Leather is the most durable and unique material loved by many for its splendid appearance and high quality. Nowadays, people love personalizing their leather products to elevate their look instantly. While leather is perfect in its basic form, plenty of strategies make it look even better. That’s why Leather engraving is being popular day by day.
What is leather engraving?
One of the most common leather engraving techniques for personalizing Leather is the engraving process. While the process instantly elevates the look, it also gives a long-lasting impact as it goes on for years.
Here is the complete guide for a better understanding of the different techniques used for Leather engraving and how it affects their qualities. With a bit of practice, you will soon learn how to engrave leather products such as bags, belts, wallets, etc.
1. Leather Engraving
One of the most common leather engraving techniques for personalizing Leather is the engraving process. While the process instantly elevates the look, it also gives a long-lasting impact as it goes on for years. Usually, experts use a rotary tool for engraving Leather into the shapes and designs you want.
Whether you want to engrave a friend’s name or like to engrave a monogram, it works perfectly well. Initially, people used to engrave names for generations as heirlooms. However, today, we draw lines, borders, designs, and other designs to enhance their look.
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Step-by-Step Engraving Process
We will break down the complete 5 step-by-step engraving processes using a rotary pen. So, let’s begin:

- Design on paper: First, you need to draw the design on paper to engrave on your leather products. A rough design saves both your time and product from making any mistakes or errors.
- Imprint your leather product: The next step is to use acetone and cotton to print your design on the actual product you want to engrave. Apply some acetone to the design and imprint it on your leather product.
- Start Engraving with a Rotary pen: Now is the time for the actual step. You can start engraving the design over the print using a rotary pen. As your design is on the Leather, you can begin engraving it all over it to elevate its look.
- Use a hex key for the design left: As you are about to finish engraving your leather product, it is time to give it a finishing touch. Sometimes, some corners are left in leather material and become challenging to engrave. Use a hex key to engrave all the places left.
- Clean the Surface: Now, if you finish with the engraving process, you can use the damp cloth to clean the surface from the remaining. The final step is to check if the entire design is engraved correctly.
2. Leather Embossing
Brands generally use the leather embossing technique to imprint their logos on leather products, and it is one of the most common and straightforward leather engraving techniques many uses. In this, you need to use a heavy steel plate or a rotating wheel to stamp the pattern on your leather products, such as your wallet or belts.
The best thing is the embossing process only touches the surface by keeping the material safe from burning from inside. This process is more similar to the stamping process as the design is imprinted, putting force without much effort.
Basically, there are two types of embossing processes used by industries worldwide. One is blind printing, and the other is color printing. Blind printing refers to the primary method used for embossing the design on leather products.
However, designers use a thin film of a specific plastic between the leather and the stamping plate in color embossing. When they stamp the design forcefully on the leather, the colorful film will emboss on the leather surface.
3. Leather Pyrography
Leather Pyrography is a lot more similar to the normal engraving process. However, there is a lot of risk of leather catching fire in the Pyrography process. If you want to make your engraving designs stand out, Pyrography is an excellent option.
But anyone using the Pyrography process for the first time needs to be very careful of the heat as you need to use an electric heating process. Under this, designers use an electric heating pen to design the leather surfaces using the tool.
Also, you need to be very alert while designing as you can’t change it once printed. Ensure to take all the precautions while using this process and wear safety equipment.
4. Leather Carving
Experts use leather carving methods for customized gifts and exhibitions, unlike the other engraving process. Designers use swivel knives, chisels, scrapers, and stamps to engrave their designs.
The carving process gives the leather a distinctive look with good finishing and texture. However, if you are a beginner in leather carving, we recommend you be very careful while using the tools you can get wounded.
While carving the process, designers first draw the rough lines on the leather how they want to design. Now they use the other tool to give the design a high-quality look with carefully crafted materials.
5. Leather Perforation
With Leather Perforation, designers or artisans create beautiful designs using small holes all over the material. Brands use this technique to improve the breathability of leather products.
It is most widely used in furniture to improve material quality to protect from easily breaking and damaging. Since no artisans and experts can engrave each hole on material, they use machines to complete the process.
Final Thoughts
Whether you are looking for information to learn the different techniques or purely for information, you need to understand various techniques better.
We have mentioned different types of engraving processes used by experts and brands worldwide to elevate their look.
Hopefully, you have learned the different ways and decided which one will be perfect to start with. Start learning, enjoy the process, and practice till you become an expert!!