
Custom LEATHER MADE BY HAND
All about Custom Leather Holsters, Bags 'n Belts, Wallets and some painted art

leather carvings....from mild to wild!!!

Wild !!??



Leather carving is an very old tradition, there are artifacts and proof that in early Egypt times craftsman carved ( scratched and embossed ) designs and pictures into tanned hides....later this envolved into leather tooling. Tooling is pressing or hammering a wood or metal stamp into a damp piece of vegetable tanned leather to make a lasting impression when dry!! Medievia Bible covers are a proof of that...As a superior art form leather carving came about around the late 17th century, which was done and still is done with a sharp knife. These days we use a so called swivel knife with a sharp short blade....it swivels while you apply pressure and carve a line along the design. After this line is cut tools called beveler are used to press down the matrial near the cut.....so the impression of a raised or lowered image apears...
This makes it look 3-D and gives it its beauty and style.
In the very early 18 hundreds, out West...learned from the spanish vaqueros...saddles and holsters, almost everything was carved and decorated with tooling!!
The modern Western floral style was born!!! I do floral, picture and border stamping which I enjoy very much....it is like painting a picture, just much more alive!!
And its leather a wonderful organic material......
Mild !!??



The one to the left: This door panel goes into a hod rod, there are matching front bucket seats and a comfy back seat to match....all inserts have been hand carved by me and the 'ol swivel knife!!

This one to the right- It goes straight to my heart!! Made for a Marine vet injured in Afganisthan....hanging now in his military trophy room.....same picture also went to a local Marine here in our region!! Semper fi!!! And thank you all for your great services......including my dad and my uncle!!


One below and all above: Thes carvings are done in natural russet....no color or dye is added, pure leather with an honest picture standing out as carving!!
All pictures below: These leather carvings are hand carved and then hand painted with super small brushes in acryl and later sealed with a clear leather laquer!!





Look at the details that can be created!!


The owners checkbook cover futures his beloved pet cat....he brought me a picture of his cat and out came the carving knife!!
He loved it, I love it and I hope the cat likes it too......again, lots of details and all painted by hand.....


Only vegetable tanned leather can be wet molded and ultimately carved!!
Only saddle leather or tooling leather is veg tanned.....everything else is embossed by a machine....a cheap imitation!! We do the real thing here....hand carving and tooling the way it has been done for many hundred years and more!!!

To the right:
Motorcycle seat cover in the making, old fashioned floral motive, Acanthus leaves....
Wildly popular with Western leather carvers....VERY work intensive!! But gonna be a beautiful seat.....!!

