my petal rollovers are all horribly flat topped

[Brass]

Hey guys,

I have recently re picked up leather tooling (I did some when I was a kid.) And after seeing tremendous improvement as I worked thru several coin pouches and rounders, I started on a wallet. Again, I can see more improvement, but my petal rollovers are all horribly flat topped... I'm at loss for words to describe it. Can anyone tell me why/how they came out looking like this? The were very nicely 3-D'ish on my previous project.

[Regis]

Brass,

First welcome to leatherworker.net, glad to have you. Your tooling looks good to me so one of the floral carvers will have to chime in to be more specific. Only thing I would guess (if beveled deep enough) is to round them somewhat with a modeling tool.

[bustedlifter]

Brass,

First welcome to leatherworker.net, glad to have you. Your tooling looks good to me so one of the floral carvers will have to chime in to be more specific. Only thing I would guess (if beveled deep enough) is to round them somewhat with a modeling tool.

I agree, looks good to me, maybe just round the edges a bit with a modeling tool.

[william]

Brass

very nice cuts with the swivel knife, I like that. Did you glue your leather on a matt board or just tool it on the slab? I have found using a matting board on the back will keep the leather from stretching out and help to get a deeper tooled look. Thanks for sharing your work and Welcome to the forum.

[Billsotx]

Oh a whim I bought one of those kits. It was on the sale table right by the front door. The piece of leather that I got was pretty dry and hard. I realized that pretty quick so I did as suggest and glued it to a piece of cardboard, I used a cereal box and then I whacked it pretty good to get deep impressions. I'm not much of a tooler or lacer to I can't really critique your work. Another thing that happened because it didn't want to hold water, I was using a sponge, is the smooth flesh side began to rub off and fray. I was able to hide most of that with tooling and then I burnished and waxed it after it was good and dry. Then I glued it up and laced it. If all those holes weren't there I would have sewed it. Like I say, it was an impulse buy ~ they got me ... lol! Remember you're not just following lines when you cut. They run for deep to shallow. Clay has posted several tutorials that helped me you might look at those. The most recent is on an oak leaf. No matter, it's swivel knife work. Don't run you cuts together. I think on your fold back cut them deeper near the center and feather out shallow at the ends. I learned after I did this, I think from looking a Clay's tutorials (maybe someone else's piece) that fold backs should run right out at the edge of the petal or leaf. Lot's to learn and take what I say lightly because I just carve when I need some therapy ... lol!

[Brass]

@Regis and BustedLifter: Yeah, I need to get one of those one of these days. All I have is the basic 6 + swivel knife. I was going to buy some more tools, but I'm running out of leather and I would rather have leather with my current tools then more tools and no leather.

@william: Would you believe a dinner table? Most times I use my desk because it doesn't have the give or bounce that the table does, but I started tooling this wallet right after supper and the wife and kiddos where still eating so I stayed at the table. Marble is on my wish list. Oh, I've heard about glueing to cardboard. Whats matt board? Same basic thing? and no, I don't have any glue yet.

@billsotx: This is from a left over Tandy kit(6-8 projects ending with a wallet) that someone gave my wife's family when she was little and her parents gave it to me about a month or so back when I borrowed the tools from them.

I'm suspicious that I made my cuts to deep so when I pounded the shader in, the face of the other side didn't pull down to break the edges leaving them sharp. I really honed the blade on this project and it was very sharp.

[bustedlifter]

Brass, go to a Hobby Lobby or someplace like it and pick up a modeling tool, they can be had pretty cheap. Screw a bunch of tools, I can count on one hand the tools I use on 90% of my projects. Also get some good quality packing tape and put that on the back of your projects to be tooled, works great!

One more thing, check with places that do countertops or headstones.Sometimes you can score some marble or granite,cheap.I obtained a piece of granite{18"x12"x11/2"} from a place that salvages stuff from old buildings for $20.00.

[Brass]

Here's the finished work. Thanks bustedlifter, I'll check Hobby Lobby for a modeling tool. I've looked thru it several times, but I didn't try looking for a modeling tool. Also, we have a Habitat For Humanity Resale store. They might have a chunk of marble.

Wallet is finished with a Flebing's Saddle Tan with a little neatsfoot oil rubbed on top.

[Don101]

that has turned out really nice i like it, Don