Leatherwork By Winifred Wilson 1908

Leatherwork By Winifred Wilson 1908

Author: Winifred Wilson

Year: 1908

LEATHER has since primitive times contributed so generally to the needs of man that to tell all the phases of its history would be to retrace the slow, laborious steps by which it rose from purely utilitarian uses to its high position as an art medium in medieval times, and to its general adaptation to decorative purposes in the present. Such a study would be most interesting to the general art student as well as the craftsman, and would well repay the time given it, but the scope of this book does not admit of more than a brief summary of the progress of leather before passing to the description of the work itself. At first we find the unshorn skins of animals forming a large part in the clothing of man, in his carpets and hangings. Different kinds were often sewn together, sometimes irregularly and sometimes to form a pattern. The next step was the removal of the hair and decoration by burning with hot stones and sand. A little later, colors and metal ornaments and fanciful lacing in the method of joining were added. From this the art of leather-work grew steadily. Those wonderful people, the Egyptians, applied it to the straps binding mummies, to their sandals, low cases, shield