Leather carving is the process of giving a three-dimensional appearance to leather craft objects or works of art by cutting and stamping the surface.Many different kinds of leathers can be used for these crafts. Materials The only type of leather suitable for carving is vegetable tanned, full grain leather. This is because the vegetable tanning process allows the leather to absorb water, which is used to soften the leather before the carving process, and the grain of the leather is necessary to allow the leather to hold the shape after the carving process is complete. Other leathers lack these two essential qualities. While the process of cutting into the leather and pushing the edges of the cuts in is relatively modern, marking wet leather has been around since the Roman period. There are some beautiful examples of Roman leather at Vindolanda near Hadrian's wall and the book "Purses in Pieces" is very informative with some lovely examples of medieval carved leather work. Historically, tools for stamping leather would probably have been made out of bone, but would not have been too different from those used today. Tools Three main tools are used in leather carving: Swivel knife — used to make the bold cuts that define the pattern or image being carved. Stamp set — A set of stamping tools used to shape and color the leather to create the final image. Usually contains at minimum a beveler, pear shader, seeder, and background tool, but sets often contain other tools and sometimes several variations on the same tool. Rawhide mallet — used to drive the stamps used to mat down the background and create shading and patterns. Stamping tools Camouflage tool This tool, which creates an impression similar to that of a sea shell, is used to add emphasis to areas of a carving, often in the stem or down the centre of a leaf in a floral design. It is used in a similar way to other stamping tools, by holding it vertically over the leather and striking with the rawhide mallet. When using the Camouflage tool, the impressions created should be equally spaced, starting from the centre of the design and working out towards the tips of the stems or leaves in the design. The impressions should get progressively lighter. Pear shader The Pear shader is used to press down areas of the design that need to appear