Decorative Leather Tooling

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

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

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 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-
2. 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.
 Decorative Leather Tooling
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.

3. Using the swivel knife.

4. A simple layout completely cut using the knife 5. Completed beveling.

shown here.

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 6. A beveller in use.
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.
 Decorative Leather Tooling
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.

7. The background stamp in use.

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.

8. Thumb Print

9. Leaf Liner

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

10. Veining Tool

11. Mule Foot

12. Finnish Cuts, made with the swivel knife.

The finished design

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.
 Decorative Leather Tooling

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