This is a practice carving of a floral pattern. It’s my first attempt at this particular design. I’m using a Double Shoulder scrap piece. So, this piece of leather is a little more than an 8th of an inch in thickness. If you can see by the photo, it’s pretty evident that I still have a long way to go to elevate my level of craftsmanship. Baby-steps…
I just spent some bucks on more Leathercrafting tools and supplies from Tandy Leather Factory in Van Nuys.
Shaping Leather Experiment #1
I’ve been reading here and there online and searching for videos on how to shape leather. Found a lot of places saying that it should be soaked in near boiling water. I’ve also seen that lacquer would work to harden leather. I decided to give a shot with some scrap pieces that I have.
I first tried using Nail Polish. I read this somewhere online too. The piece I used was a soft thin piece of leather. I apply the Nail Polish on both the smooth and suede sides. This doesn’t really work well at all. You’ve really got to use a lot of Nail Polish. And, that little brush doesn’t help to speed up the process. Not only that, but the smell can really get to you. I’d almost say that this was a waste of time. But, now that I know this process doesn’t work I’ve gain at least that little bit of knowledge.
My next attempt was to wet the leather. I used a thicker piece this time. The dimensions are about 2”x3” and approximately 1/8 of and inch thick. I didn’t soak it in hot water. I just used a spray bottle with water and wet it to the point in which it became much more malleable. Once I could form it, I wrapped and shaped it to a random object. I used the box we keep paperclips just for this experiment. Once it had some shape to it I let it sit next to small floor heater we have for a few minutes. It’s now a couple days since then and the leather has kept its shape and has hardened to some degree. It’s more like the stiffness of cardboard rather than wood. But, this isn’t all that bad. I’ll probably stick with this process for now for small projects that I may want to experiment with.
Hello World!!!
I’m starting this blog in the hopes of documenting my interests and activities. Hopefully to learn and contribute to the ever growing boredum of what we call The InterNetzzz.
I’ve picked up a new hobby: Leather Crafting. I’ve been doing this for roughly a couple of months. My interest was first discovered when I saw a YouTube video about Leather Book Binding. I thought that it might be really fun to do this for some strange and random reason. I think maybe it was because I was reading a lot of things ONLINE as opposed to reading books and magazines. It was probably around the same time that I had been reading more about Kindle. I guess this really sparked something deep down inside of me. The idea that there soon may not be BOOKS!… maybe I’ll get into my thoughts about this later.
As it turned out, I had no clue as to how involved and laborious working with leather could be. I started out with a simple Beginers’ Kit. There were several small and easy projects to start out with, some tools, stamps, and instructions to get me on my way. Some projects included: Coin Purses, ID Wallets, Zipper Pulls, Key Fobs, etc. Really simple stuff. But, pretty fun too! It didn’t take me long to really develop an interest in working more with leather. I’m now developing much more of an interest in creating my own items and developing my skills in carving and stamping.
I’ve been practicing, on and off, with carving on scrap pieces of leather for the past few weeks. My skills are seriously lacking. But, I guess we all have to start somewhere. I hope to get good. But, I do fear that my anxiety to create things faster may hinder my ability to learn fundamentals in craftmanship and quality. I’m also trying to experiment a little bit with shaping leather. I saw some really awesome camera cases on Flickr. High Quality and High Design Style. We’ll see how far I can get…
