Making and Placing Decorative Cuts

It is my belief that decorative cuts are just as important to a well-finished leather project as a diamond is to an engagement ring. It is almost as if you had a cup of hot water and called it a cup of coffee because it is in a cup. It is not coffee without the key ingredient. Adding decorative cuts to your project will give it a finished look. With that being said, decorative cuts can make or break a project as well. Poorly made decorative cuts can make a project look, well, as if something happened by accident.

If you are scratching your head asking, “Just what is a decorative cut?” that is a good question. There is not a stamp available, which can adequately make all decorative cuts; they must be made with a swivel knife. That being said, there are stamps are stamps that can be purchased for decorative cuts. Being “old school,” the best means for making decorative cuts is to use a swivel knife.

Decorative cuts are the last thing to be done on your project. Make sure that your swivel knife blade is sharp by stropping it on the piece of scrap leather with white jeweler’s  rouge rubbed into it. I have found that my best practices are to strop my swivel knife blade when it finish using it. That way I am assured that the blade will be sharp enough when I begin to carve a new project. Be sure to re-strop the swivel knife periodically during the process of carving the decorative cuts to the pattern.

If you find the leather too dry to carve you can spray a mist of water on it. Do not get the leather too wet or it could affect the appearance of your tooling by causing the stamped area to look bleached out. Make sure that your spray bottle is set to apply a mist rather than a solid stream so that you do not get the leather too wet. I like to give my spray bottle a couple a couple of squirts to make sure that it is primed and ready to give me the mist that I need.

I will attempt to describe the technique for making decorative cuts the best way that I can. It might be more difficult to try to describe the making of the cut than it is to make them. I will refer to a photograph that I posted earlier in this blog. (See below.) I like to start my decorative cuts by placing my swivel knife blade at a 90-degree angle to the direction that I plan to make the cut.

Stages of making decorative cuts

Looking at the photo above you will see a short “not-quite” carved line. That line was made by pressing the right-hand edge of the swivel knife blade into the leather while tilting it in the same direction, to the right. Use firm pressure to begin the cut, making sure to not press so hard that the blade will cut through lightweight leather. The cut in the middle shows how the first cut would look if it were continued to approximately one-half the desired length of the cut. The bottom cut is the completed version of the decorative cut.

In the photograph, the cuts might look gigantic when in fact the longest, on the bottom, is only about three-quarters of an inch in length. As previously described, I like to start my cuts with the trailing edge of the blade at a 90-degree angle to the direction in which I plan to make my cut. While exerting firm pressure on the top of the tilted swivel knife I begin to twist the barrel of the swivel knife and pull the blade around. During the process of making this turn or swivel, I begin to release the downward pressure in the swivel knife. This will give the impression of the cut being larger at the top than at the bottom.

Decorative cuts are something that take a lot of practice. I guess that I am still practicing because I can see a lot of room for improvement in my work. If you look at the bottom cut on the photo above you will see that the cut tapers off too rapidly. I let off too soon on the amount of pressure that I used to complete the cut.

I use the technique for making my decorative cuts as described above mostly on flower petals. With that being stated, I will occasionally make similar cuts on other parts of the pattern. The photo demonstrates that technique much better than I can describe with words. Besides that, I might wind up having you attempt to carve something on the hind leg of a mule if I am not careful.

Decorative cuts on a Copper Rose flower

The flower in the photo above is again the copper rose. Please look closely at the decorative cuts on each of the petals. They are all very similar in size, spacing, and how they were carved. It is best to make your first cut toward the outer portion of the petal and work your way toward the center of the flower. You will also notice that the decorative cuts are made in a left or right hand curve. The large cuts are spaced almost equidistant from each other. Looking at the decorative cuts on the flower petal on the upper right you will notice that the length of these cuts are a little shorter than those on the upper left petal. I like to do this when one petal is a little longer than the others are. I think that it looks a little better to fill up more of the area of the petal with the decorative cuts.

Looking back at the copper rose photo you will notice that the decorative cuts on the lower left petal are spaced a little wider toward the center of the flower. Here again, I do this so that it will fill more of the area. In addition, it is not necessary to put the little “tick” cuts as I call them between the larger decorative cuts. I began making the tick cuts almost twenty years ago because I felt that it gave a little more flare to my work.

In the photo below you can see some other examples of decorative cuts but these are on the leaves and stems. They do not have the pronounced curves that those on the flower petals have but `are created in pretty much the same manner as the ones on the flower. The main difference is that these cuts are straighter and longer than those on the flower petals. These cuts are made by keeping the swivel knife at the same distance from the edge for the full length of the cut. As you are pulling the swivel knife along release some of the downward pressure to produce the effect that the line is fading out as it gets farther from its point of origin.

Decorative cuts on leaves and stems

Do not worry if your lines are not perfectly spaced from the edge of the leaf. It is not mandatory and if I am honest with you, I have slipped more than once and gone over the edge of the leaf. The main thing with making decorative cuts is that it takes a lot of practice and a blade in your swivel knife that is well polished.

In addition, on the leaves it is apparent that the decorative cuts down the outside of the leaves are not the only ones on them. You can see shorter lines that start almost at the same point at which the longer cuts began. When you look at various photo-carve patterns you will notice that these cuts have been closer to the edge of the leaf than what I have done here. Here again, it is a matter of choice and what you think looks better to you. These shorter cuts were made in the same way as the ones on the petals. Here is something you may want to consider when you make the cuts on the curved edge of the leaves. Is it as easy enough to make these cuts closer to the edge than shorter and more towards the center of the leaf? Another thing you will want to keep in mind is when you make these cuts is do it so looks the best to you?

If you are just beginning in leather craft, you might feel that decorative cuts are too difficult than you are able to do. I will not say that you have to put them on your project, but if you want it to look finished, you will want to use them. Decorative cuts are like the colors in a flower, they finish it and make it that much more beautiful. Decorative cuts are something that you will not achieve greatness on the first try, but with practice, the quality will come. There it is again practice. I have been doing leatherwork for over forty years and I still need to practice. It is not only the hands and fingers that you are training; you are training your eye or visual perception as well. I think that I do most of my work well but I know that there is always something that I should have done a little different and that I might have done a whole lot better. When I get to the point that I feel that I have no room for improvement it will be time to put away my tools for good and find a good rocking chair to sit in to let the rest of me waste away with my desire to improve.

If you have any questions or comments please let me know, especially if I have confused you with my comments. I will not know if I am being successful in my attempt to help you learn leatherwork.

Have fun!