Mr Badger
Practically Family
- Messages
- 545
- Location
- Somerset, UK
I did an FD search for this topic using such phrases as western belts and jewels belt but didn't turn up anything recent, so I thought I'd throw my recent experience into the ring!
Have been off work recovering from a trip to the dentist (root planing – as nasty as it sounds!) so, after some pain killers and a rest, I thought I'd crack on and start on embellishing a hair-on-hide western belt I bought with some jewels and studs...
I do already own a quite nicely done 'hot rod' / 'western' belt but, inspired by Marineabilly and Ace Western Belts, I decided to have a bash at a simple project myself. So I bought some awls off an old guy at a car boot sale (flea market), then ordered some 4mm, 6.5mm and 9mm two-prong dome spots/studs, four different colours of jewel spots, a 1.5" hair on hide belt and a plain square chap buckle off Ebay.
Obviously, being slightly befuddled by painkillers, and never having set a spot/stud before, I was learning as I went along... it turned out alright, I flattened the top of the studs slightly with the hammer, to give it a little more of a handmade/vintage feel, and the only real problem was getting thru the actually very thick belt... the prongs on the spots/studs were barely long enough to go thru the hide and the belt – this is something FDers who have considered undertaking this kind of basic leathercraft should think about – I'd recommend spots with two prongs, no shorter than 4-5mm in length, to go thru one decent thickness of full hide leather, let alone two...
I decided to use 4 & 9mm dome spots and green & red jewel spots for this project – start off easy, like! Whaddya think?
Have been off work recovering from a trip to the dentist (root planing – as nasty as it sounds!) so, after some pain killers and a rest, I thought I'd crack on and start on embellishing a hair-on-hide western belt I bought with some jewels and studs...
I do already own a quite nicely done 'hot rod' / 'western' belt but, inspired by Marineabilly and Ace Western Belts, I decided to have a bash at a simple project myself. So I bought some awls off an old guy at a car boot sale (flea market), then ordered some 4mm, 6.5mm and 9mm two-prong dome spots/studs, four different colours of jewel spots, a 1.5" hair on hide belt and a plain square chap buckle off Ebay.
Obviously, being slightly befuddled by painkillers, and never having set a spot/stud before, I was learning as I went along... it turned out alright, I flattened the top of the studs slightly with the hammer, to give it a little more of a handmade/vintage feel, and the only real problem was getting thru the actually very thick belt... the prongs on the spots/studs were barely long enough to go thru the hide and the belt – this is something FDers who have considered undertaking this kind of basic leathercraft should think about – I'd recommend spots with two prongs, no shorter than 4-5mm in length, to go thru one decent thickness of full hide leather, let alone two...
I decided to use 4 & 9mm dome spots and green & red jewel spots for this project – start off easy, like! Whaddya think?
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