TOOLING LEATHER

Return to Tooling

I, must have written this introduction into leather tooling (or tooling leather, depending upon how you want to put it) about six times already and it never seems to come right, so I'm just going to ramble on and hope you can keep up with my wanderings.

So, lets get on to the article in question, to show you how the tooled picture "WESTERN TRAINED" was created;- Before you can work leather, you must moisten it, as you wet the leather the fibres swell and soften. Vegetable tanned leather, properly moistened is like modelling clay. You can mould it, model and shape it. Much has been written about how to moisten or "case" leather, but it is practically impossible to put into words, as learning proper moisture content must come from experience, not the written word. "Casing" means that the leather has been thoroughly soaked in water, then wrapped in a plastic bag or airtight container and allowed to "sweat", usually overnight. This allows the moisture to thoroughly saturate and soften all of the fibres within the leather. This method is usually reserved for projects where the leather must be formed or stretched and shaped over uneven surfaces i.e. saddle items. Casing is not required for carving and stamping, but the leather should be wetted to insure that the fibres in the centre have moisture. My favourite method is to soak the leather in water until the air bubbles stop rising, which usually takes place in the bath. Much to my wife's annoyance. This may take from a minute to half an hour, depending on the thickness and tannage of the leather. Then lay it out on the slate or marble slab grain side (carving side) up and allow the surface moisture to evaporate, which can be days in sunny old Wales, When it is beginning to return to its normal (dry) colour, it is usually right for carving.

It helps if you keep your fingers out of the way When cutting leather out!

Now, we must choose our subject, I have done many different types of tooling over the years, but my own preference is figure and pictoral carving. It allows me to give free rein to my imagination and get carried away (not by men in white coats, though I think they may have just cause sometimes), It is the only way to carve free hand with no restrictions or limitations. So, given that I like lots of movement in my carvings, The Rodeo Bull Rider is, I feel a fantastic example of freedom of movement, raw power and beauty in its shape and form. Once you have that image in your mind take the swivel knife, cross your fingers, hold your breath, and grab as many rabbits tails as you can, and take the first cuts into the leather, this I call the bravery test as these first cuts are the hardest to make as there is no going back, nor rubbing out and starting again. Its very strange although I can sit for hours deliberating how and where to start a carving, constantly picking up and putting down the knife, one I've made the first dozen cuts, all the doubts disappear. You are committed, come hell or high water (I'm sure I could have made shoes for half of Anglesey with what I had to throw away over the years!). Whilst cutting the leather another little nasty is waiting to bite you, you must decide which cuts are to be made where, in other words what is going in front or behind what.

Unlike painting with water colours or oils, you must start with the foreground first, working backwards so the picture has to be already built in your mind before you start, you cannot compose it as you go on.

Right, all the outline cuts have been made, the next step is the bevelling tools used to bevel back one side of the cuts made, and start to emphasise the subject.

As the carving progresses, you can see the skeletal and muscle structure has been picked out, which starts to bring the animal to "life" giving the impression of power and movement, which I was trying to achieve. The hand modelling tool is able to peak and form the leather in much finer detail than the bevellers which allows me to put in all the little details such as brow lines, eye sockets, clothing folds and even the shape of the palm of the hand.

All the time we are carving the leather it is constantly losing moisture, if it is drying too fast, water must be added to keep it in a constant state of "casing". The further the carving progresses you can see the colour change in the leather which is the moisture content indicator, the lighter the colour, the drier the leather.

Now we have reached the stage to add the last fine details, the hair of the bull, this is applied with an attachment to the swivel knife, the aptly named hair blade, of which there are two. Course and fine. This also helps to add that 3D effect by using the hair flow to create contours. As you can see in the final few photos the difference a few hairs can make!.

Lastly, we need to give the carving some background effect by putting in all the dust and dirt that would have been kicked up by a real rodeo bull, this is done when the leather is virtually dry, along with signing, dating and the all important title.

I decided to call this carving "WESTERN TRAINED" as it reminded me of many horses that have been advertised as western trained, until the moment that you sit on them and it does a very expert impression of the flying Scotsman. I'm sure if we look hard enough, it has either happened to us or to someone we know. The sealer and frame finish off the carving leaving us with the freedom of mind to think about the next one. How about a reining horse titled "IN A SPIN". Picture

Finally, I'd like to quote one of the masters who really developed figure carving to where it is now. To Al Stohlman who I owe a great debt of gratitude. "Successful figure carving is based on desire, practice, persistence and observation. Anyone can learn figure carving if he has the desire and is willing to consistently try and improve his work, and accept constructive criticism to that end. "