Silver Bullet Cutters Forum

Having issues getting a good quality emboss on leather with the Silver Bullet Professional Series. We are using leather similar to fabric leather and Silver Bullet embossing tools. The machine doesn't seem to be applying enough pressure to the leather to get a strong embossment. We have tried adjusting the pressure all the way to 255 and barely leaves a visible result. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions on how to produce a more vivid embossment on leather?

Hello and welcome to the Forum. Have you done a search here to find all the prior threads that discussed working with leather and reviewed them for help/information? I just did a quick search and found a number of threads discussing working with leather (I have not yet done so cannot give you any specific help myself). You can find the results of that search here: search.php?keywords=leather
(note that it says that 192 matches were found but that will include any answer in the same thread so there are not actually that many actual threads. You can tell the "topic" of each thread from the post title. You would only need to look at each thread once so you could "skip" over the additional answers showing for threads already reviewed.)

Further, one of the first links in that thread has a Webinar video that was done on the topic of "debossing" leather. That thread with the link to the webinar video can be found here:
viewtopic.php?f=54&t=5724&p=94179&hilit=leather#p94179
As a result, if you are trying to "emboss" the leather you may want to do it in reverse on the back side of the leather. Beyond that, I am not sure unless Dawn Thyme who I know has done work with leather can give your further details/information

Can you explain what the fabric leather is like? Is it thin and flexible?

Hello,

Yes I have done a search. Didn't find much useful in regards to my issue.

And yes, I would describe the leather as thin and flexible.

Additionally, I found that I may be possible that I need an A3 embossing mat.
Will embossing leather only be possible with the A3 embossing mat, or will a cutting mat do?

Thanks

It may be that the leather you have will not emboss well. The best leather for embossing is quite dense and stiff. Soft flexible leather doesn't hold the embossing as it just returns to its original shape

Thank you Dawn. That was what I thought I had read, but having not worked with leather on my cutter for cutting or trying to emboss I wanted to call in someone with much more experience with it then me.

Thank you for the answer. That does make sense, and is what I suspected.
I will try with a thicker more firm leather and see if I have better results.

I would suggest that to start learning leather embossing you try a vegetable tan leather of 1 to 2 mm thickness.
Dampen the surface before you emboss.
Use the smallest embossing tip.
Use a fill embossing rather than just an outline and keep the fill tight.

Excellent suggestion. Just one additional question... Does the type of mat used for embossing leather make a difference?

No, you can emboss on a standard mat

Thanks for all the help and advice!

You're welcome