Description
Here, at last, is a modern comprehensive guide, with handsome photo- graphs, precise diagrams, and detailed instructions, showing, step by step, how to design and make everything from sandals and handbags to sculpture and furniture. After reviewing the history of leather design and surveying the pos- sibilities of leather as a contemporary artistic medium, the author details the nature, characteristics, and behavior of leather, including how raw hides are cured and how to select, buy, and store raw pelts. There is also a general list of supplies, plus advice on how to judge quality and select appropriate tools for the job. Dyeing, finishing, care, and cleaning of leather are also described, as are the uses of findings, fasteners, and other odds and ends. This technical information is applied in subsequent chapters to actual design problems: san- dals, moccasins, slippers, men's and women's garments, handbags, belts, billfolds, watchbands, furniture veneer and wall paneling, sling chairs, slip- covers, sculpture, bookbindings, and scores of other objects, along with de- tailed descriptions for making these items. There are also photographs featuring the work of top national designers and craftspeople.
A final chapter offers practical hints on merchandising craft products; advice on the mail order business; information on cooperative buying, pricing, and display of work; and suggestions on opening a leather shop.
Donald Willcox has exhibited his leather designs in his adopted state of Vermont and elsewhere in the United States. A native of Minnesota, Willcox received a B.A. degree from Goddard College, Plainfield, Vermont. From 1962-65, he served as editor of the region- al literary magazine Vermonter. He has also been on the staff of the famous Breadloaf Writer's Conference at Mid- dlebury College. His writings have also appeared in The Christian Science Moni- tor, American Artist, Craft Horizons, and The Writer. He is also the author of the Watson-Guptill book Wood Design.
160 pages. 8 x 11 (21 x 28 cm). 90 black- and-white illustrations. 73 line drawings, Sources of Supply Information. Index.
