TRACING THE DESIGN ON THE LEATHER

In this chapter the different processes which may be used in the decoration of leather will each be described in turn.

The preliminary operation of tracing the design on the leather is however common to them all.

The design should in the first instance be drawn on fairly thick tracing-paper or architect’s linen. This should then be fixed on the leather in such a way that it does not move during the transfer of the design, but so that it is possible to lift it to ascertain the progress of the work. It will be found convenient to fold the edge of the tracing-paper over the top edge of the leather and fix it with seccotine.

The leather must be wet in order to take the impression of the tracing. A soft, slightly damp sponge is passed several times evenly over the whole surface; if only a part of the leather were wetted an aureole would form round that part and would leave a permanent mark. When the leather has once been wetted all over there is no further fear of this, and it may then be damped again in parts when necessary. Practice alone will make it possible to judge accurately the degree of saturation that each skin requires to bring it into a fit condition for working on; speaking generally, the water should have penetrated the leather so that the pressure of the tool will not bring it back to the surface. Neglect of this rule might result in staining the leather.

The design is transferred to the leather by means of a metal tracing-point (Fig. 1). An agate or ebony point, or an exceedingly hard 6H graphite pencil, may also be used for the purpose. The pencil possesses the additional advantage that it can be given a very fine point where an extra thin and sharp outline is required. Doubling the outline by going over it twice should be avoided. From time to time the tracing-paper or linen should be raised to see that the design is being well marked on the leather. The outline should be dark; when it comes light it is a proof that the leather is too dry and requires damping again.

INCISING THE LEATHER

This being the first operation in working thick leather by carving, engraving and modelling, it will be dealt with before passing to the different processes peculiar to these methods of decoration. The incising is done after the design has been traced. There are numerous incising knives for the purpose which vary in shape and are manipulated in different ways; no one of them can be specially recommended as notably superior to the rest, and the artist should choose the one with which he feels most likely to succeed. The knife illustrated in Fig. 2 is used with a downward movement and is held—as shown in Fig. 3—very short, so as to obtain a sufficient purchase over the blade which is guided by the middle finger. The knife illustrated in Fig. 4 is used upwards. Fig. 5 shows the manner in which it should be held to produce a vertical cut. It will be found of great assistance in making a good firm cut to guide the right hand with the left hand as in Fig. 5. When curved lines are to be cut, the left hand must be used to turn the leather so as to present it in the most favourable position for the operation of the blade. The third knife (Fig. 6) is held like a graver with the handle supported against the palm of the hand and is pushed forward (Fig. 7). It is useful in cutting curved lines over a large surface. The depth of the incision should vary according to the effect to be produced by the subsequent operation, but it should never exceed a third of the thickness of the skin.

Thin skins should rarely be cut, and, if they are cut, the incision should barely penetrate the surface. On ox-hide the depth of the cut may be considerable without danger of impairing the strength of the leather.

When the leather is to be modelled in high relief, the design should be well separated from the background in the cutting process. The incision should also be deep when the outline is to be accentuated afterwards with a tool called an “opener” (Fig. 9) to produce an effect like the leading in stained glass.

Should it be desired to raise and turn up the edge of the leather to simulate a leaf, petal, or piece of ribbon detached from the background, the knife must be held slanting, as in Fig. 8, so as to make an almost horizontal cut.

However thick the leather may be, it is important that two lines should never be cut quite up to the point of intersection. For example, in cutting the outline of a leaf, the points of the indentations should be left uncut to avoid the tendency of the part within the angle to project and turn back. Sufficient impression can be obtained with the modelling tool to give a finished effect to these points.

The incision must be clean and sharp, and absolutely vertical, except where it is made slanting for the purpose described above.

CUT OR ENGRAVED LEATHER

Leather with flat decoration in outline of even thickness is called cut, or engraved leather. The tool used to enlarge and accentuate the outline is called an opener. It is like a straight modeller broadened in the centre and with a blunt point (Fig. 9), or a small blade with the point cut off square and the angles rounded. When the leather has been well wetted and the water has thoroughly soaked in, the end of the opener is inserted in the incision and pushed along it with a very slight and gentle gliding movement. The broader part of the opener will act as a wedge and widen the cut evenly. Openers can be had in various sizes to produce lines of different width. When the design is to be modelled afterwards, an opener should be used which broadens on the right side only; held slightly slanting, it will press down the outside edge of the incision which is to be sunk into the ground. Fig. 10 shows the manner of holding the tool; it should be worked backwards and forwards to make sure that the edges are evenly parted. The left hand may help to guide the point to prevent it from slipping off the line.

To be able to accomplish satisfactorily this operation of opening the outline, it will be found that the incision must be absolutely vertical. Supposing it to have been made slanting as in Fig. 11, it will be easy to sink the outer edge (B) into the ground, but when it comes to raising the inner edge (A) an excess of material will be encountered which will offer stubborn resistance to being raised in a direction contrary to that of the incision (Fig. 11a). The opener should not be moved at too great an angle in the incision as the point, though blunt, may yet be sharp enough to cut and spoil the modelling by raising the surface of the leather.

After it has been outlined, the leather may be further decorated by variously tinting the parts within the lines, if the style of the design will admit of such treatment; an effect similar to leather mosaic is thus produced. (See Chapter III.)

Pyrogravure, or engraving with a hot tool (see p. 36), gives a very similar effect to that of cut or engraved leather, the only difference in the appearance of the work thus decorated being due to the slight burr of the edges and the darkening of the line caused by the hot tool. This effect of dark colour can, however, be added to cut leather by colouring the lines with a dye applied with a fine brush. In order to prevent the colour penetrating and spreading beyond the lines, the latter should be lightly coated with paste before the dye is applied.

CARVED LEATHER

Great expertness is required in carving leather, that is to say, in producing lines so deep that the design stands out sufficiently from the background to allow of its being ornamented by independent lines less deeply worked.

Some leather cases from the Dijon Museum, which were exhibited at the Petit Palais in Paris in the year 1900, are good examples of carving, and the manner in which they are finished with touches of gold is very characteristic. The style and method of production of these examples may well be imitated. Decoration on ogee-shaped lines is to be avoided, as, however artistically treated, it is apt to bring to mind the stamped leather of the so-called “Cathedral Style,” specimens of which filled the libraries of the romantic period of about 1830.

Besides the tools enumerated above, some artists use the gravers and gouges employed in chasing metal and wood-carving, but a great deal of practice is necessary for their proper handling, and they cannot be recommended to the inexperienced worker.

Pyrogravure is an alternative method of producing strongly accentuated lines, and by the judicious use of punches an infinite variety of interesting background effects can be obtained.

Before leaving the subject of carved leather, mention must be made of cuir bouilli, which was used in conjunction with it during the Middle Ages, chiefly for sheaths and cases, and is now unfortunately a lost art.[3] Mons. de Saint AndrÉ de Lignereux, in Le Cuir d’Art franÇais, tells us that the leather was boiled with gums and resins obtained from the East, and moulded and cut while still soft from this treatment.[4]

PUNCHES

Punches are steel or brass tools, having at the point a design cut in relief or in intÀglio, which are impressed on the leather either by the hand alone or with a hammer The design is thus reproduced on the leather with the impression contrary to that on the tool. For hand pressure only, they should be fixed in wooden handles to afford greater grip and power. They may be used hot; the design will then appear darkened on the leather.

Punches are also employed in tooling with gold leaf, or in burnishing the impression of their surface on groundwork gilded with shell gold.

HAMMERED LEATHER

Leather decorated entirely by means of punches is called hammered leather. It is used in the style of decoration described later under the name of modelled leather with punched background, and can also be employed with great advantage in conjunction with carved leather.

MODELLED LEATHER

Leather may be modelled in two ways; with a cut outline or with the traced outline merely accentuated with the tracing-point or opener. In the former case the leather must be fairly thick, in the latter it may be thin calf or Russia, which is very soft and delicate.

Leather modelled after being cut should, when finished, have the appearance, with regard to the relief, of a metal or modelled wax plaque. The leather takes the desired shape easily, and should therefore be delicately handled.

The great charm of modelled leather lies in the softness of its forms, and care must be taken to avoid irregularly cut outlines which disagreeably arrest the eye by failing to merge into the ground.

Faulty incisions, or those too deeply cut, are liable to leave a light line between the modelled subject and the background, due to the cut having exposed not only the surface, but the inner substance of the leather. This light line will also have a tendency to appear if the modelling is not done directly after the opening of the lines, or if they are too widely opened, or if the opener is too sharp and unduly deepens the cut. The fault can be remedied by staining the line to match the surface of the leather.

MODELLING TOOLS

The tools used for modelling are not numerous; two or three modellers, more or less fine and of different curves, (Fig. 12) are sufficient. A special tool, called Pied de Biche (hind’s foot) in allusion to its shape, is also useful in depressing the ground at right angles to the modelling. Modellers may be either of nickelled steel or of brass, provided that the convex side with which the leather is modelled be perfectly smooth. It is better not to use ordinary steel which, when the leather is wet, might cause it to become stained through the rusting of the tool occasioned by the materials used in tanning. It may also be mentioned here that when using acids for patine,[5] steel tools should be kept away from the work. Hydrochloric acid in particular will rust them so badly in a single night as to make them unusable unless they are repolished.

EMBOSSING LEATHER

When the leather is thick it must be thoroughly wetted on both sides; it is then taken in the left hand, the portion to be embossed being between the forefinger and thumb, which are laid flat on the surface of the leather, while the other three fingers form the under part of this species of clamp, and ensure the leather remaining steady (Fig. 14). Steel clamps are made for fixing the end of the leather to the table, but the system of holding it in the hand is preferable, except for very large work, as it can be more readily moved about.

A modeller or a tool consisting of a small steel ball with a handle (Fig. 13) is then worked backwards and forwards with more or less pressure on the back of the leather until the desired degree of relief is obtained. It is possible to work very high relief by this method.

Another way of embossing in high relief, which we believe to be here described for the first time, is as follows: The outline of the design must first be traced on the flesh side of the leather. This is done by placing blue transfer paper under the leather, with the blue side uppermost, while the design is being transferred to the surface of the leather with the tracing-point in the manner described on p. 20. A chamois leather bag, about 16 × 12 inches in size, is filled with very fine, carefully sifted sand, and then sewn up as tightly as possible, so that the surface is quite taut. The bag is placed on the table, and the leather face downwards upon it. The steel ball is then rubbed to and fro, on the flesh side of the leather, at the point to be embossed, and the relief is produced as the sand yields under the pressure of the tool. The sand gives enough support to the leather, however, to prevent it stretching too much, as it would be liable to do if merely extended over a frame.

The next process is to open the incisions. This is not done till after the leather has been embossed in order not to further impair the strength of the leather at the outline, already diminished to some extent by cutting. The object of opening the incision is to facilitate the flattening of the outer edge so that it merges into the ground and the graduated modelling of the inner edge to form the softened outline of the ornament in relief.

To obtain this soft effect, the modeller is gently passed from left to right over the angle formed by the inner edge of the incision and the surface of the modelling. The tool may be lifted and the leather turned about to place it in the right position for this movement. The leather is frequently wetted (but not to such a degree, however, that the water oozes out of the surface when the modeller is used), and assumes the substance of wax. Should it show a tendency to rise after it has been depressed, it must be gone over again with the tool; if the leather is of good quality, it will keep the modelling permanently when it is once dry.

Care must be taken to avoid making a false impression; the least contact of the tool with the leather will leave a mark on the damp surface, which it is not always possible to efface from beneath.

Having dealt with cut and modelled leather, we now turn to modelling without cutting, the outline of the design being first simply marked out with the tracing-point, or with the opener held very slanting to avoid wrinkling the surface of the skin. This process should be adopted in preference to the preceding one, for comparatively thin skins which would not bear cutting. The relief may be obtained in the manner described above by working it up from the back of the leather, or the leather may be laid surface upwards on a cake of wax and the design brought out in low relief by depressing the background with the tool. Better results are obtained with the latter method. The wax is applied under the parts to be modelled, which must be accurately marked out for this purpose on the under side of the leather, and thin paper is pasted underneath it to keep it in place and prevent it sticking to the table; or a very smooth, thin tablet of wax is placed on stout cardboard under the entire piece of leather; when in position, the edges of the leather should be turned over and firmly fixed underneath the cardboard in such a manner as to prevent the wax forcing itself out under the pressure of the tool. The wax must be prepared with spirit to expel the grease or contact with it would stain the leather.

After thoroughly wetting the leather, the outline should be well accentuated with the opener and the design brought out by lowering the ground all round it with a fine modeller. The modelling is then done by working the tool with varying pressure and is held in place by the wax.

Beginners are advised to start by copying a plaster cast, in order to get a full understanding of the values of relief.

The subject of wax supports brings us to that of padding the relief to preserve its form, which may be done in many different materials. The padding may be made of a special wax treated like cement, or of absorbent cotton-wool soaked in a paste made of flour and water, or of cuttings of glove skins shredded very fine[6] and mixed dry with talc, flour, dextrine, etc., forming a liquid paste when water is added which can easily be run into the hollows of the relief. This paste solidifies rapidly, and is not affected by damp. Cardboard or cork scraped very fine and mixed with paste or flour and water will also form a durable padding. A special padding made with a round cotton cord dipped in flour mixed with cold water is employed for flower stems and the so-called reed decoration—a decoration consisting of a round line in relief of uniform width, which lends itself to many combinations, and is worked with the tool illustrated in Fig. 15. It may also be used in modelling the relief by pasting it first on the back of the leather and, when dry, moulding the leather with a modeller over the projection on the surface caused by its thickness.

MODELLED LEATHER WITH PUNCHED BACKGROUND

When the leather has been cut before being modelled, the punch completes the work of the modeller in sinking the outer edge of the incision into the background. To do this perfectly, the edge of the punch must be placed very exactly against the outline of the raised design; the handle should be held slanting slightly to the left in working; extra pressure will thus fall towards the right on that part which, in spite of having been sunk by the modeller, will always show a tendency to rise if the punch be used too flat upon the surface.

A hammer, though useful in working certain punches which depend upon being deeply impressed to produce a good effect, requires great sureness of hand when used as described above, to prevent overstepping the limits of the outline, and punches in wooden handles are much to be preferred for this work. Too deep an impression is avoided by their use, and, by guiding the end of the punch with the left hand, it can be placed more surely in the right position and worked by the steady pressure of the wrist. (Fig. 16.)

The most useful punches are those producing a powdered or a very small check pattern. With these there is no need for the impressions to be arranged in any regular order; it is indeed better that they should slightly overlap so that no part of the ground is left out. The effect of some punches is dependent on their arrangement in combination; others can be arranged independently to form a semis—a pattern made up by the repetition of some given figure at intervals.

Wheels, either plain or having a more or less broad surface engraved with any kind of pattern (such as a check diaper, pearling or arabesques), are used for outlining or for continuous patterns, or for producing imitations of shagreened leather.

An excellent effect can be obtained by varnishing the parts depressed by the punch to make the colour adhere, and then painting them with gouache or bronzes. By rubbing the leather afterwards with a woollen cloth, the colour or bronze is easily removed from the unvarnished modelling.

The tools employed in pyrogravure are based on the same principle as the instrument for thermo-cautery in surgery. The apparatus in most general use consists of a platinum point mounted in a hollow metal handle connected by a rubber tube with a pear-shaped rubber blower. This blower serves to inject through a tube the carburetted air from a small benzine reservoir attached to it. The incandescence of the point is maintained by this constant injection, and the lines are burnt more or less deeply according to the degree of incandescence, and the pressure applied. The great difficulty is to keep the line of even thickness throughout. The points are to be had of different shapes according to the effect desired. Some are pierced at the end, so that the carburetted air escaping leaves a mark on the leather similar to that which would be produced by a hot iron grazing its surface. In this way a brown tint is obtained varying in darkness in proportion to the proximity of the point to the leather.

There are also rather large blowers which are worked automatically by compressed air, while others have a pedal action like a sewing machine.

It would be difficult to explain the many ways of handling the point so as to obtain different effects; it should, however, always be held slightly inclined to the right. It is shaped like an eagle’s beak, so that by using the point alone, fine lines of more or less depth are obtained, and by inclining it more to the right the rounded part will burn a larger surface of the leather. Very deep hollows can be made with the point highly heated. Pyrogravure is also an efficient way of depressing the ground work of thick leather when the point is worked with repeated touches over the surface. With a light hand and an accurate knowledge of the degree of heat required to produce fine lines, a skilful artist is able to draw with the point as if it were a pen.

The left hand plays a very important part in the process by controlling the injection of carburetted air through the blower, and thereby regulating the heat of the point. When the incandescence is automatically produced, equal facility in varying the degree of heat according to the requirements of the work is not possible.

POINTOGRAVURE

The following description is borrowed from Mons. E. AumaÎtre, the inventor of another process for the decoration of leather to which he has given the name of pointogravure.

The implements required are two graving-points, one large and one small, a modeller and a spirit-lamp.

The design having been traced on the leather, the whole of it is wetted with a sponge as described on page 19. The point is then heated in the spirit-lamp and passed lightly over the line. It should be held like a pencil and heated sufficiently to produce a light brown mark on the leather, and it should run smoothly without sticking. The fine lines are drawn lightly and the point pressed more heavily for the deeper ones. Deep hollows can be made by sloping the tool, and using its widest side. The point being very small, it requires frequent heating to keep it in a condition to produce satisfactory results. It is not hot enough unless it runs smoothly on the leather and darkens the impression. On the other hand, overheating is to be avoided to prevent burning the surface of the leather. This process skilfully carried out will produce shading, hatching, and lines of great delicacy, also much softer effects than pyrogravure. It lends itself equally well to the broad treatment of a design.

STAMPED LEATHER

It is beyond the scope of this work to describe the process of stamping leather with a steel die and a balance-press;[7] we will therefore explain a method in which the steel die is replaced by thick cardboard or leather cut out in open-work, and the balance-press by a small one worked by hand. The cardboard or leather stencil, laid on damp leather and placed in the press, will sink in, causing those parts of the leather which are against the open parts of the stencil to stand out in relief.

There is another method which has been found particularly satisfactory in working a deep design on the board of a book-binding. The design is drawn sharply in outline with a pen upon very white paper. By a photographic process a metal block is produced from the drawing, on which the outline appears in relief. This block, mounted on pasteboard or wood, will form a die with which the design can be hollowed out of the leather by pressure in a copying-press, and the result subsequently perfected by cutting or modelling.

Another interesting process consists in etching a design deeply upon a copper-plate; the lines are then filled in with printing ink, the surplus removed with the palm of the hand, and the plate wiped over with a soft rag, preferably of flannel. A piece of leather is then wetted and placed under the plate and the whole heavily pressed. Since a copying-press is not sufficiently heavy to produce the relief, a bookbinder’s press should be used and tightly screwed up. When the leather has taken the impression sufficiently, the whole is removed from the press, and the copper-plate carefully raised, avoiding tearing the leather if it should have stuck to the plate. The design will then stand out in relief, coloured black or red according to the ink used. The ink must be thick enough not to spread over the leather under pressure.

There is also a method of stamping leather by means of two plaster casts prepared with stearine, both bearing the same design, one in relief and the other hollowed. A thoroughly wetted piece of thin leather is placed between these two casts and well pressed, the amalgam enabling the plaster to bear the pressure. The leather should be allowed to dry between the casts, or, if preferred, the hollow one may be removed.

The same principle can be applied without the hollow cast, by modelling the leather with the modelling tool, so that it takes the form of the cast in relief beneath it. In some cases the plaster is left permanently under the leather to form the padding.

OPEN-WORK LEATHER

The leather should be neatly and sharply cut out for open-work decoration, and placed over a groundwork of leather, stuff or metal: the last material is well adapted by its contrast of colour to show up the ornament laid over it. Open-work leather is a good material for hangings, and when destined for this purpose the design is sewn on the groundwork of leather or stuff with a sewing-machine, or stuck with gutta-percha. In the latter case the back of the leather is made quite smooth, and a layer of gutta-percha is placed on it and made to stick by means of steam produced by heating a wet pad. Well pressed down with this pad the gutta-percha will stick to the leather, and also cause it to keep in place on the groundwork, to which it is made to adhere permanently by passing a hot iron over the surface. A sheet of white blotting-paper is laid over the leather to protect it. When the leather is worked in relief, this proceeding must be reversed, that is to say, the leather is placed face downwards on a sheet of wadding with the material forming the groundwork uppermost, and the hot iron is passed over the back of the material. The relief can easily be worked on the leather before it is cut out.

The cutting out is done on a piece of strong cardboard with the knife illustrated in Fig. 17.

The borders of open-work leather can be ornamented by a sort of plaiting formed by lacing thin strips of soft leather through holes made with a punch.

A very effective decoration for furniture can be made with open-work leather over a panel of wood, or a metal background.

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