Attached tooled leather to a curved surface?

[BFaehn]

Hey there,

A friend asked me to add tooled leather to her wedding shoes.  The only part I'm having trouble with, is on the back fo the heel where it is curved? Any suggestions or tips would be great. Do I need to mold it? But then can I mold leather thats been tooled? I tried to attached a photo of the shoe but cant.  

[Dwight]

Generally speaking tooling leather and molding leather are kinda like wives and girl friends.  You cannot have both unless you are in for heartaches and heart breaks.

You gotta decide which one you really want.

Best thing I have found that you can do is tool whatever you want tooled . . . let it 100% fully dry . . . and I'm talking FULLY DRY.

THEN . . . very carefully . . . with latex gloves on . . . use a sponge and slightly . . . starting 90% from the flesh side . . . dampen the leather . . .  bend it with your thumb and forefingers . . . VERY CAREFULLY . . . and let it take on the shape you want / need.

But also remember . . . these are wedding shoes . . . worn for pictures and taken off . . . worn for rehearsal . . . taken off . . . worn for the wedding . . . taken off.  They are never gonna be worn much over a total of 6 hours.

I have gotten away with a few things this way . . .  but I do my best never to get caught so to speak . . . with my wife and girlfriend together.

May God bless,

Dwight

Edited October 8, 2022 by Dwight

[Wild Bill46]

Your a funny, funny, man Dwight my friend. 

Wife and girlfriend in the same sentence, Daring Huh, Funny ?

 

[BFaehn]

Thank you Dwight, also then as far as attaching, should I stitch or just use an adhesive like contact cement?

[chuck123wapati]

2 hours ago, BFaehn said:

Thank you Dwight, also then as far as attaching, should I stitch or just use an adhesive like contact cement?

What weight of leather are you thinking??   You can preform the heel then tool it if you can find something hard enough and close to the curve to pound against.  at least a few stitches on the sides and back  and glue, you don't want a malfunction at the wrong time.

[toxo]

55 minutes ago, chuck123wapati said:

What weight of leather are you thinking??   You can preform the heel then tool it if you can find something hard enough and close to the curve to pound against.  at least a few stitches on the sides and back  and glue, you don't want a malfunction at the wrong time.

This ^. It's not as if the back of a shoe is a massive curve. Find something roughly the same shape or better yet use the actual shoe with some cling film around it. Mould your leather, let it dry, find something dome shaped (like the tow ball on the car maybe) and tool away.

[BFaehn]

Thank you everyone for the advice!