I spent part of this weekend learning some basic leather working skills.
Why?
Well, 3 -4 years ago I worked on a series of leather journal covers with a riveted metal panel that had chasing & repousse designs. And even though they are all in the hands of others, I knew that this was something that I wanted to continue to make and eventually sell but the move to Texas and not having a studio interfered with my ability to resume this work. Having a studio again, and having everything unpacked, I was finally able to do something about that and earlier in the month, I signed up for 3 leather workshops - this weekend was tooling, then I will have a workshop on sewing by hand and with a machine; and then a class by about dying.
These will give me the basic skills to raise the visual appeal of the covers.
What did I learn this weekend in the tooling class? I learned pattern transfer, casing (wetting) the leather, using a swivel knife, and 6 basic tool techniques using a Camouflage, pear shader, beveler, veiner, seeder and background stamps. We had a scrap of leather where we could practice with a specific tool and then we tooled a flower on a leather coaster.
I did find that my chasing and repousse skills helped me understand how to not only hold the tools but to hammer and move the tools to even work; the teacher even commented that my "beginner" skills were very good.
So stay tuned, more leather and metal work is on the way!
Why?
Well, 3 -4 years ago I worked on a series of leather journal covers with a riveted metal panel that had chasing & repousse designs. And even though they are all in the hands of others, I knew that this was something that I wanted to continue to make and eventually sell but the move to Texas and not having a studio interfered with my ability to resume this work. Having a studio again, and having everything unpacked, I was finally able to do something about that and earlier in the month, I signed up for 3 leather workshops - this weekend was tooling, then I will have a workshop on sewing by hand and with a machine; and then a class by about dying.
These will give me the basic skills to raise the visual appeal of the covers.
What did I learn this weekend in the tooling class? I learned pattern transfer, casing (wetting) the leather, using a swivel knife, and 6 basic tool techniques using a Camouflage, pear shader, beveler, veiner, seeder and background stamps. We had a scrap of leather where we could practice with a specific tool and then we tooled a flower on a leather coaster.
I did find that my chasing and repousse skills helped me understand how to not only hold the tools but to hammer and move the tools to even work; the teacher even commented that my "beginner" skills were very good.
So stay tuned, more leather and metal work is on the way!
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