We did. Great trip thanks. The two hour drive turned into 3 plus though due to roadway construction. While we were there (Somis), we ran on down to Ventura which was another 15 miles away. The draw was The Wharf, a humongous Western store with everything, in every size and great prices. It has t shirts that advertise it as the most western, western store, you're gonna have to look at a map. Knowing the area al little, we knew we'd be able to park the truck and stock trailer (parking the rig is always a consideration when you are in town) after dropping the mare off. Wanted seafood that close to the Pacific of course, so with a couple block walk (Nichole is recovering from surgery so that was a pretty good hike for her right now) we made it to Spencers Mackenzies and had great fish tacos, fish and chips, clam chowder and some locally crafted blonde beer that was really good.
Anyhoo leather carving:
Well we basically do two types of leather carving in this shop. Nichole does all the flower carving and I do the oak. Many of the tools are interchangeable, in fact most. Really the only difference is the backgrounders used. Nichole's floral carving is done in a Sheridan style. All of our carving tools are from Barry King with the exception of the two backgrounders I use on the oak. On certain tools we have a range of sizes. A guy could sure get by with just one or two of those ones. Usually the middle two sizes. First a couple pics of carving, Flower:
Oak:
Okie dokie the tools:
1)Flower Center Seed Burst #2 used in the flower carving not the oak.
2)Thumbprint Vertical Medium, #2 and #3 used on both floral and oak.
3)Veiner Lined and Scalloped #4, floral.
4)Bar Grounders #40. In sizes #1 through #4. Used on the floral.
5)Bevelers Round Checkered (one of your most important tools), #1 through #4 used on both floral and oak.
6)Lifters Extra Steep #3, used on both.
7)Turnback Smooth Checkered #3 used on floral.
Thats about it. As mentioned just because we have a whole range of something (bevelers and bar grounders) doesn't mean a guy needs to start out with all of em. On oak carving I use two cheap backgrounders I got from Tandy probably 35- 40 years ago and a lined beveler to drag across the stems for texture. Thats really all we use.
