Russian LeatherCrafting 01 2016 HQ

Russian LeatherCrafting №1 2016

4 4 e g a P . e m u t s o c y a l p s o c s ’ n e m o W

English E-Version

Our Dear Readers! You are reading the first issue of in print last year editions #3 and also be useful for those who work our magazine in English. #4. But our readers preferred in related industries and make The magazine is very young, it subscribing to the electronic tools, chemicals, accessories, has existed only for one year. And version and we have stopped the furniture, etc. It is not a secret this is the first periodical edition printout for a while. that leather crafting is closely devoted to leather crafting in We have decided to release this intertwined with other crafts. Russia and the former Soviet- first edition free of charge in And we try to have a wider view. Union. In the last year we have order to give you an opportunity In our pages you can share issued one pilot edition, four to see what about and how we your works. For this purpose, numbered ones and one special write and make your decision we have a separate section – edition on „Arms and Leather”. more balanced. „Our Master’s Show”. Write us For the moment they exist only We see our task not only in if you have something to ask, say in Russian but we will probably the description of some leather or share. You can send us your translate them into English in the crafting technologies. We articles or other materials. We future if our magazine finds its want to give our readers the are open for communication! place in your hearts. knowledge in different areas. The E-mail for you: i n f o @ l e a t h e r c r a f t i n g - This year our plans have knowledge which can be useful grown. We would like to make for a leather craftsman. About journal.ru 6 numbered editions and one art as a science, painting, design, regarding any issues! summer special edition which engineering and business. So do Join Us! will be fully dedicated to tooling. not be surprised at the variety of P.S. We are removed some Russian advertises blocks and English version is The working title is „Tooling - our articles. From ABC to Masterpeace”. The magazine is designed for a shorter than Russian. That will be electronic wide range of craftsmen – from Eugene Solomin magazines. We tried to release beginners to professionals. It will Editor Iskandar Akhmedzyanov Director

The „Darth Vader” character used on the cover is copyrighted by Disney Company. It used here for cosplay suit as allusion only.

Constitutors: Eugene Solomin Iskandar Akhmedzyanov Editor : Eugene Solomin ([email protected] (info @leathercrafting-journal.ru)) Director: Iskandar Akhmedzyanov ([email protected] [email protected])) Made by: Eugene Solomin Daria Solomina Iskandar Akhmedzyanov Anastasia Kurmachyova Y.I. Pustylnik Athors: Eugene Solomin Daria Solomina Iskandar Akhmedzyanov Marina Fux Y.I. Pustylnik Photos and Pictures: Eugene Solomin Iskandar Akhmedzyanov

ABC

Installing Zipper ............................... ..................................................................... ................................................ .......... 6 Installing Case Lock ..................................... ........................................................................ ................................... 8 Leather little slipper

Cowboy’s boots ........................................................................... .............................................................................. ... 10 Silk Brush

Airbrush & other art tools.................................... ................................................................ ............................13 13 Drawing lessons

Simple Coloring Technologies Technologies ........................................................... ........................................................... 16 Rust Stain .................................................... ..................................................................................... ................................. 20 How-to...

Large space stamping ................................................ ..................................................................... ..................... 22 How to... 2

Vertical pockets for cards in the wallet ..................................... .............................................. ......... 26

Corrector: Gregory Kornienko

Issue Pattern

Publishing: Eugene Solomin Anastasia Kurmachyova

Designs .............................. ............................................................... ................................................................... ................................................................... ..................................... .... 32

Men’s Bag Made from Chrome-Tanned Leather ................................ ................................... ... 28

Advertises: Iskandar Akhmedzyanov

Test-Drive

Internet distribution: Eugene Solomin Yury Litovchenko

Tips-Top Tips-T op .............................. ............................................................... ................................................................... ................................................................... .................................... ... 42

Phones: Moscow +7 967 1 282 131 Omsk +7 913 973 89 50 English translations: „Diplomat” Translation Agency http://www.diplomat-omsk.ru Translator Pavel Kacharian E-mail: [email protected] http://leathercrafting-journal.ru http:// leathercrafting-journal.ru http://vk.com/leathercrafting_journal The name of the magazine and its sections, texts and pictures shall be the property of the editorial board and copyrighted. Reprinting of any magazine materials and use of its illustrations is possible only with the express written consent of the editorial board. Letters and manuscripts shall not be returned and peer-reviewed. “Russian LeatherCrafting” Magazine, 2016. The editorial board shall not be liable for the content of advertising materials.

Frost &...Chemicals ....................................... ........................................................................ ................................. 38

Our Wears

Cosplay. Shield Cloak..................................... ...................................................................... ................................. 44 World Art

Baroque Style ..................................................... ................................................................................ ........................... 48 Business&Crafting ............................. ............................................................... ................................................................... ..................................................... .................... 50 Masters

Caracoda ..................................................................................... ........................................................................................ ... 51 WorkBench

Swivel Knife Sharpening ................................ ................................................................. ................................. 54 Very SkillFul Hands

Hand Made Sharpener for Swivel Knife Knife ............................................. ............................................. 57 Braiding

Wide Turk’s Turk’s Head ............................................................................ ............................................................................ 59 Our Master’s Show ................................................... .................................................................................... ................................................................ ............................... 62

Russian LeatherCrafting. #1

Russian LeatherCrafting Subscription Rules 2016 This year it is planned to publish 6 numbered issues and one special issue “Carving & Tooling — From ABC to Workmanship”. Approximate schedule of publication: #1 — end of February #2 – end of April #3 — end of June Special issue — end of July #4 — end of August #5 — middle of October #6 — middle of December

issues

The magazines will be published only in e-versions. Subscription for 2016 also provides for e-magazines only. The first issue is published FREE! Subscription fee is 12 USD or 11 Euro. It can be paid via PayPal: [email protected]

The magazines are published in two versions: “light” and “heavy”. “Light” version is intended for reading from monitor display, tablet PC or mobile phone. This version has low resolution of images and, therefore — small size s (about 10 MB). “Heavy” version has high resolution of images and, therefore, large sizes of the files (about 40-50 MB). This version shall not be printed. Both versions are in PDF format. To subscribe to the magazine you only have to send an electronic message in no particular format to the following e-mail address [email protected]. You will receive a small form. You will have to complete it and send to the same address. Upon payment and receipt of completed form, your data will be entered to subscribers’ base. Already published issues and further ones will be sent to you via e-mail, as far as they are published. For all questions related to the magazine

For Advertisers! Our magazine is the first and the only magazine which incorporates the whole society of Russian-speaking leather crafters. This is the only platform oriented directly towards your target audience. If you want to start working in the Russian market of leather, tools, chemicals and similar goods, let’s start our cooperation. We offer complex advertising which is not limited only by this magazine. Complex advertising includes: — publication of advertising blocks in the magazine, — publication of advertising materials in our community in “Vk” Russian social network (more than 2700 subscribers) and FaceBook group — publication of advertising materials on the Forum of Russian Leather Crafters Guild, in the section “Paid-for advertisement”,

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— creation of „advertiser’s blog” on our website and its operation. — writing of image-building articles about you, your company and products. We offer publication of detailed articles about your particular product, as well as analytical and comparative articles. Please, send your request to the following e-mail to know advertising rates and order an advertisement [email protected] Our group in FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ leathercrafting.journal/

distribution and purchase, please, write to the same e-mail address [email protected]. We invite distributors who have possibilities to organize subscription selling in their countries. Distribution conditions can be specified in the same e-mail address. Electronic copies of the magazine and its copies SHALL NOT BE DISTRIBUTED without consent of the editorial office. Except for the first issue. Drawings and designs published in the magazine or on its website may be printed for personal use. Rights of ownership to the articles and materials published in the magazine shall belong to their authors.

Steampunk appeared as one of directions of science fiction. Though, this term came into general use in 1980s of the previous century, the direction itself has existed since 1960s. It expresses “alternative reality” in which steam engines reached maximum perfection. Nowadays steampunk is implemented as a subculture. Its followers use original esthetics in clothes, furniture and accessories. Steampunk-fashion has no particular set of rules but it has tendency towards influence of the Victorian age. It means dresses, brassieres, skirts and bustles for women and costumes with vests, coats, spats and military clothes for men. The outfit has an apparent accent to specific accessories: pocket watch, umbrellas, glasses (goggles). The clothes and attributes are mainly made of real leather, copper and brass. Steampunk is an enormous area for artistic works of leather crafters. Here, fantasy, design and style are much more important than functionality! We are discuss this topic periodically on our pages. And will return again more... (The pictures were taken from the Internet)

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Installing Zipper In the last issue we described how to terminate a roll zipper. Today we will tell how to install zippers into sewn-in pockets. They are used in purses, handbags, wallets and other leather things. Two such zippers are used in the bag described in the „Pattern of the Issue” section. For installation, you can take a roll zipper or ones of fixed length too. However, in the second case, the length of the zipper should be more than enough. It is better to cut an excess off during installation. Threads used for zipper sewing can serve as clasps in such installation. First you need to mark the opening for the zipper. It is better to mark on the back, so as not to stain the face side. I have used white pencil. You can take a silver gel pen or others. First, draw the center line (Picture 1). It should run parallel to the edge (if the zipper is installed in parallel). From the edges, measure the distances to which the zipper does not reach the edges. They may be the same or different. It depends on design of the product. In our case we measure 1.5 cm from each edge. Make marks on the center line (Picture 2). In the example we install the zipper of 3 cm wide. Its slider needs a hole of 1 cm wide. To find out the size it needs, measure the width of the slider and add 2-4 mm for free movement. Draw a rectangle for the opening. From the central line lay 5 mm off in both sides in the places where the marks are. Match the marks with the lines, and there you will have a rectangle. Its width should be of 1 cm for our zipper, check it after drawing (Picture 3). Now you can cut a hole (Picture 4). It can be rectangular as in the picture. Or you can make it oval. To do this, on the edges of the rectangle make the holes with round punch with a diameter of 1 cm. Then join the holes with slots in the drawn lines. If the zipper has a stopper, you can install it so that the stopper will be visible in the hole (Picture 5). And you can hide

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1 c i P

2 c i P

1.5 см

1 см

Pic 3

Pic 4

Кожевенное дело. №1 Russian LeatherCrafting. #1

Pic 6

Pic 9

Pic 7

Pic 10

Pic 8

Pic 11

Pic 5

it under the leather surface. In the second case the run of the zipper will be longer. After placing the zipper in necessary manner, from the back side you should mark the extent to cut off (Picture 6). Do not place it exactly at the edge, it is better to leave the zipper inside the product. So cut more. However, the remaining part should be enough to sew it to the leather. The width of our zipper is 3 cm. The hole for it is 1 cm. Draw another line along both edges of the opening at a distance of 1 cm from them (Picture 7). These are borders along which the zipper will be pasted. You can use different types of adhesives for zipper installing. Rubber adhesive, PVA adhesive and superglue. The type is not important. If you just fix it for some time, the rubber adhesive will be enough. And if it is necessary to strengthen stitching, you can take something more powerful. I often use rubber adhesive. It is easily removed in the event of wrong entering. Adhesive is applied to the leather (inside out). If the adhesive is required to both surfaces, so it can be applied not on the whole zipper but on the surface of about 8 mm wide from the edge so that the visible part of the zipper is not stained. First paste the back side, then one of the edges (Picture 8). It is better to keep the zipper closed to lay flatter (Picture 9). Align the zipper edge with the white line. Mark the places where you want to cut the zipper (Picture 9). Do not rush to cut it immediately. Otherwise, the slider can remain on the cut pieces and it will be a great piece of work to put it back on the zipper.

Paste the second edge of the zipper along the second line (Picture 10). Now we can return the slider to the part that has been pasted (Picture 11) and cut an excess off (Picture 12). Paste the front part of the zipper. Draw the zipper blade together (Picture 13), then it will slow the slider down and it will be hard to come off the zipper.

Pic 12

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Russian LeatherCrafting. #1 Pic 13

Now, make a groove for a stitch around the hole on the face side (Picture 14). The holes for stitching can be done with the

Pic 14

Pic 15

help of punches with diamond-shaped teeth of the necessary pace (Picture 15). After that, the zipper is sewn with usual

saddle stitch. That’s all, there you are, and the zipper has been sewn in. The main thing is to do everything carefully!

INSTALLING CASE LOCK It is easier to install a briefcase lock than sew a zipper in. And even faster. But there are some peculiarities which need to be considered. The lock consists of three main parts (Photo 1): — Catch, — Lock — Backplate. This set must be supplied with small special slotted screws without caps. Yet we need an additional detail – a tongue. It is easier to take the lock out of the frame with its help. The lock has a groove in the back side to be installed on the cover of the product. In addition, at the stage of product design it is necessary to take into account the thickness of leather which is intended to enter this groove. If the thickness of the

cover, where the lock is to be placed, is more than the groove you cannot install it. The thickness should be 1-2 mm smaller than the width of the groove. This pair of millimeters is intended for a tongue. The tongue must be thick and strong enough so as not to hang over the lock and not curl up into a tube. Its size and shape are quite optional. Anyway, it should be convenient. Very often, a plate has a shape of trapezoid expanding upward with rounded upper angles (Photo 2). The length of the lower side of the trapezoid is usually equal to the width of the lock. The place for the tongue and lock fixing must be provided in advance.

Photo 1

Photo 2

The tongue is glued to the cover of the product at the place of the lock installation. And only after that they are sewed together Pic. 1). The lock with its groove is installed above them (Photo 3). Hole for screw

Catch

Screw

Cover Tongue

Lining Lock

Lock Seam

Backplate

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Pic. 1

Russian LeatherCrafting. #1 Photo 3

Photo 5

Photo 4

The possibility of lock installation should be checked even before the tongue gluing. If the assembly does not enter the groove, the tongue can be slightly skived from below. The lock should be installed tightly by hands. Preferably without clearance. There is one more peculiarity — try to keep the stitching and holes behind the lock not falling on one line (Pic. 1.). If they align, the holess will punch the seam and tear the threads, loosening the stitching.

Photo 6

It is much more important to determine properly the installation places of both parts at the stage of product design. The method of the catch installation directly on the product is most commonly used. Let’s start with it. An backplate will help us mark holes for ends of the frame. Put it to the catch installation place and mark 4 holes for the ends (Photo 6). Punch the grooves. You can use a flathead screwdriver with a suitable shank width. From the face side insert the catch with the ends into the grooves (Photo 7). Do not confuse the top and bottom of the frame! The backplate is attached to the ends from the inner side (Photo 8). If the lock is

When the tongue is installed (glued and stitched together with the cover), fix the lock. We put it to its place and mark the holes for the screws on the inner side (Photo4). The holes are necessary. The slots of the screws are very weak, if you try to screw it directly into the leather, you can turn the slot over. Then it will be very problematic to remove the screw. Remove the lock and punch the holes (Photo 5). Their diameter must be equal to

Photo 7

large enough, there is a possibility to bend the ends to the center (as the lower row in the Photo 8). If it is small, then you can only bend it outward (as the upper row in the Photo 8). In any case, it is necessary to bend everything either inward or outward. You cannot do in the manner as it is done in Photo 8 (one part outward and the other part inward). When bending outward, the ends extend beyond the contour of the lock and, if there is any seam around, be careful not to get into the end with the punch. You can break the tool. This is especially important if you use the second method of the catch installing — to the external pad. In this method, the catch is placed to a separate leather piece

or a bit less than the diameter of the screws. If the slots of the screw are flat and strong enough, you can make holes with an awl. If they are made for a cross screwdriver — it is better to punch. Now you have to tighten the screws and the lock will be installed. Let’s move to the catch. The order of parts installation is not crucial. It depends on the features of the product assembly. You can put the catch first and then the lock.

Photo 8

as described above (Photo 9). And after 9 that, this piece o t o is sewn to the h product. There is more work here but the P ends remain between the leather pad and the product and do not cling to everything inside. Also it is possible to install the catch on the face side of the product and cover the ends inside with the lining. Or just paste a leather patch over the ends to cover them. But this is not the best way. Now you know what briefcase locks are.

Author: E. Solomin 9


Cowboy’s boots

At a small enterprise of Alberta Boot Company Boot Company in Canada dozens of cowboy boots are made every day. Among its customers you can find the actor Brad Pitt, outstanding athletes and police officers working in the mountainous area. It smells like leather in its premises. There are posters of rodeo on the walls and pictures in frames on the westerns motives. Diligent Ben Gerwing passes back and forth between the store and the workshop, consults his customers, and is involved in manufacturing. 26-year-old manager and a grandson of the cowboy boots Companymanufacturer’s founder is in time everywhere. 10

Since 1978, in Calgary, Canada, this footwear is made by hand in the traditional way. Its customers are not only the cowboys and cowgirls from Alberta but also fans of westerns across Canada. In 1988 the Company was an official supplier of cowboy boots for the Winter Olympic Games in Calgary. Gerwing casually wears his cowboy shirt over trousers and dark brown oiled boots made of cattle hide. His favorite footwear. „I have 5 pairs at home. Not many, especially considering that I have been working for 12 years in the store, — he says. — I can wear outworn boots and rarely make a new pair for myself”.


Kangaroo Leather Boots

for shoe upper, to protect the foot from kicking of cows and horses, oblique heel for firm position when using a lasso and rib for spurs support. In addition, there are various models of tourist shoes and work boots, low boots and shoes with lacing on the store shelves.

Each day the manager makes 20-30 pairs of boots, and his worker — a dozen. There are boots of all shapes and colors — over 8,000 pairs on the store shelves. The company produces not only „cheap goods”, but also boots according to specific customer wishes and on request including pink, green, decorated with festoons, with the appearance resembling reptiles, or classic plain, with a monogram or logo of the Company. When the leather has been selected, it is put down under The selection and design of cowboy boots require the utmost the hydraulic press. Then it is cut out to various parts required care. First of all, it is necessary for the footwear manufacture. Seamstresses connect the to select the appropriate leather parts. A machine performs labor intensive finishing seams among countless large rolls in the warehouse. Traditionally, with a computer program on the cut parts of the leather. they are made of cattle hide. But Individual finishing seams are performed on a manual sewing to meet the extravagant desires machine. Then the fitting shape of boots is designed. Among Gerwing offers exotic leather types: from the skin of alligator the hundreds of yellow foot models - the so-called lasts – from Louisiana, kangaroo from they choose the desired shape and size, and moistened and Australia, stingray or ostrich from steamed leather is lasted and dried. They sew a sole, attach a South Africa.

Leather on the Boot Last

heel and place into a cardboard box.

When Calling the Police... After about 4 weeks a customer can come and take his wonderful boots. Their price is 300-1500 euros. Gerwing is sure in the quality of his goods. „Any boots are well-worn for 25 years”, the heir of the Company’s founder thinks. The most popular, as before, the classic cowboy boots with sharp or rounded shape of the toe in line with jackboots models remain, as Gerwing explains. Welt shoe construction method, durable leather

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The head of the enterprise opens a box and shows a very special pair: riding boots worn by Canadian police in the mountains. Since 1999, Alberta Boot Company has been an official supplier of the Royal Mounted Police. During this time, there have been produced more than 10,000 pairs of traditional brown boots with lacing. Not only police, but also movie stars, entertainers and athletes have been the customers of the Company for more than 30-year history of its existence, the Canadian says proudly. Including such actors as Brad Pitt, Jackie Chan, Kevin Costner and Isabella Rossellini. „However, — Gerwing says, —there is no greater joy for us when absolutely ordinary buyers come to us and plank down their hard-earned money for a pair of our boots”.

Author: Y. I. Pustylnik

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Silk Brush

We continue to tell about the painting tools. The most technically sophisticated tool is an airbrush... And about some other tools too.

An airbrush is a useful thing but not mandatory. Due to its cost, not everyone can afford buying it. It allows you coloring large areas quickly and smoothly, and also simplifies the creation of color gradients. Airbrush itself is not very expensive but it cannot operate without a compressor which is much more expensive. This tool is widely used in various fields, so there are many forums where the kinds, types and brands of these devices are discussed. Therefore, the choice of a suitable set (airbrush + compressor) is up to you, the reader. I bought the airbrush for myself focusing on my own taste and financial capacities. I bought it in the art shop, choose among the available ones. As a result, I purchased the airbrush and compressor of FENGDA brand. I liked the upper location of the


tank for paint (does not interfere with your work) and a „pistol” handle device (just convenient for the hand). It is similar to that shown above. I’m quite satisfied with the purchase and have no problems with it. Before buying I had absolutely zero experience with an airbrush. Mastering took me just a week. I have had a good look through the device and the principle of its work. I experimented and began to work. Simple types of coloring, such as coating or base, can be mastered very quickly. However, you have to experiment with creation of the gradients. More complex effects can be achieved using masks — gluing or covering up the parts of the image and coloring of the opened ones. We will tell how to work with simple masks, but the information about more sophisticated techniques can be found in books on airbrushing. Though, when working with leather, it is unlikely you will need it.

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Nozzle

Pic 1

Operation Principle

Injector

Needle

Paint (Dye)

Air

Airbrush operation is to mix paint with the air flow supplied under pressure and spray it onto the surface (Picture 1). One of the main components is a needle. It is located in the center of the nozzle and is responsible for supplying paint into the air flow.

Airbrush Types

Pic 2

Pic 3

Pic 4

Pic 5

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According to the way of paint supply: Gravitational (Pic 2) — paint supply from above of the device, due to gravity. I took it like that. Siphon (Pic 3) — paint supply is performed from below; it is „sucked” due to reduced pressure in the air flow. Airbrush operation is not affected by tank location principle. I prefer the top location of the tank, so it mingles less when working. According to the way of paint mixing: With internal mixing —these include both of the above airbrushes. Mixing of paint and air takes place inside the device. This type is more popular. It is more convenient and easier to manage spraying. With external mixing (Pic 4). This design is simpler and does not allow separate controlling of the flow of air and paint. They are cheaper and allow painting large areas, similarly to conventional sprayers. According to the way of control: Single action — it is possible to control only a single flow, air or paint. Currently, there are mainly patterns with air flow controlling. Airbrushes of a single action are simpler in design and controlling and recommended for beginners. Double action — both flows are controlled. They are divided into dependent and independent. Dependent (automatic) — flow control is carried out in the dependent way. Air valve opening at the same time causes the needle movement and paint release. The greater the air flow, the greater the flow of paint. The stroke of the needle can be controlled with a special screw, but it needs to stop working, and adjust the stroke of the needle. This type of airbrush is more complicated than the previous one. And more flexible in configuration. Independent (manual) — independent flow control. When pressing the lever the air valve opens, when turning the

lever back the paint supply valve opens. Simultaneous manipulation allows you controlling both flows. Mastering this action requires expertise but also gives a lot more opportunities. Airbrushes of double action are available with the principle of the internal mixing.

Chemicals for airbrush Water- and alcohol-based dyes and paints including acrylics are quite suitable for leather coloring by airbrush. The consistency must be very liquid, like water, so as the nozzle does not become clogged with particles. I use alcohol and water based paints of Fiebing brand, finishes of Lef-Lef brand as they are. Pebeo acrylic paints and Fiebing Tan-Kote and BagKote finishes I dilute with water before applying.

Some Advices for Working with an Airbrush 1) Always wash the airbrush carefully after use. The channel can be clogged with dried pigments of paint and there will be problems with further work. For cleaning you can use isopropyl alcohol. 2) Use the hood. You can make it yourself using an empty cardboard box and an old vacuum cleaner (Pic 5). Or you can buy ready-made one. 3) Buy a rack for your airbrush with fasteners. If you need to stop working temporarily, you need a place where it can be placed so as not to spill the paint. 4) Begin spraying outside of the product (if possible). At the beginning the airbrush can „spit out” large drops of paint that will spoil the product. 5) Check the operation of devices before filling the paint. It is very inconvenient when something has failed to work and you have a full tank of paint in your hands. 6) Before operating, fill the tank with water and check that water is sprayed (the nozzle is not clogged).

Russian LeatherCrafting. #1 Compressor

Other tools Daubers — are wool (or sponge) balls on a wire handle. They are not expensive and sold in the amount of ten pieces. Useful for painting of large areas (basic coverage). Good replacement to airbrush for this type of work. There are different sizes of them.

Manometer

Reciever

Pipettes are used for paints mixing and diluting. With their help it can be easy to follow and maintain the proportions of the components. The proportion estimation is made in drops (e.g., 5 drops of paint and 2 drops of diluent).

Compressors and receivers. Compressors for aerography have power and specifications just for this kind of works. It is necessary to buy namely these special-purpose devices. Though, earlier some craftspeople used compressors from refrigerators, for example. The picture shows the main components of a standard compressor. When getting into types and specifications of compressors, I didn’t see any special differences and just bought the cheapest one, without receiver and with automatic pressure support. Receiver is a big empty tank between the compressor and airbrush. It has the following designations: — to prevent oil drops from penetrating into airbrush from the compressor. Modern compressors do not have such problem, — to compensate air blows which arise due to peculiarities of compressor operation, — to compensate pressure level differences during operation. Modern compressors are advanced and complete enough to do without a receiver. They are equipped with a small tank near pressure gauge. This tank allows performing the first two functions mentioned above. The third function is not so critical in case of short operation. My cheap compressor without a receiver suits me very well for more than a year. There is a quite large selection of airbrushes and compressors for them at the stores (and more over on the Internet). There is a choice for any taste and budget.

Filled marker is a marker that can be filled with any liquid dye. It is convenient for coloring the edges. You can buy it in stores for graffiti. Dye or finish must be diluted to the water consistency. Water based and alcoholic dyes for leather coloring, as well as acrylic paints are well combined with it.

Palettes — are used as a place for colors mixing. They are made of plastic which is easily washed from the dye. There are different types, with different number of „cells”. I have a palette such as in the picture. It has one drawback — too little cells, a little paint can be diluted at a time.

Sponges — there are special techniques of dyeing with a sponge. This allows creating interesting effects including gradient transitions creating without using an airbrush. Yet with their help you can apply antiques and stains, remove excess and moisten leather, etc. Paper napkins and towels. They are used to work with antiques and remove excess of paint, accidental spills, etc. The last two ones are very useful things in the workshop.

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SIMPLE COLORING TECHNOLOGIES At the moment in the section “Silk brush” we tell about painting tools but in the section “Lessons” we will describe how to work with paints in practice. For a start, we are going to study simple technologies which do not require special skills except for keeping tools in your hands and slightly operate them.

PIC 1

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OVERALL COLORING Overall coloring is a technology for dyeing large surfaces with one color. Do not confuse overall and background coloring. These are different sorts of things. Large surfaces can be dyed with the help of different tools and in a variety of ways which we are going to consider now.

Dip overall coloring. This is the simplest technology. It allows dyeing a product quickly and with necessary color. The product is dipped into dye, extracted and dried. Good penetration of dye into leather and speed of work can be considered as an advantage of dipping technology. But this technology also has its disadvantages such as significant dye consumption and long drying period. I use dipping technology when I dye leather strips (for stitching of edges) and belts. You can use a cutting loop (Picture 1) in order to reduce dye consumption, get

dirty less and simplify the process. The strip or belt should be run through the loop. Then the loop is dipped into dye and the belt is run through it. You do not need any big dye container for this process. The container able to hold a part of belt or strip will be enough. For thin strips I used palette container and then finish them in the same way.

Overall coloring by brush. It is better to use big brushes (flat or round) for coloring of large surfaces. It is necessary to make horizontal strokes with flat brushes (Picture 2). To get more uniform color you need to make 2-3 coats. Leave each coat to dry. Each of the following coats should be applied perpendicularly to the previous one. It is necessary to make circular motions with round brushes, applying the strokes against each other (Pic 3). In addition, you can make 2-3 coats to get uniform coloring.

Russian LeatherCrafting. #1 Overall coloring by airbrush.

PIC 2

Use of airbrush provides uniform coat. In addition, it enables to get surface coloring with color gradient quite simply. In order not to dye everything around it is recommended to use cardboard screens (Picture 4) behind and from the side of painted product. You should start and finish dyeing outside the product (Picture 5). It is recommended to apply 2-3 thin coats to make coating more uniform. After coloring do not forget to wash the airbrush thoroughly.

PIC 4

PIC 3

PIC 5

Overall coloring by dauber. A dauber is specially designed for large surfaces coloring. The process dauber dyeing is convenient, easy and quick. Apply dye on the surface with circular motions (Picture 6). The strokes should overlap.

Overall coloring by sponge. Make three balls of cotton, clean, white cloth (an old T-shirt will be good enough). Put them into a bag made of the same cloth and tie the bag with elastic band on the top. Apply dye with a brush on the bottom part of the bag. Make coloring by vertical motions, overlapping spots (Picture 7).

PIC 7

PIC 6

BACKGROUND COLORING The “background” means leather areas located between ornament elements which are put downwards (more often). Usually the background has limits in the form of boarder pattern. The background should always be within these limits (Picture 8). But there exist ornaments with open background (Picture 9). In such case, the background gradually passes into surface of the product. Background coloring is a hard work, especially when the background consists of a large number of small areas. However, such work requires only insignificant skills and precision. This work is performed with brushes. Brushes of sizes #4-5 will suit for large areas. For small areas you can take #1.

PIC 8

PIC 9

17


PIC10 Start dyeing of the background area in the center with well loaded (with dye) brush. Paints start to spread slightly in the points of contact, especially when the

brush is much loaded and you can dye the ornament together with the background (Picture 10). Dye the surface from the center to the edges and corners. The Picture 11 illustrates how dye spreads around the point of contact to leather. But ornament details will not be harmed because the contact was made not in the corner as opposed to Picture 10. In order to paint the place of ornament and background stitching, do not try to get in the corner with brush. Pass with loaded brush on the background along the joint, not far from it. Let the dye spread towards the ornament. It will soak into leather background but not penetrate into pattern.

PIC11

You can practice on “rough” ornaments before you coloring the product.

Dyeing of ornament details with one color

PIC12

PIC13

18

Sometimes you need to dye separate parts of the product with other color different from the background or general color of the product. For example, flowers in ornament (Picture 12). Such work should be performed with the help of an appropriate brush and paint or dye (spirit, water or acrylic). Recommendations on covering details with spirit or water dyes are the same as for background coloring. It is desirable to use slightly loaded brush to prevent dyes from penetrating into nearby details and background (especially, if background color is lighter). One of recommendations given by the professionals (Peter Main and Al Stohlman) — it is better to start with light colors gradually passing to darker ones. In other words, first we cover light details and then the dark ones. It also concerns the background. If the background is dark, it should be covered the last thing. This is not absolute truth, there can be situations with exceptions. But when such situations arise, you will understand in practice. Acrylic paints should be used in a different manner. If the whole product is covered with spirit/water dyes and contains only a little acryl, I recommend you to cover the product with dyes first, then cover with finish and only after this work with acrylic paints. The matter is that when you use acrylic paint immediately over dyes, acrylic paint captures the pigment from the dye and

changes its color. Especially it happens when the dye is darker then acrylic paint. But use of finishes makes them separate and acrylic paint covers better. There is one more tip. When you need to apply acryl-metallic (gold, silver (Pic 13), bronze, etc.) or neon colors, it is necessary to make “priming” under acryl with paint of approximate color. For example, cover leather with yellow spirit dye under gold (Pic 14). When acryl starts to fade, yellow “background” will look more natural than just leather. Using acrylic paints you can add brightness to patterns. But dyes have rather pale shades and their palettes do not include such necessary colors as white or light blue. When I use different types of p aints, first I try to cover with dyes (including “priming” under metallic), then I make intermediate coating with finishes and, in the end, on top of finishes I paint with acryl. I finish making 2-3 coats of finishes.

4 1 C I P


ANTIQUE-GELS AND STAINS PIC15

PIC16

Working process with antiques and stains is quite simple: — Apply much gel or stain on the product surface. You can apply them with everything you want — brushes, sponges, fir pieces, tooth brush. The main thing is that coloring agent got into all concavities and holes, corners and tooling. -— After applying you can either wait for some time or remove antique immediately. Gels and stains are usually applied on clean tooled leather. Coloring grade depends on duration of antique contact with leather. The longer it contacts with leather surface, the better it will absorb and color will be more intense. — Remove antique from the product using paper towel. Remove excessive

PIC17

antique with gentle motions, not cleaning antique out of concavities. You need to wipe only raised surfaces. Be careful, you can easily stain other parts of the product or a table with paste or gel. Use of antique gel Tandy Antique Gel of Medium Brown color is shown in the pictures. Picture 15 — gel is applied on the product with the help of tooth brush. Picture 16 — excessive gel is removed using paper towel. Picture 17 — once the gel has dried, wipe the pattern slightly using wet cloth, it removes excessive gel from raised parts (compare the right side of the belt with the left one). Wipe carefully!

PIC19

PIC20

Use of stain Tandy Antique Gel of Brian Brown color. Picture 19 — For this example we apply stain using loaded dauber. Stain has more liquid consistency than gels and pastes. Also it gives lighter shade. Picture 20 — leave stain for some time to make color more intense.

Picture 21 — remove excesses using paper napkin. Now you need to cover the product with finish in several coats. The color after stains and antiques is not uniform. But the basis of technology provides for this. If you need uniform coloring, it is better to use dyes. The main difference of antiques and stains from dyes is that they give different color intensity on raised and concave surfaces. It is clearly seen in the last pictures in examples.

PIC18 Picture 18 — Apply finish on the product. Right part is finished (compare with the left one). I used brown Lef-Lef top finish. It is better to apply finishes on antiques and stains with the help of the airbrush.

PIC21 Concavities and holes are darker than raised parts of the pattern. Such effect adds some contrast to tooled pattern, thus, it looks more raised. In the next issue we will consider combined technologies, in other words, technologies consisting of several simple ones but in different sequences.

Author: E. Solomin

19


Rust

Stain

I was constantly worried about the problem of coloring the leather gray. And so that there is no reddish color of the leather. And how to make paint absorbed but not surface. The forum of the Russian Guild of Leathercrafters suggested watching Will Ghormley’s video. I got in touch with Will and asked him to share this information. He allowed translating and publishing it. I present to your attention the leather coloring with a barrel of rust! Here is my rust tank. It sets on a small oven with a short chimney up the back. From time to time it helps recirculate the iron oxide through the water if it is brought to a boil. Never get the water too hot for your hand if you have leather in the tank! Also, in the winter, I have to build a fire under it and thaw it out if I want to use it.

it and rub my hands up and down the iron straps and the inside of the tank, dislodging the iron oxide. A string is run through each of the pieces in a place where it won’t make a mark on the visible portion of the finished rig. Each piece is suspended in the rusty water where it isn’t allowed to touch the sides or any other piece of leather.

The strings are still attached to give you some ideas on how to attach them to keep from leaving faint lines. The leather has a light gray coloration at this point. If I had left it in longer, it would turn a deep purple black that will never rub off on clothing. However, since I want the illusion of age, I took it out early. Experimentation will give you an idea of how long to leave your leather in the tank. It looks darker while it is wet. It will dry lighter, but as you can see in this photo, when you apply the extra virgin olive oil, it darkens again.

I keep a slab of Cottonwood over it as a lid to keep out debris and make it more difficult for mosquitos to live in i t. The rusty lookin’ film on the water indicates the iron oxide isn’t well circulated within the tank. Straps of soft iron line the tank to maximize the surface area of iron to the effects of the water. A loop of electrical wire is submerged in the water to suspend the leather from. Before I can use the tank, I will heat

20

If the leather is touching other leather, there will be a lighter shadow in that place. If the leather is touching iron, there will be a dark streak or blotch in that place. I move the pieces from time to time to make sure they aren’t touching. Here are the collected pieces after being removed from the tank and dried.

If in doubt, take the leather out and let it dry. If it isn’t dark enough, dunk it some more. You can always make it darker with repetition, but you can never lighten it up. http://www.willghormley-maker.com

Author: Will Ghormley


Some sequences how to color leather

Coventions: — Dyes

— Acrylic Paints

— Antique Paste

— Finish

— Antigue Gel or Stain

— Neatsfoot Oil

1) Coloring elements

Background Coloring

2) Background Coloring (Black)

Coloring ornament (Silver)

(Black)

3)

Background Coloring

Coloring elements

4) Background Coloring

5)

6) Background Coloring (Dark Brown)

(Dark Brown)

21


How-to...

Large space stamping

As exemplified by Sergey Neskromnyi’s stamps Currently residing in Bulgaria, a Craftsman Sergey Neskromnyi has started ornament-stamps making for tooling. As it was previously stated in the article about this Craftsman, he has field-specific education and very true taste. Thus, his stamps are very qualitative in all respects. I purchased 4 stamps I liked the most in his collection. By their example I want to demonstrate how ornament-stamps may be used for large space stamping. For example, as a background. pic 1 pic 2

For illustrative purposes I make use of stamp-ornament No.4 (as it is marked in Sergey’s Facebook page). It gives the imprint shown above (Pic 1). Ornament is inscribed to rhombus and has overall dimensions of 16x13 mm. Geometry is stiffly accurate. Imprints are neat, flat and deep. Stamps are made of brass. Handle is turned of steel and stamp as such is screwed on it. It has a mark on the back side demonstrating ornament, when the stamp is exposed to leather. The construction is simple, comfortable and qualitative. Stamp impact area is large, thus I apply heavy hammer about 600g in size of „hammer” type. There is a need to strike several time by lighter one (400g) in order to get a good imprint. Experiment 1. For a start, let us consider the way how a belt may be modelled by these stamps. I used a blank of Argentinian leather of 5 cm wide as an example (width of finished belt is 4 cm). 1) Draw a midline in the belt centre at length it will be stamped (Pic 2). The pattern is to be constructed from the centre as the edges will be cut then. The imprints will be in contact; consequently they will hide the orientation

22

line. It can be drawn strongly enough for good vision. 2) Stamp geometry has clearly expressed upper and lower points, which may be set down along the drawn line. Let us make the first stamp aligning the upper and lower points of the stamp along the orientation line (Picture 3). 4) The second stamp is made by aligning the lower point of the stamp with upper pic 4

pic 3

one of the first impact. Both stamp points should be within one line. Then the third one is made and so on. Set out the first line of ornaments along the whole length (Picture 4). 5) Now, the stamp is placed above the first and second imprints. So that the upper and lower points touch the side twigs of the first row (Picture 5).

pic 5

Russian LeatherCrafting. #1 pic 6

Make the second line of imprints setting the stamp in the same way. 6) The third line of the imprints (Pic 6) is made in analogy to the second one but lower than the first line. Three rows are enough for this belt considering cutting and edge sewing. Experiment 2. Space filling. Let us consider how to fill large space by this stamp on the example of wallet cover back side.

pic 9

pic 7

1) Draw central orientation line (Pic 7). Draw more orientation lines to the left and right of it in the distance of 8 mm from the main one. They will serve as reference points for stamp adjusting. If making by feel the pattern will „move” because of

pic 10

pic 8

stamp set-up tolerances. It is better to make vertical lines along the area every 8 mm for more comfortable work. 2) Make the first imprint levelling the upper and lower points of the stamp along the main line (Pic 8).

pic 11

The lower point should be on the line marking the lower edge of the pattern. 3) Make imprints of the first row along the whole length (Pic 9). 4) Make the second row. Use the orientation line in the capacity of the main reference point. Side „wings” of the ornament should not fall outside the limits of the neighbouring lines. It is desirable that they get to adherent point of two imprints from the first row (Pic 10). The picture shows lining of the left edge for stamping. The right edge is also lined. 5) The pattern is gradually stamped to the left edge. Then, from the centre — to the right edge. It has to be flat due to lining (Pic 11). Finished wallet is demonstrated on the right, which we have just modelled. Painting is performed by antique-gel Eco-Flo Medium Brown. Other stamp samples of Sergey Neskromnyi may be seen at his Facebook page — https://www.facebook.com/sergeyneskromniy

23

Russian LeatherCrafting. #1 pic 12 pic 14

pic 13

E294-3

E294

E294-4

Experiment 3. Standard background stamps of E294 series are applied for the third experiment. Е294 (Pic 12). It is better to use the biggest one — E294-3 in order to stamp larger spaces. Let us consider typical mistakes by this example if spaces are stamped by means of unstructured stamps (Sergey’s stamps are represented by structured ornaments).

pic 15

Mistake 1. Partial non-imprinting (Pic 13). It may occur as a result of stamp adjusting at an angle to leather surface. Also it can be used as special effect. For example, it is required for combination of stamped space and clean leather (without tooling). Pic 14 serves as an example. The background around the letters evolves into neat leather. During complete stamping of the background try to set the stamps evenly to avoid this problem.

pic 16

2) Elastic surface under leather or leather is „rubber” itself. It is better to take heavier hammer and make one impact per stamp in order to avoid it. Mistake 3. Too many imprints in small space (Pic 16). In case of great number of impacts by the stamp at one place this kind of picture appears. Besides that, it looks not good

enough, this pattern strongly deforms leather. Try not to beat many times in one place. Overlapping of two imprints is advisable to be made 20% of the stamp area but not more. Mistake 4. Structured pattern (Pic 17). Anyway, the sense of such stamp is irregular chaotic tooling pattern. Order is out of subject here. It is necessary to

pic 19

pic 18

Please, note the difference. One more tip. If occasionally there is a small unstamped space, as in the Pic 19 (in red circle), do not make stamping by all stamp’s area. Use one of its „angles” as in a small imprint (Pic 20). Otherwise, you will get Mistake 3 which looks even worse. The Picture 21 shows the case the surface

24

Mistake 2. Double imprinting (Pic 15). It may occur because of double impact by hammer with stamp bouncing from the leather surface. There are several reasons: 1) Too light hammer. The impact turns to be light, it bounces of the stamp and the stamp from leather. The stamp is shifted and hammer makes the second impact.

pic 20

pic 17

make slight twists of the stamp in every new imprint in order to add some chaotic character. The greater the difference is, the more unpredictable the pattern will be. Compare two rows of imprints in the Picture 18. Upper row is the same that in the Picture 17. Lower row is analogues but it has rotations around the axis.

of which was stamped by Е294-3 stamp. The finished product looks like this. Colored and finished. Unstructured stamp pattern makes the leather surface specifically rough. On the next page you can see a small test of these mistakes. And its solution at the end of this magazine.

Author: E. Solomin pic 21


test youself In the picture the area is stamped with E294-3 background stamp. Here, all the mistakes described in the previous article have been made intentionally. Find these mistakes and at the same time pay attention how they affect the overall impression of the stamping. Which of them are nearly invisible and which significantly degrade the pattern. On page 43 you will find the answers to the test.

Coloring Chart of «Bayonet» Dyes (China) You can buy it on Groomix.ru


How to... 2 Vertical pockets for cards in the wallet There are several ways to make pockets for cards. Let us consider one of them. It allows you doing a large number of pockets arranged vertically (6-7 pieces). The thickness of the assembly is not very big...

Pocket assembling consists of the front panel and satin strip, which performs the function of supporting the cards so that they do not fall inside the assembly. The assembly itself needs to be stitched on any item of the wallet after manufacturing. In this example, in the bottom of the assembly a couple of pockets for „SIM cards” for mobile phones is made. Instead of them, you can make a transparent window or anything else. I took dark brown clothing leather for front panel. Workpiece size is 20 cm by 9 cm. The length has been taken by wallet

pic 1

26

size. The width is so that the cards fit into the holes (the length of the cuts for the card — 6 cm). And, the space at the edges of the cuts and for the turndowns by 1 cm from each edge. Skive two long edges on the reverse side of the workpiece and turn them down by 1 cm and glue. From the upper edge make the first cutpocket at a distance of 2 cm from the upper edge. Then make five more cuts from it every 2 cm. In total there are 6 pockets. Make round holes with a diameter of about 4 mm at the ends of the cuts, so that the edges of the pockets are not torn. Make additional details — pockets for „SIM cards” or a transparent window. You will have a front panel as it is shown on Picture 1. Now, attach a satin ribbon to this panel, which will not allow cards to falling down. There is a great choice of satin ribbons. I used black one, of 6 cm wide. You can take narrower one. I haven’t measured the length. I’ve just bought one meter and at the end of work I cut excessive length off. Support is not needed for the lower pocket, the card will bump into the bottom seam of the wallet (Picture 2).

pic 2

I used a bank card to measure the length of the ribbon properly. Smear with glue the space between the fifth and sixth cuts (Picture 3). Glue the edge of the satin ribbon to it. Along the fifth cut, below it. You can enhance fixing of the ribbon by stitching it with a thread. But I did not.

pic 3


pic 4

pic 5

The top edge of the ribbon should be aligned with a cut and glued properly, so it does not fray during operation (Picture 4). Align the ribbon concerning panel too.

pic 7

pic 6

Insert the card into the fifth pocket and align properly with the front side (Picture 5). Overturn the part, trying not to move the card.

pic 8

Wrap the ribbon over the card and glue to the space (Picture 7). Align the edges of the ribbon with the lower layer. Check the card position.

pic 9

Smear the ribbon with glue (Picture 8). Two centimeters above the cut and approximately 4 cm below. Gently bend the ribbon down. Here, the main thing is to

pic 10

On the reverse side press the card to the satin ribbon (the card should be over the ribbon — Picture 6). Smear with glue the space between cuts 4 and 5.

pic 11

align the fold with the cut very carefully and glue it properly. Again, you can enhance it by stitching. Lower pocket is ready. Insert the card into cut 4 (Picture 10).

pic 12

Overturn the panel. Wrap the ribbon around the card again and glue to the space between cuts 3 and 4 (Picture 11). This is the second pocket. Similarly, do all the other pockets. The last part is glued to the space above the first cut (Picture 12). And the ribbon is cut. The finished panel is shown in Picture 13. After assembling, it is sewn to a large pocket for notes or other panel. Satin ribbons should be hidden inside. They should not stick out anywhere or overhang. Satin ribbon is very thin; it allows increasing a large number of layers without significant thickening of the assembling. At the same time it is quite durable.

Author: Е. Solomin

pic 13

27


Configuration: — external zip-through patch pocket with two small pockets for phones inside, — external sewn-in pocket on the front panel, — big patch pocket on the back panel, — two patch pockets inside and one sewn-in pocket, — with the lining, — wide strap. V

This year we are moving to the patterns of any bags. Let’s start with a quite complicated man’s bag made of typical leather of chrome tanning. This bag is quite unpretentious and practical. It was made upon the model of the previous one, fabric. All measurements have been taken from it too. Among the features, it is worth noting that it has main seams, which are internal. That is, it is sewn inside out, with the lining out and then is turned inside out. There is a welt on the external patch pocket. This is just a perfect chance for those who wanted to practice creation of the welt.

As usual in this category, we will not dwell on the details of the bag manufacturing and just describe the general procedure for the assembly and some peculiarities. Let’s start with the front panel. It has a sewn-in pocket with overlay (Pic 1) and an external patch pocket with the welt. Inside the patch pocket there is another small pocket intended for phones. First of all, it is better to sew the small pocket for phones (divided into two), so that later the internal pocket will not interfere with us (Pic 1). To add volume, the side edges of the pocket are turned down for 1 cm. Make the same turndown for 1 cm to the left and right in the center.

Pic 1

Pic 2

28

Sewn-in pocket. A zipper is glued to the detail of the front panel over the cutout and then the detail of the overlay is glued on the top of it. The details of the pocket itself are glued on the back side. There are no drawings for this pocket, so the dimensions are chosen as you need. The overlay is sewn with two seams — along the perimeter and around the zipper. Be careful with the details of the pocket, do not sew them to the front panel in the wrong places! Then, the details of the inside pocket are sewn together (Pic 2). Let’s turn to the big patch pocket. It is the most difficult one in this design. In my case the pocket is even reinforced with the overlay in the upper part (Pic 3). But you may not do it. First you need to assemble the pocket itself and then sew it to the front panel. Before assembling cut out a detail of the pocket, attach it to the front panel and draw it out with a silver marker (or white pencil). Along this line, draw another one, at a distance of 1 cm inside the pocket (Pic 1). The pocket will be glued along this second line. Begin assembling with the zipper.


Pic 5

The length of the „zipper” is 40 cm. Two small pieces are sewn to it from the ends which should add volume to the pocket. The pocket has a welt. As a welt I used a leather strip of 2 cm wide and 40 cm long. The welt is folded in half along its length, a thin cord is inserted inside and the halves are glued together. The welt is glued to the „zipper” with sewn pieces on the front side. Welt should be glued with its lower edge — along the edge of the zipper. Then the welt with the zipper is glued to the upper part of the pocket detail, on the front side and is sewn from the inside. After sewing an excess of the welt can be cut off. The zipper is turned inside out. In the lower part the pocket will be deformed a little. The folds can appear. They will disappear when sewed to the right place. The pocket is glued to the front panel, along the line that we have drawn earlier (internal) and sewn (Pic 4). The front panel is ready (Pic 5). The lining of the front panel should be made according to the pattern of the panel itself. I used pigskin leather. Sew the inside patch pocket to the lining (Pic 6). And divide it into two (you can leave one large if you want). The lining is glued to the front panel.

The back panel (Picture 7). It is much easier. There is only one patch pocket on it over the entire width. It is closed with the Velcro located in the cen ter. The upper edge of the pocket is turned down by 3 cm and Velcro is sewn exactly on this part. The second part of the Velcro is at the back panel. The pocket is glued to the back panel at the bottom and aside. The lining for the back panel is of the same shape as the panel itself. The inside pocket with the “zipper” is sewn in it, similar to the front panel but without a cover piece (Pic 8). The lining is glued to the back panel. The top of the bag consists of two parts which are sewn to the zipper (Pic 9). The patterns show the top of the bag in the assembly. The two sides are assembled of parts of the sides and straps that hold the metal frames for spring snaps (Pic 10). The strap is turned around the frame by about 2 cm. Then it is sewn to detail of the side. On the top it can be arranged with a decorative strip (4 by 9 cm). It is better to cut the bottom longer than in the pattern. An excess can be cut off later when assembling. The bottom is sewn to one of the sides (Pic 10). Now ready panels and the middle part

Pic 7

Pic 8

Pic 9

should be assembled in a bag. As we have already mentioned, the seams will be internal, so sew with the lining out. Find the middle of the top and mark it from both sides. Find the middle of the tops of the front and back panels and mark them too. Pic 10

Pic 4

Pic 6

Continue on Page 37

V

29


Zipper overlay on front panel Front panel

Scale 1:2 (mm)

Small pocket for phones

30

Small pieces for zipper of external pocket (2 pcs.)


Patch pocket

Sides (2 pcs.)

Inside pocket on lining front panel

) . s c p 2 ( s p a r t s e d i S

2 : 1 e l a c S

(mm) Continue Page 36

V

31

Russian LeatherCrafting. #1 At this issue we publish designs of pair women’s wide belts. First belt made as a part of fur coat. But it works itself too. It needs to add zipper for closing. Base of design is ornament of shawl that made in Pavlovskiy Posad town.

32

Russian LeatherCrafting. #1 Pattern is a half of wide belt. Real size. You can connect halves at any sides.

33


Second is a women’s corset belt. It is consist of 3 details — round centre and two sides. Sides connected to centre detail by any lacing. It is „corset belt” and it has corset lacing on the back.

34


† Фото 3 †

35

Russian LeatherCrafting. #1 Continue. Begin on Page. 31

V

Velcro

Back panel with pocket

Bottom

Scale 1:2 Top with zipper

36

(mm)

Russian LeatherCrafting. #1 Continue. Begin on Page 29

V

LEATHER HOUSE HIT of SEASON:

VEG-TANNED LEATHER

Pic 11

To the front panel glue an assembled sidewall, aligning it according to the marks on the detail of the top and on the front panel. Undersides should be out. It is better to glue from the center to the edges. First, in the direction of the side to which the bottom is not sewn and then in the opposite direction. When the bottom reaches the second side, it can be cut to size. After gluing sew the front panel and the side together. Similarly, glue the back panel to the assembled side aligning it according to the previously made marks. Inside out. Sew the back panel and the side together. Turn out carefully the already sewed bag through the open zipper. Align the corners and seams with hands, giving it a shape of the bag. A strap can be made in different ways. Here I sewed two strips of 4 cm wide. The strap is 1.5 m long with a bend for adjustment. Do not forget to fix spring snaps and regulating frame on it. A large number of pockets will suit men’s tastes. In my opinion, the only drawback of this bag is absence of handle on the top. But there is no place to fix it.

Author: E. Solomin

- any weights - any colours - any topology Italy, Russia

„ C R A Z Y H O R S E ” any weights - any colours - any finishes

Ostrich Legs Leather And: garment sheepskin exotic leather saddle and tack bag, chap and upholstery leather shoes leather for fun

Cut by sizes Send to regions Moscow, Staroalekseevskaya str. 24/1 +7 926 919 54 01

www.dom-kozhi.com [email protected] yanna_k.79

Pic 12

37


FROST &...CHEMICALS Now it is 30°C below zero outside. It’s time to think about the impact of such temperatures on the chemicals that we use in our work. Upon application of chemicals on pr oducts such impact is not very critical, but when purchasing and transporting... Starting with autumn frosts our leathercrafters begin to think about buying in advance more dye-finishes for winter. Let’s have a test. How will different compositions respond to an hour exposure to t°=30°C below zero? At the same time we will see what happens after thawing. Can we then continue to use the fluid under test?

The first experiment was conducted at the beginning of this winter. Alexander Filinskiy sent me from Almaty 10 halfliter cans of leather finish of Lef-Lef Turkish Company. Just at that moment we had frosts about 20°C below zero. I do not know how the finish was being transported but before I took it, it had spent two days in unheated warehouse. I was afraid that it would be frozen completely and rupture the cans. I brought the box to the workshop and opened it. It turned out that the finish was not even covered with the crust of ice. It is resistant to low temperatures. Therefore, I sent it to other customers without fear. There are no labels with written composition on the cans. We only know that it is acrylic. But judging by the resistance to frost, it has some components preventing freezing. Later we will talk about other finishes. And now we address to coloring compositions - dyes, antiques, stains. Let’s begin our experiments with the chemicals of the TANDY Leather Factory Company. Unfortunately, I do not have the entire product line and I will try what I have. And I’ve got Eco-Flo Leather Dye of Java Brown color (although the color does not affect our experiments). We also have Eco-Flo Hi Lite Color Stain of Saddle Tan color. And such a thing as Eco-Flo All-in-One of Midnight Black color. The compositions will be placed in the caps and put outside for 1-1.5 hours.

38

Russian LeatherCrafting. #1 Leather Dye Hi Lite Color Jawa Brown Saddle Tan

PIC 3

All-in-One Midnight Black

PIC 1

So, now we’ll see what happened to Tandy chemicals. Dye and stain have frozen completely having turned into ice. All-inOne, which has the consistency of a thick paste, has become even thicker and the top was covered with a crust of ice. But it can be easily pierced with an awl. That is, it Leather Stain

Edge Kote

PIC 2

hasn’t frozen up to the state of ice (Pic 1). After thawing and bringing to room temperature the liquids turned back to the same state as before freezing (Pic 2). Let’s try to dye. The compositions have retained their properties (Pic 3). Although they are frozen to ice but after thawing

their properties are retained. We can conclude that Tandy chemicals do not lose their properties due to the impact of low temperatures. Let’s move to the products of Fiebing Company. This Company is represented much wider. Let’s test Fiebing’s Leather

Antique Acrylic Stain

Antique Finish PIC4

Stain of Golden Oak color, Edge Kote of Brown color and Antique Acrylic Stain of Mahogany color. And in addition we will test antique paste Antique Finish of Sheridan Brown color. The first liquid has water consistency. The second one is slightly thicker. The third is a gel. And a paste is a paste (Pic 4). Upon exposure to freezing temperatures Leather Stain has not frozen AT ALL. Edge Kote has frozen completely. Acrylic antique has thickened very much and been covered with a layer of ice. Antique paste has little changed, it only has become cold. Everything is clear with the antiquepaste. It is almost not affected by low temperatures, it is very thick and oily.

PIC 7

PIC 5

Let’s warm the rest of compositions and see how they will behave. Edge Kote has been stratified. But after stirring it has returned to its original state. Practical use has shown that it is quite operable (Pict 5). The worst situation is with acrylic antique. After thawing, it has become very thick (Pic 6). It has not become a gel again and, apparently, will not. The rest of the composition can be used in the work. A simple testing on a piece of leather shows that the antiques-stains and dye for edge retain their coloring properties after thawing (Pict 7). However, we do not recommend

exposing Edge Kote and Antique Acrylic Stain to low temperatures. For them, the experiment has not passed without leaving a trace. Now let’s try the dye of the same Company. We will test Fiebing’s Leather Dye of Orange color, Professional Leather Dye of Dark Brown color and Institutional Leather Dye of Red color. The result was predictable. The first two alcohol-based dyes were not completely frozen. The third one, water-based, has frozen to the bottom (Pic 8). After thawing Institutional Dye continues to color as before.

Leather Dye

Institutional Leather Dye

Professional Leather Dye PIC 6

PIC 8

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Tan Kote

Acrylic Resolene

Carnauba Cream

Pro Clear PIC 9

Do not forget that if dye freezes, being tightly filled to the maximum in a sealed can, to the state of ice, it can rupture its container. Ice increases in volume as compared with the original liquid. In this case, the alternate freezing and thawing can lead to rupture of the can first and then thawed dye can stain all around. As I watched in their original packaging dye is not poured „chock-full”, but still. In this experiment we observe advantage of alcohol-based dyes. They are not affected with cold in any way. Although water-based dyes do not lose their properties, but can cause rupture of cans.

PIC 12

PIC 10

Let’s turn to finishes. I used 4, unfortunately, I don’t have finishes of Tandy (Pic 10): — Fiebing’s Tan Kote — Fiebing’s Carnauba Cream — SLC Pro Clear — Fiebing’s Acrylic Resolene. All finishes have frozen. Even very thick Carnauba Cream finish has frozen. But the most interesting thing we will see after thawing! So, Tan Kote. Having thawed, it became somehow transparent and very sticky (Pic 11). It is normally applied to leather. But it is difficult to say to what extent it has

PIC 13

PIC 11

retained its properties, it is necessary to carry out more detailed experiments with such its „version”. Carnauba Cream. It has become denser, like a slightly melted wax (Pic 12). It is applied to leather similarly to wax. You have to rub it. Pro CLear . It is the only finish that has not changed at all. It is of the same consistency (Pic 13), applied to leather in the same way and dries in the same way too. They said that it is like Tandy Super Shene, but I do not know to what extent they are the same.

PIC 14

And the last one is Acrylic Resolene. Everything is very bad about it (Pic 14). It turned into a kind of mess. It is definitely not possible to work with it. The same mess has been sent to me instead of the finish of Angelus Company. Once I bought a lot of different chemicals from a person who has decided to stop dealing with leather. And during transportation in the cool period of year everything was delivered in normal state, except Angelus finish. It has become a mess like Acrylic Resolene and I had to throw it away. It is good that now I have frozen Resolene in a cap and not the whole can. Now we can gather all the information in the table to make it easier to use, if necessary (Page 41).

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Frost Resistance

Frost resistance can be nominally defined with numbers:

Water-based dye Stain Universal

2 2 2

Stain Edge dye Stain (gel) Antique (paste) Alcohol-based Dye Alcohol-based Dye Water-Based Dye Finish Finish, Conditioner Finish

1 3 4 1 1 1 2 4 4 4

1 - low temperatures do not affect the composition. 2 - composition freezes but after thawing does not change its properties. 3 - composition freezes, after thawing minor changes occur in the composition that do not affect work with it. 4 - composition freezes, after thawing it is destroyed.

Finish

2

Before ordering chemicals in winter, check your list against this table in order to avoid disappointment upon receiving. Some vendors, for example, Springfield Leather Company mark the chemicals (with the „Snowflake”) in their catalogues which of them are not resistant to cold. Pay attention to this, too.

Finish

2

Author: E. Solomin

Name Tandy Eco-Flo Leather Dye Eco-Flo Hi Lite Color Eco-Flo All-in-One Fiebing Learher Stain Edge Kote Antique Acrylic Stain Antique Finish Leather Dye Leather Dye Prof. Leather Dye Instit. Tan Kote Carnauba Cream Acrylic Resolene SLC Pro Clear Lef-Lef Lef-Lef

Type

test

youself (The answers to the test on page 25)

1

4

Mistake 1. Partial non-imprinting. The area with the partial non-imprinting is marked with a red circle with figure 1. It is not single, there are others. They are clearly visible. Mistake 2. Double imprinting. It is marked with a black circle with figure 2. It is less noticeable since the chaotic structure of the pattern deflects attention. Mistake 3. Too many imprints in a small area. The area in a green oval with figure „three” is the biggest one in this example. In the lower right corner there is another, smaller one. They are very noticeable, as they violate the pattern.

2

3 4

Mistake 4. A structured pattern. The areas with figures 4. The left one is not very noticeable despite its relatively large size. This is because it does not have large „empty” areas, as the second one at the right edge. Not stamped areas of skin are also clearly visible in the pattern. And, as you can see, also emphasize other mistakes of stamping. Now try it yourself!

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H o w N O T t o d o ...

Tip 1. When you adapt the pattern to the shape of the product, try NOT to distort the pattern in one dimension. It often happens, if the pattern goes well in one dimension, but does not in the other one; it is just zoomed out or zoomed in disproportionately. Such deformation is visible at once and creates a very bad impression of unprofessionalism.

It is better to complement the pattern by hand with the elements from the original one or similar elements in the same style. Or vice versa, you can remove unnecessary elements to reduce the size of the pattern. If this is impossible, it is better to restructure the sketch completely by hand and integrate it into the desired shape. Another variant is to choose the other pattern for the product with more suitable shape or which is easier to fit.

Tip 2. Avoid cutting tool lying with naked blades. Casual contacts with other objects can leave small notches on the blade and blunt it. We cannot exclude accidental cuts of hands. Use cases and sheath. Don’t drop it on your legs too.

Tip 3. Be careful when dyeing thin and loose leather with daubers, brushes, pads from the flesh side. This is particularly the case when the color of the face side and the flesh side is different. A large amount of paint can soak leather through and stain it on the face side. Imagine your surprise when you have completely finished drawing the face side of the product. Then you have dyed the flesh. You have turned the product and found spots on the finished face! I found

such a surprise a couple of times in my work (see the Photos). The first picture shows how the flesh has

been colored blue. In the second picture you can see the dye has soaked through and emerged on the face side.

Tip 4.

Tip 5.

NEVER put your fingers, hands and other parts of your body (and not only yours) in the way of the moving knife! Whatever the situation, come up with the way to intercept or pinch the leather, so that cutting passed by your hands. You will cut more parts, but lost „parts” of your body — unlikely.

DO NOT use blunt tools. Learn how to sharpen its different types. Remember the popular saying — a blunt knife is more dangerous than a sharp one. A blunt tool does not go where you are moving it. It will seek to break away, step aside. And, under Murphy’s Law, di rectly to your hand.

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Russian LeatherCrafting. #1 Photo 1

Photo 3

Photo 2

Photo 4

Tip 6. When you are cutting the parts in leather, try to cut corners with accuracy (Photos 1 and 2). DO NOT cut too much out of the corner! (Photo 3). This extra cut (or even a notch — Photo 4) can greatly interfere when you want to cut a new part in this place. It may fall on the surface of the part. And you will have to cut around it, throwing good leather to the trim. In general, try to use leather to the maximum. It is very expensive today, so „squeeze” as much as possible out of it!

Tip 8.

Tip 7.

DO NOT immerse brushes in the dye or finish together with a holder. Such amount of liquid is never required. But it will drip and stain everything around. And consumption will increase significantly. Control brushes filling.

When punching the holes for the stitching, DO NOT forget about the metal fittings mounted on the product! Without noticing its hidden parts, you can blunt punches or completely break their teeth. Pay attention to the places of zipper locks, magnetic buttons lugs, briefcase locks, etc.

Tip 9. NEVER work with dyes, finishes and any chemicals in the same place where you cut or make tooling. Divide your work area into „mechanical section” and „coloring section”. Even the smallest drops of chemicals can stain the parts which you work with and bring to nothing many hours of work. When the parts are ready for coloring — take them to the „coloring section” and work there with chemicals. It is also necessary to be careful in the coloring section. Do not put wet items against each other and do not let finished parts stick to newspapers and other surfaces. It would be nice to have a „dryer” — a place where the parts will be getting dry. Do not use a „mechanical section” for this. Since in the coloring section there is a risk to spoil the „wet” parts. It is better if they are in a place where they can be out of accident touch, where it is dry and warm. It would be nice, if there is a grid. Completely finished parts can be put on this grid.

Tip 10. Also carefully, it is desirable to put them on the edges but not wet planes. Of course, it is better to finish the part of the item. Allow it to dry and then finish another part. It would be nice to have a „rack” for the brushes. They should be kept securely there and without a risk of sudden fall to the parts. Do not forget to wash brushes. Especially from the finish. An airbrush also needs a rack. Otherwise, during working one hand will always be engaged. When coloring you should always have plenty of rags at hand — just in case, the dye can spill or stain something. You need something to wipe it away quickly.

Try NOT to show unfinished products to the customer. Except where it is necessary to approve some parameters or design and you think that you cannot do it without the customer’s help. The matter is that the final product in its completed form exists only in front of your inner vision. Only you can see in the blanks the way they should be joined and what result will be in the end. A customer can see a set of some colorless parts, often ragged, rough, maybe even dirty (from his point of view). His mood can worsen and he may think that he leaves money on the table. And this mood will torture him until the end of your work. And the worst thing is that such mood can be transferred to the finished product. The customer has already prepared himself for the fact that the product would not be as it should be. And he would see it in such a way. It is better to give him a chance to see the finished artwork at once!

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Cosplay

Shield Cloak According to the reports of “Far Outland” („Dalneye Vnezemelye”) News Agency small starships of „Millennium Gazelle” („Gazelle Tysyacheletiya”) project have problems with pipes leakage of destabilizing liquid. For this reason, passengers’ clothes are spoiled and they have to use sheets of protective materials (such as laсquer leather) and incidental tools to create Shield Cloaks. The picture found in the archives of „GiGalaNet” by curious passengers in a small section with a strange name „Internet” served as a Shield Cloak prototype. It is assumed that this is an information package of an old loacl network from some planet. If you intend to use the routes 316, 388, 205 and 387 of the galactic „Interstellarist” company, we advise you to bring alone the same Shield Cloaks. Instructions are included. According to unidentified picture the structure consists of many leather strips which are fastened with the bolts and screws-caps. It can be closed with the front clasp with four button stud. You can do it on a mannequin or just on a person who is going to wear the product. For example, we will use an adjustable mannequin. As a rule, it is necessary to use leather strips of two widths — 3.5 cm and 5 cm. Wide ones are used less frequently. The lengths of the strips are fitted in place. That is, cut a long strip, apply it to the mannequin and cut as needed. The next one is cut of the rest, and so forth. The product is symmetrical, so the clothing details of one side are made in inversed manner to the other one. Assembly procedure is from the top downwards. Basic details are two shoulder straps on the shoulders to which all other parts are attached. The width of the shoulder straps is 5 cm. The front and rear parts are attached respectively to the front or the back of the shoulder straps. Based on this technology you can develop Shield Cloaks of other models. The main thing is to keep their protective properties and resistance to the destabilizing liquid.

44

Russian LeatherCrafting. #1 The front clasp is made of two leather layers. There are 4 holes for the button studs in the corners. The top two buttons join the parts of the collar. The bottom two ones are the parts of the left and right fronts. Put the shoulder straps on the mannequin (Picture 1) and fix them with the rubber band. Then fasten the first two parts of the collar to the shoulder straps (Pic 2). In the bottom

pic 3

PIC 1

PIC 2

cut them to the desired length and fix the button studs. Their placing is determined according to the front clasp. The collar will serve as a basis to which the rest of the details will be attached.

pic 4

On the back side the collar consists of two wide (7 cm) strips which are fixed to shoulder straps with 3 bolts each (Picture 3). Two narrow (3.5 cm) details of the collar are placed above them. All four of them

pic 5

1

Collar 2

are connected with one bolt. The collar is completed with two more front parts that are brought under the first two ones and joined with them with the top button studs (Pic 4).

pic 6

Now move to the fronts. They go from the shoulder straps to the lower button studs. Each button connects all the parts of the front from one side. In Picture 4 fixing of the first detail of

the left front can be seen. Picture 5 shows fixing of the wide (5 cm) second detail of the right front (left similar). The third strip of the front is also wide, it is bent down upon the shoulder (Pic 6).

pic 7

1 2 3

The front side takes the form of a „cuirass”. The front and rear details should be attached alternately, so that the Cloak fits a mannequin properly. Make sure that the side strips do not move from the center

line of the shoulder. Screw the bolts lightly by hand. They often have to be retightened to fit the details. The rear panel is assembled of multiple parts.

45


Each of the fronts is composed of 5 parts. Between themselves, they are connected with one more row of the bolts (Pic 8). On the front side it does not matter, but on the back side these extra rows help fixing the strips during assembling. It is said that it is convenient to put them right when assembling and not put it away for later.

pic 11

pic 12

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pic 9

pic 10

The back panel is composed of five blocks. The first block combines 8 strips extending from the shoulder straps (Pic 9). It is secured to a collar only with intermediate rows of bolts (Pic 10). They are also intended to connect the parts of this block with each other. Their ends are connected with one center bolt.

The following 4 blocks consist of 4 strips each. In Picture 10 two of them are ready. All the strips of the block are connected with one bolt in the center. The strips and blocks are connected between themselves with the bolts of the intermediate row. Central bolts must be placed on one vertical line in the center of the unit.

There are many strips. Collect them in pairs and do it very carefully. Do not try to pull the lower parts to the center, the shoulders should hang freely. In the original design all parts of the fronts are connected with the lower button studs. In practice, the size of the button’s screw is not enough to tighten all the parts. In this case, button stud is placed only on the uppermost part and the parts of the fronts themselves are joined by two additional bolts. These bolts can be seen in

Picture 12 under the front clasp. The last parts are fastening straps under the armpits. Here, the mannequin does not help much; it does not have hands, use a live person. Cut two long straps. Fix one of them on the front, the other one - on the rear panel (with the last central bolt). Put the Shield Cloak on a person and choose a convenient place for these straps joint. Measure and


pic 14

cut the straps. Fix the button stud to one of them, make a hole for it on the second one (Pic 13). Similarly, the second pair of straps is made on the other side (Pic 14). Here, our Shield Cloak is ready. If you are not just a passenger but a crew member of the starship and you have to repair these fragile pipes, then you surely need bracers made according to the same scheme. The base of a bracer is a strip with the width of 5 cm. The length is measured on the outside of the hand (Pic 15). The bracer strips are fastened across the base. The width is 5 cm, too. Start assembling with the strip nearest to the hand. It is secured with four bolts under the base. The button studs are placed on the opposite side. Similarly to the Shield Cloak, these buttons join parts and at the same time serve as clasps. The second detail is brought between the base and the first detail. It is also bolted. Bolts are not tightened so that to have the possibility to put the third detail between it and the base. In this manner, detail by detail the bracer is made.

Concho coins-made Russian Federation USSR Foreign

Workshop ARTkozhdecor CUERO

Author: D. Solomina Workshop in Vyborg (Sanct-Peterburg). Course durations are 5 and 10 days

Tel: +79643227923 We are teach from „zero”. Carving, stamping other leather craft.

pic 15

https://vk.com/artkozhdecorcuero h ttps://vk.com/obuchenieartkozha

47


Baroque is an art style. It was begin in XVI century. His birthplace is Rome and most bright and beautiful samples located in Italy and Spain. For Baroque style typical of creating magnificent ensembles in which each detail is marked by luxury, grandeur and elegance of shapes and lines.

The origin of the word „baroque” is more controversial than the names of all other styles. There are several theories about its origin. Portuguese „barroco” is an irregular-shaped pearl with no an axis of rotation. Such pearls were popular in XVII century. In Italian „baroco” is a false syllogism, Asian form of logic, sophistry technique based on the metaphor. As the irregular-shaped pearls, the falsity of baroque syllogisms was hidden with their metaphors. One of the controversial theories suggests that the origin of all these European words derives from a single common Latin word „bis-roca”, meaning a „twisted stone.” There is another theory: from the Latin word „ verruca” which means a steep, high place or a defect in a precious stone. In different contexts, the word „baroque” might mean „pretentiousness”, „unnaturalness”, „insincerity”, „luxury”, „deformity”, and „exaggerated emotionality”. All these connotations of the word „baroque” in most cases have not been perceived as negative ones. Finally, another theory suggests that this word in all of the above languages is a parody from a linguistic point of view, and its morphology can be explained by its meaning: queerity, unnaturalness, ambiguity and deceptiveness. The beginning of this style era was the construction of a small church in Rome, commenced in 1568.

48

In Russia, this style also had a great spread in XVIIXVIII centuries. Russian baroque differs from the Italian one in its vivacity and lack of any religious direction. It is divided into Moscow, Petrine and Elizabethan Baroque. The Winter Palace, Tsarskoye Selo, Peterhof, Smolny Convent were constructed in the Baroque style.

Russian LeatherCrafting. #1 In the field of the Baroque applied and decorative arts, the art of furniture is the most outstanding and characterized in massive forms and elegant ornaments. Arm-chairs and chairs with carved legs and high backs, with embossed pattern which was mainly complemented with gold painting, upholstered with colored leather, massive folding cabinets on legs in the form of balls with carved eaves and others. In addition, the Bohemian crystal products have become widely known in this field. The material for glass has been extracted from the ashes of some tree species. Produced glass was thick-walled and transparent. Jewelers were engaged in its faceting and, thus, obtained the products shining with their diamond patterns. Thanks to the extraordinary brilliance of the product it was called crystal. Chandeliers, carved mirrors and glasses and cups, iridescent in the sunlight, were made of Bohemian crystal. In the Baroque era the walls of the rooms and halls were veiled with silk brocade – a cloth with woven silver and gold threads in the pattern, wallpaper with fluffy fringe and tassels. Their originality consisted in the combination of compositions by abundance of people and animals characters, decorative drapes and lush bunches and fruits images. It is worth remembering about mosaic. For its creation we owe to the efforts of the great scientist and chemist Mikhail Lomonosov. His countless experiments with the glass resulted in smalt striking with the beauty of its color .

Currently in the field of leather crafting one of the leaders in the Baroque style is Sergey Neskromnyi. He calls his style „the Kazakh Baroque” because of the use of the Kazakh national elements together with the elements of baroque. His numerous students followed his footsteps. The style is certainly difficult to implement but it’s just a challenge for real masters. Irina Shevtsova (Caracoda), who is described in the „Masters” section of this issue, has not been afraid to take the challenge, learn and master this beauty. The sketch on the right belongs to her pencil. Many other artists are also trying to transmit the ornate Baroque patterns to leather. Nowadays, baroque products differ in their high cost and labor-intensive production. They express wealth and elitism of the owner.

Author: D. Solomina

Main style features: 1) The predominant colors: Pastel shades, red, pink, white, blue with the yellow accent. The combination of contrasting colors, rich color palettes (from emerald to claret). Popular combinations — white with gold (yellow), azure blue with white. 2) Baroque lines: A fascinating convex and concave asymmetrical pattern; in shapes – there are semicircles, rectangles, ovals, vertical lines of columns; discernible horizontal segmentation. Total symmetry.

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Russian LeatherCrafting. #1 Irina Shevtsova is a leather crafting master who comes from Ukraine. Irina is a person of varied attainments, and before she engaged in leather crafting, she tried herself in completely different professions. Being a nurse by training, Irina found herself in more creative professions, so she didn’t work at hospital for a long time. Irina was looking for her place in the world, trained as a hairdresser, completed makeup courses, as well as seamstress-cutter courses. In Ukraine, she started her small business; Irina sewed medical forms and evening dresses. Then she changed to cakes production. Her husband, a doctor, moved to Great Britain and later took Irina there. Now they have two children. At the moment when Irina was engaged in leather crafting, she was pregnant. She could not sit idly and decided to make a leather case for Tarot cards. Irina ordered a small piece of leather on e-bay and sewed a pair of cases. They were sold out... And she ordered more leather, plain, chrome-tanned. Irina didn’t know about vegetable-tanned leather yet. Then she wanted something new and she began to look for information. By the way there was too little information. But it did not stop Irina, she was looking for leather craftsmen whose works she was interested in and without hesitating she answered them about everything. Many of them gave advice and shared their experience. The master-beginner has learned about the Tendy Company and ordered all necessary items for work and began experimenting.

Caracoda 51


Now Irina works in different technologies. I have been interested very much in one of them called „molding”. It is used to manufacture clutches, bags and purses. A special mold (preferably plastic) is used for this technique. Irina has a lot of such molds. She ordered them according to her dimensions. The process starts with leather soaking. Then it is fixed on the mold, fastened with vise block and left for a day. The result is very interesting. The sides of the product are smooth. One more advantage of such technique is one seam that joins the molded product with the back cover. Irina doesn’t manufacture anything on order. She likes the process of product manufacturing. She invents everything by herself, the entire design and colors and then sells finished products. Irina’s products are completely handmade.

52

She has her own online shop, also she sells on E-bay and other web sites. In addition to the overall site, Irina launches the website with cases for Tarot cards because they are very popular. Irina Shevtsova has a unique brand called Caracoda. It is interesting that this word does not exist in nature, that is, it didn’t exist before. Now it is registered Irina’s brand! They have come up with this name together with her husband, who has always supported her and taken part in her work. „Caracoda” consists of two words. The first is „carapace” — coquina. And second ones „ostracoda” — denote a shell. Shell is a „second skin”. Irina has been engaged in leather crafting for 6 years. She works at home. She has used water-based chemicals, not alcohol ones because of the child who is always beside her.

Irina participated in the competition for the best How-to with her works and won the grand prize of Tandy. The master shares her knowledge: she is writing articles for the LS&S and also issues her own magazines with patterns and detailed description of her works. Though, Irina never refuses to give information if she is asked. In the future she wants to present a printed book devoted to antique. Irina likes the Sheridan style, she watches the artworks of this style masters. And she has created a slideshow with a variety of products, just for inspiration. She also likes various curls and ornaments in the Victorian style. The master prefers the shades of natural colors, beige, red and brown. She almost does not use black color.


She does not like using bright colors too, but when does it she tries to tone them down. Irina tries new in color. She mixes, imposes one color to another. Irina uses an interesting technique which involves sandpaper. See her hand made things around. I was pleased to get acquainted with Irina. We wish her new experiments, creativity and a lot of orders! Her website is http://caracoda.com

Author: D.Solomina

53


WorkBench

swivel knife sharpening

Amateur notes

Surely, it is very convenient to use disposable blades. Once they become blunt — you can just change them. It is cheap and quickly. And the most important thing — there is no need to learn the skill of tool sharpening. But not all tools have disposable blades. And the main among them is a swivel knife. Like it or not, but you will have to sharpen it. In the general, the matter of sharpening was the most problematic for me. Well, I do not work with the metal! At all. Nevertheless, I had to master it. But still I cannot say that I have become a master in sharpening. Therefore, I will talk from the point of view of an amateur. Perhaps professionals will find a lot of mistakes and inaccuracies in this article. I invite them to continue the topic in the pages of our magazine and tell the peculiarities of tool sharpening from the point of view of science and technology. Let’s start with the question „what to use”. What can be used for tool sharpening? The answer is almost obvious — abrasive stones. These are artificial stones consisting of the bonded abrasive material. They can be of different sizes, made of different materials and with different grid. All I know about them is that they can work with moistening with water or machine oil (depending on material of the stones). Generally the manufacturer specifies the material or what to work with (water or oil). Another important parameter is grid. It is denoted by a number. There are several grid standards. For example, the international ISO standard specifies it in the form of P500. The higher the number,

54

the smaller the grain, the finer grinding. The tool should be as sharp as a razor. Then, it will be pleasure to work with it. To achieve this you need to have a few stones of different grid. Paul Zalesak recommends having at least 3 stones: - Coarse, grid of about 200, - Medium, grid of about 1000, - Thin, grid of about 3000. A coarse stone is necessary for blade correcting. That is, when there are extensive notches on the blade, they can be removed only removing large amounts of metal. A medium stone grinds the blade, performing blade sharpening. A thin stone improves polishing,

preparing it for stropping. Stropping is performed not on the stone but on the polishing powder or paste. Namely stropping makes blade as sharp as a razor. We described how to make the plate for blades stropping by yourself in the #3, 2015 issue of our magazine. I use a set of 6 stones with the grid of 180, 400, 800, 1000, 1500 and 3000. More often, stones with grid of 1500 and 3000 are used as medium and thin stones. Apart from stones, I have a set of ceramic rods of Lansky brand. I like this ceramics more than ordinary stones. Firstly, they do not undergo grinding, their surface always remains smooth.


pic 1

Secondly, they do not require any moisture. And thirdly, they have color differentiation. In other words, the color of the stone indicates its grid. There are two gray ones with grid of 600 and two white ones with grid of 1000 in my set (Picture 2). Round shape is their main disadvantage. Flat stones are also available from this brand, I have just bought the wrong one. I use ceramics for sharpening of other blades since it is not suitable for sharpening of the swivel knife. Another handy device used for sharpening of the swivel knife is a roller sharpener (Picture 1). It helps automatically maintain the angle of blade sharpening. When you get hand in this task, it won’t be a problem to maintain it manually. But it can be a great help to beginners. In the next article we publish drawing for hand made this sharpener system. As you can see in Picture 1, we need: — to remove blade from the swivel knife (if you use a roller sharpener) — two or three grinding stones, — the roller sharpener itself, — a plate for stropping, it is not in the picture. And now a few words about the sharpening angle. Every blade has sharpening angle. And it’s a very important thing. Change of angle strongly influences any blade’s ability to cut. Therefore, it is not only necessary for every knife to have a certain angle, but also try to maintain and keep the same as it was when sharpening. A roller sharpener is designed just for it. There are a lot of controversy and talking about the right sharpening angle for various tools. I have not found the optimum

yet. I just use the angle which the bl ade had originally. I try to leave it unchanged. It would be nice to have someone more professional to wise up all of us in this subject. I hope that soon there will be such master. So, remove blade from the swivel knife. It is fixed with a small screw on the side which should be slightly loosened. Put the blade into the holder of the sharpener. It also has a fixing screw to hold the blade. If you just sharpen the knife, then first put the sharpener on the medium stone. Loosen the setscrew that fixes the holder in the sharpener. Set the blade of the swivel knife so that it covers the stone with one of its sides flatly. The flatter the blade lies, the more correct the sharpening angle will be (Picture 3). In no case the blade should be distorted in any plane. When the blade is set, fix the holder at the sharpener with the setscrew. Moisten the stone and sharpen the knife moving back and forth. There is no need in strong pressing. As shown by various experiments (not mine) strength pressure does not affect the quality of sharpening. After one side sharpening, you need to turn the holder by 180° and sharpen the second one. It is desirable that the number of passes for each surface was the same. Let’s move to the thin stone and repeat the procedure. After sharpening the blade should be stropped. I use jewelry powder in the form of a „pencil”. You can use the paste. Before stropping, renew a layer of powder or paste on the plate (Picture 4). Blade stropping is also made with the

pic 3

pic 4 pic 5

help of the sharpenerr. Therefore, you don’t need to get the blade out of the holder. Stropping should be done only in one direction — FROM the blade (Picture 5). In the opposite direction the blade can pierce the skin and damage the plate. After stropping, you can check sharpening. It must be as sharp as a razor, so can easily shave hair.

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Russian LeatherCrafting. #1 I use my left hand for testing (Picture 6). Fortunately, there is enough material to test. Put the side of the blade to the skin and move forward. Hair that fall under this „processor” should be easily cut.

Be careful, do not cut yourself! If hair is bent but not cut off, so the blade is not sharp enough. Repeat the process on a thin stone and plate. Get razor sharpness! Also, they say, it can be checked on the nail but I haven’t understood how this method works. It is very important for the swivel knife to have the blade not only sharp but smoothfaced. Its work surfaces are corners. Under no circumstances they should be beveled during sharpening. And the blade itself must be exactly perpendicular to the blade axis. Of course, this does not concern the filigree and angled blades. By the w ay, their sharpening procedure is similar, but the sharpener here will not help, you will have to work manually.

Author: E. Solomin

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pic 6


Hand Made Sharpener for

Swivel Knife Not so long ago I have learned from a master that such device is called a sharpener for swivel knife. And I need it for my jobs. At the beginning of my work with leather, I had no idea about plenty of tools necessary for leather crafting. Of course, when I was buying my first swivel knife and a couple of Chinese stamps I did not even think that I would need to sharpen something. Having faced with the fact that my knife cuts bad, at first I did not understand this. I have realized later that it needs sharpening, but I have failed to buy a special device for a long time for various reasons. And when I made up my mind to buy this device, it became clear that it was simply absent in the market. It seemed very expensive to order the same on foreign sites, and to be honest, I could not. My good friend, a master Roman Konin („Live Leather” workshop) gave an advice to make it by myself and sent several links to photos of similar devices of other masters. Having seen nice pictures in the Internet and without thinking for long (for about three or four months), I have

decided to make the sharpener of my own design. Frankly speaking, it is difficult to call it “mine”, but anyway, in general it has turned to be not too bad! So, I have decided to use everything at hand, of course. And at the moment I had at hand almost everything I needed. I had an unattended plate of magic wood called „cocobolo”, a little of brass, a piece of black Manchurian nut and bolt M5. And I had only to buy a fixing screw. Certainly I made the sharpener body of cocobolo. I cut a thread for setscrew M6 in it. I turned a blade holder out of brass and polished it. On the one side of it there is a smooth hole with the diameter of 5.5 mm for the swivel knife blade. From the same end I made a hole for the fixing screw perpendicular to the holder axis and with thread cut M4. This screw is for fastening of the swivel knife blade. From the other side of the holder I made one more hole with the thread cut M5 for stopper. When spinning or twisting the stopper, it can be adjusted according to the size of your hand, so as to have a comfortable grip

of the sharpener during working. For those who want to do this exercise on his (her) own, I can give several recommendations: — take hardwood for the sharpener body, it is good at thread keeping but simple wood is also suitable. In this case, it is necessary to put hidden furniture nut. — insert the sharpener axis with p reload, it can be made of brass. The fact is that during sharpening it is not necessary to apply much effort to the sharpener, so it is best to flange an axis from one edge, and from the other to fix with a nut or locking ring. Drawings of the parts are shown in the next page. Now I am the owner of the handmade sharpener and that pleases me no end!

Author: I. Akhmedzyanov

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Scale 1:1

Body

Axis shown for 2 nuts M4 on both sides. If you riveted axis from 1 side correct the drawing and sizes of axis.

Axis

Roller

Scale 1:1

Holder

Scale 1:1

Scale 1:1

Scale 1:1

Setscrew

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Braiding


Wide Turk’s A wide „Turk’s Head” is a knot the number of „bights” of which is larger than the number of „parts”. They are often used for bracelets, collars and other similar products.

It is difficult to make wide knots without a base (hand gauge). It’s also not easy to control a large number of bends. But there is a method to weave the „Turk’s Head” with three „parts” simply on the fingers. This method will be considered late. In the meantime, here are a few rules or recommendations for these knots braiding. 1) It is better to make knots with an odd number of parts — 3, 5, 7, etc. Since there is a large number of convergent knots for them and they are easier to braid. 2) When using the first recommendation to braid the knot, the first and second turns around are made without any intersections. Make the first one circle wise, the second — over the first one. And only from the third turn the actual braiding OVER— UNDER begins. 3) For an odd number of „parts” the pins on the mandrill are placed in two rows with a shift — the top one is located in the Ommited pins

Pic 1

Head

center between the two lower (Picture 1). Correspondingly, for the even one they are located directly above each other. 4) It is easy to count by pins how many „parts” will be and vice versa, by the numbe r of „parts” you can count the number of pins. It can be done in the following way: if you add one to the number of the pins omitted between the two „bights”, you’ll get the number of „partes” of this knot. Look at Picture 1, at the top row of pins. Leather strip goes round the pin in the left upper part, goes down and braids around the lower one. Then it goes up again and goes around the other upper one. Just between those pins in the upper row, around which the strip runs, you can see the remaining two „omitted” ones. The knot formula is the same, i.e. there will always be two omitted pins both in the lower and in the upper rows. Now, if we add one to this figure, we’ll find out the number of the „parts” of this knot. In our case, there are 3 „parts”. We will use this formula in the future. 5) Wide knots are easily scalable. Due to their great length it is not difficult to add or remove a bend. But will the knot converge? It is easy to check. We will demonstrate it with the example, it is more understandable: 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 2 = 14 In this formula: 3 is the number of parts in the knot; 2 is the number of parts minus one; 14 is the number of „bights” in the

knot. That is, its formula is 3x14 and it will converge (see the table in #3,2015). The number of the „parts” in the formula can be any. Let’s repeat using similar example: 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 2 = 17 This is the formula for the knot 3x17 and it will also converge. One more example: 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 4 = 24 The knot 5x24. At the same time the number of the „bights” sets the pins number in one row in the mandrill. Now let’s try to calculate a real knot for braiding around the Tandy antique-gel can. I’ll take a leather strip of 5 mm wide. The distance between the rows is 1 cm (Pic. 2). That’s a lot, but it will be easier and clearer to braid. The length of the circumference of the can is a little more than 14 cm. The number of „parts” will be 3. In the first example of the „bights” calculation it is clear that there is a knot with 14 „bights” for 3 „parts”. So the formula 3x14 is working, and we need to set 14 pins with an interval of 1 cm in a row. Pic 2

1см

1см

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The parameters of pins installation are shown in Picture 2. The Picture 3 shows a top view of the can with all the other fixed pins. The Picture 4 shows a side view. It is clearly seen that the needles have been

Pic 6

to the beginning and go OVER the initial end. The second turn goes with a shift to the right by one pin. Again, according to the rule 2, the second turn just lays over

Pic 9

And OVER the second one (Picture 9). Then the strip passes by the lower pin and goes UNDER the first pass and OVER the second one (Picture 10). Then this cycle repeats. The third zigzag always goes UNDER the first one, then OVER the second one. But alternately, first downwards and then upwards. Finally, the strip should go back to the initial end (Picture 11). This means that the knot has converged and braiding is over. If it has not converged, then there was a

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Pic 4

fixed with a shift in the rows. This i s because we have an odd number of „parts” (Rule 3). Mandrill is ready and we can braid a knot. In accordance with rule 2, the first pass

Pic 7

the first one (Picture 7). The strip should go back to the beginning as shown in Picture 8. The last pin should be the one located to the left of the first in the upper row. Then

Pic 10

mistake somewhere, check all the passes. Now you can take out the pins and remove the finished knot from the mandrill. Align it and tighten if necessary (Picture12). Cut the ends. The knot with 3 „parts” can be tied even easier. Without calculations and mandrill. It can be done simply on the fingers. However, the size will be hard to predict. It depends on the size of your palm and the force you use to tie a knot.

Pic 5

simply goes by the pins in a zigzag way. But in accordance with rule 4, between the pins, which the strip goes by, should be 2 omitted pins (Picture 5). We pass the first zigzag (Picture 6). The strip should go back

Pic 8

the strip goes down and the third pass starts. This pass is braided OVER-UNDER. And it starts with the pass that is UNDER the initial end.

Pic 11

Pic 12


Pic 16

The first Pic. 13-15 do not require any comments. Everything is clear from the Pictures. But Pic. 16 shows the key point — crossing of the two loops. The loop which is at the left top in Pic. 15 is transferred over the other to the right side. This process will be repeated many times. After this, the working end of the strip passes UNDER the

Pic 19

Pic 14

Pic 15

Pic 17

Pic 18

left loop and goes to the right OVER the second one. To see it better, I have moved the knot down the fingers (Picture 18). Repeat the process of the loop transferring, but now in the opposite direction — the right loop to the left over that one which was left. And the working

Pic 20

end goes again UNDER the right one and OVER the left one. In Pic. 19 the bracelet is moved down again and the working end has made a pass under-over. And again, the left loop is transferred to the right over the right one. This cycle is repeated until we reach the beginning. At that moment the knot is completed.

Pic 21

In fact, the result is almost the same as in the first example. If we continue to braid alongside the strips that are already in the bracelet, you can get a double weave (Picture 21). And then triple one. There are a lot of types of „Turk’s Head” knots which we will talk about in other issues. Next „Braiding” will be devoted to the so-called „pineapples”. This is a „Turk’s Head” made of the two strips. It allows you making two-color knots.

Author: E. Solomin 61


Yulia Tolmachyova’s jobs (workshop „Old Celt”, Novosibirsk, Siberia). https://vk.com/old_celt http://www.livemaster.ru/kailas

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Ksyusha Zakurina is engaged in leather art in the Old School Workshop studio. She has come to the profession with the help of her husband Vladimir Yuriy, who is very close to motoculture and who used to deal with leather crafting.

http://oswleather.com http://www.livemaster.ru/osworkshop

She was taught to work with leather and make tooling in Vyborg ( ArtKozhDekor Cuero, see. P. 47), and artistic skills she gained in Exstudio airbrushing studio. Ksyusha is trying to adhere to the highest quality in her works and artistic images for her works are taken from such tattoo-cultures as Old School, New School, Traditional, Oriental. OldSchoolWorkshop cooperates with aerography and tattoo masters to create joint projects. It is planned to launch personal clothes line. The workshop is always open for communication and cooperation.

http://vk.com/oldschoolworkshop https://instagram.com/oldschoolworkshop/ http://vk.com/ksusha_zakurina

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Russian LeatherCrafting 01 2016 HQ

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