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Leather crafting or simply leathercraft is the practice of making leather into craft objects or works of art, using shaping techniques, coloring techniques or both.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2009) |
Leather crafting or simply leathercraft is the practice of making leather into craft objects or works of art, using shaping techniques, coloring techniques or both.
The application of pigments carried by solvents or water into the pores of the leather. Can be applied to tooled or untooled leather, either for even coloration or to highlight certain areas. For example, application to a tooled piece can result in pooling in the background areas giving contrasts and depth.
There are oil, alcohol, and water based leather dyes available. Although the water-based alternatives tend to not work as well due to poor penetration.
Leather painting differs from leather dyeing in that paint remains only on the surface while dyes are absorbed into the leather. Due to this difference, leather painting techniques are generally not used on items that can or must bend nor on items that receive friction, such as belts and wallets because under these conditions, the paint may crack or wear off. However, latex paints can be used to paint such flexible leather items. In the main though, a flat piece of leather, backed with a stiff board is ideal and common, though three-dimensional forms are possible so long as the painted surface remains secured.
Acrylic paint is a common medium, often painted on tooled leather pictures, backed with wood or cardboard, and then framed. Unlike photographs, leather paintings are displayed without a glass cover, to prevent mould.
Leather carving, or "tooling", entails using metal implements to compress moistened leather in such a way as to give a three-dimensional effect. The surface of the leather is not intended to be cut through, as would be done in filigree.
The main tools used to carve leather include: swivel knife, veiner, beveler, pear shader, seeder, various sculpting implements, and background tools. The swivel knife is held with one finger providing downward pressure upon a stirrup-like top and drawn along the leather to outline patterns. The other tools are punch-type implements struck with a wooden, nylon, metal or rawhide mallet. The object is to add further definition, texture and depth to the cut lines made by the swivel knife and the areas around the cut lines.
In the United States and Mexico, the western floral style, known as "Sheridan Style", of carving leather predominates. Usually, these are stylized pictures of acanthus or roses although, increasingly, modern leather artists are redefining and expanding the potential of the materials. By far the most preeminent carver in the United States was Al Stohlman. His patterns and methods have been embraced by many hobbyists, scout troops, reenacters, and craftspeople.
Leather stamping involves the use of shaped implements (stamps) to create an imprint onto a leather surface. This is a form of artistic expression and many in the leathercrafting world consider it an artform. The stamping is generally performed by using specially designed leather stamps that are struck with a mallet.
Commercial stamps are available in various designs, typically geometric or representative of animals. Most stamping is performed on vegetable tanned leather that has been cased. This is the action of dampening the leather with water so that it soaks into the surface fibres. The water makes the leather softer and able to be compressed by the design being pressed or stamped into it. After the leather has been stamped, the design stays on the leather as it dries out, but it can fade if the leather becomes wet and is flexed. To make the impressions last longer, the leather is conditioned with oils and fats to make it waterproof and prevent the fibers from deforming.
In embossing, a handheld tool or custom metal die is used to elevate portions of dampened leather. A die consists of two parts that function as a stamp. The leather is shaped by the combination of pressure and heat when pressed between the die’s parts and then heated. [1] [2]
Leather shaping or molding consists of soaking a piece of leather in water to greatly increase pliability and then shaping it by hand or with the use of objects or even molds as forms. As the leather dries it stiffens and holds its shape. Carving and stamping may be done prior to or after molding. Molding has become popular among hobbyists whose crafts are related to fantasy, goth/steampunk culture and cosplay as well as those interested in more classic styling of bags and household items.
Two well known pieces of molded leather are part of the funerary achievements of Edward, the Black Prince, the heraldic crest and shield. [3]
Carbon dioxide lasers cut through leather very smoothly, and at low power a laser cutter can etch detailed designs into leather to any desired depth although some discoloration and stiffening occurs in vegetable tanned tooling leather.
Perforation – the result of punching with a pricking iron or chisel that is provided for the manufacture of a large number of regularly arranged holes of regular shape in the sheet and other material. A decorative technique that is used to connect two sheets of leather or to decorate them.
Pyrography (purogravure) on leather is the art of using a hot needle to make a drawing on leather. Under the influence of heat the leather takes on darker shades which subsequently become a complete picture.
A knife is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools. Originally made of wood, bone, and stone, over the centuries, in step with improvements in both metallurgy and manufacturing, knife blades have been made from copper, bronze, iron, steel, ceramic, and titanium. Most modern knives have either fixed or folding blades; blade patterns and styles vary by maker and country of origin.
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing images on paper as prints or illustrations; these images are also called "engravings". Engraving is one of the oldest and most important techniques in printmaking.
A chisel is a wedged hand tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge on the end of its blade, for carving or cutting a hard material. The tool can be used by hand, struck with a mallet, or applied with mechanical power. The handle and blade of some types of chisel are made of metal or wood with a sharp edge in it.
Wood carving is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation of a wooden object. The phrase may also refer to the finished product, from individual sculptures to hand-worked mouldings composing part of a tracery.
Stone carving is an activity where pieces of rough natural stone are shaped by the controlled removal of stone. Owing to the permanence of the material, stone work has survived which was created during our prehistory or past time.
Military miniaturism is a niche within the broader hobby of modeling focusing on military subjects. It is itself a rather broad subject, dealing with any scale model of military theme. It has an ever growing range of sub-hobbies, including scale figure modeling, armour modeling, model ship building, military aviation modeling, and historical wargaming.
Woodturning is the craft of using a wood lathe with hand-held tools to cut a shape that is symmetrical around the axis of rotation. Like the potter's wheel, the wood lathe is a mechanism that can generate a variety of forms. The operator is known as a turner, and the skills needed to use the tools were traditionally known as turnery. In pre-industrial England, these skills were sufficiently difficult to be known as "the mysteries of the turners' guild." The skills to use the tools by hand, without a fixed point of contact with the wood, distinguish woodturning and the wood lathe from the machinist's lathe, or metal-working lathe.
Pyrography or pyrogravure is the free handed art of decorating wood or other materials with burn marks resulting from the controlled application of a heated object such as a poker. It is also known as pokerwork or wood burning.
A drawknife is a traditional woodworking hand tool used to shape wood by removing shavings. It consists of a blade with a handle at each end. The blade is much longer than it is deep. It is pulled or "drawn" toward the user.
Miniature conversion refers to the practice of altering the appearance of a miniature or model so as to deviate from the standard version purchased in a boxed set.
A seeder is a stamp-type leatherworking tool used in leather carving. It is predominantly used in floral designs to represent the seeds in the center of a flower, hence the name. Similar to other stamp-type tools, it is held vertically over the leather and struck with a wooden or rawhide mallet to create an impression in the surface of the leather. The seeder creates a small circular impression, often similar to an asterisk with a hole in the center.
Leather carving is the process of giving a three-dimensional appearance to leather craft objects or works of art by cutting and stamping the surface. Many different kinds of leathers can be used for these crafts.
Sharpening is the process of creating or refining the edge joining two non-coplanar faces into a converging apex, thereby creating an edge of appropriate shape on a tool or implement designed for cutting. Sharpening is done by removing material on an implement with an abrasive substance harder than the material of the implement, followed sometimes by processes to polish/hone the sharp surface to increase smoothness.
Al Stohlman was an American pioneer in leathercraft and continues to influence hundreds of thousands of leathercrafters worldwide. He and his wife Ann produced hundreds of magazine articles, doodle pages and other resources still used in the leathercraft industry. A museum featuring much of their life's work is part of a collection of leather art located in the lobby of the Tandy Leather Factory Headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas.
In wood carving relief carving is a type in which figures or patterns are carved in a flat panel of wood; the same term is also used for carving in stone, ivory carving and various other materials. The figures project only slightly from the background rather than standing freely. Depending on the degree of projection, reliefs may also be classified as high or medium relief.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to crafts:
This glossary of woodworking lists a number of specialized terms and concepts used in woodworking, carpentry, and related disciplines.
A swivel knife is a chisel-edged blade held upright and mounted on a pivot with a saddle for a finger. It is held somewhat like a pencil, but between the thumb and middle fingers, while the forefinger rides in the saddle above. The saddle is free to rotate and in more sophisticated models, may rotate on ball bearings.
Woodblock printing on textiles is the process of printing patterns on textile, usually of linen, cotton or silk, by means of carved wooden blocks.
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