Beginner Troubles

[papaleather]

I have finally gotten around to working with leather, bought a couple of half shoulders, acquired some tools and stamps. Setup an area at my home were I can actually start doing some work and, most important of all, practice, practice, practice.

My first foray was doing some 2D/3D stamps which has raised some issues and problems which I hope to get some advice on and learn from.

Setting up a grid

Measured off a large area and then measured off the stamp layout, I used about seven stamps for this practice run. Not a problem except that I used a pencil to do the layout of where I wanted the stamps. This left a squared depression around the stamped image.

What is the best way to setup a grid on leather so the grid itself will not show afterwards?

Casing the leather

I used a sponge to wet the leather to what I thought was sufficient moisture level for a piece of , 7 to 8oz leather about 18x12 in size. Waiting until the leather started to return to its natural color before stamping. As I stamped and leather started to further dry and I found that the leather started to stiffen and curl.

Am I doing something wrong with casing the leather, too much water, not enough?

Thanks in advance for any comments or assistance. I am not afraid to try and learn.

[Dirt4fun]

Here is a good tutorial on casing the leather... http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=19121

As far as setting up the grid, I'm still trying to figure that one out. So hopefully someone with more experience can answer that one.

[WyomingSlick]

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What is the best way to setup a grid on leather so the grid itself will not show afterwards?

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The very first thing to keep in mind is that when you do layout lines of any kind on leather, DO THEM LIGHTLY !

This is particularly important if your carving or stamping is not going to cover/conceal the lines. For some geometiccs and basketweave stamps, your layout lines will be completely hid by the stamping, For others, and most 3D stamps, this is not the case....amd you will need to smooth out your layout lines after stamping or carving. The lighter you make them.......the easier it will be to smooth them out.

NOTE - The above aplies to all layout work whether you are tracing a pattern or using a craftaid. If you make a tracing line deep, and then don't exactly follow it with your swivel knife, then you have an ugly line running along the edge of your flower, stem, or whatever, if you erred on the bevel side. If you erred on the other side, then the beveling will conceal it nicely.

You might also wish to consider if you need a full grid marked on the leather. Will a set of Xs, or even a simple dot at the corners be sufficient to align your stamps?

Is it possible that some other registation marks would work? Without seeng some photos of your layout and the stamps you used, it is hard to say what else might work for you.

[Dwight]

This will sound silly, . . . but it works, . . . that is what is important.

For your grid, . . . make a piece of paper or cardboard with the size of squares you want on your grid (1 inch, . . . 1/2 inch, . . . 3/4 inch, . . . whatever) and make that grid paper at least 2 or 3 inches bigger on all 4 sides.

Take a couple of blocks of wood, . . . drive nails in them, . . . stretch a string across the leather, . . . just above the leather, . . . and you have a line. When you are done with that line, . . . pull the blocks down to the next line and start again.

If you need the other line, . . . make one the other way also.

What I do when i need something like that, . . . is set up say the "horizontal" line, . . . then for vertical spacing, . . . use a set of dividers to make a light mark along the horizontal line, . . . one that will be stamped out of existence in the stamping process.

Works for me.

May God bless,

Dwight

[MojoGeorge]

Dwight, I gotta try that!

[WScott]

Yep, that made clicking on the post really worth it

I am thinking I will try fishing line

Great tip!!

Edited May 24, 2014 by WScott