Figure Carving
Any scene can be represented on leather. Figure carving can be embossed or not.
823 topics in this forum
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It's cold and snowy, and there haven't been many orders, so I may as well play. None of these horses are colored yet. I may leave them uncolored for a while for teaching purposes. It's harder to see how the detail was done with color in the way. Maybe a yak with big teeth should be next!
Last reply by FrenchMich, -
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Dale Hietala, a gifted artist and a dear friend, succumbed to my relentless arm twisting and did a great step-by-step tutorial of how he carved a mountain lion. https://www.leatherworker.net/mtnlion/index.htm Give the page a moment or so to load. Thank you so much, Dale, for sharing with us! Johanna
Last reply by Retswerb, -
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In another post I showed the finished carving of a swan and how to color it. Well, I was supposed to be doing a lesson on how to carve it, but hadn't taken pictures as I was going because I really had no idea what I was going to do or if it would turn out. So, now I have carved the swan again and taken pictures and notes so I can try and tell you how I did it. I have tried to use only tools that are easily available (no custom tools) or tools that you can easily make yourself. I started out with a piece of cased leather. For most of my projects lately I am using regular carving leather from Tandy, nothing fancy. I have found that if you case it properly, it works just …
Last reply by Youri, -
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https://leatherworker.net/bufffeathers/index.htm ClayB took the time to take lots of pics and write detailed explanations of what he did to create "Buffalo Feathers", pictured below. For those of you who aren't familiar with him, ClayB is an incredible artist from North Dakota. He specializes in figure carving, but can also do nice florals or build a saddle. ClayB has contributed other tutorials that can be found on the main page if the above link whets your appetite. He's also a staff member here at LW, and in charge of the monthly challenges and contests. Let him know what ideas you have for future ones, or better yet, volunteer to teach or sponsor one. We wou…
Last reply by Hawk Scarbrough, -
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This is a response to the photo tutorial that Clay posted previously. He said rightly, that there are many ways to carve oak leaves, some more realistic, some more "stylized" or abstract. This is one of my favorite styles of oak leaf carving - I don't know what it's called, or who it originally came from - I picked it up from an example I saw. I do not presume to be an authority on carving oak leaves, but I would like to share with you what I like to see in a carved oak leaf, and how I obtain it. And lastly, before I begin, I do not presume to be an authority on this topic - again, I'm just sharing what I know and do currently, and I am here to learn, too. So in the …
Last reply by Hawk Scarbrough, -
Feather Demo 1 2
by elktracks- 1 follower
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On Wednesday, November, 5th, my travels found me at the Tandy Leather Factory store in Cincinnati. Wednesday happens to be the regular scheduled open workshop at this store and the manager, Michael Boursaw, had given a number of his regulars the news that I would be there. Once we got underway, I wasn't able to look up very much, but Michael said there had been over 50 people show up that evening. You've heard it said that time flies when you're having fun. When you get a bunch of avid leather workers together, time just disappears. It got late before I wanted so I called it a day at 10:30 that night and there were still people there when I left. It was an evening ve…
Last reply by IngridG, -
Bear paw lesson 1 2
by ClayB- 1 follower
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Earlier this year I experimented with trying to create a realistic looking bear paw using extreme embossing techniques. The project turned out better than I had hoped for. The pattern I used came from a drawing out of a book called "Bear, The Ultimate Artist's Reference" by Doug Lindstrand. Mr Lindstrand's books have been a really good source of pattern ideas for me. They include really good closeup photos of wildlife along with detailed drawings and field notes. He has authored several books on different wildlife species, and several more that contain chapters on many different species. When I finished up my first bear paw, it didn't work on the project I made it for,…
Last reply by gunter, -
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There are probably 100 different ways to carve an oak leaf. George Hurst has a book called The Mighty Oak with a bunch of different styles in it. The one I will show here is based on a pattern in that book. I used different tools on each side of the leaf to show different effects you can get. Here the leaf is traced and cut. I try not to join the cuts at the tips. If you do, the tips can start to peel up, which now that I think about it, might look neat in certain carvings. Here I started to bevel the leaf. On this side I used a smooth beveler. I usually start on the inside curves with a smalll beveler. Tandy used to make round bevelers that should be good for th…
Last reply by Targaid, -
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ClayB's Open Mouthed Bear The narrative is at the bottom of each full picture. I was impressed at the degrees of depth Clay worked into the bear's snout. Johanna
Last reply by Don101, -
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I'd like some advice on improving my game. I make these small knives with some leather tooling, typically Celtic knotwork. The knotwork is only 1/2-inch wide, and I really struggle to carve the design and get it to "pop." The photo shows the best that I can do at the present time. I am wondering if there is a better way to do this. I am using 2-3 oz. or 3-4 oz. veg tab because I have to use a thinner leather. I know that affects my ability to get some relief in the leather. FYI here is my process: 1. Case the leather 2. Put on my magnifying loupes 3. Trace the design onto the leather with tracing paper and a stylus 4. Carve with a swivel…
Last reply by TonyV,
