I haven't seen anything on this site of someone doing this...
This is a proven method I have been doing since the 1990s and have created well over 50 plates. The material I use is extremely tough and I have pressed out literally 1000s of biker patches from my plates. Some are as big as 10" x 11" in size. These were not simple to make when I started making them with lots of trial and error, many pitfalls, and ruining some of my original toolings along the way. The process is too lengthy to put in here, but well worth the effort if you have a tooling you want to duplicate. The photos show the plate, the pressing, and the staining process. In my previous submission with the sculptures, the green leaves on the roses are pressed out from a plate made from an original tooling. The dragonfly is also pressed out from a plate. Enjoy!
Dan Sines, Leather Artist