KINGSMERE CRAFTS

HAND-CRAFTED LEATHER GOODS

One-piece moulds

Moulding leather - continued

A one piece moulding is a simple, straightforward, basic procedure for what are usually simple shapes. But just as shoe uppers were once made by stretching the leather over a wooden former or last so this method of shaping leather into a three-dimensional shape can also be used to wet-mould it into quite extreme shapes. 

Use a carved wooden mould and stretch the wet leather, which is larger than the finished size, over it, tacking it (without driving the tacks in too far as you are going to pull them out several times), using brass or steel tacks, into position. The leather will stretch much more than you might at first suppose so that the tacks will require to be repositioned several times until the shape you are after has been achieved.

Once it has dried naturally it can be cut from the mould, not forgetting to leave a seam allowance if one is required, for making up into whatever the shape is intended for.

Two-piece moulds

This way of shaping wet leather into a precise shape is by putting it into a two-piece mould, rather in the manner of a sandwich, and leaving it there until it dries naturally. Shields in particular were most probably made using this method and leather wall hangings  most certainly were.

Three-piece moulding

To make a bag, a purse or spectacle case with no sewn in gusset the method you use is the three-piece mould. By forcing a former between two pieces of leather which have been sewn on three sides it is possible to shape the sides permanently to give them width.

Immerse the leather completely in warm water until soaked, then using two pieces of wood shaped to the desired width of side, push them inside the sewn leather pieces and force a central wedge between them. The size when fully expanded being equal to the inside space of the finished article. Allow to dry naturally before removing the wooden mould.

This is a successful method but only for shallow forming. If the work is to be cut edge, the pieces of leather are cut the width of the former, plus its thickness, plus ¹/8" as a sewing allowance. Where the shape is semi-circular ended, the allowance is the same all round. Where the shape has corners of a shallower radius it is necessary to cut the leather closer to the former's corners.

Italian, Mask of Pulcinella, c. 1700, moulded leather mask from a Commedia dell'arte theater troupe, The Theatre Museum, London. Pulcinella was traditionally a stupid servant, recognisable from his big beaky nose, hunchback and the wart on his forehead. As the 17th century progressed, the role of Pulcinella became more interesting and more diverse. By the time this mask was made, he was not necessarily a servant, but might be a peasant, a dentist, a physician, a painter or a soldier. The mask also changed. Whereas earlier versions had a moustache and beard hiding most of the actor's face, this is a half-mask. Pulcinella was the figure from whom Punch in Punch and Judy puppet shows was derived.

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