How to Write on Leather?

How to Write on Leather

There’s nothing like a beautiful inscription to finish off a bespoke leather item. It just gives it that super exclusivity which marks it as a real luxury piece. And if you’ve ever wondered how inscriptions end up on leather goods, then you’ve come to the right place! How to write on leather is not that complicated. However, there are some misconceptions that we need to touch base on.

In this article we will cover many methods which are not the way to go when it comes to writing on leather. And at the end we will talk about the correct method in greater detail.

So whether you are just starting your apprentice on the leather making artwork, or you are just curious about random things like writing on leather, dive right into it below.

Engraving?

Not quite. You see, to engrave something you need to have a hard and rigid surface. However, leather is softer and way too supple for the sharpness of an engraver tool. A person would do an engraving on the materials like wood, glass, metal and the like. It involves finely cutting into the material to get the desired result. And we, on the other hand, don’t want to cut into our beautiful leather goods, whether they are bags or wallets.

Carving, Tooling or Stamping?

Once again, no. For starters, leather tooling creates a pattern on the leather material by compressing two pieces together to form a particular pattern. Carving, on the other hand, involves using a special set of tools to “carve out” a particular logo or message onto the leather. And stamping simply refers to the stamping of an existing image or pattern onto the leather material. As for leather tooling, it is a term that’s often used interchangeably with the above-mentioned methods. However, none of them deliver the kind of result you’d find with an inscribed piece of leather material.

Embossing?

Well, not exactly. Embossing is a whole different ball game as well. It’s aimed at creating raised patterns through the application of heat and pressure onto the material in a certain sequence. Typically, two dies are required in order to create an embossed design, and one has to be female and one male. These are then pressed onto the leather using another material as a neutral conduit. As you can probably tell, this is far removed from the more personalized approach required to get an inscription onto a piece of leather.

Drawing?

Nope! Obviously drawing on leather using traditional pen would lead to rather messy results. Also, you wouldn’t exactly get the perfect yet unique elegance of an inscription. To top it off, drawing will also not last forever like the inscription would, which is why it’s never really recommended.

What Exactly is a Leather Inscription?

Leather inscription is the process by which a leather item is branded according to the specifications of the owner (if it is a customized piece), or that of the manufacturer. It is done through a process known as pyrography. It is the only way to get really fine writing onto a leather material. It also gives you the freedom to create any number of designs and patterns you like.

This means that you can ask your leather maker to inscribe the leather with your name, your initials, date of birth – whatever! And it looks even neater than the other methods because the inscriber’s handwriting gives it a very personal and unique touch.

Also, there are two ways to inscribe words onto leather, namely laser and the traditional way. The traditional method involves tools like tooling leather, a branding iron, and a special pen. Laser, on the other hand, requires modern laser machinery that operates according to the preferred settings of the leather maker.

Now, what’s interesting to note is that most leather makers actually prefer to use the old-school method of inscribing leather. It’s because nothing beats the human touch when it comes to creating special, one-of-a-kind leather inscriptions.

Conclusion

To summarize the whole article, pyrography is the way to write on leather. You can apply multiple different methods to write something of your choice on your leather bag, however not all of them will be pretty. In addition, some methods may even ruin the natural beauty of real leather. Therefore, be very careful, and stick with the proven methods.

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