Now that I've finished the branches, it's time to move on to the leaves. It's hard to believe, but I have about 5 hours into them already. There are approximately 200 -- and they're not done. To make sure I wasted as little leather as possible, I traced them all onto the full hide (2-3 oz.) before cutting them out. I used three sizes of leaves and traced them all out. I used the belly side of the hide -- perfect use of the belly since it's not good for much else. After cutting all the leaves apart with an X-acto knife, I used a rolling knife with two different blade styles to shape the leaves. Now I have to put the veins on them . (Hover over image to enlarge).

Here they are traced onto the piece of hide. I couldn't get back far enough to take a picture of the whole thing.

I finally finished the wire part of the branches for this piece (I hope). Each one was about 1-1/2 hours to put together. I waited until I finished them all before patinating, then did them all at once. The set-up is shown below. First photo shows the branches degreased and ready for dunking. The little bottle has liver of sulfur. Second photo shows the water being heated on a giant propane bunsen burner. (I'm thinking you beer makers will recognize this part.) I think I heated three pots of water before I was done. When the water was heated, I put it in a big tub, dumped in some liver of sulfur and started dipping branches until they got dark enough for me. The last photo shows the final color. (Hover over image to enlarge).

I took a short break from branches yesterday to do a little painting on a business card holder. I didn't do much, but I thought I'd show it anyway. This thing has been sitting around for about two years now. It's time I finish it. Here are some of the pieces that will be used in the finished piece. At lower left is the base that sits on a desk. On the right are two "logs" that will hold the business cards. Top left is a wolf...he serves no purpose. He just looks pretty! So far, everything is leather except for the base. I constructed it with cardboard and then covered it with leather. I may try to finish this one up in the next couple weeks. But then again, I may spend more time on branches. Stay tuned to find out! (Hover over image to enlarge).