THESE BELTS ARTISTICALLY PORTRAY THE NUDE FEMALE FORM
In 1975 I fell back on my former hobby in order to make a living. It was a rough beginning until I came up with the two belts I called “Rhythm” and “Exotica”, which were two Art Deco designs featuring the nude female form. Those led to another request for a belt that became “Desire” which then led to the creation of my “Western Beauty”. The story of how that happened is the introduction in my new booklet “The 4 Belts That Launched My Career”.
The popularity of these four belts, with “Desire” being the lead seller, is what made it possible for me make a career of working with leather. It has been a rewarding career, doing what I enjoy and being more or less independent. I truly have these four belts to thank.
It has been nearly thirty years since I made any of these belts as my career progressed into avenues other than belt making. I thought that I would put the designs for these four belts in print for others to enjoy while I still had the capacity to do the work.
There are valuable carving and tooling lessons to be learned from making these belts. These designs are such that you must think your way through them. There are many occasions for reverse beveling as forms descend and ascend constantly throughout the designs. You will increase you skills with modeling tools as you learn to model the female forms as seen in “Western Beauty” You will have to work on your swivel knife skills in order to make the necessary precise cuts in order to maintain symmetry in the facial features and many other places.
