Basic Leather Carving Tutorial

[The Major]

In case anyone is interested, I created a page which goes over tooling a basic leather coaster. Its geared for the new people just getting into leather. Enjoy and I would love to get some feedback on it. I am planning on creating more of these type things, and eventually video's.

So whatcha think?

http://www.squidoo.com/Basic-Leather-Carving

[resqman]

Good basic tutorial.

Interesting you chose a Mulesfoot instead of a shader as the 7th tool.

[sdkid]

Looks good to me.

[Rayban]

Great job on the tutorial....I like it lots!!

[pilotmill]

looks great, good starter project for my carving craving..

[TomSwede]

Excellent work Major!!

I was just thinking the other day that we need a good tut for newcomers to leather because it is very hard to explain to someone.

Tom

[skipj]

Thanks Major,

Good clear picturers. Should be helpful to beginners. The list of sources is important to me when I am learning.

SkipJ

[ponygirl]

This is exactly what I have been looking for. Thank so much!!

[pete]

Nice job! As always there will be 100000 questions for the beginner but this is a really nice, simple intro.

Question for you, though.

I have seen others who like to background before beveling. I zoomed in on the tutorial and couldn't see any beveling along the edges of the backgrounded areas. Is this something that you normally do, or on a more refined piece would you bevel the backgrounded edges also?

I have to admit that it lends itself to a really clean look but I wonder if it is as good as beveling first from a "depth" perspective.

If you beveled after, wouldn't it SMOOSH down the backgrounded edges?

pete

[kevinhopkins]

Hi...this is really nice of you to do! I think we all might approach our carving in slightly different ways, and perhaps with a slightly different order in which we use the tools. But what really matters when all is said and done, is whether or not it makes us happy, and how it looks. The person that helped me to learn how to teach western floral carving years ago, told me to remember a simple little rhyme: Cut, cam, shade, and bevel. Then vein it, seed it, and background like the devil!

I've found that over the years, students seem to be able to remember it...

thanks again,

Kevin

[The Major]

Pete,

Yes it does smoosh the backgrounding a little, but you can just touch it up after you are done beveling. And the beveling is there, but since you run the backgrounder over the beveling, it masks it.

I might also add, this is how I teach it to beginners to get them to learn to follow lines. If they jump a line, its much easier to cover up the mistake before beveling. Nothing is more annoying than seeing a tiger cub in tears cuz he screwed up and can't afford the $50 for a new piece of leather (That's a story for another day)

Once the skill is developed, you can do it in any order you want. Personally, I bevel first then background because you get much more depth.

You will find also if you bevel first your backgrounding goes much more quicker.

Edited April 27, 2009 by The Major

[KenE]

Thanks for the tutorial. This is nice because we can go through the steps to get the practice. I enjoy learning from many people to develop a style that is appropriate for me.

~Ken

[The Major]

Glad it helps.

[zenbeer]

Loved this. Thanks!

zen

In case anyone is interested, I created a page which goes over tooling a basic leather coaster. Its geared for the new people just getting into leather. Enjoy and I would love to get some feedback on it. I am planning on creating more of these type things, and eventually video's.

So whatcha think?

http://www.squidoo.c...Leather-Carving

[funnygirl62221]

Thank you so much. :D

[Gequinn]

This looks great. I just ordered a pack of rounders and I will definitely be applying this tutorial for a few of them.

[Babbs]

Thanks , can't wait to see more !!

[hurricane]

Great tutorial, I'm new to leather craft and this is great was really easy for me to do this pattern

[northquabbin]

Thanks for the info. I got a long way to go but your help is getting me started.

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?app=gallery&module=images&section=viewimage&img=16450

[The Major]

Looks like you're off to a good start! Just remember when you are making your decorative cuts to lift up the swivel knife to fade the line. They should go from deep to shallow. Keep up the great work.

Thanks for the info. I got a long way to go but your help is getting me started.

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?app=gallery&module=images&section=viewimage&img=16450

[sherlockian100]

I am pretty new to leather tooling, so I really am asking this without prejudice. Why do you use the backgrounder as the first step after carving? I have been told that the beveler should be used when the leather's moisture content is higher, and that the backgrounder works better when the moisture content is lower (dryer) so why wouldn't you bevel before backgrounding, assuming this is true about the moisture content, with regards to which tool is better for how wet the leather is?

[padparasha]

Thank You! I'm new to leathercraft, and I think you just inspired me with your tutorial.

Thank you for posting this.

[BartHumphries]

How do you dye the background? Do you use Q-tips or something?

[Mike 257]

Thank you for the tutorial , Im an absolute beginner and that was a big help .

[BadW0lf]

I just got my tools and this will be the first thing I try. Thanks so much for the super easy-to-follow steps, it's exactly what I was looking for!!!!

~Kate