'Way back in prehistoric Glowforge days there was a discussion on this:
The final consensus was that you couldn’t really engrave / score with the GF and then tool your leather.
Well, fortunately for me I hadn’t read that discussion yet, and had the same thought the other day, so I tried it. I cut a circle of PG thick leather, did a draft score (with masking in place) of a rose outline, and then tooled it. You can see the score lines, but I think that has more to do with my lack of expertise with my swivel knife than any issue with the scoring, and a lighter score might be a lot less obvious…
These are the ones I used on the rose. They’re a cheap Chinese-made set I found on eBay so I could try out tooling before spending too much money. (I have a feeling I’m going to be spending too much money.)
I wonder if you could modify a tool like the second one from the left and grind it flat and make your own stamp ends out of delrin or acrylic that snapped over the end or friction fit onto it?
I tried an experimental one engraved in thick PG acrylic and stuck an acrylic post on it (also from thick acrylic), and it worked pretty well, considering I had no idea what I was doing at the time.
Also I did a larger one that I posted about recently, that I put through my Cricut Cuttlebug: Leather stamp from acrylic
Seriously? I know we all see the flaws in our own work but honestly, that’s a gorgeous piece. The shadows are well done and give it the depth I think you were going for. The outlines are crisp and clean. I would expect that starting with a precision pattern gives a slightly wider margin of error in the later steps. Anyway, good on you! It looks great.
Thank you! That gives me hope that I can master this. I’ve been watching videos trying to get a feel for the art, but it’s kind of hard to know if I’m doing it right with no one to give me feedback on my work.
I work in wood not leather so I have no expertise to provide criticism of the work, constructive or otherwise. However, I’m an expert on what I like and if that piece is any indication I’m sure you will be up to speed in no time. Looking forward to seeing your progress!
That is awesome!! Wonderful leatherwork! Is this part of an article of clothing to go with the leather mask? Now you have the metal tools to go along with an evil james bond torture costume…
