Shaping Tooled Corset

[treybecca]

I need advice on how to properly shape leather that will be heavily tooled for a corset I am currently working on. The corset itself involves four panels that are each laced together and also incorporate straps. I will be using 6/7 oz leather. How can I effectively shape the leather without destroying the hours of tooling? Thank you for any advice.

[Clay]

The best way is to form it to a solid mold and then tool the leather while it is on the mold. The hard part is building a mould that it the right fit for the project.

Clay Miller

[Mikewood]

This sounds like an interesting project. I am not sure how you would do it if its already tooled. I guess you can case the leather again and put it on, synch it up and let it dry on the person. I would try to make it out of smaller panels and carve those and stitch them together.

Good luck!

[bkingery]

I"ve been trying to figure this one out to and one thing I have been thinking about is if it thicker and tooled very heavily to rewet it and the put it in place on the form and then put some kind of foam athat would not smash the tooling and then wrap it with a blanket, maybe????

Good luck,

Bryan

[Tinneal]

As far as I know, from the leatherwork books I have, you're supposed to shape it THEN tool it... If anyone has a good solution to this, I'd like to hear it, too!

[Spinner]

Clay and Tinneal have it right as far as the "Best" way to do it. The main problem isn't in re-casing it for the wet forming, it's the forming itself that messes with the tooling. The leather stretches a bit anywhere you form it and if there is tooling there it will want to pull apart and show the cut lines more which makes the tooling look very shallow. I've had to do this on a tank bib before where the client wanted flames tooled the entire length. Unfortunately I don't have the option to make a hard shape (9 different gas tanks I work from) so I cut and lightly tooled the piece on the bench, then wet formed it to the tank. Once dry on the form, I quick cased it and retooled the majority of it to the proper depth and blended it into the unformed area so it all looked correct.