Some of you may know that I have been using a laser engraver to cut and engrave leather of late. What with this being not in the least bit traditional I thought I'd try a compromise. At school we use a material called "Necuron" which is a plastic with a high melting point into which our 11 and 12 year olds cast a low melt alloy (a pewter substitute) to make a zip tag/key fob doofer. I ran some of the used necuron through the bandsaw (to cut off the CNC milled designs of the kids) then used the laser cutter to engrave a variety of designs.
I then cut and sanded them into separate blocks and pressed them into wet leather using a backing board and a G cramp. (They are too big to be hammered effectively). This is the result:
I was quite surprised at the detail that I could transfer in this way - e.g. the little toes. I have no idea, as yet, how well they will hold up to repeated usage. We can get 10 or a dozen castings out of each one, so it seems a pretty resilient material.
Could this be the start of a cottage industry?
I then cut and sanded them into separate blocks and pressed them into wet leather using a backing board and a G cramp. (They are too big to be hammered effectively). This is the result:
I was quite surprised at the detail that I could transfer in this way - e.g. the little toes. I have no idea, as yet, how well they will hold up to repeated usage. We can get 10 or a dozen castings out of each one, so it seems a pretty resilient material.
Could this be the start of a cottage industry?
