ITP work in progress pics of the Christmas jingle bell set I'm making for idgiebay's mom!

Started with this: Item Detail
Then cut the pattern and tooled a poinsettia and a border...

That last one, the dark brown, is her original strap. The laces holding the jingle bells on just snapped so I could have easily replaced them, but I wanted to go fucking crazy with it and make her something special.

Did some pyrography to personalize the back.

Pretty pleased with how that turned out considering it was freehanded!

Cut and tooled a strap and dyed everything ~canyon tan~

The guy at the Tandy Leather store encouraged me to try antiquing it. That was an adventure.

The antique didn't want to stay in the cervices. :| We had to do a lot of trial and error to get it right.

That's after the antiquing was done all over for consistency (the painter's tape did jack shit so the back would've been a mess if I didn't do it all over) and the final finish was applied.

I added some little brass rivets for decoration in between the bells.

Oh, and I finished the edges, a'course.

Now I just have to get a snap attached (I was having trouble getting half of it pieces to stay put), glue/sew the strap on, then lace the jingle bells on! I'm almost done!

ooh the antiquing really makes it pop. good on leather store guy for knowing his stuff

Yeah, he was so friendly and helpful. It's always a bit intimidating trying out a specialized store like that, especially for a woman just starting out in a hobby/industry that's mostly practiced by guys. You never know if you're gonna feel welcome or not.

I had wanted to try antiquing eventually, I was just wary about ruining such an important piece with it. But he made it seem really accessible.

gotta love that feeling when people recognize that a hobby is always better with more people enjoying it. I remember when you first posted the pics of this project and it already looked good then, it's just wonderful now! I especially like the little rivets(?) interspersed between where the bells will tie on. makes it fancy

Thank you! I added the holes for those after the fact. I was watching Weaver Leather videos and it occurred to me some added bling would be nice decoration.

I'm not sure how visible they will be once the big jingle bells are in, but at least I know they're there. 😂

I took way too long figuring out how to correct a problem I was having with the snap closure. But now I'm sewing on the hanging strap and OMG these new needles and thread I bought at the leather shop are a REVELATION.

Ritza Tiger Thread is everything I hoped it would be. It's moving through the leather like a hot knife through butter. I don't even have to yank the needles through with the pliers.

I don't do much leather work, but now I know who to go to with tool questions next time I do XD

lol, I'm still very much a novice but I would be happy to help if I can!

We just got word that our local Ren Faire is finally coming back next year, so I need to see how many leather things I can add to my Faire gear before then. So excited!