Bugling elk

[Rawhide]

Not a dumb question at all. General tooling/carving gives small relief to the images you intend to display. Embossing expands on this by stretching the leather forward to physically project from the background. Usually the cavity that this produces is filled with a putty or a plug of leather, to aid in strengthening the piece and helps give more definition. I hope this answers your question.

Edited November 10, 2009 by Rawhide

[CarvedOn]

Beautiful work!

[kytim]

Thanks Marlon, but how is that cavity achieved is it done from the back side?

[ClayB]

Thanks everyone for the nice comments on this piece. It would never have turned out that good without Kathy's help.

Kytim, Yes the cavity is created by stretching the leather from the back side. This can be done with several different things but usually the first thing used is a marble. There are embossing tools made specially to work the leather from the backside too, but the back end of a stamping tool or other things can be used as well. I've got a couple tutorials on the main page of the forum that go into quite a bit of detail if you are interested in seeing how it is done.

[PPounder]

Beautiful work Clay! Did you have to use any leather dust putty on the front side of the picture? If so, where?

Thanks,

Chris

[MBOGO]

Incredible, thank you for sharing.

[Crystal]

Amazing as always, Clay! I can't decide which I like best, so if you want a real critique, just mail them out to me and in 20-30 years, I'll let you know what I think.

I can't really tell- but maybe Kathy needs some more painting practice, I've got one or two or a dozen items that need some color. I'd be more than happy to send them to her to practice on.

Great job, both of you!

Crystal

[ClayB]

Thanks again all of you. Crystal, you just need to send some stuff to a show with Kathy. It might take awhile to get it back, but it's worth it!

Chris, there is very little putty on the front side of this one. There is a little under one antler to get it to stand out a little, and then there is some inside the mouth, but none on the face or the body.

[PPounder]

Chris, there is very little putty on the front side of this one. There is a little under one antler to get it to stand out a little, and then there is some inside the mouth, but none on the face or the body.

Hey Clay,

I found some of your tooling tutorials on the main page, more great work, but what tutorials show the embossing?

Thanks again,

Chris

[ClayB]

Hi Chris,

Both the bear paw tutorial and the buffalo feathers tutorial show some embossing techniques. If you have any questions that aren't answered in them, just let me know and I'll do my best to try and answer them. That chipmunk you showed in another post looks like it might be a fun project for embossing. You did a great job with the coloring on that.