waywarddreams

I'm currently near Harrisburg, but I'll be moving to the Lehigh Valley area shortly. That video was very actually helpful, and I clicked around and found some others that also helped. I didn't think about the fact that youtube could... educate!

He looks so HAPPY.I adore his hairHe looks so HAPPY.I adore his hair

I may be new to leather, but certainly not to using cheap brushes for glue. My record was 30 stiff bristled brushes of unknown origin for a whopping $1.50

I hugely appreciate it. I think my biggest problem right now is I've never even SEEN someone carve leather, and the book I'm attempting to learn from is something like a dozen pages long. This is going to sound fabulously stupid, but is there a video somewhere of someone carving leather that I can stare at--so many little basic technique things I'm trying to figure out on my own would be easier to solve. Things like how to best hold tools, how to hold the leather while carving to keep it from moving. Heck, how to keep there from being 1000 little scratchmarks from my nails touching. I swear I cut them to the quick just because of it, but they keep nicking the leather.

Where do you get leather that thin? I didn't realize leather could be sculpted like this. Possibilities. Darn this new medium is going to get expensive.

I'm a very very new beginner (nerdy wave). Essentially, I've seamstressed for ages, and about two months ago decided to play with leather for a change of pace, and I'm finding it a great medium (no grainlines to worry about--sign me up). A week and a half ago, I got my first carving tools as a birthday present, and I've been experimenting all week on a piece of hide. What I'd like to know is, is there a way to take one piece of leather and soften it in some spots to make it more pliable, or to take a pliable piece of leather and stiffen it up in places? Would a treatment like that affect dyeing later on, or would it be done post-dyeing process? Additionally, I did dye my first piece of leather today and there were areas where the leather resisted taking the dye as well. Was this just a result of my not having the best leather? Can I get something that can make the leather more receptive to the dye? Also, if I post some of the things I've been working on, how constructive is the criticism? I'm sort of experimenting with things on my own, I just got a fifteen minute demonstration from a nice person at Tandy about carving who sort of gave me the four tools he thought I'd need and I bought them, and a 20 page pamphlet I was sold, so I could use a little mentoring at this stage.