Manaia on leather

Aloha...
I started burning a manaia on a piece of leather (still in progress). I tried to burn some areas darker, but when burning on leather you have to be careful not to overheat the leather otherwise it becomes brittle. I am seaching for ways to embellish it. ANYONE HAVE IDEAS whatelse I can do to it to make it look more alive. Help!!!!

Wow! That looks fantastic! Beautiful job. Embelishments, hmmmm....I'll get back to you on that. What other things can you do to leather? I like it the way it is.

-Gman

Hi Gman
Thanks for your kind words.
Pyro

I was fortunate enough to see this piece today and it is REally Sweet. It just looks So Good It keeps calling to me, "Take me home Ben, C'mon, take me home", but it's not done yet .. Lets see what it will be.
Excellent Pyro.

Wow Pyro, that looks really nice! I love how the subject looks so deep, like it's 3 dimensional. I saw some of that touga nut at my local Woodcraft store. After seeing your work I thought I might pick some up and see how it carves.

Doesn't look like it needs any embellishment to me - that's some pretty fine work there. Great lines! What about some paua eyes? :wink:

Thats a great idea Paipo, can you glue the shell to leather and have it stay awhile?

On 2006-08-15 18:20, Benzart wrote:
Thats a great idea Paipo, can you glue the shell to leather and have it stay awhile?

This stuff might work:
http://www.oceanshellnz.com/shop_product.asp?stockcode=LPN100QP
but if I were doing it, I'd cut a shell inlay , match the diameter to a flat headed nail, use the flat head as a punch to make a recess in the leather, and just glue it in with a good 2 part epoxy or craft glue.

Hi Paipo

Thanks for your idea. I will investigate. It would certainly help the piece.
Pyro

I cut and polished a 1/4" round piece of Abalone but was not ablr to go to the carving club meeting, so didn't get to try it on the leather. Next week for sure!

Looks great...perhaps try to age the entire piece...leather always looks great worn in. Maybe add some water to it with a paint brush on the edges and let it dry.

Thanks Loki, for another great idea. I have some tools for leather and you just gave me an idea of what to do. I will keep you posted.

Pyrotiki

Looks great! Very nice :)

Are you able to use a stain to highlight the linework?

I have not work on leather that much. I obviously have to experiment with it more. Yes, there are special oil dye that you can use for leather. How to apply to dye on the lines is something I have to look into. No connaisseur out there who can help?

Thanks Hewey for your idea.

Pyrotiki

HI EVERYONE
I finally got to my manaia piece again and got it finished. Here is a picture of it. I tried to make it a 3D effect and put a paua eye. Thanks Ben for cutting and shaping the eye for me. Comments welcome.

[ Edited by: Pyrotiki 2006-09-16 14:29 ]

Hey Pyro, the 3D effect is really noticable, it raises it right up off the leather. Very nice!