green silk/black leather/swarovski crystals earrings

Few years ago I found green silk yarn from nearby charity shop. As I was going through my material boxes, looking for a pair of shoulder pads to another project I came across this hidden green silk gem. I imagined a summer party, soft warm evening air, long chiffon dress, barefoot and these earrings with long green silk tassels.

Silk yarn was in tight bundles and curled so I needed to first soak the yarn in water and let air dry to get it straight.

My work flow when creating my earrings is unpredictable, I cannot say directly when my earrings are ready. Sometimes I leave the whole design process for weeks on my table and pick it up again when I feel like it. Here on these “green garden party” tassels I was not able to decide how the top part of the earrings would look like, first I let them to be quite minimalistic but later on decided to add more beads and some nude colored swarovski flower shaped crystals. Minimalistic was not the right feeling for these silk tassels, they needed to shine and catch every glimpse of sunlight.

I love the boldness, the movement of the silk yarn and the touch of raw arts and crafts feeling.

shades of green with black

Green stands for balance, nature, spring, and rebirth. It’s the symbol of prosperity, freshness, and progress. In Japanese culture, green is associated with eternal life and in the highlands of Scotland, people used to wear green as a mark of honor. Green is the color of love associated with both Venus, the Roman goddess and Aphrodite, the Greek goddess.

And green hues are also the base in my artsy small bag, together with black patterned leather and gold colored metallic parts. My wardrobe were one green bag short, that I could notice when I was choosing my outfit one day and the last detail was missing: the green bag. In this design I joined triangle shapes out of different structured leather and fabrics together with zig zag seam. As usual I started up not really knowing how to fix the handles but in the end it all came together part by part. It is totally 100% recycled materials, made out of thrifted bags and belts.

diy-greenish-leather-bag-side-view-of-handle-fastening

 

diy-greenish-leather-bag-with-unique-decorations

I am experimenting different ways to do leather decorations.

I love to take photographs of my designs, usually I take my back bag carrying my Canon and the design plus a variety of stuff you might need when taking photos outside (clamps, tape, silk paper etc.) This photoshoot took place one misty morning upon a hill here in Gränna. The weather was just perfect, mysterious shapes and blurred colors everywhere. Enjoy the pictures, I do for sure!

diy-greenish-leatherbag

Little bit of staging does wonders.

diy-greenish-leather-bag-with-cross-body-strap

diy-greenish-leather-bag-with-metallic-details

moment of reflection

Taking a moment of reflection.

 

black / white / studs /// repeat

I am so into stripes at the moment. Black and white can not ever go wrong, timeless color combination and easy to mix and match with a variety of other colors and styles. Material for this bag is cut from second hand leather jacket and trousers…the white jacket is already several years old. Stripes are 3mm wide and I joined the pieces together by zig zag stitch.

Lining for the bag is denim that also supports bags structure. Shoulder strap is taken from another bag and the studs and other metal pieces are also recycled from old bags. Pattern and placement of the studs are irregular…it needs to feel like the deco just “rain” on the bag.

diy bag with stripes and studs, all parts recycled

diy bag with stripes and studs, all parts recycled

walk on the wild side

I am amazed how this pair of single colored, old and basic sneakers turned out after some camo pattern refresh! For the camo patterns I used old leather scraps from which I cut out rounded shapes and simply glued them on! I were inspired by a cool designers outfit.

The botanical pics I took here. Great place for inspiration and downshifting.

diy camo sneakers with shape cut leather decorations

check it out

laying dress patterns on checkered fabric

stamping free hand cut shapes on the dress

 

This red checked fabric was a last minute found from a thrift store for 2€ and after this pic I knew what to do out of it. Pattern for the dress is again from 90s fashion magazine Burda with some slight alternations. The dress turned out to be too easy and “nice” so I cut out some free hand patterns and stamped them on.

It was supposed to be tough looking chick wearing a checked punk inspired dress with dr. Martens shoes…but it turned out to be slightly nicer version of that. When you want the picture to be taken full torso and you wearing the dress it is hard if you have to do it by yourself—-but hey let´s use a selfie stick—which is not as easy as I thought it would be…photoshoot took place in the botanical garden of Delft.

Susanna wearing diy checkered fabric dress with vintage leather jacket and Converse sneakers

Me…Jane

 

Susanna wearing self made top and trousers

Two piece outfit that looks together like overall. I found this stretchy black and white patterned fabric when I was looking for material to sew a pair of cool leggins. I draw the pattern for the leggins with my measurements, it is easy, there are many good instructions available in various blogs. Fabric turned out to be not so stretchy as I tought so I had to sew a zipper in the front..well it would have been nicer in the sideseam but I just went with the feeling, crazy pattern crazy zipper! For the top I used “80´s” pattern originally designed for a swimwear and the back was so nice so I wanted to try it out. I just left the bottom part away from the pattern and added a zipper in the sideseam. Ready for the city jungle!

arboretum garden gem

diy leather ring with black wooden beads

Stones that I picked from the sea shore. Some of the stones I painted and added metal wire to hang the cord from. You can choose a variety of ways how to work with stones, leather is one of my favourites. The ring on the red leaf is made out of leather and bound together with wooden beads. Photoshoot took place in northern Finland,  Arboretum Tornio.

Meren rannalta poimittuja kiviä kuvattuna Arboretumin vehreyden keskellä. Luonnon muovaamissa kivissä on hienoa erilaiset pinnat ja värivaihtelut, kivet ovat myös sellaisinaan valmista korumateriaalia. Meren rannalta tarttui mukaani muodoltaan kapeita kiviä. Kiinnitystavan valinta kaulakoruun voi olla mitä mielikuvituksellisin, kuparinväriseen pyöritin metallilankaa ja toiseen kiveen liimasin ruskeasta nahasta tupin josta kaulanauhan voi pujottaa.

diy copper colored stone pendant with metal wire

diy copper colored stone pendant with metal wire

diy stone pendant with leather