Stamping and Carving

Plain veg-tan is beautiful on its own, but it also takes decoration like almost no other material. Two techniques cover most of it: stamping and carving. Both are done on cased leather ^{1 2}.

Stamping

Stamping is the easiest way in: you set a shaped metal stamp on damp leather and strike it with a mallet, leaving a crisp, repeatable impression. It’s good for borders, backgrounds, and accents on belts, wallets, and covers ¹. Work on a solid surface, ideally a slab of granite or marble, so the blow doesn’t bounce ¹. Case the leather first; the stamped impression sets cleanly and lasts ¹. Aim for one confident strike rather than several taps, and keep your force consistent so a pattern stays even ¹.

Carving, Sheridan style

Carving goes further: you cut into the surface and then shape the leather around the cuts so the design stands up, almost three-dimensional. Carving is the foundation of traditional Western floral leatherwork, and it works best on vegetable-tanned leather because that holds detail ¹. The best-known style is Sheridan style, with its dense, swirling flowers and leaves. Tandy’s video course with master carver Jim Linnell breaks it into steps ³:

1. Trace. Draw the design on tracing paper, lay it on the cased leather, and trace over the lines with a stylus to transfer them ³. (A 1929 manual gives the same advice: trace through paper rather than using carbon paper, and keep the original pattern for reuse ⁴.)
2. Cut. Cut the outlines with a swivel knife, a knife whose blade turns in a barrel so it can follow curves, keeping it sharp ^{3 1}.
3. Stamp the centers and pear shade. Stamp flower centers, then use a pear shader, tilting it and tapping lightly, to give petals and leaves a rounded, shaded form ³.
4. Bevel. Walk a beveler along the outside of each cut, striking it with the mallet, to press the leather down beside the line so the design stands up. Linnell also uses undercut bevelers ³.
5. Background and details. Texture the spaces between with a backgrounder, which darkens and compresses them so the design pops; add seeder dots, veiner and mulesfoot marks on leaves, and decorative swivel-knife cuts ³.
6. Finish. Dye and seal; Linnell’s final lesson covers the traditional Sheridan-style finish ³.

Practice

Carving is a skill built over time ¹. Start with straight lines and simple curves with the swivel knife on a scrap, then a single leaf, then a flower. Keep the leather cased as you go; when tools stop leaving clean impressions, it’s probably drying out ².

Try it

Case a 4-inch square of 6–8 oz veg-tan and stamp a border around it with any stamp you have, one strike per impression. Then trace a single simple leaf in the middle, cut it with a swivel knife, and bevel around it. You’ve done the core of Sheridan-style carving.