Demo: Oak Leaves

[CitizenKate]

This is a response to the photo tutorial that Clay posted previously. He said rightly, that there are many ways to carve oak leaves, some more realistic, some more "stylized" or abstract. This is one of my favorite styles of oak leaf carving - I don't know what it's called, or who it originally came from - I picked it up from an example I saw. I do not presume to be an authority on carving oak leaves, but I would like to share with you what I like to see in a carved oak leaf, and how I obtain it.

And lastly, before I begin, I do not presume to be an authority on this topic - again, I'm just sharing what I know and do currently, and I am here to learn, too. So in the spirit of learning, please do not hesitate to make observations about what you think would make this better. I think we would all benefit from such a discussion.

I begin with a piece of leather that has the pattern transferred onto it, and is cased and ready to go.

Here the lines of the design are cut with a swivel knife. The arrows show where I gradually decreased the pressure of the cut close to the ends of the lines.

Next is beveling. I bevel around the entire outline of the leaf, along both sides of the center vein, and the upper edges of the side veins.

For the ends of beveled lines, such as places where two branches merge together, or a vein line diminishes to nothing, gradually decrease the pressure of the bevel strokes near the ends of the lines.

Also note some light beveling I did on the acorns to make them look more as though they are "tucked in" to the hulls. In retrospect, I think they could have used a little more work with a modeling tool around the edges, as well.

For pear shading, I use a P370, a narrow, checkered shader. This is a burr oak leaf, which (as you can see) is more rounded at the tips. So I use the round edge of the tool to shade the tips of the leaf and give some shaping to the body of the leaf. I also add a little bit of shading along the sides of the acorns, but *silly me*, I forgot to do that this time.

Now I add what I call "contour cuts". Some people call them "decorative cuts", but I think that term is more descriptive of cut lines that are added to embellish scroll work. These cuts help to enhance a perception of contouring of the leaf body. The cuts should follow the flow of the veins, or they just look out of place. In fact, while carving this leaf, I made a bad cut that was all out of whack. (Drat - I hate when that happens, but it's always the ones down the left side I struggle with, because I'm left-handed and my hand always blocks the vein line I'm trying to follow.) Rather than starting over, I decided to show it to you so you could see what to avoid.

Also note the cuts made on the tips and around the hulls of the acorns. When making the criss-cross cuts on the hull, I like to give them a little curve to make them look more spherical and appear to stand out a bit more.

Since this leaf is not enclosed by anything (and since I've seen people asking how this is done), I'm going to create a background for it that gradually fades out to nothing - a halo. For everyday backgrounding I have my A104 and A104-2 stamps.

On the first pass around the leaf, I'm not too concerned about the outer shape of the halo, I'm just making sure I get the tool in good and tight against the edges of the leaf. I lean the tool slightly towards the leaf, so I get the most depth next to the leaf.

Here's the second layer of the halo. As you can see, the strokes on this layer are lighter, producing a fading effect. I extend the area of the halo by about half the length of the tool face.

Here's how it looks after the third layer, which was produced the same as the second, but again, with lighter strokes. For this layer, I switched to a smaller maul and used very light taps. I still have the tool leaning slightly in the direction of the leaf, to produce that fading effect towards the outer edge of the halo.

Now I go back for another pass on the first layer, to get more depth and evenness. You can see a pretty clear line in the halo that needs to be blended in, so there are subsequent passes to blend the burnishing of the layers more gradually out to the edges of the halo. This looks like a lot of work, but the last few passes go pretty quick, as they don't require much care.

I also made another final pass around the entire leaf with a beveler, to smooth the edges a little more and provide a little more relief.

And here the carving is complete. I've treated the carving with an antique stain. As soon as it's dry, I'll post the last photo.

Cheers,

Kate

Edited January 25, 2009 by CitizenKate

[Zilla]

Well between Kate and Clay I had to run down to TLF and buy myself some Oak Leaf Craftaids today...Lets see what I can come up with. So very inspirational!! :dribble:

Kevin

[ClayB]

Hey Kate,

That is really nice. I am glad you took the time to do that for us. There really are a bunch of different kinds of oak leaves and different ways to carve them. None right or wrong, just different. I think it would be great if a few more people would take the time to carve thier favorite oak leaf and take a few pictures of the process.

You are just going to antique it????? I was so hoping for a coloring lesson to follow. I tried coloring some of my leaves today with fall colors and really messed them up. My bottles of oil dye were getting about 2/3's empty and it almost seems like the pigment is seperating in them. They didn't work nearly as well as they used too. Guess I am going to have to try the new Eco dyes I got awhile back and see if I can mess up some more leather.

Thanks again Kate for the lesson!!

Clay

[CitizenKate]

... There really are a bunch of different kinds of oak leaves and different ways to carve them. None right or wrong, just different. I think it would be great if a few more people would take the time to carve thier favorite oak leaf and take a few pictures of the process.

Exactly - if people get anything out of this, I hope it's that there is no single "correct" way to carve anything. I appreciated the way you pointed that out in the tutorial you posted - it was an irresistible invitation to the rest of us who enjoy carving oak leaves (and other leaves) to share with others the array of techniques that are available to leather artists.

You are just going to antique it????? I was so hoping for a coloring lesson to follow. I tried coloring some of my leaves today with fall colors and really messed them up. My bottles of oil dye were getting about 2/3's empty and it almost seems like the pigment is seperating in them. They didn't work nearly as well as they used too. Guess I am going to have to try the new Eco dyes I got awhile back and see if I can mess up some more leather.

Ah, sorry, too late, but you are right - I should have taken advantage of the opportunity to do a coloring demo, as well. There will be other opportunities... Meanwhile, here is my oak leaf after antique and finish:

I am leaning pretty heavily towards phasing in the Eco Flo dyes, once my spirit dyes run out. My color samples came through my colorfast test with flying colors. The red and yellow are still very vibrant after 3 months running; the blue has faded somewhat to a grayish color, but hey, that's not bad considering it's been barraged with full sunlight every day for 3 months running. They would not get anywhere near that much light exposure normally (assuming my customers follow the care instruction I send with my pieces, that is).

I would be interested in knowing how well they can be used with dry-brushing techniques, since Tandy generally recommends spraying it on, rather than brushing. I tried brushing it on, and now I know why. <chuckle> I have some other projects on the bench that need to move forward today, but I'll put that on my list of things to try.

Thanks for the feedback...

Kate

Edited September 30, 2007 by CitizenKate

[freak]

Kate , you ROCK !! That was a great write up, thank you so much for taking the time to do that. I love seeing the diff techniques step by step . It really helps a newbie like myself and i'm sure many others , new and old in the craft.

Can you believe the nerve of some people, commenting on you giving a coloring how too. When they just colored their leaves and did not show us how they did it. geeze... Plus he ate all the dounuts again.

[ClayB]

Could somebody distract Freak for a few minutes? It wont take me long to dump this can of Barge on his keyboard

Dang it Freak, nobody would have ever noticed that if you would have just kept quiet!!

Actually I did take pictures when I was coloring my leaves but they didn't turn out that well. The dyes go on pretty dull looking and get brighter as they dry, at least the way I used them. I mixed them about 3 parts water to one part dye because I had no idea how they would work. I figured I would go to one part water to one part dye on the next coat, but I liked how the diluted dyes looked, letting the leather show through. I thought the dyes dry brushed really well for shading. Maybe one of these days I can try and see if I can make a video with my digital camera while painting a leaf. Not sure how that will work.

I think I'll go and eat all of tomorrow's doughnuts now :dribble:

One thing I agree with Freak on. Kate does rock!

[Leather Bum]

Kate,

That's an excellent demonstration! I like how you curved the cuts on the acorn cups. . . I think you did a really nice job on the whole thing. But, as I'm always interested in staining techniques, I have a question: how exactly did you antique it to get that nice dark color in all the pear-shaded areas and other impressions?

Thank you very much for taking the time to do this. . .

L'Bum

[CitizenKate]

Kate,

That's an excellent demonstration! I like how you curved the cuts on the acorn cups. . . I think you did a really nice job on the whole thing. But, as I'm always interested in staining techniques, I have a question: how exactly did you antique it to get that nice dark color in all the pear-shaded areas and other impressions?

Thank you very much for taking the time to do this. . .

L'Bum

Thanks for the kind words, all... I'm glad to know you are finding it useful.

LeatherBum, for antiquing, I use the following recipe:

1/2 cup Tan Kote

1/8 cup neutral Fiebings antique paste

10 eyedroppers-full of spirit dye (any color you like); you can adjust this amount depending on how much color you want.

Most of the time I use medium brown dye, but you can use different colored dyes to make just about any color of antique you want.

I mix this up and put it in a squirt bottle; it makes a creamy liquid that I can just squirt onto my project and wipe into the tooled impressions with paper towels. When I wipe it off, I wipe flat over the surface, so that what is in the impressions stays there.

I also try to make fairly deep impressions with the pair shader.

...Plus he ate all the dounuts again.

Ah-hah! BUSTED! :biggrin:

Kate

[Mike Craw]

Hey Kate!

Just wanted to be clear on the mixture. Do you mean ten drops of spirit dye from an eyedropper or ten full eyedroppers?

Mike

[CitizenKate]

Mike,

That's 10 full eyedroppers of dye.

Kate

[Tree Reaper]

Kate and Clay, fantastic and thank you for the demo, there may be others but these are the only two I have had a chance to view so far.

This is my first post here and I know little about carving but I hope to do more with the help from others here.

It's discouraging having poor results in your carving, not knowing what to do to improve and not knowing where to get the help.

Knowing which tools to use and where to use them makes all the difference, at least to me!

I see some chatter marks in the knife lines and was wondering what would be causing them as I experienced this myself the other day.

Would it be due to a dull knife, dampness of the leather or technique?

[CitizenKate]

The "chatter marks" you see are not from the knife lines, but the dotted lines in the transferred pattern. You'll notice in photos later in the sequence that the knife cuts are smooth and continuous, and the dotted lines have been buried in the tooling.

As for what is causing them on your carving, one of the more common causes is choppy movement of the knife through the leather, especially when going around curves. If your knife is not sliding very smoothly through the leather - seems to "pop" a lot - it can be an issue of either a poorly sharpened/stropped knife blade, or the leather could be too wet. If you can post a photo of yours, we can probably get a better idea what's going on.

Kate

[Tree Reaper]

Thanks Kate.

I just sharpened the knife after a few small carvings, I have never stropped this knife before and just ordered some jewelers rouge a few days ago.

I'm sure it had something to do with a dull blade.

If it happens again I'll bring it back up.

Kevin.

[JustKate]

That would definitely be part of your problem, then. Most swivel knife blades are not ready to use out of the package. They usually need to be sharpened before the first use, then stropped before and during every use. The tip should be very shiny and smooth, polished to a mirror finish.

Kate

[Tree Reaper]

This one isn't new, it's probably forty years old , I just don't know what I'm quite doing yet.

I think it's been sharpened twice on a stone, the second time just the other day.

I was on a forestry forum the other day when one of the members started a topic on leather and it rekindled my interest.

Now that there's help available I'll be doing more leather work.

Edited January 27, 2011 by Tree Reaper

[Skald]

What did you use for beveling? Not some stamping tool it seems, I never get such fine deep lines with them. When I use a "folding bone" (I guess that it what it's called over there), I get something similar, but it's for marking stitching lines when I am wet shaping things.

And about the stem of the leaf, those really fine shallow lines, is that the "hair knife" thing, or am I totally whack here?

Really nice work anyway, truly.

[JustKate]

(JustKate -> a.k.a. CitizenKate): I have a set of bevelers from the Hidecrafter Pro Crafter's line. They are a bit steeper than the Craftools, and much, much smoother.

The texture of the stem was created by sliding a B-893 along the length of the stem. Glad you asked - I totally forgot to mention that!

Kate

[Tree Reaper]

I have my A104 and A104-2 stamps

YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!

I can never get my 104 that crisp and detailed.

I thought you might have used an 888 for that.

I 'll keep practicing

[Skald]

(JustKate -> a.k.a. CitizenKate): I have a set of bevelers from the Hidecrafter Pro Crafter's line. They are a bit steeper than the Craftools, and much, much smoother.

The texture of the stem was created by sliding a B-893 along the length of the stem. Glad you asked - I totally forgot to mention that!

Kate

Ah, I am looking at hidecrafter.com right now, but I have a problem to guess which beveler in particular you have been using. I really like that sharp/thin beveling line.

I got that B-893 tool too, I'll make sure to try that effect out, doesn't look like it's been worked much, still the lines are pretty clear. Good work.

[terrymac]

Ah, I am looking at hidecrafter.com right now, but I have a problem to guess which beveler in particular you have been using. I really like that sharp/thin beveling line.

I got that B-893 tool too, I'll make sure to try that effect out, doesn't look like it's been worked much, still the lines are pretty clear. Good work.

I am not familiar with Hidecrafter tools, but I will bet the bevelers you want are in the "Sheridan Collection" Sheridan type bevelers have a much steeper angle than traditional bevelers. When doing Sheridan style carving, so many of the lines flow close together, you have to use a steeper angle to keep from laying down so much surrounding leather. I personally am using Barry King bevelers, and have totally satisfied with their effect. Another tool you might look at is the leaf liner also made by Barry King. It is used on the either side of the stem in the leaf giving a lined impression. I use mine after I have first beveled.

Terry

Edited February 14, 2011 by terrymac

[Mannemal]

In regards to spraying on dyes, must one use a compressed-air sprayer, or is there a hand-pump alternative (like a fine misting spray bottle)?

Exactly - if people get anything out of this, I hope it's that there is no single "correct" way to carve anything. I appreciated the way you pointed that out in the tutorial you posted - it was an irresistible invitation to the rest of us who enjoy carving oak leaves (and other leaves) to share with others the array of techniques that are available to leather artists.

Ah, sorry, too late, but you are right - I should have taken advantage of the opportunity to do a coloring demo, as well. There will be other opportunities... Meanwhile, here is my oak leaf after antique and finish:

I am leaning pretty heavily towards phasing in the Eco Flo dyes, once my spirit dyes run out. My color samples came through my colorfast test with flying colors. The red and yellow are still very vibrant after 3 months running; the blue has faded somewhat to a grayish color, but hey, that's not bad considering it's been barraged with full sunlight every day for 3 months running. They would not get anywhere near that much light exposure normally (assuming my customers follow the care instruction I send with my pieces, that is).

I would be interested in knowing how well they can be used with dry-brushing techniques, since Tandy generally recommends spraying it on, rather than brushing. I tried brushing it on, and now I know why. <chuckle> I have some other projects on the bench that need to move forward today, but I'll put that on my list of things to try.

Thanks for the feedback...

Kate

[GuitarLeatherDopeFiend]

I know this is a super old thread, but I have a question about for (JustKate -> a.k.a. CitizenKate) the dying/antiquing section of this thread. I liked the idea of mixing in a bit of spirit dye in with the fiebing's antique paste, because I just tried fiebings antique finish paste for the first time yesterday, and it does an awesome job of the antiquing effect, but barely put any color on the untooled leather, so I had to go over it with a bottle of eco flo antique to get the color I wanted, but still couldn't get very even coverage. My question(s) are, will the spirit dye/ antique paste mixture penetrate a resist like super shene or wyoshene when doing sheridan style carving, (or any style using a resist), Or is the spirit dye diluted enough that the resist is still effective? My other question is - Is fiebings antique finish paste even intended for coloring leather? Or are you meant to dye the leather the desired color before antiquing? Last question, - Do you have a preference between fiebing's antique finish paste, and fiebing's antique leather stain? I tried to research what most people preferred before buying one of them, and people seemed to prefer the finish paste, so that's what I got. Thank you in advance, and thank you for the great tutorial! Great work!!!

[IngridG]

Thank you for the demo. I too wish I could see more oak leaf patterns done, yours is beautiful. I am just starting out too.

[Hawk Scarbrough]

My biggest problem is that I do a lot of very small oak leaves 1/4'' or less. I turned to some clay modeling tools (which I modified). I would welcome and suggestions on this.