My good friend bayr started a challenge between a few of us leatherworkers to create something unique, yet thematic. The theme for this was trees and/or flowers. Most of the items I create is usually in shades of brown, so I decided to go a little colourful with this one, and try my hand at something floral.
Inspiration from Ink & Spindle’s art
I chose the Protea flower because it is very simple, yet stunning. My inspiration was a piece of art by Ink & Spindle. I really enjoy Lara’s work and wanted to make a bag that resembled it.
I started out with a few pieces of natural veg tan scraps. I traced out my petal shapes and got to hand-cutting them (there were 55 petals in total!). This exercise really taught me fine control skills with my japanese knife. With all my pieces cut out I airbrushed them with Angelus Light Rose leather dye, and finished it with 50:50 dilution of Fiebings Resolene with water. All the exposed edges were bevelled, edge-dyed, and burnished.
Veg tan cutouts
Dyed and finished, bevelled and burnished
I burnished the backs of the petals. This wasn’t entirely necessary, but I didn’t want any fuzzy bits. I stuck the petals in two rows around the bag body, stitching each row as I went. After all the petals were stitched on, I put the circular base on. I pre-punched the bag body, and counted holes to match them to the circular base, which I then awled on the circle.
With the main part of the body complete I stitched on the dusty pink canvas that would make up the rest of the bag, along with the pink ribbon closure.
Ribbon and fabric closure for the bag
I had originally intended for there to be three rows of petals, however when I went to place the last row I has miscalculated the number of petals required, and I was a few short. I didn’t want to ruin the look by placing the remaining ones slightly apart to make up the space, so I opted to leave them off. In hind sight I think it looks better like this. I think the last row of petals would have struggled to hold their upright shape. This project took me about a week working in the evenings to complete, but a lot longer to come up with the idea. I’m really looking forward to the next challenge!