motorcar of any sort, you will avoid all of the demonically vexing electrical issues Limeys love to build into their automobiles. Brilliant!
Weekend is over blokes, but no grumpy Monday can stand up to a few pints of green beer!
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GrooVey
Well-Known Member
Classy. Understated, but glamorous.
OP
TVvoodoo
Ambassador of The Comfortably Slung
"Sláinte" my friends, Hope all the lads and lasses are having a grand St Paddy's!
Today off the bench a couple of fun ones. First, a throwback to the days when I was recycling leather jackets.
Stumbled across this leather piece filed away in my "leather library" and decided to complete it for a change of pace.
I've made a few of these over the years, they are super badass. Long too.
I call it "In The Pocket" as it incorporates the built-in pocket assembly from the original leather coat.
I use only the very best leather jackets for this one, meatier moto cowhide stuff, and of course a robust metal zipper is important too. Truth to tell, you're not gonna be able to jam a lot in there. A slide fits nice, could def add some picks, maybe a little rolled up something/something, and probably a good idea to stow a round of PPE in there, just in case, wink-wink, nudge-nudge. But that's about it. The zipper is lubed to run smooth, the leather is conditioned to look and feel black and beautiful.
Also new in the Well-Hung Reverb store is "Rager" some of that newer red leather hide I recently picked up, with a strip of bubbly metallic croc emboss up and down. Adds interest and texture. It's a little weird, but in a cool way I think. Most likely a one-off I'll never make again.
Both 3" wide, padded to be kind to your shoulder, with rolled edges that won't cut into your neck.
Today I just had an order for four direct from the store, from a busy pro, multiple repeat customer in the GTA.
I'll spend most of the morning tomorrow putting together a nice package for him.
A great time for a TVvoodoo hangover prevention/cure that thankfully I haven't had to use for years now. Before you hit the sack, a vitamin B12, eat a piece of fruit, like an apple, chew it slowly and deliberately, then an antacid tab. First thing when you wake, drop an extra strength tylenol (whether you need it or not), guzzle a can of V8 and a glass of room temp. water. Give it a half hour, you're ready to take on all comers. Your bros might think you're Superman. Who doesn't want that?
Today off the bench a couple of fun ones. First, a throwback to the days when I was recycling leather jackets.
Stumbled across this leather piece filed away in my "leather library" and decided to complete it for a change of pace.
I've made a few of these over the years, they are super badass. Long too.
I call it "In The Pocket" as it incorporates the built-in pocket assembly from the original leather coat.
I use only the very best leather jackets for this one, meatier moto cowhide stuff, and of course a robust metal zipper is important too. Truth to tell, you're not gonna be able to jam a lot in there. A slide fits nice, could def add some picks, maybe a little rolled up something/something, and probably a good idea to stow a round of PPE in there, just in case, wink-wink, nudge-nudge. But that's about it. The zipper is lubed to run smooth, the leather is conditioned to look and feel black and beautiful.
Also new in the Well-Hung Reverb store is "Rager" some of that newer red leather hide I recently picked up, with a strip of bubbly metallic croc emboss up and down. Adds interest and texture. It's a little weird, but in a cool way I think. Most likely a one-off I'll never make again.
Both 3" wide, padded to be kind to your shoulder, with rolled edges that won't cut into your neck.
Today I just had an order for four direct from the store, from a busy pro, multiple repeat customer in the GTA.
I'll spend most of the morning tomorrow putting together a nice package for him.
A great time for a TVvoodoo hangover prevention/cure that thankfully I haven't had to use for years now. Before you hit the sack, a vitamin B12, eat a piece of fruit, like an apple, chew it slowly and deliberately, then an antacid tab. First thing when you wake, drop an extra strength tylenol (whether you need it or not), guzzle a can of V8 and a glass of room temp. water. Give it a half hour, you're ready to take on all comers. Your bros might think you're Superman. Who doesn't want that?
GrooVey
Well-Known Member
OP
TVvoodoo
Ambassador of The Comfortably Slung
Managed to complete three straps today, but only had enough time to list this first one... Cafe ZAP!
Picture doesn't really show it as well as I'd like, but it's red sparkle vinyl, the kind at the counter stools at your local retro cafe. Tough stuff, if a little plasticky. Has a charm of it's own. I stuck a bolt on it to juice it up a little. This is in now the store, with plenty more pix there, 3" wide, padded.
Also completed a new Wild Thing... "Black Leopard" which will show up in the shop tomorrow. Black on black, the spots are raised in soft velvet on heavier black fabric. Pretty cool. This one goes over 60" long. As you'd expect, also padded in the Well-Hung way.
Lastly watch the store for the entrance of the Regal Rumble, new No Prisoners strap, actually a hybrid between my Dark Shadows, and No Prisoners stuff.
Dyed a strip up the middle in a very deep purple, bursted the edges black then slapped this thrift store studded belt on top with tiny nickel studs.
Reads as mostly black from a distance, but the deep purple peeks out nicely from under in the right light.
This is also padded, 34" wide, goes as long as 59" and is padded like you've never experienced.
Hope your week is going well, happy Hump Day!
Picture doesn't really show it as well as I'd like, but it's red sparkle vinyl, the kind at the counter stools at your local retro cafe. Tough stuff, if a little plasticky. Has a charm of it's own. I stuck a bolt on it to juice it up a little. This is in now the store, with plenty more pix there, 3" wide, padded.
Also completed a new Wild Thing... "Black Leopard" which will show up in the shop tomorrow. Black on black, the spots are raised in soft velvet on heavier black fabric. Pretty cool. This one goes over 60" long. As you'd expect, also padded in the Well-Hung way.
Lastly watch the store for the entrance of the Regal Rumble, new No Prisoners strap, actually a hybrid between my Dark Shadows, and No Prisoners stuff.
Dyed a strip up the middle in a very deep purple, bursted the edges black then slapped this thrift store studded belt on top with tiny nickel studs.
Reads as mostly black from a distance, but the deep purple peeks out nicely from under in the right light.
This is also padded, 34" wide, goes as long as 59" and is padded like you've never experienced.
Hope your week is going well, happy Hump Day!
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OP
TVvoodoo
Ambassador of The Comfortably Slung
Well that purple one sold off fast - going to California tomorrow. Here's what I done today.
New off the bench today, ridin' into the Well-Hung Reverb store is "Tombstone II!" A gang of three.
3" wide tweedy heavy upholstery fabric base, with strip of black dyed Sheridan embossed stitched. I then commenced to add a little bling to dress 'em up a bit. Black leather nose and tail assembly. go to 60" each one luxury padded and ready to be yer Huckleberry. Country style is never out of style. So says this ex ranch kid who's almost every decent shirt is either denim, has snaps, or both!
New off the bench today, ridin' into the Well-Hung Reverb store is "Tombstone II!" A gang of three.
3" wide tweedy heavy upholstery fabric base, with strip of black dyed Sheridan embossed stitched. I then commenced to add a little bling to dress 'em up a bit. Black leather nose and tail assembly. go to 60" each one luxury padded and ready to be yer Huckleberry. Country style is never out of style. So says this ex ranch kid who's almost every decent shirt is either denim, has snaps, or both!
ibmorjamn
Ambassador of Moar Jammin
OP
TVvoodoo
Ambassador of The Comfortably Slung
@ibmorjamn - thank you brother, means a lot to me! Can I make you a Snow White one?
Except your dwarves are gonna be, "Rocker" "Punky" "Stoner" "Surfer" "Dweeb" "Spike" "Methy" and "Jammer"
Been a few weeks since I've tooled something. Got the bug again earlier this week while cruising social media. There was a young buck anguishing on how he dearly wanted to get into a cool old school hobby like leather tooling, but couldn't because all the tools were so damn expensive and so many of them were required.
An old-timer, (even older than me I think! LOL!) chimed in with a photo example of some work I though was really cool. Wasn't a guitar strap, but a piece much smaller, but that didn't matter. His reasoning behind the example he posted was that his art utilized simply ONE single leather stamp. Not only that, but one of the least expensive, most common ones available.
I thought his idea was super creative, execution wonderful. Since he put it out there, I'm borrowing, slightly modifying his idea for a tooled guitar strap application. I do have plenty of stamps though, and sometimes of course it seems never enough! Leather stamp GAS is real!
But just like with guitars, pedals and amps, sometimes having too many choices blinds our creativity.
Before I began, I experimented with several types of the tool the old pro had, that I own. I finally chose this particular one giving the sharpest impressions. It's an older one that came to me in a kit my grandfather owned, all rolled up in oilcloth. In leatherworker lingo, it's called a "Camoflage" stamp. I have two others similar, one larger, one similar-sized but I suspect those came in an Asian kit I picked up on the cheap when I first started. Just blurry, poorly defined impressions, and would you believe the metal shafts of those china tools often bend under hammering? If you do choose to get tools, try to get the good ones!
The dude's pattern was basically large flowers about 3" across, starting from the centre, moving outward. The camoflage tool acts to form petals. I also used one other tool called a "seeder" for the centre of each flower. Here I am starting out, after a bit of practice on chunk of scrap leather.
I usually start on the back of a leather strap like this, trying new a new thing, because invariably your work flows better at it as you get further towards the nose. You want your best work to show up front. This isn't exciting work. In fact, it seemed the less I thought about it, the better it ended up looking. Perfect kind of task for the likes of me! The trickiest thinking was getting the centers spaced out properly, then aligning how the flowers crowded together where the edges of them meet.
I normally would do a stitch line before tooling, but I wanted the "art" to go right to the edge in this case. Took me about 1 hour 40 minutes of hammering to do a 46 inch main body, and a 17 inch tail strap. Arm was pretty sore at the end, as I hold it up pretty high, and I had a few miss-hits that bruised my hand pretty good. Particularly painful today, because I was smacking that stamp pretty had, wanting good deep impressions.
Very cool and rather simple texture! I call it "Bouquet."
Next up, A stitch line. This is maybe one of those expensive tools the noob was moaning about, but it's only about $16, and I picked up my first one only last year. Should have got it much earlier though. This tool bores a small channel out of the leather using the edge of your work as a guide. Once stitched, the thread sits down in this channel, being in there keeps if from getting worn through. For years and years I used a rolling screen door channel tool to do this. This boring tool is much better. Takes a little practice to use it well, I still have some trouble around corners.
Then, while the leather is still a bit damp from tooling I use an edge bevel, cuts nicer.
Note I used the stitch tool before the bevel as you want a nice sharp edge for your guide. This bevel tool rounds it off so it's far easier to burnish later. Rounded edges won't dig into your neck. This tool takes a bit of power to drive it, but you also need to be VERY careful, 'cause if you slip, invariably it puts a nightmarish gouge right into the nicest part of your painstaking tooling design. Mine's a bit duller than it should be. Need to attend to it.
All that done, I'm going to think about what colour to dye it. I'd like it to be special. Normally I'd dye it while the leather was still wet, because it seems to take dye much more evenly, but I wanted to think about this one over the next couple days.
Happy Friday my forum bros. Hope your weekend hits the sweet spot.
Except your dwarves are gonna be, "Rocker" "Punky" "Stoner" "Surfer" "Dweeb" "Spike" "Methy" and "Jammer"
Been a few weeks since I've tooled something. Got the bug again earlier this week while cruising social media. There was a young buck anguishing on how he dearly wanted to get into a cool old school hobby like leather tooling, but couldn't because all the tools were so damn expensive and so many of them were required.
An old-timer, (even older than me I think! LOL!) chimed in with a photo example of some work I though was really cool. Wasn't a guitar strap, but a piece much smaller, but that didn't matter. His reasoning behind the example he posted was that his art utilized simply ONE single leather stamp. Not only that, but one of the least expensive, most common ones available.
I thought his idea was super creative, execution wonderful. Since he put it out there, I'm borrowing, slightly modifying his idea for a tooled guitar strap application. I do have plenty of stamps though, and sometimes of course it seems never enough! Leather stamp GAS is real!
But just like with guitars, pedals and amps, sometimes having too many choices blinds our creativity.
Before I began, I experimented with several types of the tool the old pro had, that I own. I finally chose this particular one giving the sharpest impressions. It's an older one that came to me in a kit my grandfather owned, all rolled up in oilcloth. In leatherworker lingo, it's called a "Camoflage" stamp. I have two others similar, one larger, one similar-sized but I suspect those came in an Asian kit I picked up on the cheap when I first started. Just blurry, poorly defined impressions, and would you believe the metal shafts of those china tools often bend under hammering? If you do choose to get tools, try to get the good ones!
The dude's pattern was basically large flowers about 3" across, starting from the centre, moving outward. The camoflage tool acts to form petals. I also used one other tool called a "seeder" for the centre of each flower. Here I am starting out, after a bit of practice on chunk of scrap leather.
I usually start on the back of a leather strap like this, trying new a new thing, because invariably your work flows better at it as you get further towards the nose. You want your best work to show up front. This isn't exciting work. In fact, it seemed the less I thought about it, the better it ended up looking. Perfect kind of task for the likes of me! The trickiest thinking was getting the centers spaced out properly, then aligning how the flowers crowded together where the edges of them meet.
I normally would do a stitch line before tooling, but I wanted the "art" to go right to the edge in this case. Took me about 1 hour 40 minutes of hammering to do a 46 inch main body, and a 17 inch tail strap. Arm was pretty sore at the end, as I hold it up pretty high, and I had a few miss-hits that bruised my hand pretty good. Particularly painful today, because I was smacking that stamp pretty had, wanting good deep impressions.
Very cool and rather simple texture! I call it "Bouquet."
Next up, A stitch line. This is maybe one of those expensive tools the noob was moaning about, but it's only about $16, and I picked up my first one only last year. Should have got it much earlier though. This tool bores a small channel out of the leather using the edge of your work as a guide. Once stitched, the thread sits down in this channel, being in there keeps if from getting worn through. For years and years I used a rolling screen door channel tool to do this. This boring tool is much better. Takes a little practice to use it well, I still have some trouble around corners.
Then, while the leather is still a bit damp from tooling I use an edge bevel, cuts nicer.
Note I used the stitch tool before the bevel as you want a nice sharp edge for your guide. This bevel tool rounds it off so it's far easier to burnish later. Rounded edges won't dig into your neck. This tool takes a bit of power to drive it, but you also need to be VERY careful, 'cause if you slip, invariably it puts a nightmarish gouge right into the nicest part of your painstaking tooling design. Mine's a bit duller than it should be. Need to attend to it.
All that done, I'm going to think about what colour to dye it. I'd like it to be special. Normally I'd dye it while the leather was still wet, because it seems to take dye much more evenly, but I wanted to think about this one over the next couple days.
Happy Friday my forum bros. Hope your weekend hits the sweet spot.