text: Tooled Braces/Suspenders - Purses, Wallets, Belts and Miscellaneous Pocket Items - Leatherworker.net
  By AlexOstacchini, May 27 in Purses, Wallets, Belts and Miscellaneous Pocket Items
  Just completed a commission for a personalised set of braces (or suspenders if you are American I believe), so thought I would share. I have done lots of belts before but never these, so took a little working out to get right.
  These were built to the clients specifications, and have a tooled oak leaf pattern, carved initals on the strap connector, brass fittings, and an elastic adjuster at the back.. The straps are lined and all stitching has been done by hand. Hours of fun I'm sure you'll all agree.
  Any comments welcome and I hope you like it!
  Gob smacked! that there is some tooling, and dye work
  3 hours ago, AlexOstacchini said:
  Absolutely stunning. Very nice work.
  That is jaw-dropping stuff! Absolutely amazing! Makes my plain ones look, well......plain. You've given me something to aspire too.
  Beautiful job Alex!
  Thanks for the compliments all, happy that it is finally finished and I'm glad you like it!
  Makes my plain ones look, well......plain. You've given me something to aspire too.
  Nothing wrong with plain! All just personal preference really, but thanks
  wow!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is some nice work.
  Beautiful - your work has a richness and depth to it that I admire!
  That monogram really pops, your lettering is great. Thanks for sharing!
  I'm probably the least experienced here but to my eyes this is about as good as it gets.
  Nice design and I love the depth of the tooling. Can't find anything I would change.
  Some very flattering comments, thanks everyone.
  This was my first big commissioned piece really and I was a little apprehensive going into it, so this is all very nice to read
  With all that hand tooling and hand stitching, not forgetting the time in laying out the design, it beats me how you could make any money on it.
  On 5/29/2020 at 11:46 PM, dikman said:
  By charging a fortune! Only joking, to be brutally honest I didn't really make any money on it, I underestimated both time and materials and my quote was way off. Not sure what my hourly rate worked out as but below minimum wage for sure. Live and learn I suppose, though with this particular project as long as it hit the deadline and the customer was happy I wasn't really too fussed.
  Beautiful work all the way around. I'm a sucker for neat bar grounding and this has it in spades. Your coloring is really well done too. Very nice.
  Alex, I just had a look at your arty things link - very nice work there, my friend. The forged blades are well done, simple and clean designs.
  On 5/31/2020 at 5:44 AM, dikman said:
  Cheers, I'm at the beginner stage of making knives and judging by your forge looking profile picture I assume you know much more about this than me. To be honest the main reason I started leatherwork 7 years ago was so I could eventually do scabbards and quivers and medieval things, I mostly post Western stuff here but that has never been my main interest. Finally set up my forge last year so playing catch up in terms of skills and it will be a while before I feel as comfortable making knives as I am with leather! I'm certainly no blacksmith at the moment.
  Wow, you even tooled the belt loops! Just really super detailed and amazing work. And you pretty much said it already, but I'll say it here: It will difficult to find anyone who would be willing to pay what is due for a functional piece of leather artwork of this magnitude. It'll just be a work of art and your passion will show through and leave it at that.
  Beautiful work overall. But that is the most impressive bar grounding work I have seen. Thank you for sharing.