Chamois leather, which is not always prepared from the skins of deer or chamois, is only suitable for flat ornament. It may be decorated by pyrogravure or with stencilled ornament, or used in its natural colour as background to an open-work pattern of leather of another colour.
Vellum, a very thin and stiff white skin, can be decorated with brush or pen-work. It is principally used for bookbinding. Those who wish to paint on vellum can draw their inspiration from the marvellous miniatures of the Middle Ages: a description of this style of decoration, however, does not come within the scope of the present work.
CHAPTER II
METHODS OF WORKING IN LEATHER
TRACING THE DESIGN ON THE LEATHER
In this chapter the different processes which may be used in the decoration of leather will each be described in turn.
The preliminary operation of tracing the design on the leather is however common to them all.
The design should in the first instance be drawn on fairly thick tracing-paper or architect’s linen. This should then be fixed on the leather in such a way that it does not move during the transfer of the design, but so that it is possible to lift it to ascertain the progress of the work. It will be found convenient to fold the edge of the tracing-paper over the top edge of the leather and fix it with seccotine.