On a Lighter Note

Britty's birthday was on the 2nd of July.
She has lots of Polaroid photos and needed a place to keep them safe.  I made her this.

I hope...

... the guy gives it to his girlfriend and she breaks up with him.  But only after she crashes his car, smokes all his meth, and sets his apartment on fire.

Dear Thief, I curse you. Sincerely, Ava

I have always loved the look of embossed leather.  The way it feels running your fingers over the texture and watching the pattern change in shifting light.  The process, in the industrial sense, is expensive- requiring large metal plates and heated embossing units.

I am poor and not well-connected so I began scheming another way to make my dreams come true.  After a few tests and some failures I concocted a method using photo-polymer plates and a nipping press.

The result: My ridiculous drawings mashed into leather for eternity.

While this may not seem monumental to all (7) of you, it is a great victory for me.  It means achieving a product that looks finished and professional- even though I am not. 

 From the pressed leather, I made a clutch with two molded sides (the teardrop shapes pictured above) and a riveted closure. 

My first attempt was made from an emboss that didn't turn out well. The design was hard to see and completely missing in some areas.  I realized how time consuming leather work can be when D and I set out the assemble this thing.  Each piece must be trimmed, beveled, moisturized (yes), sealed and burnished.  The sides are first glued in then all the holes are pre-punched with an awl. Hand sewing takes about 5 hours if you're Dusty and an alum of 4H.

I was pleased but knew it wasn't quite complete.  The finish was wrong, the emboss weak, and the closure unruly.  So I started the whole process over again. 

Four days later I had a winner.  The impression of my design came out perfectly after leveraging the nipping press with a crowbar and throwing all my weight into it.  The finish- classic black -brought out the fighting monsters in all their glory and had the promise of aging more gracefully than the tan version.  I bought a sam brown stud to improve my closure. The picture above is the clutch pressed, post glue, pre stitch.

I finished it yesterday, having hand-sewn the damn thing for two days.  

It was beautiful and I was so proud of myself.

I'd love to show you a picture. 

But it was stolen. 

Yesterday.