Members KBCustom Posted January 30, 2015 Members Report Posted January 30, 2015 Hello Everyone, I am brand new to the site, but have been working with leather for quite a few years now. I am 100% self taught, so many of my techniques could use refining. My current problem/question involve carving techniques. I have been noticing that while im in the middle of beveling and backgrounding a piece, parts of my leather ( where i have made cuts) starts to get very brittle and almost takes on an undercut look to it. I have tried applying a leather conditioner, but it seems to give me issues when i go to stain my piece. I have included pictures of examples to help explain my question as well. I need to figure out how to make my work look more crisp and refined. Any criticism is greatly appreciated. Thanks KB Custom leather Quote
NVLeatherWorx Posted January 30, 2015 Report Posted January 30, 2015 One thing that I was taught long ago was to not cut as deep as originally recommended (i.e. approximately half the thickness of the leather). Instead, cut slightly less than half the thickness so that when you bevel, and background where necessary you actually bevel and background to the approximate half thickness level but you will not see the "white" (the prominent grain of the cut line) and your definition of the pattern will be more prominent. The issue of taking on an undercut look can be attributed to improper casing of the leather (would make it feel firmer and resist beveling and burnishing as it is too dry) as well as improper tool angle (even tipped slightly forward it can still create an undercut look). The use of any conditioner prior to dyeing/staining is going to create a color issue as it creates a "block" so that the grain can not absorb the color as intended. Conditioners are not part of the tooling/stamping phase, they are a finish to the finished/colored project. From the images that you provided I don't see an undercut look but I do see that the cuts are deeper than the beveling depth; your beveling depth should, as a minimum, be as deep as the bottom of the cut so that you get a smooth transition/appearance to your beveling. And from the looks of it the leather was a bit dry so you didn't get the depth that you should have and you didn't get a good burnishing from the beveling. Someone else may see something different so take all of it in and put some of it to use in practice pieces and always continue to refine and practice every technique. Been doing this for over 40 years and it never ends when it comes to the learning and refining. Quote Richard Hardie R. P. Hardie Leather Co. R. P. Hardie Leather Co. - OnlineR. P. Hardie Leather Co on Facebook
Ambassador pete Posted January 30, 2015 Ambassador Report Posted January 30, 2015 you are bevelling deeper than your cuts. Not the other way around. You are "pulling" the leather down . Cut deeper Quote
Members Troy Burch Posted January 30, 2015 Members Report Posted January 30, 2015 I was taught to cut about a 1/3 into the leather. I had similar problems years ago when I started carving. Your moisture content is not right, to dry or to wet will cause you to see the cut lines after beveling. How deep are you cutting your leather? The pic seems to show alot of cut lines after you have beveled, I don't think you need to cut deeper because the cuts are still there, maybe you didn't bevel all the way to the bottom of your cuts. Quote
Members KBCustom Posted January 30, 2015 Author Members Report Posted January 30, 2015 I have been cutting about halfway through the leather. I try to tool my leather when it feels slightly damp to the touch. I generally wI'll try a small spot and if it isn't burnishing really well in that area I will come back to it. Is this piece destroyed or is there something I can do to save it? Since I made my cuts so deep, my bevelling is pretty deep as well I don't want to punch through the leather as I have in certain other spots since I like tooling deep. Quote
Members Troy Burch Posted January 30, 2015 Members Report Posted January 30, 2015 You don't have to cut deep to have plenty of depth in the tooling. The beveler will bevel deeper than your cuts if the moisture is right. If you've cut thru the leather with your beveling before your probly cutting too deep. I don't know of any way to fix it, but if it's ruined anyway properly case it and try to rebevel. If I were you I'd get some scrap and cut different depths and see which works best. Quote
Members KBCustom Posted January 30, 2015 Author Members Report Posted January 30, 2015 Thank you for your responses. I will continue to try and improve Quote
Members camano ridge Posted January 31, 2015 Members Report Posted January 31, 2015 (edited) KB what is your method for casing? A lot of people make the mistake of wiping a little water on the surface let it start to dry if it turning back toward natural color and feels cool you are ready to carve. not necassarily so. It takes more then moisture on the surface. If yo have not already done so read Hidepounders thread on casing leather http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=19121 There are other ways of casing leather the important thing is to get the corect moisture content throughout the leather not just on the surface. Edited January 31, 2015 by camano ridge Quote https://www.facebook.com/CamanoRidgeCustomLeather?fref=ts
Members KBCustom Posted January 31, 2015 Author Members Report Posted January 31, 2015 I generally spray the piece down with water, then I wait a while testing every so often until I can start tooling the area. Quote
terrymac Posted January 31, 2015 Report Posted January 31, 2015 Appears to me to be the a moisture issue. The deepest part of your cut should also burning the darkest when beveled. Camino is probably right in that your moisture is not deep enough. Terry Quote
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