Designing with Stamping Tools – Lesson One: Tools & Fundamentals
Designing with Stamping Tools – Lesson One: Tools & Fundamentals is a home study course by the late Paul Burnett that introduces the core principles behind creating original designs using stamping tools. Rather than focusing only on tool use, this lesson teaches how to think about layout, spacing, and structure so leatherworkers can move beyond copying patterns and begin designing their own work.
This lesson covers the foundational building blocks of stamped design, including how impressions are developed, how to maintain alignment and symmetry, and how to work from center lines and borders. Practical guidance is provided on layout tools, spacing techniques, and making clean, consistent impressions. The material also explores borders, frames, and simple spot designs, helping leatherworkers understand how individual elements come together into a cohesive composition. As with other materials in this archive, these pages are presented as scans of the original self-produced lessons, so minor imperfections may be present as part of their original format rather than modern restoration.