Sheridan Steampunk Holster

A couple years ago I stumbled across this awesome thing on the internet... [link]

...and decided that a modded-out pair of steampunk pistols were what was missing from my life. And what are you going to do with a pair of pistols if you don't have anything to put them in?

This project was fun because I got to trawl the internet and look at a couple million different pictures of holsters, then choose which elements I liked best. I'm a big fan of those decorative straps, particularly with the O-ring because it gives the holster a very steampunk flair.

The tooling was a... learning experience. What I learned was that Sheridan carving (those western-style flowers) requires far more knowledge and skill than most people realize, and that it takes forever and bores me to tears. It was also my first experiment with using a sealant like satin shene to block out parts of the design and get a two-tone effect. As you can see, it didn't work so well and there's a lot of bleed muddying the lines. I used eco-flo's tan hilite, and since then I've learned that Fiebing's antiquing paste would have been better for the task. C'est la vie.

In any event, I'm probably going to axe the Sheridan flowers on my next holster and make up the difference with border tooling and a more interesting dye job -- something that's faster to produce for mt shop.

Check out my store to see what else I have for sale: [link]