STAMPED LEATHER
It is beyond the scope of this work to describe the process of stamping leather with a steel die and a balance-press;[7] we will therefore explain a method in which the steel die is replaced by thick cardboard or leather cut out in open-work, and the balance-press by a small one worked by hand. The cardboard or leather stencil, laid on damp leather and placed in the press, will sink in, causing
those parts of the leather which are against the open parts of the stencil to stand out in relief.
[7] Balancier.
There is another method which has been found particularly satisfactory in working a deep design on the board of a book-binding. The design is drawn sharply in outline with a pen upon very white paper. By a photographic process a metal block is produced from the drawing, on which the outline appears in relief. This block, mounted on pasteboard or wood, will form a die with which the design can be hollowed out of the leather by pressure in a copying-press, and the result subsequently perfected by cutting or modelling.
Another interesting process consists in etching a design deeply upon a copper-plate; the lines are then filled in with printing ink, the surplus removed with the palm of the hand, and the plate wiped over with a soft rag, preferably of flannel. A piece of leather is then wetted and placed under the plate and the whole heavily pressed. Since a copying-press is not sufficiently heavy to produce the relief, a bookbinder’s press should be used and tightly screwed up. When the leather has taken the impression sufficiently, the whole is removed from the press, and the copper-plate carefully raised, avoiding tearing the leather if it should have stuck to the plate. The design will then stand out in relief, coloured black or red according to the ink used. The ink must be thick enough not to spread over the leather under pressure.
There is also a method of stamping leather by means of two plaster casts prepared with stearine, both bearing the same design, one in relief and the other hollowed. A thoroughly wetted piece of thin leather is placed between these two casts and well pressed, the amalgam enabling the plaster to bear the pressure. The leather should be allowed to dry between the casts, or, if preferred, the hollow one may be removed.
The same principle can be applied without the hollow
cast, by modelling the leather with the modelling tool, so that it takes the form of the cast in relief beneath it. In some cases the plaster is left permanently under the leather to form the padding.
FIG. 17.—CUTTING-OUT KNIFE