First Attempt At Carving-Please Critique

[Jeep1967]

This is my first attempt at carving. I didn't practice first, just dove in. The original pattern was a bit off because I was just tracing regular paper on cased leather and the paper tended to tear. I'll get some tracing film for future projects. By the end of this project I was beginning to get a feel for walking the tools. I only used a swivel knife, lined beveler, smooth pear shader, and a modeling spoon. I can still see some of my original cut lines and I'm not sure if I just cut too deeply or just didn't bevel deep enough.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

[ramblinrovers]

Wow. Thats the best first attempt I've ever seen! Thats REALLY good. (Mine were way worse) Keep it up and you'll be a pro in no time (which will be way ahead of me) I'm not much of an authority in leatherwork because I'm not near being a pro but I've seen a lot of the professional's stuff online

[Troy Burch]

Your leather looks too wet. Let the next piece dry a little more, you should see a burnishing effect and that is probly why you can still see some knife cuts. Good start Troy

[Thor]

I agree with Troy doesn't look like the casing process was completed. You're definitely on the right track.

[Jeep1967]

Thanks for the feedback.

I actually dyed it with saddle tan dye because I really wanted to see what it looked like when dyed. You can see the natural color on the right edge of the middle picture.

I see what you mean about the burnishing effect. It is not as pronounced as it should be. I did a test after this piece where I cased a piece of leather and then stamped a few impressions every 15 minutes. It actually took about 5 hours of drying (well past lightening up to the original color) before I started seeing nice, dark burnishing effect. On my next try, I'll case a piece larger than my pattern and test stamp in the excess area to see when it is ready.

I'd appreciate any other tips or suggestions on what and how I can do better.

[Troy Burch]

Show the next piece before you dye it, it will give a better visual for us to critique.

[Jeep1967]

Show the next piece before you dye it, it will give a better visual for us to critique.

Thanks! I'll be sure to do that next time.

Brad

[ramblinrovers]

There see someone has to point out what's wrong before is I see it

[electrathon]

Instead of using tracing paper use regular paper just as you did, but also use a piece of plastic wrap between the leather and the paper.

Also your leather was too wet.

[Jeep1967]

Instead of using tracing paper use regular paper just as you did, but also use a piece of plastic wrap between the leather and the paper.

Thanks for the tips. I may give it another try today using the plastic wrap and testing the leather to see when it is leaving darker impressions. I'll post the results here, if I do. And I won't dye it this time.

Thanks, again.

Brad

[Jeep1967]

Ok, second carving. I think I let it dry enough based on the tooling marks at the bottom of the first image. I started tooling the project after getting the darkest test stamps. Your feedback is appreciated, even if it is telling me I made the same mistakes.

Edited March 3, 2015 by Jeep1967

[ramblinrovers]

Well I never was good at roses so maybe I'll just shut up now, since I'm being of no help whatsoever:)

[Thor]

Well a detailed how to can be found in the Stohlman book How To Carve Leather.

As for critique - I wouldn't use a checkered anything on the leaves etc. Besides that using a checkered stamp for the background and for parts of the pattern isn't very good. The eye gets confused. A smooth or lined beveler would be the tool of choice for the the leaves. Also where the leaf folds over an undercut would do a terrific job. Try to avoid walking marks. In some parts the cuts are deeper than you beveled. If you start the backgrounding process work away from your picture.

Get yourself a tipped beveler (triangle shaped) F976, F910, F941 for example. Those are the tools of choice for the leaves instead of the cuts. Cuts really just go on the stem.

I'm not doing roses all too often and didn't take a close up of my last one, but this might help a bit. The stripe is about 3" wide. One can tell, that the roses and leaves are not that big. I didn't smooth the blossom leaves on purpose as there isn't a straight flat leaf on a rose.

[Jeep1967]

Thanks for the feedback, Thor.

I had originally planned to use a smooth beveler, but after a few seconds, I realized that my smooth beveler is a piece of junk that is too rounded in all directions and made it impossible to tool with any precision or consistency. The checkered beveler was the only workable beveler that I had. My smooth pear shader was much too large, so I used the smaller, checkered pear shader. I didn't have any tool appropriate for doing the leaves, so I improvised with the knife cuts. Oh, and when I first started cutting with the swivel knife, I was using a new (smaller) blade that had not been polished enough and was dragging a lot. The dragging blade required much more variable force, which hindered my ability to make smooth cuts with consistent depth. About halfway though the cutting, I changed to the polished blade and it cut so much easier

I have learned several things from this project and your feedback.

1. Think about, and make sure you have the tools you will need to complete a particular design.

2. Make sure your tools are in good working condition. Do some test cuts or impressions prior to starting your project.

3. I need to buy more, decent quality tools as my meager budget allows.

4. Too much checkering is not a good look.

5. A simple looking rose pattern is more complex than it appears.

Thanks,

Brad

Edited March 3, 2015 by Jeep1967

[Thor]

You got it! Glad I was able to help.

[Northmount]

I would also taper the background matting out so you don't see a defined line, or drop the matting altogether.

Tom

[Jeep1967]

I would also taper the background matting out so you don't see a defined line, or drop the matting altogether.

Tom

Thanks, Tom.

I had thought about using a backgrounder starting at the initial edge bevel and tapering it off towards the outer edges, but my background tool, like many of my tools, was cheap and wouldn't leave a decent impression, so I kind of skipped over that and forgot about doing anything with the background.

I probably won't attempt any more carving until I can save up and get more tools that are better quality.

Thanks, again, for the feedback.

Brad

[Bob Blea]

Don't feel bad. Roses are actually one of the harder flowers to carve and for the tools you have, you are doing pretty good. Keep at it!

[Jeep1967]

Don't feel bad. Roses are actually one of the harder flowers to carve and for the tools you have, you are doing pretty good. Keep at it!

Thanks, Bob.

I'm not giving up. Just gonna wait til I can get a few more usable tools before I give it another try. I have learned a lot from doing these two practice carvings, and from the feedback given on here.

Brad

[Tarawhite]

I taught myself while I lived in UK for 3 years... no one to teach me. I do not tool Sheridan style...I guess you can say, I tool my own style. I sculpt tiles as well, and incorporated my experience in creating dimension into my leather tooling. Most patterned tools (that create the cross hatching) are best used on background, and in crevices. The antique dyes work great with those tools as the dye catches in the roughness of the pattern.. and this creates more dimension. The one critique I have of your first projects (and great job BTW) is that when you do background work (around the edges of the design) try to fade the patterning gently into the no tooled area of leather... no harsh lines. It should not take 5 hours for leather to dry to a point you can tool... a simple spray bottle works, cover piece with one even layer of H20, and then let sit. It should take no more than 15 minutes to be able to start tooling. If piece starts to dry out, just spray lightly another layer. Less is more with water.

I do understand you are working with limited tools. This past year I invested in three huge job lots of vintage tools on Ebay. The look of my work is much crisper now because of the better crafted tools from years ago. Do research on what markings make a craftool vintage, and invest in those, instead of your local tandy store. The tools now are not machine made, they are created from molds, and over time , the molds loose their edges, which results in poor patterning.

Keep up the great work!

~Tara

www.etsy.com/shop/sevenannine

www.facebook/sevenannine

[Jeep1967]

I taught myself while I lived in UK for 3 years... no one to teach me. I do not tool Sheridan style...I guess you can say, I tool my own style. I sculpt tiles as well, and incorporated my experience in creating dimension into my leather tooling. Most patterned tools (that create the cross hatching) are best used on background, and in crevices. The antique dyes work great with those tools as the dye catches in the roughness of the pattern.. and this creates more dimension. The one critique I have of your first projects (and great job BTW) is that when you do background work (around the edges of the design) try to fade the patterning gently into the no tooled area of leather... no harsh lines. It should not take 5 hours for leather to dry to a point you can tool... a simple spray bottle works, cover piece with one even layer of H20, and then let sit. It should take no more than 15 minutes to be able to start tooling. If piece starts to dry out, just spray lightly another layer. Less is more with water.

I do understand you are working with limited tools. This past year I invested in three huge job lots of vintage tools on Ebay. The look of my work is much crisper now because of the better crafted tools from years ago. Do research on what markings make a craftool vintage, and invest in those, instead of your local tandy store. The tools now are not machine made, they are created from molds, and over time , the molds loose their edges, which results in poor patterning.

Keep up the great work!

~Tara

www.etsy.com/shop/sevenannine

www.facebook/sevenannine

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement, Tara.

I already started searching e-bay for "no letter" vintage craftool tools because I had heard from many sources that they are good quality and most are very reasonably priced.

I added your etsy shop to my favorites a few months ago, before I knew you were a member here. I like the Celtic style of your work and some of your pieces have inspired me to draw my own Celtic carving patterns. They are currently works in progress along with some non-Celtic geometric patterns that I am drawing and would like to try carving.

I am probably a little over-ambitious, because I would like to become proficient at many types and styles of leather carving and want to learn everything I can about all aspects of leatherworking. I am learning by reading, watching videos, and diving in and doing whatever I feel like trying. I learn a lot from doing and making mistakes, and the feedback from the helpful people on this site

Thanks, again.

Brad