navyrob74 Report post Posted December 17, 2017 Hello everyone, I am brand new to leather craft and am interested in making a book cover as a present and was wondering what's a good weight leather to use for the front is if I want to stamp it. I would like to use a basketstamp pattern on the front and back along with some carved letters. Any help would be great. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bikermutt07 Report post Posted December 17, 2017 4-5 oz is about the minimum for stamping. I suggest buying the best tooling leather you can get your hands on. Wickett and Craig or Hermann Oak. The leather quality makes a big difference in the finished product. But before you do this I have a suggestion. Pick a small item such as a key fob or bracelet. Make a batch of twenty at one time. You will get better time spent honing skills in batch work. You will get better hobby experience with a lot less leather. You could get an entire month of hobby time experience from a single shoulder or a belly. If you botch a few, and you will, no great loss. Just save those as testers for the next steps in the process. With one off projects you only get a small amount of time with each step. Something that takes two days to finish will only Grant you 20 minutes of cutting experience, 20 minutes of staining, 15 minutes of hardware, and so on and so on. Doing batch work will convert each step into hours of experience. This will really help you get a feel for the whole process and really up your experience level fast. Good luck and welcome aboard. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alpha2 Report post Posted December 18, 2017 Bikermutt07 has a great point. He speaks from experience. It's getting a bit late for a present for the presently approaching holidays, but practice a bit before hand will save a TON of time later on. Guess how we know? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bikermutt07 Report post Posted December 18, 2017 4 minutes ago, alpha2 said: Bikermutt07 has a great point. He speaks from experience. It's getting a bit late for a present for the presently approaching holidays, but practice a bit before hand will save a TON of time later on. Guess how we know? Ha! Yeah, I stumbled around for two years before someone suggested that to me. Lots of one off projects abandoned after a crucial mistake and not wanting to start all over. It is frustrating. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
