I love working with leather.  I love the smell of it.  I love the varying textures of it.  I love its durability as well as its rich, luxe quality.  Leather just says LUXE. 

 Leather has been used since the dawn of man.  Leather is the skin from birds, reptiles or animals with the hair or fiber removed. It must be treated first to not rot over the course of time.  Leather is often the byproduct from the food industry, so where there is prime rib, there is leather.

Before the skins, known as hides, become leather they must be processed.  First they are cured to prevent the skins from rotting.  During the curing process the hair and flesh is removed from the skins and they are dried.  After the skins are cured they are tanned.  The main reason for the hides to be tanned is to prevent them from rotting, and keep them from becoming hard and eventually cracking.  The tanning process can take anywhere from a few hours to up to a year depending on the process and thickness of the hide.

Splitting, coloring, and finishing follow the tanning process, AND this my friend is the point of this blog post.  PATENT leather.

 Patent leather goes through the same treatment above but is then finished with successive coats of polyurethane, the end result being a high shine, high luster finish that is very durable.  I just nabbed me some high-shine, high-gloss patent leather.  It is so glass like, I just want to put it in my mouth.  Perhaps I will make something from it instead!  My inclination for this shiny ass hide is to turn it into jewelry.  Or a bag.

Sewing with patent leather can be a bitch.  I recommend using a machine with a walking foot and a Teflon foot.  Always use polyester thread.  Use scraps first to set correct tension, and go SLOW.  Once you perforate the hide with the needle, you are forever left with a hole.

Off to play in patent leather land… I hope I see a patent unicorn there!

i feel like a gherkin...

 

…sweet, salty and a touch of sourness.  Yes, I feel like a gherkin.  Perhaps less sweet than sour, I really could use a bit of venting right now.  Or a good old fist fight.  Or a night in jail.  Or, maybe, just maybe, a nap. 

Perhaps a fist fight that lands me in jail where I can take a nap.  PERFECT!

creatively sleeping

I have a nasty habit of closing my eyes and having design come to me.  I don't know if it is the blank canvas that is the back of my lids?  Or the turning off of distractions around me?  But I inevitably wake up at a devilishly dark hour with a stroke of brilliance. 

This morning it was 3:41.  
I finally gave in and rose at 4:40. 
Tea in hand I type. 
1/2 a tea in hand I sketch.

At least my brain wakes me up so I don't miss these moments. I just wish they happened when my eyes were already functioning.

a word to the wise....

 

Don't date a billy goat. They are only in it for one thing....

 

shot of life

"Janet didn't realize it was bring your penguin to work day.  Way to miss the opportunity Janet. Way to go."

We all have missed opportunities.  Flashes of progress to capture that fail.  I still kick myself for not seizing the 8am Saturday shoemaking class in college.  Shoelessly I kick myself.  But I suppose it's only when you begin to kick yourself you realize the flash is gone, along with the opportunity.

I found some legs..........

And I am pretty sure they are mine circa 2005?
When you google yourself, funny stuff comes up.

TGIF-bitches!!

First real day of production in my studio and what have I learned?

·         Light is very important. From lightness of spirit to the heaviest of burden, a well lit room will make you see more clearly.

·         Don’t choose a paint color flippantly.

·         It takes time to get used to a new work space. “Now where did I put that?”- Get more light!