DIY skin embossing

A spectacular book cover, the same as that of medieval folios, an exquisite handbag, the emblem of your favorite football team, fashion shoes is not a complete list of items that can be made of leather and decorated with an embossed pattern. Beginning needlewomen sometimes believe that such a miracle can only be done in the workshop. This is not entirely true. DIY embossing on the skin is not only affordable, but even exciting. We will now talk about some features of this popular craft.

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Does every skin fit?

The skin undergoes a special treatment before it turns into a product. They make it, grind it, paint it - in a word, the material from which your new shoes are sewn does not at all look like the one that went to the factory. But is it possible to immediately decorate shoes with an embossed pattern? Unfortunately not. Embossing on the skin at home is only possible if you are dealing with unpolished material.

Sometimes shoes and bags are also sewn from such leather. But you can meet similar products rather than in fashion stores, but where they sell handicrafts. Masters often make embossed patterns, but you can find the simplest things. Such products are especially loved by those involved in historical reconstruction. They restore the events and technologies of a certain era, and even those that were common with ordinary people. A leather bag for a peasant was quite common, but embossing was sometimes quite expensive.

Important! If you did not find finished products from unpolished leather, it does not matter. You can buy pieces - directly from the manufacturer, in shops for artists or where they sell various production wastes - threads, shreds.

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Where to get the tools?

How to emboss on the skin - do you need special devices for this? Of course, each master has his own secrets. But there are tools that absolutely everyone who works with the skin has:

• metal molds;
• wooden mallet;
• hammer;
• stamps (punches);
• clamping brackets;
• sharp scissors;
• sponge;
• skin paint;
• skin polish;
• water.

Paints and varnishes

You can easily find paints and varnishes even in an ordinary hardware store. They are also sold in departments where they sell a variety of products for artists. It is easy to order these materials via the Internet. The main thing - on the package it should be written that the paint or varnish is designed specifically for working with the skin.

Important! Quite often they are available in aerosol containers, so no additional devices will be needed. But just in case, it is very useful to have a set of brushes in the household - soft and hard. A tool for embossing the skin with your own hands can be done independently - in any case, care should be taken in advance so that there is something to press.

Scissors and knife

Those who at least once had to make something out of leather know that an even cut is not always obtained. In order to cut this material, you need:

• boot knife;
• metal ruler;
• sharp scissors.

A shoe knife is ideal. True, in this case, details of complex shapes are best cut out on patterns from durable material (it can be hard thin cardboard, for example). But you can take scissors. They should be:

• well sharpened;
• heavy enough.

Ordinary tailor-made large scissors work great - they give an even cut. You will also need material with which you can transfer the pattern from paper to leather if you intend to combine embossing with other processing methods. This can be a regular carbon copy, which is now easier to buy in sewing goods stores than in office supply departments. But it is best if you have parts from old mechanical watches. They have gears that are very useful when working with skin:

• with their help you can transfer the picture;
• they are able to make different lines on the skin itself.

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Embossing types

There are several of them:

• blind embossing;
• foil stamping;
• relief stamping.

If we talk about the methods of applying a drawing, then there are two of them:

• stamping;
• extrusion.

Blind embossing

Blind embossing can be both stamping and extrusion. The only difference is that in the last two options, the pattern is not applied to each part separately. On all the details, on which it is necessary to apply the same pattern, they are folded together, and the quality of the embossing depends solely on the force of pressure. In this case, the depth is different.

And why might foil be needed? In this case, it is an intermediate layer between the stamp and the skin itself. If you add special substances - the picture can be made colorful.

Stamping

This method is based on the fact that the skin is heated to 100 ° C. The volumetric pattern is obtained due to the fact that the stamp is punched with hammer blows. The pattern is convex. Products designed in this way look surprisingly beautiful, but not every beginner master is able to do this.

Important! If you are going to continue to engage in this type of needlework, it is best to immediately start by extruding and buy a set of mock-ups for the skin. The store for artists will offer you many options.

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Decided to try? Then start

Are you not afraid that this type of craft cannot be called quick and easy? Then you can try. After the first time, the answer to the question of how to do embossing on the skin with your own hands will appear by itself - all that remains is to improve skills and select tools for each specific product.

Making stamps

They can be bought, however, many masters prefer to do it themselves. This makes it possible to use original elements for decorating leather products. The main difficulty is that for making a stamp you need a machine on which you can carve a metal element.

In order to make a punch, just two things are needed:

• turned stamp;
• metal rod - aluminum or steel.

Important! The main difficulty in the manufacture of the stamp - all elements must be in mirror image. It can be letters, numbers, emblems. If you are thinking about how to make an inscription on the skin, it is best to sketch on a computer and print it in mirror image.

Try embossing

Engraving on the skin with your own hands requires attention. Do not be afraid of difficulties in work? Well, then you can start:

1. Cut the part of the desired shape from unpolished leather (rhombus, square, triangle, heart).
2. Treat the skin - it should be clean, however, washing it is not worth it - just wipe it with a damp sponge.
3. Lay out the part on a flat surface (best on a board).
4. Nearby put a patch for a test print.
5. Prepare the stamp with the desired image.
6. Heat it on a burner or spirit lamp to 140 ° C.
7. Hold it against your skin.
8. Knock on top with a hammer.
9. If the relief is not deep enough, repeat the procedure, as if falling into the first print.
10. Having set the optimum temperature, apply the main print.

Important! The skin must not be allowed to burn during operation.

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Foil stamping

If you decide to do embossing on the skin with your own hands, a workshop on the use of foil will surely seem interesting to you.A special foil is needed for stamping, food foil will not work. Where to get? In the same place as everything else, that is, in the store for artists. In the most extreme case, if there is nothing suitable on the shelves, you can take a thin candy cane.

For work you will also need:

• can;
• wax or paraffin;
• turpentine;
• soft brush;
• spirit lamp.

Further the situation will develop as follows:

1. Put pieces of wax or paraffin in a jar.
2. Melt them.
3. Add a few drops of turpentine.
4. Thoroughly mix the whole mass.
5. Apply a thin layer of the contents of the can to the foil.
6. Put the foil prepared in this way in a dry, warm (but not hot) place.
7. Wait for it to dry completely.

Cooking paints

If you got white foil, and you want to make a color picture, you can get out of the situation like this. Prepare, you need:

• watercolor of the desired color;
• dentifrice;
• egg white.

The process then proceeds as follows:

1. Mix protein and tooth powder in a 1: 1 ratio.
2. Add watercolor paint to the mixture.
3. Mix well what you have so that there are no runaways and clots.
4. When the foil has dried, apply the resulting composition.

Press with foil

The process is not much different from stamping without foil:

1. Cut out the part of the desired shape.
2. We cover the place of the drawing with foil - it should lie with paint to the skin.
3. We put a hot stamp on the foil.
4. We strike from above with a hammer.
5. We get a color three-dimensional picture.

Important! The stamp should be placed on the skin strictly perpendicularly!

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Drawing and inscription

What to do if it was necessary to make both a pattern and an inscription, but it is impossible to grind such a complex stamp? Use a stylus - in the store of goods for artists you can immediately buy a kit, moreover, designed specifically for the skin. You will have to combine several types of skin treatment, so you will need additional tools:

• stylus;
• scalpel;
• stamps;
• rotary knife;
• fabric for grinding.

If you briefly describe the operating procedure, first you need to cut through the lines that are cut out, and then apply stamps to make embossing on the skin with your own hands:

1. Soften your skin with water.
2. Apply a stylus drawing.
3. Scalpel cut the pattern.
4. With stamps, apply the necessary elements of the picture.
5. Correct the flaws with a rotary knife.
6. Apply paint.
7. Polish the surface.

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Stock footage

Work with skin is not easy, and even the most basic action requires certain physical effort. But on the other hand, you can do very beautiful things that will delight your eye for a long time or those to whom you give them.