Here is another little leather project that I did on my Christmas break. It is a belt made for a friend as a gift.
1. Select a pattern or make one up. For this example, I used an already made pattern of oak leaves and acorns. Wet the leather and draw the stencil onto the belt.
2. Using a pair of leather shears or a strap end cutter. trim the tip to shape. In this example, I used a strap end cutter. At the same time, use a bevel edger to round the belt sides for comfort.
3. After the pattern is finished, it is time to carve the leather using a swivel knife. This means that you cut your drawing half way deep into the leather. This will make tooling easier.
While cutting, it is best to wet small portions of the belt as you go.
4. After the carving, it is time to tool. I always work on the background first. For this belt I use my smallest and favorite backgrounder tool.
Here, I have started. You can see how it makes the foreground jump. It will also stain darker as it retains more leather dye.
Once the background is done, you can use many different stamps to make the foreground come alive. Here are some examples of the many types and styles of stamps available out there.
5. Once all the tooling is done, dying the belt and attaching the hardware is the next step. For this example I used antique stain and a wet sponge to pick up the excess as well as to rub the dye into the belt. Once the dying is done, I then rub the edges with a nylon slicker and water to give a professional edge. Last thing to install is the hardware and an acrylic finish with a little buffing to finish the belt.
Here is the finished belt.
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