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16564. Ms. No - 9/12/2005 7:09:52 PM You start off with a piece of vegetable tanned leather --- either pig or cow. You do have to case the leather in order for the cutting and stamping to be effective --- this means wetting it down front and back with water. You don't want to completely saturate it but it needs to have enough moisture to soften up a bit and provide for "burn" which is kind of like a bruising that shows up when tooling.
You trace a pattern onto the leather and then cut it with a swivel knife. Once the initial pattern is cut you use a hammer and metal stamps to tamp down the leather to bring the picture into 3-D and add embellishments.
Once that's done there are any number of different methods of finishing the surface. I used neatsfoot oil on this one and then two coats of a leather stain and finished it off with a shiny clear coat of NeatLac.
This piece has only been tooled but not oiled or stained:
 16565. PelleNilsson - 9/12/2005 7:16:22 PM Remarkable. Maybe you could set yourself up as a sub-contactor to uzmakk for his more exclusive re-bindings of rare books. 16566. Ms. No - 9/12/2005 7:16:40 PM The rose was much easier than the Acanthus although I have improved since my first project so that has something to do with how much better it looks. The decorative cuts are hard for me because they're free-hand and I really don't draw well. Staining and dyeing can cover a multitude of sins, but I'm really excited about my latest piece. It's the first thing I've done where the composition is my own. I took a corner pattern and copied it in reverse for the front flap of a fringed hand-bag. The really cool thing was that there was a steer head hiding in it that I didn't plan for. It just appeared in the leather once I'd started the backgrounding. I enhanced it just a little bit by sculpting the nose and if I'd realized sooner what was happening I'd have lengthened the horns, but all in all I'm really pleased with it. Once I stain it I'll post it again so you can see the difference.
 16567. Ms. No - 9/12/2005 7:22:59 PM I went to the Autry Museum of Western Heritage a few weeks ago and looked at some of the stuff they have there. It's mostly saddles, but the craftsmanship is amazing. It was daunting to look at these things and realize that some of them are 100 years old and were done with only five or six different tools. The incredible amount of time that went into them and the superior skill of them was both daunting and inspiring.
There are a lot of leatherworkers here in LA. There used to be more work when Western films and Television shows were more popular but there are a lot of horse people still in the area so there's still quite a bit of leatherwork going on.
When I went to class this weekend they'd gotten in a shipment of finished kits that had been tooled by craftsmen in China. These things were so perfect they looked like they'd been turned out by machines --- actually a lot of the really good leather guys will purposely put faults in their work just to show that it IS hand-tooled.
I don't have that problem. ;-> 16568. judithathome - 9/12/2005 10:27:11 PM MsNo, I am gobsmacked by how well you are doing!! Sorry to use that word but it so perfectly defines my awe at your skills with leather...
I can't believe that first piece...it's really great and the other two are just amazing.
Your patterns remind me of William Morris stuff...check out his wallpapers for inspiration. 16569. Ms. No - 9/12/2005 11:05:31 PM Thanks, Judith, I'm really happy with them and doing the work itself is incredibly satisfying.
I have to stress that these patterns are not my own. All three of them are Al Stohlman patterns. The third piece is one of his patterns that I modified to fit the space I had --- that's why I was so excited about it.
Thanks for the tip, I'll check out Morris' stuff 16570. absensia - 9/12/2005 11:27:53 PM Wow, very impressive, Ms. No! You continue to amaze me with your talents. 16571. Ms. No - 9/12/2005 11:35:51 PM Thanks, Abs! It's good to see you, what've you been up to? 16572. arkymalarky - 9/12/2005 11:39:45 PM Man, that is just too cool, MsNo! I love it! 16573. arkymalarky - 9/12/2005 11:41:37 PM WRT skunks and dogs, we've had that problem a number of times here, and Judith gave us the tomato juice remedy. I'll try the imitation vanilla next time.
And if you want to keep dogs out of the garbage, pour a little ammonia in it. I got that tip from a colleague years ago. 16574. alistairconnor - 9/13/2005 8:22:20 AM Oh No, that is cool stuff! You'll need to get yourself a horse soon to display it all to advantage.
Or you could start tooling around with erotic themes... a whole nother niche. 16575. Macnas - 9/13/2005 8:33:31 AM Great stuff Ms.No. 16576. judithathome - 9/13/2005 3:32:31 PM Yes, Alistair...I can see it now: dominatrix chaps and cuffs with hand-tooled "scenes" across them! 16577. Ms. No - 9/13/2005 3:54:16 PM hahaha, yeah, there's certainly a market for kink, but there are hundreds of folks already doing that much better than I'd be able to. I'm still experimenting to see what I like making best. There will be an assload of leather coasters going out to family for Christmas, but I'm working on a leather choker and I'd like to make wrist-bands/cuffs since they're pretty popular right now.
I'm working up the courage to actually cut this piece of chocolate suede that I have. I want to make a purse out of it, but once you cut you can't un-cut so I'm making paper purses until I'm sure I've got the design right. 16578. judithathome - 9/13/2005 5:10:26 PM So, can you do tooling on softer leather like that? Like make hobo bags? In soft black leather with William Morris designs? ;-) 16579. Ms. No - 9/13/2005 6:03:09 PM No, you really can't tool that stuff that I know of. I imagine you could mark up the leather somehow, but it wouldn't be the same process. For something as intricate as Morris' designs I'd think it would definitely have to be tooled. Maybe if you had a big press or something with a design plate, but I've no idea how that would work.
The steer-head piece will be attached to the front flap of a suede bag that I made from a Tandy kit. That's pretty much the only way I know of to get tooled patterns onto soft leather - via applique. I suppose you could brand/burn patterns into suede and deerskin, but I've no idea how to go about it and the very idea of what that would smell like just turns my stomach.
I picked up the kit on a whim and while it turned out like it was supposed to I don't really like the design much. It's too small for my tastes and there's too much stuff hanging off the shoulder strap. I did learn a lot about putting such a bag together, though and it helped me to figure out my own pattern. The main thing I have to worry about is that I don't make a bag too large for the weight of leather I'm using. Leather's strong and durable but it can be overstressed and eventually tear.
16580. Jenerator - 9/13/2005 9:47:18 PM Ms. No,
Did you pick that up on a stint at Fulsom?
(Just kidding)
You really are talented. Marshame says if only you could make a cutom back brace. The one she's wearing is pretty big and clumsy. 16581. judithathome - 9/13/2005 10:10:48 PM She won't have it for long. And once it's discarded, she'll forget all about the hassle of having to wear it. 16582. Jenerator - 9/14/2005 12:12:51 AM I don't know. Six months (minimum) seems like a long time to wear a metal corset with breast plate. 16583. absensia - 9/14/2005 2:52:24 AM Thanks Ms. No...been working and having some fun too. And recently got back in touch with a couple of old friends...nice to catch up.
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