TVvoodoo's Straplab

Sorry to hear your Dad's condition has become more serious.
Hope the new / different news recently leads to a positive outcome.

Love following your work, looks great.

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this is so cool / creepy / scary.

Every time I look at it, this emerges in my mind.
I'm not sure whether to roll back or increase the dosages.

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Brad, have ya done any with a wireless transmitter pocket on the strap?

I have done a couple of those. one was a full blown leather box, that was kind of a challenge
one was made of 3" wide black elastic with a strip of leather on the bottom and a snap closure on the top.
I liked the second one better, didn't look so funky when there was nothing in it.
 
Today we are gettin' a little Western with a classic cowboy Sheridan style floatin' pad strap. Still quite a bit of ground to cover. I'm not super familiar with this style, but ain't gonna hurt to learned on it. It's probably the single most popular gerneral "style" in tooling and offers lots of opportunity to make it your own, while staying inside the form. Arguably the one I should probably know the best by now.

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Lotta wild roses, leafy bits, and something they call Acanthis acrolls, as sort of a filler/interest deal.
Just lining in the general rough shapes right now, setting the plan. Tomorrow we shall start cuttin' in.

Yeeeeehaw!
 
The Saga of the floatin' pad cowboy carve continued yesterday with a razor sharp swivel knife, controlled by someone rather less sharp, but who's perseverance somewhat makes up for it, most days
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Here we have cut most of the art guidelines into the leather, including a small initial "J" on the front end - curves, curves everywhere

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close up of my not-so-pretty lookin' swivel knife work, and some shading and texturing has begun

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at this point late yesterday, most of the bevelling shading and texturing done on all three pieces of this project, and the backgrounding fill has begun on the shoulder pad

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And finally, where I left off last night.

The shoulder pad piece is nearly complete, today I will finish backgrounding on all the strap bits today, and the most fun part... decorative cuts, or as I like to call it, the "slash 'n hack,"
though that is the very worst way to think of it. It's my favourite step, actually, can really help bring these things to life.

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Saddle up! Let's ride!
 
All,
I have been talking with Brad off-line for a week or so. Happy to say that I just ordered a new strap from him and I am really looking forward to when it arrives!
Brad has been an absolute pleasure to deal with thus far! I will post pics when I receive it for y'all to peruse!


What took you so long, Will....Happy to see you ventured out to become one of the Well-Hung Boy's..;):)
 
@ninjaking67 was a total pleasure to deal with!

Continued ridin' the bronc most of the day today. Here's the colour the fella seemed VERY specific in what he wanted.
Naturally, being as super overconfident as I am, I said, "Sure, no problem!" LOL

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I don't have all fifty available fiebings dye colors. Actually, only about six including saddle tan, black, and the primary colours. This makes getting a specific colour a bit of a challenge. A few drops of this, a little of that , test it on some leather... let it dry... try again, etc.

The other way to ease into the right shade of colour and darkness is to use diluted/thinned dye and multiple applications, each step gets a bit darker... and you go until it feels right.
Further complicating matters today was the fact the pad part decided to take colour on much differently than the strap bits. Always something to make it more fun... right?

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Anyway, after about an hour of futzing, and remixing and dye steps, I got into "pretty close" territory. At this point I have learned the antique process and oiling the leather after all the dyes will also help bring things together

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Now we apply the mucky muck, and use a toothbrush to get into all the nooks and crannies...

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As expected, it all looks pretty at this point, pre-oiling. Maybe not quite as red as he was looking for, but it's a bit more red in real life than this photo
After about an hour of burnishing the edges to a nice shine, we are getting close to assembly, but need to ask what colour thread the fella wants.

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interesting day today, I thought i had it all planned.. then i got a mini-spike in sales overnight and this morning.
So, a bird in hand... as they say. TCB baby.

So, boxed up a bunch, and when I came back from the post office, had a headband with some embroidered team logos from the mail.

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Anybody NOT Canadian recognize what it is? There are clues.

Sacrificed the headband he sent for the team insigina. Then dude sent me a pic of his basement lair. Can we say "Superfan?"
We discussed the game for half hour back and forth... will there be a season? etc.

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Anyway, his team is just known by the EE's right now. They are in the midst of a name change after suffering a bout of "wokeness"
I gotta get this strap out of here, anyone on my street finds out I have EE gear sittin here, I'll get run out on a rail.
He also sent me a toque with another logo just in case, didn't need it. So, I sewed a well-hung logo to it, on the other side, before I boxed it up LOL

Also, got a photo in from "El Torito", one of our latest members in the shock & Awe militia

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Still working on that cowboy strap... oiled it twice yesterday, put a finish coat on it this morning, will sew it tonight I think.
Then another clearcoat, put it all together with the hardware, punch the holes, take a photo or two and ship early next week.
 
interesting day today, I thought i had it all planned.. then i got a mini-spike in sales overnight and this morning.
So, a bird in hand... as they say. TCB baby.

So, boxed up a bunch, and when I came back from the post office, had a headband with some embroidered team logos from the mail.

xCG4hNT2_o.jpg


Anybody NOT Canadian recognize what it is? There are clues.

Sacrificed the headband he sent for the team insigina. Then dude sent me a pic of his basement lair. Can we say "Superfan?"
We discussed the game for half hour back and forth... will there be a season? etc.

View attachment 63249

Anyway, his team is just known by the EE's right now. They are in the midst of a name change after suffering a bout of "wokeness"
I gotta get this strap out of here, anyone on my street finds out I have EE gear sittin here, I'll get run out on a rail.
He also sent me a toque with another logo just in case, didn't need it. So, I sewed a well-hung logo to it, on the other side, before I boxed it up LOL

Also, got a photo in from "El Torito", one of our latest members in the shock & Awe militia

V66gpuVf_o.jpg


Still working on that cowboy strap... oiled it twice yesterday, put a finish coat on it this morning, will sew it tonight I think.
Then another clearcoat, put it all together with the hardware, punch the holes, take a photo or two and ship early next week.



Brad that guy has some serious CFL Collection, it is FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!! My second favorite team Is the Eskies, for those who don't know the double EE stands for Edmonton Eskimos. Guess who my favorite Team is. The gracious HAMILTON TIGER CATS baby!!



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Brad that guy has some serious CFL Collection, it is FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!! My second favorite team Is the Eskies, for those who don't know the double EE stands for Edmonton Eskimos. Guess who my favorite Team is. The gracious HAMILTON TIGER CATS baby!!
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Yeah the Ti-Cats are a'ightn but none as fair as the Green & White... y'know.
Speaking of ti-cats... got a catty photo just in....

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