As we [The Proper Leather Studio] have just started a new batch of natural leather, tooled wallets, I though I should show you our method. The first painstaking step is to cut all the elements - outside, money divider, pockets - at their required dimensions. The outside is cut of thicker veg tan leather as it is decorated through tooling. The chosen motif (a skull and an owl so far from the current lot) is transferred by hand on the damped piece of leather, incised and tooled. The pockets are meanwhile hand-dyed - all black for this project.
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| Veg-tan leather cut for several wallets |
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| Hand dyed leather elements (dividers and pockets) |
The tooled motifs are then blocked with Leather Sheen and/or Resolene (we use Tandy Leather products for this). Resolene does a better job at blocking but allows for less hue gradients of Gel Antique. Sheene is more permeable but better for some projects. It all depends on the intended effect.
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| Blocking tooled leather motifs |
The next stage envisages hand dying the outside of the wallets - around the blocked motifs - by brush and sponge and then applying and wiping Gel Antique from the entire outer surface. The combination of colors is rather important here, considering that the dye is covered with the semi-transparent Gel Antique and the precise and sufficient blocking of the motif, that should remain leather-color, with the gel just stressing the indentations.
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| Hand-dyeing |
The parts and then assembled, glued, sewed and the edges finished.
See our finished products on ETSY.
