leather cord

zig zag cross stitch bag

/ Susanoo / Leave a comment

Cross stitching crazyness! Really how can people give/throw away these beautiful and extra nicely stitched piece of art works? I believe there will be a time when these vintage cross stitch handcrafts will be worth gold.

But until that, let`s do a bag out of one zig zag patterned, thrifted cross stitch. It was a pillow cover when I found it from second hand Erikshjälpen Jönköping. Mostly when I come across these old handicrafts they are pillow covers or wall decorations. The colors on this one are bold and I like how the lilac color pops up from the whole palette. I had a piece of brown leather from one earlier project and decided to go towards gold color in the metallic parts and decorations. For the lining I choose sturdy denim so the bag will stay in shape even when empty.

 

Again all parts fort this bag are recycled from second hand bags. My mission is to buy as little as possible straight from the craft stores but to do a bag with good and functional elements requires a lot of different metallic parts. Such as magnetic closures which I usually take apart from my second hand bags. Handles and straps are also quite tricky;  to do a long leather strap requires a lot of good leather and usually that is hard to achieve with leftover leather scraps, so again second hand bags to the rescue!

I am pleased how solid the outcome is, all colors match together and even the gold colored labels fit in with the look.

diy bag photoshoot by the waterside with hand lettered board

diy bag with recycled cross stitch and leather

diy vintage cross stitch bag photoshoot by waterside with thriftwood

 

 

 

 

pouches with art

/ Susanoo

For carrying mobile phone cross-body. All pouches are made from recycled materials; denim, leather and all the metal parts are from thrifted bags or jewellery. Lining is made out of old scarves, as long as they have silky and smooth surface to easily slide in and take out the phone. I used various type of cords for the strap…from shoe laces to self made ones.

Some of the pouches I painted and stamped with lines and circles and the swiss cross symbol was just perfect for the more simplified and sharp look. Love to use also washing instructions from old garments as decoration.

Now I just need to find homes for these unique pouches…

diy denim pouches black and white artsy picture

work in process stamping, painting and decorations

spirit away

/ Susanoo

Homemade clay pendant painted silver gray. This freehand shaped necklace clay pendant I paired with geometric shapes. With a black, diamond shaped and a silver coloured rectangle one. Every piece of the big “clay family” pendants that I did have had an unique outcome and some are still under process. The spark to create something out of these pendants can come everywhere…just looking at a flower, urban shapes and colors in the city, fashion editorials…and I am sponging up the ideas and formulating my own creative outcome.

Spirit away: To carry someone or something off mysteriously or secretly.

 

clay pendants and plain patterns

/ Susanoo

pattern: a natural or accidental arrangement or sequence

There are several ways you can make homemade clay for making ornaments, necklaces and for other projects and crafts. When shaping my small clay objects I usually go with the flow and the shapes are more raw and plain than complex and stiff.

My clay recipe is quite simple, I do not cook the mixture or use oven, I simply let the objects air dry for a couple of days. When the clay is dry and hard I give the surface final touch, usually it is painting with different techniques. Why not even leaving the pieces undone! Here I wanted to try out a surface that looks like marble but in the end the result looked more like color splashed on the object. I used one color, black, rather than mixing a variety of colors so I got a more simple look. The necklace looks good paired with one coloured garment and stands out perfectly.

 

 

mimic

/ Susanoo

Black leather with different techniques. One with fringes and the other one is odd shaped piece which I gathered together from one side and fastened it to the leather cord. Used alone it makes a statement to your outfit and even looks more dared with added jewellery on top of it.

Mustaa nahkaa eri tavoin työstettynä. Halusin tehdä ison kaulasomisteen nahasta ja liittää yhteen eri tekniikoita. Laskostettu nahkapala on kiristetty langalla yhteen, en siistinyt palan alareunaa jotta nahan luonnollinen kauneus ei häviäisi. Toisen somisteen hapsutin ja rullasin pieniä nahka”kukkia” koristeeksi. Kaulanauhaksi letitin nahkaa ja kiinnitin kaikki yhteen niskasta painonapilla. Kaulasomiste on käytössä hieno sellaisenaan tai vaikka yhdistettynä toisen korun kanssa. Sisustuselementtinäkin koru toimii ja “telineestä” sen voi helposti ottaa käyttöön ja säilyttää myös näyttävästi.

leather and doll

doll with leather cord