Back out in the shop yesterday. Tried to get some practice in. I watched MORE videos and tried to apply what I had learned. Sigh.... it went better than the last time, but still not there.
First step, transfer the pattern. This time I DID use a sharpened pencil. That worked better.
31 pattern.jpg
Once you have the pattern, you choose the appropriate swivel knife, and start cutting in the lines to define the pattern. This is the starting point and is the second most time consuming portion of the work. You have to work slowly and take your time. Minor mistakes can be corrected. A major slip and you have a slice across your leather, ruining all the work to this point. That piece of your project has to be recut. Really sucks if it's a high dollar piece of leather or a large section.
I have several knives here with different size blades, various thickness and widths appropriate for different sections of the carving. The blades are interchangeable. As I came across sales, I added extra knives to avoid swapping blades.
32 swivel knives.jpg
Here you can see the comparison in the portion of the pattern that has been cut and that portion that has not. Also note the finer detail in the center of the rose that was cut with the finer, smaller blade in a different knife. Trying to cut that with the thicker bold blade would have lost the detail. (I still botched the detail a bit, arthritis. A little slower and I may have made those tight turns. Practice.)
33 began cutting in.jpg
In this pic the cutting in has been done, ready to get started on the detail work.
34 all cut in.jpg
In the pic below, the real detail work has begun. Look at the top flower where some of the beveling, shading, and detail work has been done. You can see the definition starting to take place. I have not yet gotten this down, but you get the idea. The beveling on the lower portion of the pattern is mostly complete.
35 shaping and carving.jpg
Here, I have done a lot of the detail work and this includes a new technique for me. Outlining the edge of the leaves. It worked well on some, on others I didn't tilt the tool enough and over shaded the leaves, ruining the effect. Meh... practice. I might buy an extra one of these tools and grind the texture off the bottom so it's smooth. OR just make one from an old screwdriver. There is another tool I saw in a video that's $15 that I will attempt to make, it's basically a screwdriver with a bevel cut and polished on the end. LOL. I still have work to do to "Finish" the piece if I was to decide to do so. I might decide to just toss this piece and start over on another practice piece, concentrating more on the relationships of each element of the flower and the other portions of the pattern.
36 better but not great.jpg
Again, I wasn't really happy with the outcome, especially compared to the results I see on the videos. Then I remember that I am basically starting over. I remember how happy I was with MY woodworking, then I'd come onto the woodworking sites and see the other's work and think how poorly I compared. These days I have another fifteen or twenty years in... and I am very happy with much of what I do, but I can still log on and see the results of some of the other's work and think... Wow.... I'll never get there.