Silva Fox Says

The first projects I and many other leather workers learned on were 3 discs of leather, 3.25" in diameter, found in the Beginning Kit with some tools from Tandy Leather Company. I've kept those first works of mine as a constant reminder of where I came from all those years ago. As artisans learn we often moved in different directions to fullfill desires for achievement, ribbons in competition or needs in a market that would provide a living. I worked a full time job in graphic arts and marketing and, like many leather artisans did leather work as a hobby. Over the years, decades actually because we are not discussing 5 year periods here, I learned how to make a great many different kinds of things with leather; wallets, belts, key cases, photo albums using kits but, as knowledge grew so did the styles and types of products made; holsters, knife sheaths, custom works of all kinds and patterns, designs and publishing. No matter how many awards were won and how many shows I j...

The secrets of excellence in leather carving start simply enough with preparation of the leather. Years ago, maybe even YEARS ago I learned by reinventing the wheel. That means when someone said "case leather" they didn't say how much, with what, how long, they said wet the leather. So in the bathtub it went and soaked, I read about that somewhere, then out it came, dripped a bit and on the table it went for a while. What is a while? Then I learned it should feel cool to the touch and the surface should return almost to the color it started. That's closer to the truth, but then I'd carve and tool the traditional western design and I was DARN SLOW, the cutting was done and half the pear shading and the leather was drying too much. So, I'd wet it with a sponge (the whole thing) and wait for the right coolness and color then race to get to the beveling (the term "race" is relative when you are slow) but by then the leather was too dry again. There wa...