Decorative Leather Tooling

All work herein was rendered by Gordon Andrus, owner and proprietor of Sage Creek Stock Saddle Co.

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 sepa-ration 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 indi-vidual 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

Decorative Leather Tooling

All work herein was rendered by Gordon Andrus, owner and proprietor of Sage Creek Stock Saddle Co.

First the design is laid out on the leather. This is primarily accomplished di-rectly 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 ele-ments 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 pa-per to explore new design ideas. This al-lows for increased expansion of stylistic ex-pression, as ideas may be combined, ac-cepted or rejected, developing without jeop-

ardizing the current work in hand.

1. Layout for a saddle gullet liner made with stylus and tap offs.

2. Various flower and leaf tap offs.

Decorative Leather Tooling

All work herein was rendered by Gordon Andrus, owner and proprietor of Sage Creek Stock Saddle Co.

Following the layout a special knife, the swivel knife, is used to incise the design into the leather’s surface. Care is taken to create fair curves and to fade out certain of the lines in the “down stream” direction of the designs flow. This is very important in the creation of an illusion of motion in the work. Mastery of the swivel knife is the key to successful tool-ing. Consistently good knife manipulation will enable the following tools to be used with no muss and fuss, the final result of which is a cleanly executed design that is very pleasing to the eye.

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 ele-ments in the foreground are sepa-rated from those further back in the design. Beveling the wrong side of a line can ruin a project.

3. Using the swivel knife.

4. A simple layout completely cut using the knife shown here.

6. A beveller in use.

5. Completed beveling.

Decorative Leather Tooling

All work herein was rendered by Gordon Andrus, owner and proprietor of Sage Creek Stock Saddle Co.

Beyond beveling, the background tool is used to define the negative space around and in between the various elements of the design. It usually imparts a stippled or pebbled effect, creating a generalized texture to the background areas. 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 illustra-tions of the marks that they make and the effect that they have on the work.

7. The background stamp in use.

9. Leaf Liner

8. Thumb Print

Decorative Leather Tooling

All work herein was rendered by Gordon Andrus, owner and proprietor of Sage Creek Stock Saddle Co.

11. Mule Foot

10. Veining Tool

12. Finnish Cuts, made with the swivel knife.

The finished design

Decorative Leather Tooling

All work herein was rendered by Gordon Andrus, owner and proprietor of Sage Creek Stock Saddle Co.

Decorative Leather Tooling

All work herein was rendered by Gordon Andrus, owner and proprietor of Sage Creek Stock Saddle Co.