Introduction: 'The Batman' Custom Leather Belt

By Neily Make - YouTube
About: Maker, tinkerer and project do'er... I hope you enjoy the projects I tackle tucked away in my shed, trying to get away from the weekly grind.

So, I had such a good time doing my last project (https://www.instructables.com/Studio-Ghibli-Custom-Boots-Totoro/), I just had to brand something else… 


I want to do something similar but improve it and up the steaks, so I did a batmen belt using batman silhouettes.


The big difference with this project is that I want to try some shading, so the same as the boots I think I need to do some practice before we get cracking on the belt.

Supplies

Tools

Branding Iron


Materials

Belt

Batman images

Masking Tape

Pencil/pen

Practice leather patches

Step 1: Practice

I tried shading as if this was paper, more passes over the areas I wanted darker and less over the areas I want lighter.

  1. Fasten the image to the practice patches using the masking tape
  2. Draw over the image, applying enough pressure so it shows up on the leather
  3. Go around the outline on the leather with the branding iron
  4. Shade the image from dark to light, from the outline. do more passes over the areas you want darker and less over the areas I want lighter


On my past project I noticed that the practice patches had reacted in one of two ways, it either charred the surface slightly or took the top layer off. 

  1. Check how the belt will react before you start on the design, as this will affect your design



Step 2: Design

Once you are comfortable with how to shade using the branding iron, its time to get onto the most exciting parts, the design for your belt.

  1. Find, collected and print batman images

My design was like this:

Batman logo in the centre and a Batman image either side, Gotham skyline either side of this. Then on one side I did 3 different images of the joker and on the other side the Riddler. Any remaining space was filled in with some Gotham skyline.

Step 3: Branding the Belt


  1. Fasten the images to the belt using the masking tape
  2. Draw over the image, applying enough pressure so it shows up on the leather
  3. Go around the outline on the leather with the branding iron
  4. Shade the image from dark to light, from the outline. do more passes over the areas you want darker and less over the areas I want lighter