Leather carving history

[Dragan]

Dear friends,

can anybody tell me about leather carving history

(not leather tooling or mold leather)

exactly leather carving.

Because you can not sell anything without story

in my lovely Macedonia.

Dragan

[Dragan]

Dear Folks, this is copy/paste from "tandyleatherfactory" website, can you give any coment, addition?!

Don't forget, this is the start theory for any carving leather craftmen.

During the 1920s, a young Al Stohlman dreamed of some day illustratingthe popular Western stories of Zane Grey and Bret Harte. Scenes ofcattle drives, wranglers, chuck wagons and horses filled hisimagination and his sketch pad. As a youngster, Al's passion wasutilizing his spare time to sketch the animals that lived in theforests of the Pacific Northwest. Al Stohlman had his first experience with leatherwork in 1942 whilestationed in New Guinea while serving for the U.S. Army. It was thenthat he toyed with a GI issue leather belt to learn about the uniquequalities of leather, using only a pocket knife and some filed nails.It wasn't long before Al discovered the need for certain tools and theimportance of using a mallet or striking stick to achieve greater depthand detail to his projects. Four years later, back home in California,he learned to use stamping tools.

By1952 he was earning national attention through work for the CraftoolCompany. Craftool, a west coast company, was purchased by Tandy Leatheryears later. Many of the company's tools were developed by Stohlman.Later, as a freelance teacher/artist he traveled the country attendingcraft shows and guild meetings, teaching and sharing his techniques.

In 1962 one of his most precious dreams came true- the opportunity toshare his 20 years of knowledge with students of all ages andbackgrounds, in the convenience of their own homes, through the mail.Sponsored by Tandy Leather, the Al Stohlman Home Study Course wasrecognized as one of the most comprehensive guides to basicleathercrafters available anywhere. Through this correspondence courseand dozens of books, hundreds of thousands of people have been taughtleathercraft. The original finished projects used for this successfulHome Study Course are on display.

Withover 50 years of experience in the leather and saddlemaking field, AlStohlman gained tremendous pleasure of sharing his knowledge with allwho cared to learn. He believed the best way to accomplish this wasthrough instruction books. His dream was to eventually see his patternsand books published into encyclopedia form to preserve this valuablecraft knowledge for future generations. His 'one-of-a-kind' bookscontinue to be top sellers in our stores.

Ann Stohlman is quitea remarkable craftswoman in her own right. But then, she only had theworld's best leathercraftsman for a teacher. During their time togetherAnn became an accomplished saddlemaker, leather carver and buckstitcheras well as a frequent contributor to various leathercraft magazines.Ann passed away in 2004.

Al Stohlman once wrote, "I have oftenbeen asked what it takes to create a leather picture. More thananything else, it takes ideas. And being a realist, I feel a picture orscene must be authentic in detail, so it takes time. Lots of time"

The largest hand-tooled picture on exhibit is "The Brush Popper", pictured below. Measuring 43" x 27",it also includes a beautiful finely tooled leather frame. It is athree-dimensional piece that incorporates the use of embossing plugs, amost unique style. This beautiful piece of art is probably one of Al'smost ambitious projects. The carving alone took over two months. We arepleased that once again, this magnificent piece of art is available forthe world to view and appreciate.

[King's X]

Dragan

Check out our leather guild website at www.legendsandlies.com. In the links section we have a section on leather history by Raymond Cherry. Hope this helps.

[Dragan]

Dear leatherworker, thanks for the reply,

interesting information but I'm not completely satisfied.

Dragan.

[Johanna]

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=14026&view=&hl=moors&fromsearch=1

What we know as western carving in America came from the Spanish who learned from the Moors. Many of the classic design elements reflect Islamic cultural elements that we still see in woodcarving, metalwork, tiles etc.

Johanna

[Dragan]

Johanna and other crafters,

I can not really understud that there is no concrete

answer on how started engraving the skin.

All information is based on assumptions and the answers are pretty vague.

Dragan.

[Dragan]

Finally I found some information what I want.

Actually I would conveying part of a book:

Page:79 (page 109 in Adobe Reader)

I want to call the reader's attention to the

fact that the Spaniards brought the art of

leather carving to old Mexico, so it can be

rightfully called "a lost art reclaimed/' or a

revival of an old lost art; for it was brought

into Mexico only twenty-seven years after

Columbus discovered America on October 12,

1492. The Mexicans have been skilled craftsmen

in what the saddle industry calls raisedflower

stamp work for many years, that has

been so universally used on almost all saddles

produced in the Great Southwest. No doubt

but what they brought the art into Texas when

this state was part of old Mexico, or an independent

state under the lone star.

Also can download (it's free) from

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=HISTORICAL%20CARVINGS%20IN%20LEATHER

Autor:

DR. WILLIAM ALLEN MADDOX

Subject:

Historical Carvings in Leather

(A Lost Art Reclaimed)

year:

1940

Do you believe in this.

I find it hard to read the book because for translation i'm using Google translate.

Would be good to tell What do you think about this book.

Dragan

Edited September 22, 2009 by Dragan