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  • Members
Posted

Hey, I´m pretty exited on this work I did today, I´ts a test picture for some boots that a friend of mine is going to make, so its just carved and dyed on a scrap piece, but any way....I used acetone colours and some vinigrette ( which I found in this site, it works great, thanks everybody for teaching!!) I want to know what I should carve on to get more depth in to the pickture? So far I`ve been working on a slab of glass. And yesterday I orderd some REAL tools, but my elvis was carved witha nail grooming set and a crochet hook!! Please comment, everything welcome! :whatdoyouthink:

elvis ja tanssitytöt 008.jpg

elvis ja tanssitytöt 020.jpg

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post-10089-126029696135_thumb.jpg

  • Contributing Member
Posted

Forget the "real tools". If you can do work like that with a nail grooming set and a crochet hook then I need to order some of those!!

I think your portrait of Elvis looks fabulous!!

  • Members
Posted

WOW, That is awesome. Can't wait to see what you do with some new tools. Great job!

Sean

  • Contributing Member
Posted

...crochet hook....That's what I love about learning something new- the artist has no preconceived notions about having to use tool X.

To get more depth to the picture, you can use several different methods, or a combination of them. One method is to use thicker leather. This lets you tool deeper and gives more 'natural depth'. Another method is to emboss the leather from the back. While the leather is cased (uniformly moistened but not wet) you use your fingers, a stylus, handle of a tool....whatever, to press the leather from the flesh side, stretching it and giving a true 3-D appearance. Then there's surface burnishing- it's when you use something (I use an old t-shirt) to give the leather a friction burn to darken the grain side with no additional use of dyes, paints, etc. I use it to shade facial features in some of my work. Lastly, there's tooling the leather. Using a beveler, a matting tool, a backgrounder, or a shader (thumbprint/pear shader) you can compress the leather around the image, helping it to stand out from the rest of the leather.

If you look at floral carvings, you'll see a combination of beveling, backgrounder, and shading to make the image stand out from the surface.

Mike DeLoach

Esse Quam Videri (Be rather than Seem)

"Don't learn the tricks of the trade.....Learn the trade."

"Teach what you know......Learn what you don't."

LEATHER ARTISAN'S DIGITAL GUILD on Facebook.

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