Some A2 Jackets I've Done

[Silver Dollar]

I thought this might be a good place to put up some pics of some of the A2 jackets I've done in the past. I don't do this for a living and haven't done one for a while. I basically do them for my own collection. Hope you like.
the first 3 are WWII style. The last 2 are more modern.

 

[Wildcat]

WOW! Amazing work SD, you've got talent mate.

 

[seesul]

Really amazing work! How many hours do you spend on one picture?

 

[Wayne Little]

Thats great...I'd like to know the answer to the seesul question too!

 

[A4K]

..And me too! (I'm an artist aswell)
Great work mate!

 

[Thorlifter]

I'm curious how much you would charge to do one.

 

[evangilder]

NICE! I really like the AVG one.

 

[ToughOmbre]

Nice work SD!

TO

 

[Karl Sitts]

I thought this might be a good place to put up some pics of some of the A2 jackets I've done in the past. I don't do this for a living and haven't done one for a while. I basically do them for my own collection. Hope you like.
the first 3 are WWII style. The last 2 are more modern.

Silver Dollar, Liked the Harley best! Really nice work! -Karl

 

[DBII]

Nice work and welcome.

DBII

 

[Lucky13]

Bl**dy f*cking amazing work SD!!! Indeed, tell us.....how long and how much?

 

[Silver Dollar]

Thanks guys for the kind words. One jacket usually takes me about 3 weeks to do once I have a design in mind. I don't know how much they'd be since I've never charged for any. I really don't do them much anymore since the costs of those jackets by themselves are astronomical and I can't afford them anymore. You guys from the U.K. would know these jackets as being from Eastman Leather. In the U.S. they're sold by History Preservation Associates. They're the most authentic A2 repros I've ever seen and I've seen a lot of them.

This is for the artists in the group that may want to do one for themselves. The design itself took me about 3-4 weeks to come up with and draw unless it was a repro of a real A2. I then put the full size design on tracing paper, cut out the art, centered it and attached it with tape. Next, I made an very thin outline of the whole design with a very fine brush (about 10-0) and white acrylic paint and removed the paper. Any leather inside the lines was sanded with 320 grit wet/dry sandpaper used dry until it looked like suede. This is what allows the acrylic paint to seep deep down into the leather like a tattoo. The final painting may crack a little but it will usually never come off unless the jacket is abused. Horse and cow hide are the easiest to do. Goatskin is more difficult to sand. Then the full design is painted and the jacket is done. Each painting took a lot out of me after it was done. I tend to throw myself into the work and I can get burned out easily. If I can find some more pictures, I'll post them. I lost a small number of jackets during Hurricane Andrew.

 

[Lucky13]

Sorry to hear SD. I sure would love to see more of your work!

 

[seesul]

Thank you SD for you answer!
Really nice work. Wish I could see more pics...

 

[A4K]

Ditto Roman! I know what you mean about throwing yourself into the work, I do the same. (Not so bad now my fiancée reminds me to eat...)

Great work, mate, and sorry to hear about those you lost in Andrew.