Stripes, Stripes, & More Stripes

As of late I've been a bit obsessed with stripes. I blame it on being enamored with all things steampunk where stripes, from delicate pinstripes to broad bands of alternating color, seem especially at home. It's a relatively simple pattern but it has a lot of charm. Take for example this amazing bustle jacket, ruffled spats (okay, technically they're herringbone-patterned but they're stripes of a sort), anatomical corset, and spiffy pants.

My own contribution in leather includes a sweet pair of earrings, a festive cuff bracelet, and a specimen charm necklace:

Peppermint Stripe

Circus Caravan Cuff

Carnival Curiosity Necklace

I'm sure the stripe-obsession won't end with these three.

Three Treasuries

This seems to be a good week for Treasuries. I just listed my Pennsylvania Wildlife bracelet yesterday and it already has been selected to appear in two zoological-themed Treasuries: one dedicated to deer and the other to turkeys.

Deer, Deer, Deer curated by andboriginals

Turkey Fashion curated by MollysMuses

My mixed-media piece Osprey Vision is also included in a Treasury related to vision.

All the Better to be Seeing You With curated by KitzieG

Peacock Feather Cuff Bracelet

I'm certainly not the first leather-worker/jewelry-maker who decided to use a peacock tail feather motif in her work* so it's not an original, ground-breaking concept, but as I have several of these feathers poised at my workbench, staring me down with their iridescent eyes as I hammer, carve, and bead it's been hard not to be inspired by them. Still, I hope my version is a bit distinctive and has a different character from the peacock feathers rendered in leather by other artisans. I was really focused on the sinuous lines and shapes formed by the feather whereas the other versions I've seen tended to focus on achieving a more robust texture. You can actually catch a glimpse of this bracelet in its unfinished form posing on my granite tooling slab in this entry.

It is a fairly simple bracelet based upon the general pattern of what I refer to as my tab bracelets but with a little twist. Unlike my other tab-style cuffs, the leather tab upon which the feather is carved is in a subtle S-curve shape which looks really lovely curling across the wrist. I stamped the word "beauty" beside the feather on a gentle baseline curve to echo the feather's lines and to suggest that it too could drift lightly on the air. This also happens to be the first tab bracelet I've used sterling silver chain & wire for the clasp. In the photo below you can see some of the beads I've chosen to compliment the rich colors of the feather. They include a faceted lime green turquoise roundel, freshwater pearls, what I think is carnelian, an amber glass bead, and another small turquoise nugget.

This one is slated to be taken to the show in September. I'm hoping to make a corresponding necklace if I have time.

*Sunny Rising Leather, who has been an inspiration to me in the creation leather necklaces & bracelets, has also tried her hand at peacock feathers as well as just the "eye" of the feather. I also found another Etsyian who makes peacock earrings but I believe he or she layers multi-colored leather rather than carves and paints/stains it.

Anatomical Heart Cuff

This is another teaser image of a piece I'll be selling at the show. It features multiple layers with the uppermost having a focal of an anatomical heart. The layers are secured to each other with domed rivets which I've scuffed and dented for a more well-worn look. The next version I make though will have a different spacing for the rivets, I feel the distance and arrangement of them on this one are not quite cohesive. The leather of the main cuff has also been distressed. This is the first time I've really experimented with distressing leather and I'm very fond of the results. I've also made a few simpler cuffs featuring both round and pyramid spots that I've distressed somewhat.

I was inspired to attempt the process by a gorgeous cuff featuring a large flaming heart milagro I purchased from Urban Boutique. She was successfully able to age her metal spots to harmonize with the genuinely worn milagro. They seem like they were submerged in a shipwreck or buried in the earth for several decades with their accumulation of grime and patina. I have not quite gotten to that stage but I will have to look into some other antiquing methods.

Mortal Geisha · Leather Cuff Bracelet

This is the second version of this bracelet that I've created, and I'm much more pleased with the carving & tooling aspect than I was with the original. The first time around the leather was being strangely finicky (I think that I got it too wet in preparation for carving) so I was having difficulty getting details and nice crisp lines. The original version still turned out nice — better than I first anticipated — but this version I feel is a great improvement. I really wanted to highlight the carving so I left the color scheme rather simple: earth tones with a halo of red.

Mortal Geisha is a hand-crafted leather cuff bracelet inspired by my love for the Japanese tradition and by tattooing.

The design was originally slated to be part of a series of tattoo flash I was working on, but I decided that I liked it so much that I wanted to use it in a leather piece. A woman's profile superimposed with that of a skull is a common motif in American old school style tattooing (likely derived from calaveras, sugar skulls, and other Day of the Dead imagery).

My unique twist incorporates an influence from Japanese woodblock prints of geisha and courtesans of the floating world. Perhaps it represents the "Lady from Hell," the courtesan Jigokudayu who achieved enlightenment upon gazing at herself in a mirror and seeing a skeleton reflected there instead of her own youthful form. A gnarled pine tree curves around her neck, clouds swirl about her head, and a flame licks up from her collarbone. She is silhouetted by a scarlet stain.

The main portion of this cuff bracelet was hand-carved from vegetable-tanned leather and then dyed and painted. A strap of supple mocha-colored leather is affixed to one side of the pictorial panel using two gold-toned rivets and on the other with a gold-toned snap closure. The front of the carved leather portion is sealed with an acrylic coating to ensure that it stays vibrant for a long time to come, but please keep it dry to ensure its longevity. It is signed by the artist on the reverse.

measurements • bracelet is about 3.75 inches wide at its broadest point and approximately 7.5 inches around
materials • hand-carved & painted leather, gold-toned rivets and snap
price • SOLD!