Some old stuff

I was cleaning up my workshop today and when I got all the way to the bottom of the pile of stuff on my bench, I found a computer disk. I had no idea what was on it so I popped it in and took a look. There were over a thousand pictures I had taken from classes, shows, and old work I had done from as much as 15 years ago.

This first picture is of several checkbook covers, a wallet and a small notebook. Back in 1994 when our kids were little, Stacy got a job at a local convenience store in town. She worked evenings so when the kids went to bed, I dug out my leather tools and started carving checkbooks. In the 3-4 hours a night that I was alone I could stamp out a checkbook cover. Then the next night I could put one together. By the time I got tired of checkbook covers, I had 25 in a box. I sold a few of these over the next several years, gave some away as gifts and donated a few to charity benefits. The small notebook is one I carried around in my pickup for a long time. The wallet was my first attempt at anything close to Sheridan style carving. It was an entry for a contest held by the International Internet Leather Guild back when I was a member.

Fast forward to 2001. I got the pattern for this picture out of one of the kid's coloring books. I think they got the book from a national park we had visited.

This next picture is of a sunflower. I think the idea for the design came from an old Doodle Page. It was colored with acrylic paints and is one of the first carvings I was ever pretty pleased at how the coloring turned out. The thing that made this project memorable to me is that when I posted a picture of it on the internet, I got an email response from Peter Main complementing me on the coloring. He also sent me a couple sketches to show me how I could improve the pattern. I printed out that email and keep it next to the pattern in my folder. Peter has helped me with a couple patterns since that time and I am really grateful that he has taken the time to help me improve my work.

I gave this picture to my mom and it hangs in her house.