Victorian Stained Glass Light with Tooled Leather Crest – Craft Technique

The tooled leather sunburst on the top of this piece is also in a Victorian style. I actually got the idea from a Victorian Stained Glass pattern. I adapted the pattern to work for leather and then expanded on it.

One of the big differences in working with leather versus stained glass is the level of detail. The detail in stained glass comes from the glass itself, whereas the detail in the leather comes from the artist carving and tooling the leather. So I created an outline for this leather crest using the stained glass and then came up with a design to fill it in.

What really brings out the designs and patterns in tooled leather is the texturing you put in it. Tooling leather is actually very much like bas-relief carving. Whether a pattern is very detailed or very simple it doesn't come to life until you add the tooling that gives it it's 3 dimensionality. The play of light over the leather is what gives the tooling it's shadow. This shadow creates the depth to the piece.