Well...I really suck at this! I know practice makes perfect but "patience" isn't one of my strongest virtues. Procrastination, however, I'm very good at. So instead of getting a start on today's practicing (I'll get to that in a moment), I have lit some "inspiration" incense (Shoyeido Magnifiscents Angelic series) and am going to talk about that for a little while.
I'm not paid to promote anything but since it's taken me a long time to find incense I enjoy, I thought I'd share my opinion on it. Shoyeido is my favorite brand of incense. I love Amethyst, which is part of their Jewel line, and I burn it almost daily. It's not too overpowering and the sticks are short with probably a 10 minute burn time. When I light incense, I don't want it to burn for long. The scent tends to become a bit overpowering for me if the burn time isn't relatively short. I have Amethyst (Balance) which is actually my favorite of the whole brand, Diamond (Power), and Ruby (Strength) from the Jewel collection, as well as Inspiration and Peace from the Angelic collection. I also have Golden Pavilion which smells pretty good, too, but I haven't used that one yet. I do suggest picking up the Shoyeido Incense Sampler before buying any of them because there might be some in there that you like that I didn't, or vice versa. The sampler that I have has one stick of each from all of the Angelic collection and the Jewel collection. I've never bought online because I have a few stores in my area that carry them. Check out holistic shops, occult shops, and even Whole Foods or World Market if you don't want to buy online. I know they're also sold on Amazon so if you have Prime, you could get free shipping through Amazon and pay basically what I do at the shop I go to.
I've just started perusing the Shoyeido site and I might have to try the incense coils when I do rituals/celebrations. Incense for the "air" designation during ritual needs to burn a little longer than 10 minutes ;).
So yeah, clearly I'm great at procrastinating!
Today's goal is to take a piece of veg-tanned scrap leather and work on hammering depth and making smooth marks. I have a tendency to "jump" my stamp so the lines and shading are not at all smooth. I'm going to work on straight rows and curved designs, and probably work some more with the swivel knife, since that hasn't been going very smoothly either. Yay. Well, hopefully I'll get a hang of this soon as the costume pieces I am going to be working on pretty much need to be done by the beginning of August! Wish me luck.
Thursday, June 8, 2017
Thursday, June 1, 2017
Supernatural ss 12 and leather tooling
Watching Supernatural ss 12 (episode 11, in case anyone is wondering. It's an interesting ep. so far) on Netflix and trying to figure out how to go about properly learning how to tool and carve leather. So far, my general tactic of "learn as you experiment" really hasn't been going that well. I'm not a huge fan of the whole Western-style patterns but that seems to be the most popular pattern out there. I primarily do renaissance and steampunk costumes. The Western theme really isn't much of my thing so I've kind of been skirting around it. Well, that hasn't been going well for me so I'm putting aside my way for awhile. Eventually I'll be making pieces with Viking/Scandy/Celtic knotwork.
I'm thinking I'll start out pretty simple. Flowers, feathers, and leaves look like a good place to start!
Some resources for free patterns:
http://elktracks.net/free-patterns.html (Western-style)
http://imgarcade.com/celtic-leather-carving-patterns.html (Celtic knotwork) A warning for this link: apparently they're either spammers or have been hacked by them. You can still get to the stencils but it pops up stupid ads for adult content. So...go at your own risk, I guess. Definitely make sure your computer is computerSTD protected first, and don't click on anything that's not directly related to the content you're there for, obviously.
http://creativepro.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/default/files/story_images/20100625SAWG_fg09a.jpg
http://www.mountainwoodcarvers.com/wood_burning_accessories.htm (Patterns for sale).
Pretty much everything that you can draw an outline for, you can make a pattern from. Now, I need to stop procrastinating and get on this. Wish me luck!
I'm thinking I'll start out pretty simple. Flowers, feathers, and leaves look like a good place to start!
Some resources for free patterns:
http://elktracks.net/free-patterns.html (Western-style)
http://imgarcade.com/celtic-leather-carving-patterns.html (Celtic knotwork) A warning for this link: apparently they're either spammers or have been hacked by them. You can still get to the stencils but it pops up stupid ads for adult content. So...go at your own risk, I guess. Definitely make sure your computer is computerSTD protected first, and don't click on anything that's not directly related to the content you're there for, obviously.
http://www.mountainwoodcarvers.com/wood_burning_accessories.htm (Patterns for sale).
Pretty much everything that you can draw an outline for, you can make a pattern from. Now, I need to stop procrastinating and get on this. Wish me luck!
Basic Leather Carving - The Western Coaster | hubpages
Basic Leather Carving - The Western Coaster | hubpages:
A beginner's step-by-step guide on how to carve/tool a leather coaster (Western style).
Western style leather coaster
'via Blog this'
A beginner's step-by-step guide on how to carve/tool a leather coaster (Western style).
Western style leather coaster
'via Blog this'
Costuming and Current Projects
Now that I am taking a short break before classes begin, I've been working primarily on costumes for the ren fest we're going to in August/September. I have finished two basic outfits for myself, one for my daughter, and am working on accessories for all four members of the household. My husband is responsible for his own base costume pieces but since he has so many other projects (not to mention a career) going on, I might do them once I finish everything else. I am waiting to do my son's until the last minute, primarily because he's not even a year old yet and seems to grow at leaps and bounds. It'll most likely be a linen shirt and simple pair of leggings since he's a baby and wtf does he need anything else for? It's not like he's even going to be walking at any point we're on the fest grounds! Maybe I'll add a vest and a cap, too. We'll see.
I've put my crochet aside for the past four months and finally decided to pick them back up. I'm working on a hexagonal afghan I've created and because it's so simple, I'll probably write it up and post it here as a download for free. That'll come eventually and I can't promise when.
I've put my crochet aside for the past four months and finally decided to pick them back up. I'm working on a hexagonal afghan I've created and because it's so simple, I'll probably write it up and post it here as a download for free. That'll come eventually and I can't promise when.
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