The Frogskin Background

As developed by Tommy McLintic (South Africa)

This method might look very laborious and tedious, but a surprizingly large area can be covered without too much effort if you enjoy the craft and want something special. I use it mainly for small projects.

I first draw a feint guide line about 5mm from the edge of the surface I want to decorate - this line will later be the guide for a border stamp I will use around the background effect.
Next I start with the cased leather and the largest smooth seed stamp I have - a Craftool #S864. It must have a round a dome as possible.
In the example above you will see little dimples in the 'mounds' - my leather is fairly thin and I do not want to punch them in too hard or deep.

I follow no rule when I place these first dots - as soon as you think a pattern might evolve, break away. I like to group some of the largest dots together as you see above, and then when those are all done, I look for any large open spaces and either place a few smaller groups or single dots.
With the following size of seeder down (Craftool #S631), I surround all the large 'mounds' with smaller ones. You could also just work randomly and that would give a different effect.

Be careful as you use smaller seeders - they need considerably less striking force on your mallet to make an impression and you will be used to a harder tap with the larger punch.
Remember also that it takes many small dots to fill even a small area, so you do not want to leave too much space open for the smallest seeder.

The smallest seeder, a Craftool #S931, is then used to fill in the gaps.
If you want to, you can take the latgest seeder again and just 'redo' one or two of the larger dots that have lost its shape.
An example of the coloring done with an airbrush - difficult to stay within the border tool used around the background.