All the parts for the Knight Six, both the full size and the 3″ are shown traced on leather.
And the pieces cut out:
Here’s what I’m thinking for the ostrich on this Knight Six holster. Instead of doing the traditional accent-only sized piece, I thought the prominent scales should be shown off along the barrel of the 1911 on the body of the holster. I “cut out” the shape of the ostrich in GIMP photo editing software, where I plan to actually cut the skin. Then I pasted it onto the design, and then onto the dummy gun sitting on the design.
The scaling/placement isn’t perfect, and the gun will actually be seated a bit deeper (the leather is larger to allow for stretching/forming), and I trimmed the picture a bit where the ostrich would wrap around the barrel of the gun, but this is close to what it would look like.
I think the scales, with their mostly horizontal shapes, lined up in a vertical arrangement parallel with the barrel, look nice with the flow of the gun and the holster. I may not be an artist, but I think it’s the best way to utilize the pattern of the ostrich with the shape and flow of the holster that is in turn dictated by its function.
Punching holes for sewing. The hand press is outfitted with a 3-prong punch, but one of the prongs must be used to line up with the last hole already punched, so it actually punches only 2 holes at a time. More prongs would make straight lines go faster, but the ability to do curves rapidly decreases with increasing prong number.
I have to line up the holes on one side with the holes on the other side, so I have a needle I stick through the holes to make a mark on the other side, to make sure the holes I punch on the second piece line up with the first.
And that’s what it looks like when I start punching holes in the second piece.
Had to take 3 weeks off due to a bad allergic reaction which covered my hands with blisters. To those of you who are waiting for holsters, my apologies, there will be more in-progress pictures posted soon.
Here is the pattern I designed for a Knight 6 with added thumb break and protective flap. You can see where I added bits to it after the design, because it apparently isn’t a good idea to design things while you’re tripping balls on huge amounts of benadryl.
Also included in the picture is a piece of “cognac” colored ostrich leg, and the British Tan dye this holster will eventually wear.
Leather cut on the Karl Lite:
You can see where the gun fits in.
This is a concept for a simple thigh holster for a Beretta NEOS .22 pistol. The holster body integrates a single, wide belt loop at the top, and has loops for a no-slip nylon strap to secure it to the leg.
No, I’m not an artist, but it should give an idea what I’m thinking of.
Here’s the PX4 dummy gun, after tracing. Converting from a direct trace into a sewing outline is more of an art than a science. I have to know how the leather will stretch in both the vertical and the horizontal, and how much it will bend so how much room to give for the stitch. I also have to keep in mind that when leather stretches in one direction, it can actually shrink in the other direction – I’ve forgotten once or twice and ended up with a gun sticking out the end of the holster.
Then I have to design the holster itself around the gun holder part. A holster has to integrate the ability to hold a gun (and release it when necessary), the ability to mount to the pants/belt, and be comfortable the whole time. In this case, that means the holster needs belt loops mounted on each side of the body, far enough off of the body to not increase the thickness in the waistband, but the belt loops must be mounted far enough below the waistline for a shirt to be tucked in.
So we have this:
Holsters cut out and ready to be punched. I will post some designs of other holsters later.
Ruger mkII .22 pistol, to be mounted on a shoulder harness.
And one for a Ruger Super Blackhawk:
Now we can start on that Karl lite.
Note that this one is designed for a 1″ belt rather than the more common 1 1/2″ belts.
