About The Book

"Leather is an amazing product that has been used by humans since really, the beginning of man. Leather has been a most important part of the fashion clothing industry and with the sustainable ancient crafts the leather could be preserved in a more natural and economic ways. This book serves as a guide to leather crafting that provides instructions for stamping, carving, dyeing, stitching, lacing, finishing, and edges and tips on tools, materials, and various techniques. This book contains seven chapters. Chapter 1 covers the basic of leather such as the leather hide and leather tanning processes. Chapter 2 focuses on tools for cutting leather. Cutting is one of the most important skills in leatherwork. Getting a good clean cut-edge on your leather makes a huge difference to the look of your project, especially if you are leaving your edges raw like we are here. There are quite a few different leather cutting methods, and which one you choose mostly depends on what kind of leather you’re working with, and what shape your pattern is. Chapter 3 focuses on tools used for leather embossing. Working with leather isn’t as hard as some people fear it will be, but the craft of it has been around for such a long time, and people have been improvising tools to work with leather, literally as long as people have been using leather to make things.

Chapter 4 sheds light on the basics of stamping. 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 fibers. 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. Chapter 5 focuses on carving techniques. You will understand basics of carving. You will also know how to carve leather. The main tools used to “carve” leather include: swivel knife, veiner, beveler, pear shader, seeder, various sculpting implements, and background tools. Chapter 6 intends to cover using punches for designs. You will know easy way of leather punch and various types of leather punches. You will also know how to prepare for protect tools and improve projects for leather work surface. Chapter 7 focuses on coloring and finishing leather. The initial color of a leather is dependent on the tanning agents used. Tannins of plants give the leather a brownish tone, fat and oil tanning makes leather yellowish, while tawing with alum and synthetic tanning agents give the leather a whitish tone and chrome tanning makes it bluish-greyish. Overall, this book will teach you all of the skills you’ll need to make beautiful belts, wallets, purses, holsters, cases, jewelry, and home accessories."

About the Editor

Sharon Hatcher pursued her Master's in Fashion Design from Technological University, Santa Barbara. She has been associated with leather industry for more than two decades. She is an expert in tools for cutting leather, carving techniques, basics of stamping, and using punches for designs. She has taught numerous university courses, professional development workshops, mentored and coached working professionals across America and Europe. Hatcher has also contributed several articles and research papers on all aspects of leather design and craft.

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