Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'carving'.
Found 81 results
-
Hello Dear Leatherworkers, I recently finished my first long wallet. I ruined everything on this project. For examples the stiches. I think the overall look is good but I learn again a lot. The next one will be better! The little birds are burned. -
I have already posted this piece on the "critique" part of the forums, but then I noticed there was one especially for Sheridan work, so I thought I would put it here too. Folks on the "critique" board have already advised me that my leather was too wet when I was carving it. This is the one major thing I'm going to have to watch out for on my next one. Since people on this board specialize in Sheridan style though, I must know if there are any additional Sheridan-specific tips for when I try this again. Are there any must-have blades, stamps, or other tools I should know about? I have most of the Al Stohlman books but only a VERY basic beginner collection of tools. I feel that my carving looks very blocky and clumsy. Aside from just practicing, maybe there is something I'm doing that's just totally wrong (besides the leather being too wet)?
-
Newbie Needs Help With "woodland Distressed Pigskin"
InTheMiddle posted a topic in All About Leather
Hi, Brand new here to the site. I've been working with leather for a very short amount of time. I bought some of this "Woodland distressed pigskin" from Tandy. It works well for what I'm making. Someone has asked me to make an item for them and to somehow imprint their initials in it. I realize that it can't be stamped, but I was hoping someone had an idea of how I could add their initials. I'm a little desperate to find a way to do this, because people love the item, and the leather used to make it. I'm selling stuff to be able to keep up with this hobby that I've come to love! Please let me know if you have ANY ideas. Thanks! -
Hi everyone, I'm new to leatherwork, and would have normally chosen a craft where there is more room for error, because of my sloppy nature. However, due to my current location, leatherwork is the only feasible craft I can do (seems like getting a cheap workshop/garage for blacksmithing purposes in UK city is nearly impossible at an affordable price...). Anyway, I bought P.Burnett's leather carving bundle and have been trying to go through the excercises, however, I find them rather difficult. I attach an attempt to carve and tool the "deer excercise" from lesson 1, and would appreciate if anyone could advise what's the most likely reason for it looking bad? Some info: -No artsy background, so don't really have a feel for "lines of beuty". -I use a cheap straight swivel knife blade in a cheap swivel knife (one on ebay for ~£5). I wonder how much better would it be to use the angled blade (tiwst cuts are a bit of a pain with the straight knife). -I had to modify the swivel knife a little bit, it was not spining smoothly, but was getting stuck ~ 1/4 revolution. This swivel knife had 2 6mm bearings, one of which I had to remove, but now the knife spins really well (I hope it is meant to be spining freely and not get stuck ~ 1/4 rev !) -When beveling, I try do overlap 1/2-1/3 at each step, and try to do the "jackhammer" (I hold the beveler very lightly, just touching the leather and let it rebound as best as I can). -For casing, I try to do the quick casing described in Lesson 1. -I strop the blade regularly, but I'm not sure if it is sharp enough - if I cut deeply, the leather seems to "wrinkle" a little bit at the edges... Cheers, Leb
-
I haven't posted anything for a while. Here are a few things I have been working on.
-
Hi Everyone, I have been having some troubles perfecting my beveling for very small objects especially letters. Can anyone give me some tips on how to better tool these areas? i am using the smallest beveling tool offered, and try smoothing areas out with a modeling spoon but it doesn't seem to be doing the trick. I think it still looks a bit sloppy. I've included a couple snap shots of the order i am currently working on. Thanks
-
I have noticed that when I use Fiebing's Professional Oil Dye, it looks great on solid backgrounds with no tooling. When I use it on tooling or stamping it does not soak in to the tooling and darken it to where it stands out from the rest of the piece. I don't like Eco-Flo, however, it DOES make my tooling stand out when I wipe off the excess pigment. Is their a trick to using the oil dye on tooling, or is their a product that I can darken my lines with? Its really driving me crazy, because I want to use Fiebing;s only. -
This is a simple technique I use to trace patterns onto my moistened leather. Instead of tracing the patterns to trace paper 1st why not trace it directly onto the leather from the printed pattern. 1st place a piece of food wrap over the moistened leather to prevent the printout from getting wet. 2nd, tape the printout over the area you want to trace the pattern onto the leather. Watch the tutorial to see how I do this. Works perfectly every time and the trace looks really nice. Let me know if it helps you!
-
What do you think of our new tooled leather wallet. Please feel free to offer us any feedback or advice. Thanks! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwBIzVlenRI -
I am working on my first carving. I am looking to get some more definition on the edges of the carved lines. I used craftool B197 to bevel all the lines but would like to see some more definition. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to accomplish this. Please help.
-
This is my first attempt at carving. I didn't practice first, just dove in. The original pattern was a bit off because I was just tracing regular paper on cased leather and the paper tended to tear. I'll get some tracing film for future projects. By the end of this project I was beginning to get a feel for walking the tools. I only used a swivel knife, lined beveler, smooth pear shader, and a modeling spoon. I can still see some of my original cut lines and I'm not sure if I just cut too deeply or just didn't bevel deep enough. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.
-
Ok first time posting and i'm hoping you guys can help. I am trying to put someone's initials and a nickname into a wallet and a bracelet and i'm trying to figure out the best way to do that. I dont really like the font of the stamps out there for leather so i tried doing it on my own. I first wrote on the leather with a pencil and then tried to come back with a swivel knife but the curves in the script were too tight and the knife would just chew up the corners. I've tried following it up with an awl to press it in, didnt work, tried a stylus which worked better but didnt groove the lettering as much as i had wanted...the only thing that has come close is using a pen and softening the leather and just writing it over and over till it presses down somewhat deep enough, my only concern with that is the ink bleeding or fading away. So my question is this, is there a way to carve my lettering into the leather better than what i'm attempting to do? Size of lettering i'm doing is 3/4 to 1 inch lettering...thanks in advance.
-
Hi All, I'm "Showing off" my first carvings here... As you might notice, I've only had a beginners set of tools. No different sizes in shaders, backgrounders or whatever... Tipps and criticism that will help to improve my work are always appreciated and I will learn from them, promise!! :-) The Floral design is inspired by very old swiss folk art. Stuff like that was painted on furniture... I wanted something different than the "useual" western-style designs (absolutely NO offense!) :-) Now the stain problem: As you see on pic 2 where I lay out the chinks I'm working on, I'm going for a straight natural look, the deer hide was laying in the sun for 4 days so there's a color-contrast anyway... I love the look, but theres a problem: In my carvings, a couple hours after I finished them with Fiebing's Leather Sheen, there where white stains showing (As on picture 3 "Stains"). Does anyone know why this is? Is there a way to get rid of them without staining/antiquing the leather? Also: If I finish the Carvings with leather sheen (or resolene or whatever), the leather can't take any oil or wax or other conditioners anymore right? I've learned that leather should always be takin care of with good conditioner or oils, so what's about that? BTW: I'm sorry for the bad quality pic and lighting, it's early morning here and I didn't wanna wait for this to post (because of that stain thing, not to show off!... ;-) Thanks for your answers, Regards from switzerland, Andy -
Good day folks, I'm new to carving and stamping in leather and I want to carve tree bark into my project. I've seen some good examples but alas I've no idea how to accomplish them. Can any give me some pointers? Best regards, Scott
-
Is it possible to use gold leaf on leather and have it be durable? I've been using metallic gold acrylic paint so far...but that just lacks luster. Has anyone tried this? Thanks!
-
Can someone please help me to understand the following: "You have an outside and inside border line for the meander If you are doing the outside borderline on the right side pulling to you than you would be carving clockwise. If you were doing the left outside borderline pulling straight to you, than you would be carving counter clockwise. " For the life of me I cannot figure this out. It comes from a statement that if you cut the borders in different directions they will not be parallel. I am sure this is true, however I can't seem to figure out how they determine the "clockwise" or "counter-clockwise" direction. What defines this? Is anyone familiar with these terms? Thanks in advance. Paul
-
I'm learning to brain-tan leather and was wondering about the advantages and disadvantages of using brain-tanned leather for tooling. I'm new to leatherworking, but am ultimately interested in transferring illustrations onto leather and carving them like this. Everything that I've read thus far indicates that I should be using veg-tanned leather rather than brain-tanned leather, but I'd like to be able to use the same leather for tooling that I'm using for garment construction. Any advice for a beginner? -
well here it is , i bought a swivel knife and a few basic tools , some times i find the knife hops a little on the leather .... any idea why ?
-
i like pure American style on floral carving, and i tried to draw this carving draft myself. i will be working and studing on it for better understanding Please crytic to help, thanks!
-
This is my first post so I hope I am doing this correctly. I have been doing a little leatherwork over the past 18 months or so. Mostly horse tack and items for personal use and for family. I would like to branch out maybe start selling some items to support my habit. Anyway here is a pancake holster I built for my brother-in-law's Taurus PT 140. I tried some new things for me. I have been drilling and stiching but on this one I built myself a stiching pony and used an awl. It is a little rough but it was good practice. Let me know what you think and what I need to improve on.
-
(Actually calling myself a newbie is a misnomer as I just order some supplies yesterday and have yet to do anything.) Is "leather carving" and "leather tooling" the same thing? Are you actually carving away any material in "carving" or are you just smooshing down the leather? I didn't think I was interested in doing any of that "fancy stuff," but seeing some of the beautiful and original work on here makes me eager to try it all. My first project is going to be a relatively plain double layer dog collar decorated with a few rivets. One layer is going to be dyed black and one tan. Maybe my next one will have some carving/ tooling. Thanks!
-
After being away from leatherworking for more than 20 years, I've decided to get back into it as a form of sanity maintenance. (At present, the jury is still dilberating as to whether I made the right decision.) As a firearm journalist by profession, my primary interest in leatherworking is making holsters. In addition, part of my interest stems from my disability. Being wheelchair bound, most of the strong-side holsters I've reviewed, don't suit someone like me who's contantly seated. Since there don't seem to be any leatherworking classes in my area, I've had to rely primarily on how-to books and Internet forums, tutorials/videos for guidence. Despite a lack of strength and fine-motor skills due to both my disability and arthitus, I'm having fun and, in the end I suspose that's all that matters With the long-but-necessary back story out of the way, I'm curious to know if there are any really good books you can recommend on either the subject of holster making or carving/tooling? I say "really good," because I've come across some books, such as Al Stoehlman's "How To Make Holsters" lacking with regard to detailed explanation. I'm also been entertaining the idea of trying my hand at tooling. Given my unique set of circumstances, however, I'm uncertain about it. Nonetheless, my hope is that there are some others out there, who, while they may or no share a physical disability, may also rely on similar instruction venue for their instruction, enough to recommend some must-have books on making holsters—including a introduction to carving/tooling so I can undertand the process, in order to determine if it's something I'd like to pursue. Thanks, Bob Boyd
-
Boy, when you guys say that you have to use it or you use it, it is the truth. I have been away from this for a couple of months and my carving, tooling and stamping have really suffered. However, the cover is still usable so I thought I would post it. Originally it was made with chrome tanned leather but was too flimsy, so I used that for the insert with a veggie tanned cover. This was my first attempt at double lacing and I really need to figure out how to finish off better. Also my first try with fiebings anique paste.
-
I am making a duffle bag and would like to have the ends done completely in SHeridan style. the bag is going to be 12" tall X 14" wide X 23" long...... HOwever, I have not quite figured out the technique to laying out my own patters. And, yes, I do have the Sheridan Style Carving book, which is a lot of help with some really great information. SO, if you'd like to help me out, let me know. Thanks ahead of time! -
hi looking for leather carver in the UK willing to give lessons - basics already known, want to progress further - thks
