Sheridan Style, California Style ... where are the best places to see/understand a carving "style"?

[AEBL]

Carving seemed (well, still seems) magic to me. I've seen a lot of really cool work of all sorts of styles, but I'm wondering if there are sources for examples of styles somewhere on the web? Best stuff I seem to be able to find is on image search, but the search engines really don't know the difference between any of the styles.

[chuck123wapati]

10 hours ago, AEBL said:

Carving seemed (well, still seems) magic to me. I've seen a lot of really cool work of all sorts of styles, but I'm wondering if there are sources for examples of styles somewhere on the web? Best stuff I seem to be able to find is on image search, but the search engines really don't know the difference between any of the styles.

yea that's why a guy still needs the books and why they are so expensive. IMO but the web is only half a**ed at best. As i see it the basics of most styles are so the artist can be faster and easier. the the tools fit the size of the pattern the patterns fit the work. Sheridan for example starts out with circles indicating the area for the flower everything flows around the flower basic flower and leaf tapouts are used then the stems and leaves are added all flowing around the original circle pattern. Then the tooling is done in a very specific way but all repeatable and becomes muscle memory for the artist to the point most is free hand drawn onto the leather itself. some sheridan saddles have dozens of these repeated images the flowers are rotated so they appear different but are in fact the same image. All done with just a few specific stamps and edgers. Sheridan also uses bar grounders specifacllyfor background

[Northmount]

10 hours ago, AEBL said:

Carving seemed (well, still seems) magic to me. I've seen a lot of really cool work of all sorts of styles, but I'm wondering if there are sources for examples of styles somewhere on the web? Best stuff I seem to be able to find is on image search, but the search engines really don't know the difference between any of the styles.

Jim Linnell has some different styles available here.

[AEBL]

I figured there must be some historian that had cataloged some of the vast and varied work of leather carvers. I think if you live near Sheridan, you are probably surrounded by examples, in stores, on saddles - but if you don't, you have fewer options. Jim Linnell is great, he seems to have a great deal of resources on his site. I think I'm going to be making belts, sheaths and journal/Bible covers ... probably not saddles, but there *is* a saddle shop near me.

I know that "Sheridan Leather Carving" by Gardener and Faye (might be) one with more picture examples?
There is this one (in Japanese) that comes up from time to time on my searches, not sure if any of you know anything about it:
https://leathercrafttools.com/item/11732/

[chuck123wapati]

On 4/14/2025 at 7:21 AM, AEBL said:

I figured there must be some historian that had cataloged some of the vast and varied work of leather carvers. I think if you live near Sheridan, you are probably surrounded by examples, in stores, on saddles - but if you don't, you have fewer options. Jim Linnell is great, he seems to have a great deal of resources on his site. I think I'm going to be making belts, sheaths and journal/Bible covers ... probably not saddles, but there *is* a saddle shop near me.

I know that "Sheridan Leather Carving" by Gardener and Faye (might be) one with more picture examples?
There is this one (in Japanese) that comes up from time to time on my searches, not sure if any of you know anything about it:
https://leathercrafttools.com/item/11732/

You will be surprised at what you will make in the future. if you take one thing from  "Sheridan Style Carving"  It should be the last paragraph on page 98 under helpful hints. 

 

[AEBL]

Oh man, I have to get that book too ... I have Bob Park's book.

[FrankHester]

4 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

You will be surprised at what you will make in the future. if you take one thing from  "Sheridan Style Carving"  It should be the last paragraph on page 98 under helpful hints. 

 

Good point about page 98 last paragraph!

[FrankHester]

3 hours ago, FrankHester said:

Good point about page 98 last paragraph!

Keeping a notebook of tips and hints, methodologies, etc.  Just in case CRS comes upon you!

[chuck123wapati]

8 hours ago, FrankHester said:

Keeping a notebook of tips and hints, methodologies, etc.  Just in case CRS comes upon you!

and it comes much sooner than you think lol.

[AEBL]

What comes on you quicker than you'd think? (just kidding)

[chuck123wapati]

On 4/16/2025 at 7:40 AM, AEBL said:

What comes on you quicker than you'd think? (just kidding)

Oh yea now i remember lol.

 

[AEBL]

He has some good advice there. This old dog has had to learn some new tricks in the last few years, and one thing that I had learned a while back was that if someone wants to get better at something, they have to be prepared to stink at it first. Part of the reason we all love leather carving is that it is beautiful, and we know that it requires great skill and lots of practice. Keeping a notebook helps as well, because you might not be aware of how you are improving until you can compare your present sketching with sketches you did a month ago.