Leatherworking

JimmyB27

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Anyone have any experience? I'm thinking of having a stab at making Kindle covers as Christmas gifts. I've been combing the net and found a few good guides, but I thought someone here might have some general advice as well?
I also have one specific question. I'm thinking of trying to emboss the cover, but I'd like it to be personalised, rather than just using a bought stamp. Any ideas on how I might go about this? Couldn't really find much advice out there on this subject.

Thanks in advance to anyone who replies!
 

Cathy C

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I asked my leatherworking hubby about this. He said:

"Once you get the leather wet and workable, you have several options to create embossed designs. Stamps are the easiest, but there are plenty of tools to create designs. They all involve metal and hammers, and they are somewhat inherently slower than stamps. Have the person go to the Tandy Leather site and look around for tools and patterns."

Good luck! :)
 

Aleiarity

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You can also use a very hard plastic (like delrin) for leather stamping, but that's better done with a clamp instead of a hammer - using a hammer makes the stamp bounce, so the imprint isn't as clean.

Also... those types of stamps are best made on a CNC, since 3D printing a leather stamp isn't going to give you the cleanest lines or the strongest plastic.

(I had a custom stamp made for a friend a couple years ago and did a lot of research and fiddling around with leather stamping)

You can make leather tools out of nails or other metal.