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embossed
leather
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Embossed
leather work on goatskin is a specialty of West Bengal. The leather is cold
embossed and the intricate designs are hand painted using spirit dyes to
give an individual feel to the smallest and most mundane object. |
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Leather is bought
from the wholesale market and soaked for two days in huge drums. It is
then washed thoroughly to rid it of excess tanning ingredients. While
fully wet it is stretched on the floor and left to dry. This process involves
some skill as the leather needs to be stretched uniformly to avoid wrinkles.
Good stretching can also increase the leather surface area by 5 - 10%.
At this stage the water in the wet leather acts as an adhesive and holds
it firmly to the floor. As the leather dries it automatically disengages
from the floor.
After this it is marked
and cut to size with scissors and cardboard formats.
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The piece which needs
to be embossed is then moistened with a sponge and rolled out with a rolling
pin.
A block is made according
to the desired design by the acid etching process used in old letter presses.
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The
die is placed in a ball press machine and the leather is sandwiched between
the die and a sheet of hard rubber and strongly compressed. |
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The leather then takes
the imprint of the die.
After the piece dries,
it is ready for coloring. This is done using spirit based dyes which are
mixed on the spot. A rolled up piece of cloth serves as a brush. As the
leather is dabbed, only the raised portions are colored, while the depressed
portions remain white. Several colors may be used on one piece. The flat
areas are colored using a mouth operated spray for even coloring.
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The
leather is again cut according to patterns and assembled to make bags or
boxes. Boxes are made using cardboard stiffeners and everything is pasted
together using a rubber-based glue. Cardboard is cut using a die, because
the cutting has to be very precise. Even a slight error ruins the final
shape of the bag. |
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Various
other processes are involved in making
a complete product, the most important of which is skiving (to disguise
the edge of the leather without increasing thickness though fashion pundits
have opposing views on this), creasing (to ensure an even fold), beating(with
a mallet to increase effectiveness of the adhesive) and polishing (rubbing
the leather hard with a smooth piece of stone or glass to give the leather
that shiny surface, the pressure and heat involved also closes the pores
and gives the leather a high and even density). Bags are made by stitching
together the pieces using a sewing machine. Unlike fabric stitching leather
has to be stitched with a more heavy duty machine and a certain amount of
pre-stitch adhesion is required to keep piece in place.
Click here to
read more about embossed leather craftsmen. |
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