Daily Press News Editor
MONTROSE - In a 16-foot panel trailer outside his Montrose home, the hands of a craftsman keep alive a dying art.
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"It's very detailed and very tedious. The final outcome is a work of art," Barberousse said. "That's a dying art these days, people that actually sit down and tool their leather."
Barberousse was no stranger to the art when he began seriously pursuing it in 1992.
"My grandfather did leatherwork when I was a kid," he said. "I remember tooling a little bit of leather when I was with him, but not seriously until 1992. Within the last three years, I began concentrating more on it."
He learned through trial and error, but found he had the knack.
"It's just something I picked up easy and I enjoy doing it," Barberousse said.
His boyhood home of Fort Worth, Texas, also played a role in the development of his talent. "I was always around saddles and leather. It was just my forte. That interested me because I grew up around it. I kind of had a real good idea of what it took to do it."
These days, he's the one creating the leatherwork that connotes the Old West, and in the New West - and beyond - Barberousse finds plenty of work.
The Montrose County Fair Queen received a custom saddle in July; it was Barberousse who stamped the queen's logo into the saddle fenders and colored it. He's also tooling Bible covers that will be awarded to Miss Rodeo America and Miss Rodeo Canada at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. Barberousse also creates custom leatherwork awards for the Colorado Pro Rodeo Association and has customers from coast to coast - even Australia.
"It's go, go, go," he said.
What, exactly, does it take to tool a piece of leather besides infinite patience and a steady hand? Different things, Barberousse explained.
"A lot of big companies will emboss leather with a machine. I tool it with different tools, like a basket weave tool. One impression is one placement of the tool."
He's pretty blunt about embossing: "That's not tooling. Tooling is inch-by-inch, step-by-step, working your way down. You can tell the difference." Essentially, said the craftsman, just as computer-aided drawing is distinct from drawing on a canvass by hand, tooling and embossing are distinct.
"It (embossing) takes a different skill. But you're more or less imprinting the leather the leather when you're tooling it. The leather doesn't come up; it goes down."
The uniqueness of tooling also appeals to Barberousse. "No two pieces are the same. I have pieces of leather that my grandfather has tooled. I try to make my leather not only functional, I try to make it so it can be handed down generation to generation."
Barberousse also does floral tooling, in which he draws out his own floral design.
"No two flowers are the same. You carve it into the leather and tool around it to give it the 3-D effect," he said.
The richly decorated tack, belts, purses and other items are the end result of a lot of work. First, Barberousse takes a pre-tanned side of leather and cuts out a design or makes a template, using a round knife that "cuts through (leather) like butter."
Barberousse must also case the leather.
"Casing is very important," he said. "You wet the leather, which doesn't hurt it as long as it can breathe."
Once leather is cased, or wetted so fibers absorb moisture and become more pliable, he cuts and or tools it.
"It leaves that (tooling) impression as it dries. There's a lot to it. It's not: 'Just go get a piece of leather and make a purse out of it,'" he said.
And yes, that's why tooled leather is expensive.
"There's a lot of artwork in it, a lot of tools, a lot of craftsmanship," Barberousse said.
The length of time invested on a given piece depends on what it is - a purse will take longer than a belt most of the time, for instance - and the amount of detail involved. Everything, from the patterns to the dimensions, must be perfect.
"You can only cut leather once," he said. "From the time you cut the leather to the time you finish it, it's not done until the last stitch is in and it's in the customer's hand. Something can always happen."
It's what does happen once the finished piece is in the customer's hand that keeps Barberousse keeping at it. "The best thing about making a piece of leather that's custom tooled is seeing the customer look at it and say: 'Wow. That's beautiful.' That's where I get my satisfaction."
Right now, Barberousse also works in construction, but said he hopes to grow D-Bar Leather at 620 Orchard Road (318-1168).
"It's what you make of it," he said. "If you want to succeed, you just got to put some effort into it. Right now, I'm comfortable with it. When I'm ready, I'll crank it up a notch or two."
Contact Katharhynn Heidelberg via e-mail at katharhynnh@montrosepress.com
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