You're improving, Greg, keep at it! Unfortunately there are no shortcuts to learning to carve. My first carved holster is, in my opinion, pretty mediocre, particularly when compared to the carving efforts seen here but I've found people who aren't leatherworkers are gob-smacked by it.
As for casing, I started off getting it damp under a tap and then sealing it overnight in a plastic bag until the colour was almost normal and that worked well, I've soaked it a bit and left it under glass to dry out a bit and that worked, I've dampened it using a sponge, wait a few minutes and repeat a couple of times and that worked ok but the one thing I haven't done is use soap, only water. I'm going to be applying dyes, oil, wax etc and I'm just not happy about having soap residue in the leather. I've no doubt the soap will reduce friction on the knife when cutting, but it does concern me.
I've studied many youtube vids on carving leather and it's definitely not as easy as they show it! I am also struggling at getting smooth curves and I've found an angled edge blade (i.e. not straight) makes it easier otherwise I keep tilting the knife too much. Getting smooth scrolls isn't easy.
Just keep at it, mate.