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Leather carving, floral carving, stamping, saddle stamping, tooling, or floral tooling, are all titles given to the process of decorating leather. This can be confusing, the confusion resulting from the two main processes used in the work. These are: the cutting, or carving, of the main lines of the ornament into the surface layer of the leather, followed by the compression with stamping tools of the areas around the carving to create the illusion of depth and a separation of the foreground and background of the design. This differs from wood carving, or metal engraving, in that no material is actually removed during the process. Leather tooling is actually more of an embossing process using individual stamping tools driven by a mallet to compress the leather, bringing form and life to the work. Following here is an abbreviated tour of the process that I use in my tooling. Gordon Andrus
All work herein was rendered by Gordon Andrus, owner and proprietor of Sage Creek Stock Saddle Co.
1. Layout for a saddle gullet liner made with stylus and tap offs.
First the design is laid out on the leather. This is primarily accomplished directly on the leather itself using a metal stylus. Right here at the beginning is where the design is either made or broken. In laying out a design the artist must understand certain rules that govern the way a layout flows from one area of the design space to another. Scale and flow, relationships between positive and negative space, (foreground and background), and how the various elements of the design, the vines, leaves and flowers relate to each other, are just a few of the concerns of the artist in laying out the design. Some parts of the design can be prepared beforehand as tap offs. A tap off is a kind of template usually made of leather by the artisan. By placing it onto the leather and tapping on it with a hammer, flowers, leaves, or other elements may be repeated throughout the layout. Often drawings are done before hand on paper to explore new design ideas. This allows for increased expansion of stylistic expression, as ideas may be combined, accepted or rejected, developing without jeop2. Various flower and leaf tap offs. ardizing the current work in hand.
All work herein was rendered by Gordon Andrus, owner and proprietor of Sage Creek Stock Saddle Co.
5. Completed beveling.
After the swivel knife a variety of stamping tools are used. A tool known as the beveller is perhaps the most important of these. It is used to follow, or chase, each of the lines made with the swivel knife. This is where the design gets its depth and where the elements in the foreground are separated from those further back in 6. A beveller in use. the design. Beveling the wrong side of a line can ruin a project.
All work herein was rendered by Gordon Andrus, owner and proprietor of Sage Creek Stock Saddle Co.
Various other tools are used to give texture and shading to the work, creating an impression of lush growth and detail. These are shown here with illustrations of the marks that they make and the effect that they have on the work.
All work herein was rendered by Gordon Andrus, owner and proprietor of Sage Creek Stock Saddle Co.
All work herein was rendered by Gordon Andrus, owner and proprietor of Sage Creek Stock Saddle Co.
All work herein was rendered by Gordon Andrus, owner and proprietor of Sage Creek Stock Saddle Co.