full names or inscriptions put on leather?

[SojournerLeather]

So, we've been doing a bunch of custom work at our leathershop (leather book covers mostly, like sketchbooks, journals, and photoalbums), and we've been asked about doing engravings. Now, we've agreed to do small things like initials since we have one of those craftool abc stamp sets, but now we've been asked a couple times about bigger inscriptions, like short quotes. Now, I really don't want to stamp out short quotes.

What are some of the things ya'll do when someone wants full names or inscriptions put on their leather? And if you end up stenciling it on with ink, how do you go about doing short quotes with that?

Thanks ahead of time. I've been really racking my brain, but I'm not coming up with much on my own here.

[Randy Cornelius]

I have not tried it yet but I have been considering lazer engraving on leather. There is another thread that deals with that.

[Brandon]

Am thinking of an old typewriter without the ribbon?

[candyleather]

The typography for an old printing press, hundreds of letters engraved in plumb or steel. You can read a back issue of Leathercrafters&Saddlers Journal showing this technique, I remember a bible cover writed with this method. Any years ago there was a toy's plastic printing works in the market.

[Guest]

As far as I know there is only one way if you want a really "tooled" look to your lettering. Carve the letters one letter at a time VERY CAREFULLY. I know that's not what you wanted to hear but it is the only way. Maybe layout the quote on a computer in the desired typeface....transfer it to your leather....by usual methods....that means by hand.... then cut and bevel slowly and carefully....with a 1/4" filligree knife. And oh yeah practice on scrap first.

Dave

[abn]

This is perhaps my super-cheapo, find-the-easy-way persona talking , but how about purchasing the nicest stencil you can find from a craft shop or online (usually $5 or so) and then using a black Sharpie marker to put those letters on? Now, this won't work so well with really dark dyes, nor will there be any relief to the letters, but it might be worth a try just to see how it looks...

-Alex

[Johanna]

Carving quotes takes up a lot of space. Maybe some gold foil leafing would satisfy the customers? This leather business card is 15? years old, and the letters aren't showing any signs of wear.

Johanna

[Pip]

i use artists masking fluid when dying, it dries like rubber on the surface opf the leather so dye won't take, then dye and peel it off.... you can they redye the area with a light dye or better still wax the project before you peel of the masking then redye with a lighter colour dye after peeling it absorbs into the unwaxed previously waxed areas. You do need to redye as there is always a small amount of colouration through cross fibre contamination but once you redye iit looks great. the great thing is you can paint it thriough a stencil dead easy.

Care has to be taken not to remove the mask while waxing.... give it a try on some waste, artists maste costs £2 or so and is used in water colours.

[ClayB]

Candyleather mentioned the lettering from an old printing press done on a Bible cover. Deb Starr wrote that article in the LCSJ and had a really long Bible verse on the cover. She went into detail on how to make a holder for the printers type in the article. It really did seem to work well and if I was ever going to consider doing a lot of lettering on something, I would look into getting some type. Back when the article apeared in the Journal, you could find a lot of old type on Ebay. Deb is a member here on the forum, but she is busy with life and other things these days and hasn't had time to do any leatherwork for a long time. If you have questions about how she used printers type, I could pass on her email address. I'll also see if she has a picture of the Bible cover she made using the type. I had it saved but lost it in one of my computer crashes.

[skipj]

I remember that article, I thought the results looked quite professional. The Journal may have a back issue containing the article available.

SkipJ