Silva Fox Says

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