The Process of Producing the Carved

Leather Pictorial

Sometimes I am asked: How are these carved leather pictorials, with all their fine detail, actually produced” ?

Producing these pictorials is an interesting and intricate process. Expert craftsmanship and close attention to detail are required to make the art leather pictorial a collectable piece.

Every pictorial produced must be able to withstand a very close inspection with regards to the quality of the carving, the bevelling and the fine detail modelling.

To this end, every effort is made to faithfully reproduce the finest details of each of the subjects included in a pictorial; for example, the heavily wrinkled skin of an elephant.

Once the animal species is decided, a suitable scene is drawn which is designed to enhance the subject as the focus of attention in the pictorial as much as possible. Once agreed upon the final drawing is then traced.

The subjects of the pictorial are then transferred onto slightly dampened leather. The leather is well soaked in water, wrapped in plastic and left to soften for at least twenty four hours.

The outlines of the subject/s, for example, the elephant, are cut with a swivel knife to about half the depth of the leather. 

The outlines are then bevelled down on the outside of the cut with a rawhide mallet and tools specifically designed for this type of work to create the depth in the leather surrounding the subject. In other words a three dimensional effect is created from a two dimensional surface.

Very fine modelling tools are used to create all the small details, ie, the eyes, the muscles, skin folds, skin texture, trunk structure etc. Meticulous attention to detail is paid throughout the process to make the subject’s as anatomically correct as possible. I often use triple magnification lenses at this stage to enhance the accuracy of the work.

Clients often comment that this fine detail work actually becomes somewhat of an “adventure in discovery” by virtually every viewer.

The knives and tools that I utilize to produce these pictorials have been acquired over many years and are the result of decades of development work by famous pictorial leather artists most of whom are based in North America. In some cases I have even modified small professional dental instruments to achieve the exact effects that I am looking for.

Painting or colouring is done by using leather stains which are used in highly diluted forms to gradually build up the colour of the individual components of the picture.

For example the Rhinos required the application of more than twenty layers of variously diluted stains to provide the range of effects including highlights, shadows and muscle formation.

The full effect of each application of stain will take about twelve hours to manifest itself, so the staining process is, of necessity, very lengthy.

When the pictorial is completed and hung the quality of the carving work must stand the scrutiny of close inspection whereas the staining will - like normal art - be appreciated at a small distance. 

Why select expensive leather as the material of choice?

Firstly, once it has been carved and modelled it provides, as described above, an additional sense to the viewer, ie, that of touch. Viewers often feel compelled to experience the feel of the tusks, the hair, the claws etc. of the various animals.

Compared to the number of conventional artists in the world today, there are very few exponents of the carved leather pictorial, especially of endangered wildlife. So these pictorials are somewhat unique in their position in the world of wild animal art.

Please note that all leather hides have scars.

Cattle raised on the ranges of the South American Pampas encounter a variety of hazards such as thorn trees, barbed wire, branding, fighting etc. Every tanned leather hide will have a certain number of scars from these mishaps.

Only hides that have small amounts of scarring are selected for these pictorials and in most cases the scars are camouflaged into the pictorial.

These scars should not be viewed as “blemishes” as they add to the natural allure of the leather and are to be appreciated as representing some of the history of the animal from which the hide has been obtained.