Carved sheaths

SBranson

SBranson

Well-Known Member
I am working on 3 sheaths for a guy up north and he asked for something Canadian in theme like a maple leaf carved into them.

I've finished 2 and the third is still being made but I sent him this pic of the first 2.

I haven't done much carving and I learned on these that the compression of the leather around the edges really affects the absorption of the dye so it's like they are a back lit. Not too bad an effect but not intentional.

I did the larger one first and I think I hit my stride on the second. I think that second is maybe the nicest sheath I've made, well it's my favourite so far.

-Stuart

Mapleleafsheath.JPG
 
Love your work. Great designs and very well made by the looks of it. Customer should be more than happy.

Terry
 
Thanks everyone! I appreciated it very much.

Mike Carter said:
Very nice! I have been trying to work on my leather carving. How do you do the coloring/staining?
Click to expand...

I tried a few different things as I was a little leery trying to dye around the carving and not have it bleed into it.
I started with thinned Fiebing's Tan on dry leather as I figured this would be the most controllable for flow and it came out blotchy as I would expect. So on the second, I wet the leather but in retrospect, based on other dye work, I should have saturated the leather but I was concerned about losing the carving work.
So, I moved onto full strength dye and did multiple layers to even it out. As I mentioned the compression of the leather around the carving hindered the absorption.

So in the end it was all experiment as trying to preserve the highlights in the carving was the most important. For that I started with a Tandy hi-liter but it doesn't work well. So I moved onto a Fiebing's antique paste that sits well in the cuts.

A few light coats of oil to even things out and finished with Atom wax and light buffing.

A little blotchy and the oil tended to darken the carving area a little more than I liked but the second attempt, the smaller sheath, worked better overall.
Damp leather, dye applied in layers with a brush. A little oil.. then more dye...

Thankfully the guy likes the blotchy look and a dark colour. :p

-Stuart
 
In the past with stamping I have used some fine grit sandpaper to touch the high points of the pattern to create the illusion of light casting across it.. Kinda like oil painting where you paint where and how light hits an object to reveal it's shape and depth.

If you do that don't oil it afterwards as the lightly scuffed (and I mean lightly) will grab the oil and it will ruin the effect.
So far any top coat I've applied tends to wash out fine shading work so unless it's a hard use sheath, I do the highlights at the end and leave the scuffs bare.
 
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My Canadian wife just saw these over my shoudler and is very impressed with what you did with her beloved Maple Leaf...Great job!!!

Jay W.
 
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