Hello from Montana

[montanadream]

I stumbled across this site looking for information on how to draw scroll patterns that I could adapt to leather carving. Leather and silver do go well together. What I've seen so far in the album is incredibly beautiful. Maybe I'll pick up a new interest to compliment my leatherwork.

Any pointers or suggestions are welcome.

Thank you,

Olive

p.s. what are tags to add to the thread?

[Daniel Houwer]

Hi Olive,

Welcome here.
There are a few more leather workers on this forum who also embalish their leatherwork with engraved silver. They do amazing work.

The tags could be thumbnails or something.

[Peter_M]

Hi Olive,

Welcome to the forum.

As for scroll design for leather Sheridan Style Carving by Bill Gardner and Clint Fay may be of interest to you and F.O. Baird has some nice books as well .

Peter

[montanadream]

Thank you Peter. I have both books. It seems as though acanthus leaves in western leather carving are somewhat different from the acanthus leaves I've seen here. I'm working on a design with fleur de lis and acanthus, but I don't want it to look too western. I usually draw my own patterns, just feel a little incompetent until I study up on stuff! Are you a leather carver too?

[Peter_M]

You are welcome. I always had the impression the design artistry book from Baird had a strong engraving influence but there is really no reason you cant adapt patterns from one medium to the other. Just takes a bit of experimenting and practice. I am a saddlemaker and braider and now playing around a bit with engraving.

Peter

[montanadream]

Yes, Baird's patterns look more like engraving. I am making a special bracelet for a customer who is not into western. There is a silversmith in town who can make the bracelet for me, then my tooling would be inlaid in the top surface.

Engraving is interesting to me also. I have seen an engraver set up at the Sheridan leather trade show, but didn't have the opportunity to play with it. Do you have a source for hand engraved conchos?