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Author: Teresa_M._Turner, Contributing Editor
 | After dampening the leather, it is important to allow it to dry partially. If it is too wet or too dry, you will not be able to work with it. For a larger piece, you might have to wait overnight. Something small like this may take only an hour or so to dry partially. If it dries too much, you must dampen it again and then wait for it to partially dry. In general, when the leather is ready it will look dry but will feel damp and cool to the touch.
Once it was partially dry, I used the wooden handle of a tool to press down and smooth the back of the leather. It is important to do this on a surface that is smooth and will not impart unwanted texture on the front of the leather. |
| Adding Texture
The next step is to make impressions in the leather to simulate the veins in a leaf. I must do this immediately, while the leather is still damp. While I have previously been working on a rigid surface, I now need to work on something more flexible. I use a piece of rubber, though cork, cotton batting, and so on can also be used. In this case, I am using a tool that I made from a nail which has been bent and filed to shape and then set into a wooden handle (the one seen in the previous post). I now make impressions in the leather to mimic the veins in the leaf, by applying pressure and scribing in the lines. You cannot "erase" any mistakes, so it has to be right the first time. This is much like traditional leather "tooling", but very small. Most western tooling involves cutting the surface of the leather, but in this case the leather is so thin, the knife would go right through it. Also, most commercially produced leatherworking tools are much too big and clunky for this type of detail, so I use tools I have made, as well as dental and surgical implements. If you use any tools that are made of regular steel, be sure to only use these on pieces which are going to be gessoed and painted, as the steel can change the color of the leather. This is not a concern when using surgical tools, or other items made from stainless steel. |  |
| When I am finished making the impressions, it looks like this. You can see that although the leather has veins like a leaf, it is still mostly flat in shape. |
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| Shaping and Sculpting
The next step is to give the leather a more three-dimensional shape. It is important to finish this step before the leather dries out too much. If you must leave it at any point, place it in a ziplock bag and put it in the fridge. In this instance, you will have to let it warm to room temperature before you can work on it again. If it is drying on the edges as you are working, you can dip your finger in water and dab a little onto the edges of the leather. You will notice in the previous picture that the leather is looking more like a leaf now, but the stem is still flat. I shape the stem and curl the points of the leaf slightly to give it more shape. This is all done by hand. I don't want to curl it too much, though, as this one is going in a frame. If it were going on the bottom of a flower sculpture, I could curl it as much as I wanted to. Here it is, once it is shaped: |
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| Using Gesso
I must now allow the leather to dry completely before continuing. Once the leather is dry, it is time to apply the gesso before it can be painted. The gesso is important for a few reasons. For one, it provides a better working surface than the leather itself on which to paint. It not only makes the leather white, it also helps seal out moisture so that the leather won't lost its shape once I begin painting it. It is very important to make sure the gesso is not too thick! I use a mixture of gesso, acrylic medium, and a bit of water to make the gesso thinner. (You don't want too much water, or it will affect the gesso.) The gesso must be applied very thinly, so as to avoid losing too much of the surface texture of the leather, and to allow it to get into the veins I have created. Here is a picture of the leaf after I applied some gesso: |
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