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| When the leather is boiled for quite a long time (20 mins) it becomes very stretchy and easy to work with. I wanted to see what would happen if it was stretched when wet and left to dry. The result was not very successful as the leather became very brittle and broke into many pieces under a small amount of pressure. I don't think I would be able to use this technique for my project as it would just snap under and type of pressure. |
For this test I soaked vegetable tan leather in cold water and detergent; detergent helps the leather to absorb more water, for a few days. I then nailed the leather around the wood and left until completely dry. I was very please with the result because the leather kept the exact shape including the sharp corners. It also gives very easily allowing to bend. The surface and structure is perfect with no damage of stretch marks. I think this technique would be very helpful for my project in the way it moulds to a shape.
I wanted to test how far and what shapes the leather could be moulded to. So in the 3D workshop I made a curved block to see how the leather would respond to the round shape. I also made some right angled pieces to wrap the leather around.
Along the top of the picture I wanted to try and see if I could use Cathy de Monchauxs work to try out different techniques, so I made cut out some squares and circular shapes to use as something to restrict the leather when wet so that it would dry and retain its crushed up structure.
The vegetable tan leather would have been too thick to squeeze into these moulds so I used thinner leather.
I used a combination of techniques to try and create the desired effect. On 2 of the pieces I just soaked in water and on one of them I boiled it for 30 seconds hoping it would be more rigid when dry.
I wanted to see what it would look like to combine the materials Cathy De Monchaux uses in her work; leather and metal. I created a quick piece to see if like the effect.
I used the bigger mould to so that I could use a thicker type of leather and cut a metal sheet in the 3D workshop to back the pieces.
This is a quick piece I made using Cathy de Monchaux as inspiration, I made it by using the bigger moulds and thicker types of leather, I then cut out a piece of sheet steel to that there was a slight border around the edge. I don't think this was very successful because the edges are too raw and for it to work. For it to have come out well I would have to use another piece of metal over the the top that hides the raw edges of the leather and maybe use bolts and nuts like de Monchaux. To progress my project I am not going to use the combination of leather and metal and just stick to my leather techniques.