"It seems to. It makes the design show more, anyway."
"I saw a beauty leather mat the other day with a cotton boll design that puffed right up from the background.
"The cotton boll caught our little Dorothy's eye, of course! You make your design puff out by rubbing it on the back with a round headed tool. Your mat probably had the puffed up part filled with wax so it wouldn't smash down again when something heavy was placed on it."
"I think it did; it felt hard."
"If you do puff out any part of your pattern you have to tool over the design again, because the outline will have lost its sharpness."
"The mat I saw was colored."
"That's easy. There are colors that come especially for using on leather. You float them on when the leather is wet and you can get beautiful effects."
"You ought not to cut out your leather corners until they are dry, I suppose?"
"They ought to be thoroughly dry. If you want a lining for a purse or a cardcase you can paste in either silk or a thin leather. It's pretty to make an openwork design and let the lining show through."
"How about sewing purses? It must be hard work."