I really want to engrave designs on already made black leather items…because as of today and most likely tomorrow too, I lack the skills to make leather items myslef. Plus, I already purchased black leather items…
I’ve looked through the community and see there are great options if I were to use black leather for make things, but sadly, my purchased items are not made of that leather.
Any thoughts or suggestions on what I can do? Obviously not purchase materials before researching or testing on free/ cheaper materials. This community has been so great and creative, I am so excited to see what you all come up with. Thanks!!
You need to determine what kind of leather they use, and how it was tanned.
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As long as the leather is not chromium tanned (common for pigskins), regardless of species (cow, bison, pig, lamb/sheep, fish etc), it should etch fine. I came across a site the other day that had some info to help tell the difference, but it will be trickier since with a finished product you may not be able to see the flesh side.
Is it possible the manufacturer has any information about their leather on their site?
The thinner the leather, the lower power setting you want to use–if you don’t like what you see, before you move the material on the bed or artwork in the GFUI, you can run another pass with higher setting or LPI .
Other than that, just make sure the product height is OK whether you keep the crumb tray in place or not, and use the set focus option.
And consider how you want to remove the soot–low tack masking tape may be a good option, though pending the rest of the finish, might not work so well. I like using good old water & bit of soap on tooth brush for my leathers, but the rest of the finished product might not like that…
And also with leather, it’s etched or not etched, and black leather, if it’s good quality and is through-dyed, doesn’t offer a lot of contrast in color between etched & unetched, but the texture & sheen difference between the now exposed flesh layer and the top finish can be really cool.
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Do they really have fish skin? What do they use it for. 
Yep. It’s pretty cool. Neat patterns and very thin.
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Eel, Shark, Stingray, and many others. Google “Exotic leather”…
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I never realized how much is available. Thanks. 
Fish leather is used for a lot of items–I’ve used some on wrist bands & bags, apparently a lot of costumes in Game of Thrones used it… different species and treatments created lots of variety…
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