Wednesday, July 8, 2009

I wanted to share...


A part of the leather process that is most amazing and always interesting: applying antique.
Voila, before:

Everything is in its natural raw state: all that has been done is tooling, punching and cutting.
In this case I have one biiiig custom order and two belt bags in process.

All of the pieces will be colored using a water/acrylic antique in various shades.
The tendrils on the leaf bag and the flowers and leaf veins on the apple bag have been coated with a 'resist', which on great days actually repels all of the color applied.

On bad days it does whatever it wants: splotches, etc... it is uncontrollable: leather responds in a completely different way to color: even within one piece certain spots will take color like a champ while it cannot seem to permeate in other places.


The belt bags ended up a gorgeous reddish-toffee shade:

While the big koi bag was colored using a double process: one color and then a layer of another around the holes where the inlay will go (little night skies....I am so excited!) and the edges of the bag itself.


Today I will finish to color process, highlighting with white on the apple bag and making the koi come to life on the big bag.

Tomorrow I will stitch and the following day I will rivet the big bag, which is quite a feat, and then the strap will be made for a weekend unveiling!!


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

What meticulous, time-consuming work! It's fascinating to see it in stages.

crystals4eternity said...

Oooh I love seeing how these beauties are born! What an incredible process!

AppaloosaMoon said...

...the process is AMAZING...thank you for the vision of creation...

angie said...

i can't wait to buy some of your leather... working on buying a house at the moment and saving every penny, but once that's done, i'm coming for you!

susie said...

I love to see the process and work that goes into each creation - this is why I buy handmade. It is evident that each piece is made with love.

Two B's said...

Thanks so much for sharing! I would love to try this but between the stones and silver I think I better stay put!