Leather has been around and used my humans since the dawn of time originally for communication and keeping records. It developed and grew to when Cortez came to the new world and brought the Spanish floral designs. They took the leather and changed the basic designs to the floral ones we use in today’s leather artistry. Everyone can enjoy leather work today and create beautiful things to use and decorate with. There is so much that goes into carving leather that it can get overwhelming when wanting to know where to start. I am here to give you some background information to put you in the know.
First things first is you need leather to begin. Leather is material made from the hide of bovine animals such as cows, oxen, etc. Leather is sold by the square foot and is marked underneath with chalk to inform you how big they are. To get the leather a uniform width it is run through a machine while it is wet to make it a little more even. They never can get it perfect that is why you will find the width set as a range rather than a set number. Tandy Leather’s ABC’s go more in detail about the measurements.
Example of how great a basketweave can look. 
Example of a geometric stamp
The list of tools is endless but I am here to start you off with the necessities or the basics. For carving you will need a swivel knife, mallet, wax paper, beveler, back stamp, and some other stamps to give design. If you just want to start with creating a design from stamps I recommend using geometric or basketweave stamps. The best advice is to get tools that you need for your project that way you don’t spend money on tools you are never going to use. Zeebee Leather created a comprehensive list of good tools to start with and where you can buy them.
Bevel 