wet forming and tooling question

[Damion Haze]

Ok I'm going to be starting a molded bag project and I am not sure on best practices for tooling on the molded portion of the bag. I am not sure what my order of operations should be. If I tool first won't I lose some definition there from rewetting and molding. And I'm not sure about molding then tooling it on the form . I would guess one of the fine craftsman here has the steps all worked out .  Thanks for the lesson in advance

[KittenThrasher]

I'm guessing there are many ways round this one,,,,

My experience is you will certainly lose definition and quality if you do decorative tooling before you mold the bag, I often do a bit of tooling while the moulded piece is still on the former after moulding, my molds are made of MDF soaked in marine varnish so they are pretty hard and will take a bit of tooling.

where the leather is stretched into shape - as in on the curved edges - you'll find it doesn't tool so well,

Usually though I do decorative tooling on pieces which I stitch onto bag afterwards.

[TheCyberwolfe]

The thing to remember is that the molding process is going to stretch the leather, which will probably distort your tooling. If you're a stickler for straight lines, build solid molds and tool it while it's being formed. If a little stretch here or there isn't going to make a difference on the finished design, then maybe you can tool it first.

Your mileage WILL vary, on each and every piece of leather Be sure to test your theories.

[oltoot]

TIP "faux" molding with just your fingers before tooling then final molding will help a little