Leather Guide: Carved vs Embossed

When it comes to how designs are applied to leather, there are two general categories:

Tooled (which includes Carved and Stamped)

Embossed

Let’s look at embossed first

Embossed leather is created by stamping a raised or textured design with heavy machinery, heat, and pressure. It is used to create consistent textures, mimic exotic animal skins (such as crocodile or python), or add unique logos and geometric designs while keeping the resilience and breathability of the original hide.

Embossed leather can be just as strong (and sometimes stronger) than a smooth hide because of the heat and pressure applied during the embossing process, compressing the fibers of the grain. However, you frequently find lower-grade leathers have been embossed, and embossing still won’t improve genuine leather much (see our Leather Guide: Types of leather for more information on types). Because embossing frequently uses dyes and paints, more flaws can be concealed. 

Now, let’s explore Tooled Leather

Tooling leather can mean stamped or carved, but either way, it is done by hand and only done with full-grain, vegetable-tanned leather. So, just by knowing if something is tooled, you can know it’s a better quality already!

Stamped leather is generally one tool used in a large area to create a repeating design. One common example is a basketweave pattern, but there are hundreds of stamps out there. 

Carved Leather can use some of the same tools, but it also frequently uses a swivel knife. The swivel knife has a barrel that spins, allowing designs to be cut into the hide (usually about 30% of the depth of the leather). Then, around every cut line, small tooling stamps (we have over 100 stamps in our shop), in all shapes, sizes, and textures, are used to push the background down, lift the design elements, and add textures to the carving. It takes hundreds of hammer strikes to develop a tooled design. When carving leather, no material is actually removed. 

Both stamped and carved leather is worked while the leather is cased, or has had water applied to it, which allows the leather to be manipulated. When the leather dries, it retains the memory and is surprisingly very durable. 

In review

At Windy Raven, we never use embossed leathers. When we incorporate exotic leathers, they are actual leather, not an embossed pattern that is trying to dupe you. We primarily do leather carving with some stamped elements, and we always carve our own original designs. Our designs range from traditional western floral work to nontraditional tattoo-style carvings. The beautiful thing about working with our own original designs is that the sky is the limit when it comes to the art.