What's the difference?

[Davm]

I really like the look of Sheridan carving but other than the Sheridan being one color, what is the difference between Sheridan and regular Floral carving?

[YinTx]

Mainly, the region it originated from and the individuals that developed it.  Others can chime in here, but from what I've seen, it is characterized by vines following a series of circles in alternating directions, with flowers or other focal points in the centers of the circles. Leaves are used to fill in areas between circles and changes in directions. There is generally a range of sizes for the flowers and leaves.  Over the years, folks have altered and adapted the style as you might expect.

Regular floral carving is a pretty generic description.  There are a slew of other floral styles, including but not limited to  Arizona, Porter, Northwest,, California, Texas, as well as styles developed by individuals.  It's quite the rabbit hole if you choose to go down that path!

YinTx

[chuck123wapati]

3 hours ago, Davm said:

I really like the look of Sheridan carving but other than the Sheridan being one color, what is the difference between Sheridan and regular Floral carving?

https://westernhorseman.com/culture/flashbacks/don-king-s-sheridan-style/

[Tugadude]

Here's some more hopefully helpful info...

http://www.rosaddlery.com/tutorials/sheridancarving.shtml

and...

https://proleathercarvers.com/products/regional-carving-styles

[FrenchMich]

You have chance to having a very rich culture in this area with several floral styles from several origins and eras. Each style has his codes.
From France, there is very difficult to find books which talk about these subjects.
Personally, I have hade the chance to write a lot of articles for the Western French Press, for that, I interviewed all the membres of the TCAA (among others) and when I need some know ledge about the leather carving origine I ask to them.
I think  it's easier for your to go at the source of information.
It's a very intersting subject, I didn't see if if it has already been treated here, but in any case I'm interested.

Mich'

[YinTx]

17 minutes ago, FrenchMich said:

From France, there is very difficult to find books which talk about these subjects.

The only reference I have is "Le Cuir Compositions Decoratives" par Jehand Raymond.  If you can point us to other references, it would be appreciated.

As for American styles, works by individuals such as Jim Linnell, Bill Gardner, Clinton Fay, Al Stohlman and Pete Gorrell have helped to categorize and document the history and styles.  Without their recent works, I'm afraid we probably would not have much to go off of other than old photos and old cataloges!

YinTx

[Randy Cornelius]

Sheridan Style was basically created by Don King, Sheridan, Wy. If you look at King's tooling it is very tight patterns with little background area. He made his own tools to do this style as he needed steep bevelers to get into these tight areas as well as Thumbprints that are basically a long and narrow pearshader just to name a couple. All the early saddle makers had their own style and made their tools accordingly to fit that style.  The Porter Style came out of the Porter Saddle shop in Arizona and Vista (Spanish Influnce) in California, it had big flowers with big leaves and tended to have a lot of background area. Now we have several styles that influence tooling, Northwest (Jessie Smith) Texas, (Jim Linnell) just to name a couple. And there is Randy's style, which is what I use. I try not to copy one specific style but incorporate several different styles to make my own.  

Edited February 23, 2022 by Randy Cornelius