My First Floral Design

My first real leather-crafting experience with my newly purchased crafting tools was this floral design in the picture. I had gotten the tools a few days earlier at Hobby Lobby as an earlier Christmas present from my mother. The tools included the swivel knife, beveling tool, as well as various other stamping tools used for background and special texture on the leather.

The tools came with a small book on how to use them along with a couple of different patterns to practice with. One of the patterns was a floral design and an leaf design with acorns. I decided on the floral design since it seemed easier. I traced the floral design on a piece of scrap leather after I damped it with a wet cloth. Damping the leather helps to hold the design into the leather until after the leather dries. Once my design was traced onto the leather, I began cutting and tooling my design. It took me around an hour to complete the design. An experience leathercrafter could probably complete this design in about half the time it took me. But it was my first time and I wanted to go slow and take my time. I made a few mistakes here and there but overall, I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

Once I had the design tooled into the leather, I stained it with some leather stain to give it an antique look. I also stained an old bi-fold leather picture frame and attached my newly tooled leather to the picture frame with cement glue. The whole process took me a little over two hours, but I learned a lot for my first time tooling with real leather tools. I wasn't sure what to do with this picture frame, but I think I will keep it as a way to remember and cherish my first real leather-tooling experience.