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REVISED - Oak Falcon Leather Archery Arm Guard
If this design looks familiar, it's because I already made an archery arm guard like this:
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/8986150/
However, since that was my first one ever, it was meant to be a piece for practice and experimenting, and learning how to dye leather rather than paint it! There were a lot of mistakes with it, so I learned from them and made another one using what I learned.
Some things I changed/improved upon:
*) The edges on the first arm guard were not cut straight, because I cut them with shears. With this one, I used a ruler and a utility knife, resulting in a perfectly straight edge. Imagine trying to cut a piece of paper exactly down a straight line using scissors vs. a ruler and a knife - that's basically the difference.
*) I didn't case (wet the leather so the interior is damp) the leather correctly on the first, so the tooling I did was sloppy. I also was using a straight swivel blade which was way too big, so I wasn't able to get the detailed lines necessary for a design like this. In the second one, I made sure to use an angle blade and cased the leather correctly, so the tooling is smooth. You can see the difference especially in the shape of the falcon's face.
*) I didn't try to get so exact and detailed with the dyeing in the second one, whereas in the first one, I was trying to essentially 'paint' with the dye. I also tried to shade with the dye in the first which didn't work out very well. Sometimes simpler is better! I also removed the leaves from on top of the falcon, to simplify the design even more.
*) With the first arm guard, I created straps with buckles, which ended up being very rough and scratchy, and pinched when put on. For comfort, I used eyelets and lacing for the second one. The drawback is it's hard to tie tightly with one hand, but I will be using a cord lock (like you have on hoodies) to make it easy to tighten.
*) I didn't shape the first one correctly, so it doesn't curve nicely like I wanted it to. With the second one, I curved it around as the dye was drying and secured it with three rubber bands. When the dye dried, I removed the bands and the arm guard kept its shape.
I like them both, but all in all I am much happier with the second attempt! This is a 7-oz piece of vegetable tanned leather, hand-carved and dyed with various alcohol-based and water-based leather dyes. The only paint on this is the green of the leaves, and the tiny white highlight on the eye. This arm guard is my own personal one, which I may use if I do outdoor archery. Right now I'm shooting indoors, so I'm using a boring (but functional!) fabric one.
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/8986150/
However, since that was my first one ever, it was meant to be a piece for practice and experimenting, and learning how to dye leather rather than paint it! There were a lot of mistakes with it, so I learned from them and made another one using what I learned.
Some things I changed/improved upon:
*) The edges on the first arm guard were not cut straight, because I cut them with shears. With this one, I used a ruler and a utility knife, resulting in a perfectly straight edge. Imagine trying to cut a piece of paper exactly down a straight line using scissors vs. a ruler and a knife - that's basically the difference.
*) I didn't case (wet the leather so the interior is damp) the leather correctly on the first, so the tooling I did was sloppy. I also was using a straight swivel blade which was way too big, so I wasn't able to get the detailed lines necessary for a design like this. In the second one, I made sure to use an angle blade and cased the leather correctly, so the tooling is smooth. You can see the difference especially in the shape of the falcon's face.
*) I didn't try to get so exact and detailed with the dyeing in the second one, whereas in the first one, I was trying to essentially 'paint' with the dye. I also tried to shade with the dye in the first which didn't work out very well. Sometimes simpler is better! I also removed the leaves from on top of the falcon, to simplify the design even more.
*) With the first arm guard, I created straps with buckles, which ended up being very rough and scratchy, and pinched when put on. For comfort, I used eyelets and lacing for the second one. The drawback is it's hard to tie tightly with one hand, but I will be using a cord lock (like you have on hoodies) to make it easy to tighten.
*) I didn't shape the first one correctly, so it doesn't curve nicely like I wanted it to. With the second one, I curved it around as the dye was drying and secured it with three rubber bands. When the dye dried, I removed the bands and the arm guard kept its shape.
I like them both, but all in all I am much happier with the second attempt! This is a 7-oz piece of vegetable tanned leather, hand-carved and dyed with various alcohol-based and water-based leather dyes. The only paint on this is the green of the leaves, and the tiny white highlight on the eye. This arm guard is my own personal one, which I may use if I do outdoor archery. Right now I'm shooting indoors, so I'm using a boring (but functional!) fabric one.
Category Artwork (Traditional) / Animal related (non-anthro)
Species Falcon
Size 787 x 1024px
File Size 760.3 kB
Listed in Folders
They're pretty much one-size-fits-all, as you can see in the lace-up photo. Would you want it to be a functional archery arm guard or more a bracer? As an archery arm guard, it's not necessary for the leather to cover the back of the arm, which is why that's pretty much bare, but for a bracer, you'd want it to cover as much as possible. If you could note me with the circumference of your upper forearm (just below the elbow) and lower forearm (just above the wrist), it will give me an idea of how big to make it :3
I assume you used a mule's foot for the interior feathers? I like that idea, and it turned out really well. As far as getting more detail and control with dyes, sharpies are very similar to the alcohol dyes, and if you outline an area with sharpie, the alcohol dyes tend to stop at them kinda like hitting a wall. Try playing around with it on some scrap. It's pretty handy. Also, If you want to get more of a painted effect, you might consider trying the pro waterstains that tandy has. They act a lot like watercolors, but they're a little spendy. As always, keep up the good work!
I've heard of people using wood burning tools on leather (I've never tried it), but I use a swivel blade to cut the lines, then mostly beveling stamp tools to push parts down and make it 3D. I used a tool called a mule foot for the 'v' feather patterns on the breast and wings.
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