The Leather Work Book. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. LEATHER WORK, if well executed, imitates wood carving of all kinds, from the most delicate and elaborate, to the most grandiose, designs. It is a work at once easy, interesting, and (from the great variety of objects to which it can be applied), not at all monotonous. To those of artistic taste it offers a wide field for the exercise of their powers, for the leather work copied from the designs seen in real old carving is always most successful; there will be, in the course of this treatise, many such designs given. But it can be readily understood, how much more interesting the work becomes when the design carried out is the worker's own adaptation of some beautiful bit of old carving which may have especially taken his fancy, and the outlines of which he has himself sketched from the original. In a general way, anything that has been done in the way of carving in wood, or even in stone, may be imitated in the leather; but in the rare instances where it cannot, anyone, accustomed to the work, will soon see how to alter the design so as to suit the nature of the material. Since leather work was first introduced there has been an attempt to supersede it by mouldings in gutta percha; but, although the extreme pliancy of gutta percha, when subjected to the power of heat, makes it an easy matter to make it take any form desired, it does not, to anyone familiar with wood carving, imitate it with the same success as the leather does. In the first place the smooth surface of the gutta percha has no resemblance, as that of the leather most certainly has, to the grain of oak; in the next the moulded edges present none of the crispness of carving; it is just the difference that there is between a common moulded glass sugar basin and one richly cut. Again, when the leather work was most the rage, another innovation crept in; some enterprising person started the sale of machine cut, ready made, and veined leaves and flowers, the latter with all the parts put together, shaped and hardened, ready to be grouped on the frame or casket to be ornamented. We fancy the persons who distinguish themselves in this sort of leather work are of the same class of fainéants (to call them by no harder name), as those who buy worked wreaths and groups of flowers, and after lazily doing a little of the "grounding" themselves, leaving even that to be finished by their maids, afterwards introduce the piece of work to admiring friends as their own. In these cases, however, as the result is probably better than what these make-believe people could achieve themselves, the deception is not, artistically, to be deplored. But, in the case of the ready-made leaves and flowers in leather work it is not so. Besides that the too great regularity of outline in these machine-cut leaves is objectionable, the fact that they must be grouped in the hard state-when they stand out stiffly from the surface, instead of clinging to it and appearing part of it, as they do when placed on in the malleable stage-entirely does away with the resemblance to carving. Again, these ready-made leaves and flowers are very expensive, and one of the great attractions in real honest leather work is the low price at which an object which is of value is successfully imitated. For example, the frame made from the design which accompanies the second chapter (Fig. 1) will, at the small cost of 5s. 6d., imitate a frame in old oak carving for which a couple of pounds or more would be given, according to the state of the market in Wardour-street. Few and simple are the things required by the honest leather worker. First, it is almost a necessity that there should be an atelier for the purpose (the smallest den of a room will do, provided that it has a grate that burns well), a little sanctum to which the tidier has not free access, for there are certain stages in this work in which to have things moved would be to irretrievably spoil the work. The leather at a certain stage is soft and pliant, and readily takes any form. Whilst it is in this plastic state it is moulded as a sculptor models his clay, according to his design, and it is then affixed to the surface of the object which it is to decorate. This being so, it will readily be understood how a clumsy touch from an unknowing hand may mar the whole design, and, as in a few hours afterwards, the leather becomes hard as the wood it is to imitate, the displaced leaf or flower presents a deformed appearance, when there is no alternative but to remove it-always a work of time after the hardening sets in, and go through all the process of sketching, cutting, softening, veining, and replacing that part of the design which has been thus injured. Besides the trouble of all this, such an accident retards the completion, for the painting of the frame cannot be commenced until the replaced leaves and flowers have hardened again, and this is a matter of ten or twelve hours. If a room cannot be entirely given up to the work, then a large table should, at least, be secured, which the "tidier" must be bound over to respect for at least twenty-four hours. Given the little atélier or at least the table to himself, the worker will require a sharp pair of scissors, medium size, strong, but not heavy or unwieldy; a large bottle of liquid glue, or, better still, the old-fashioned glue-pot, which can be kept always simmering and ready for action, a light hammer, some small brads (little nails without heads) about half an inch long, a gimlet, and last, but certainly not least, the leather will be required. This last is to be had at any good currier's; sheepskin is the leather to be asked for, and the most economical way of buying it is by weight, not by the skin. The liquid glue-like so many modern innovations-more elegant but not so efficient as the thing superseded-is apt to fail in fixing large heavy leaves, and, when it is used, it is often necessary to fall back upon the insertion of nails here and there to make the work secure. Some years ago sheepskin was only 10d. or 1s. a pound, but now it has risen to 2s. 4d. the pound. In choosing the leather be careful to avoid a skin the surface of which is blotched, or, again, one in which there is great inequality in the thickness between the part which was on the back and that which covered the flanks of the animal. Of course there will always be a little difference; but as in some skins the leather at the neck and flanks is so thin and discoloured as to be nearly useless, it is as well to call attention to this. For small designs it is best to buy several odd pieces, not a whole skin, and pay for them by the weight. This way leather more of one thickness is procured; but where flowers of a size larger than life, or panel work is going to be done, it will be desirable to choose a whole skin, and that the largest to be procured. A manufacturer says that " merely sheepskin' is rather vague, as at the present time this kind of leather is dressed in many different ways. If English oak bark tanned bright basil, were asked for it would save the leatherseller much time in looking over the various sorts. With regard to the most economical way of purchasing, I believe that it will be found, if a fair man be dealt with, that whole skins, as well as pieces, are sold by weight. I know they are to retail men. As the writer says, care should be taken that the smooth side or grain of the skin (the side on which the wool grows) is perfect, as often in the preparation of this leather it is damaged in the process technically known as 'slicking.' Of course the whole skins can be bought by weight, as well as the pieces; this is in fact the means by which the leather seller fixes his price on the whole skin. The advantage of buying pieces by weight is that the purchaser can choose his own bits, and thus get the leather all serviceable, which is not the case with the whole skins. |