Florine

Inspiration from the past – Roaring ’20s

6 December 2018

When December starts, the party season is clearly present in the stores! It is time to think about resolutions for the next year and to think back to the previous years. Well, I want to look back a little further today. I want to look back to the party years in the roaring 20s. With this new series, the history might become the inspiration for the future. What were the bag trends back then and what could we learn from, use and make with, this information? Well, let’s see!

While writing and reading about the roaring twenties, it transports you to a time where only some face powder to powder your nose in the ladies room and a handkerchief had to be taken with you. Besides that, it wasn’t seposed to be practical, it was a fashion item.

Bag frames

If you ever wonder how I come up with the next blog post, the bag frame of the latest bag inspired me. The bag frame is a well-known characteristic of the bags in that era. It could be combined with fabric, metal mesh, a lot of beading or leather of course. All shapes and sizes were available of the bag frames, whether it was rectangular, round or a bit V-shaped.

Tooled leather

The roaring twenties are famous for all the details in buildings, their clothing but the bag couldn’t miss. Therefore they often tooled their leather before they made their bags. If you are not familiar with tooling of leather: with a swivel knife and other tools they could cut and punch details and complete patterns into the leather. They use often cows vegetable tan leather for this purpose, also since it will age beautifully and gives the patterns even more depth. Besides a little bit of an American influence keeps it interesting.

Designer famous in the roaring ’20s

I couldn’t find much information about bag designers in the ’20s. There are many famous clothing designers who we still adore nowadays. Though bag designers… well, one famous bag designer from that era is ofcourse Coco Chanel. In a previous post, in the series, learning from the masters, I’ve written more about her so, if interested check it out.

Photo by: Alexander Lieberman, Coco Chanel, 1951

What could we use for inspiration nowadays?

Well certainly to use more and more bag frames!! I am in love with them. Further, I am not a very big fan of it, but maybe I should eventually look into tooling, even if it is just to get to know the technique. Whether I would actually use it in my design is something else… Mainly because it is really difficult to make something beautiful and takes probably years to actually master.

Package and wrapping

4 December 2018

The time was there… I had to part with this lovely little kiss lock bag. My sister saw the final result and asked, “What if I pay you double… can I have it??” Well, even though it was tempting (haha) the new owner wanted to have her bag as well! All I had to do was to make a little package, wrap it and send it. But how?

Yeah, I know you are capable of wrapping a present. But since this isn’t an ordinary item, it deserved some extra care and love. Besides, it is like sending your business card over mail. You and your brand do want to make a good impression!

Even though the bag should speak for itself, a smile on your customers face when she sees a little thank you note and a nice little wrapping around the bag as if it was a gift, is priceless. In the series “How to brand your brand?” we’ve spoken about a brand experience; packaging and professionality. What message do you want to send to your customers? Well, I wanted to give you a little example of how I do it.

Sneak peeks!

First of all, I am as excited about the bags as the future owners are already when I send them little sneak peeks. When you make your product by hand, it takes time, especially when it is custom made. How much time does it take to send a little photo or video … not that much, right? So they know you are working your ass off to get it finished, and maybe it will soften the wait a little.

Protect and secure

If you send your product via the mail, you have to make sure your bag is protected. With little tricks such as wrapping the strap, adding some extra tissue paper, and leaving the protective plastic on to the frame I hope it will arrive safely. After packaging I’ve put it in an official parcel box but in the future I might want to buy or design my own parcel boxes.

Make it look professional

Even though I use better materials, I use better techniques than fast fashion bags and the final products look good, I still feel the need to make it look more and more professional. That it should look like as if you’ve bought it in a store. It is good to pursue a professional look, but maybe I should also have some confidence in my own products as well. It is extra special since you didn’t by it in a store! I should repeat this more often…;) But let’s keep on topic. I love it when the people in the store wrap it in some extra tissue paper. I love it when you can see, that you are the first to unwrap this lovely bag. This package is specially wrapped, send and made for you.

A little BIG thank you

I love the saying, “Every time you buy something from a small shop owner, an actual person is doing a little happy dance”. Well, this is true!! I am so excited that people like the products I make, that they will use it to make memories, and maybe even give it finally to the next generation. So, therefore, a very BIG thank you on a little note will make it extra special. (And you can make your own rubber stamps just like I did in this post!!)

Sorry for the late night photo’s… I wanted to send the bag the first thing the next day!

Send a notification the bag is on its way!

Once you’ve delivered the package to the mail man it is out of your hands. All that is left is send a little notification to the customer that his or her package is on its way.

10 not-so-obvious leathercaft Christmas gifts to add to your Christmas wishlist

29 November 2018

It’s almost December and Santa is getting nervous since you didn’t hand-in your wishlist yet. In lots of posts I talk about Christmas gifts you can make or give but what about you? What’s on your Christmas wishlist this year? Do you lack some inspiration? I’ve listed 10 not-so-obvious leathercraft gifts for all budgets. They are items you might need but never buy for yourself or forgot about.

1. Bone folder

The first item on the list is perfect as a little gift for in your stocking or under the tree. With this item you can make sharp creases, folds and wiggle some room in little corners of for example a wallet.

2. (new) John James needles

You can never have enough leather craft needles. Even though I made myself a leather pin cushion I still manage to lose some or after a while break or bent them… So a few new needles could be the perfect Christmas gift!

3. Old ironing-iron

If your Santa is a bit more old fashion and loves an almost vintage gift, an old ironing-iron as a weight to not move your leather while cutting or drawing on it would be perfect. The only minor detail is that he should probably knock on the door of grandma or search in a second-hand store!

4. Cobblers hammer

To stay in the flow of old fashion tools, have you ever used a cobbler’s hammer? No, well you might want to add this one to the list. It is perfect for tapping your stitches and some folds into shape. Luckily there are also new versions of this hammer available so no endless searching for that vintage piece.

5. Circle ruler

If you make your own patterns, or if you want another corner for example on your project, the circle ruler is your go-to-tool. It consists of all different shapes of outer and inner circles to choose from. I actually am putting this one on my Christmas wishlist!

6. Personalized hot- or rubberstamp (if Santa has the vector file of your logo 🎅🏼)

It might be a little late to get this gift from your Christmas wishlist… but maybe Santa can arrange a thing or two to get it to you as soon as possible! You can go for your own hot stamp to burn your logo into your leather projects or for a rubber stamp do finish all your packaging with a personal touch.

7. Edge paint roller

If you like to use edge paint, you might want to go for this little gift. It is available from cheap to expensive and might help with getting those perfect edges! No more messing around with old awls or skewers.

8. Strap cutter

You could have seen the strap cutter in action in my latest DIY project! If you want to start this project yourself, don’t forget to add the strap cutter to your list! It makes your life so much easier once you get the hang of it.

9. Japanese glass slicker / burnisher

This is a tool, I’ve seen online but never in real life… I am very curious what it does and how it works. So definitely worth mentioning it on this list! Maybe some fellow leather lovers can explain this to me?

10. Granite skiving slab

Are you ready for a big and heavy gift? This could certainly be the one. It should be a polished one if Santa is ready this … since it will help you during the skiving of your leather as long as you do this by hand.

Do you have some other gifts we might like as well, don’t hesitate to leave a comment behind! My Christmas wishlist is finished and I’m looking forward to yours.

DIY – Yoga mat straps or plaid straps

27 November 2018

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are in the past… and yet you didn’t find the perfect Christmas gifts. Luckily, I’ve got an amazing DIY for everyone; for whoever loves yoga to everyone who loves picknicks or high teas in the park. And the best thing is… it is easy to make! It will definitely be ready in time even for all the holiday stress starts… Let’s make some yoga mat straps or plaid straps!!

What do you need:

A piece of leather to cut your straps from (or you could buy pre-cut straps)
A strap cutter or Stanley knife and ruler.
Mallet
For sewing:
- Thread Two needlesPricking ironWing divider
For using rivets:
- 4 rivets + rivet setting tool
2x Sam Brown or mushroom head screw rivets
Hole punches ( I used 6mm, 2.5 mm for the keyholes and 3 mm for the rivet)

Step 1 – cutting straps

I know, I usually only show you the pre-cut pieces in the DIY but this time I wanted to show you how I do this. To cut straps I use a strap cutter which cuts straps with a certain width, according to your settings, on a straight edge. If this edge is not straight, your strap won’t be either. So make sure you’ve cut this with a long ruler for example. I’ve cut a strap of 110 cm for over your shoulder and 2 straps of 55 cm around the plaid or yoga mat. If your yoga mat is bigger the straps should ofcourse be longer.

Step 2 – One side of the round straps

The straps that go around your plaid or yoga mat need to be locked to the other side in a certain manner. I’ve chosen for the Sam brown mushroom had rivets in a keylock hole but you could also go for a small buckle. To attach the Sam Brown you first punch a small hole in the strap where the screw-thread-part fits snugly. After that, it is just simple, screw on the top and you’re done with this step. If you want to be really sure it doesn’t go anywhere. You could add a drop of glue in between.

Step 3 – The other side of the round strap

On the other side of the strap, I wanted to make a key-lock hole. So there for you can make a big and a small hole and connect the two. This shape will lock the mushroom head rivet in the smaller part while it also has the room to fit through the bigger hole. The only thing you have to pay attention to is the direction of the force. I want to lock the mushroom head rivet towards the end of the strap so my smaller hole has to be on the right of the bigger one, as shown in the image above.

Next, you can connect the two holes with a Stanley knife and a ruler. Find the outer edge of the smallest hole and cut straight to the bigger hole. The final result should look something like the image above. Repeat step 2 and 3 for the other smaller strap.

Step 4 – The shoulder strap

The two smaller straps, which keep the plaid or yoga mat into place, are connected by the shoulder strap. There are two options to make this shoulder strap. By either sew the loop or attach it by rivets, around the smaller straps. In this DIY I show you how I’ve done it by rivets.

Measure the length of the loop around the smaller straps and punch one or two holes through both sides. A rivet consists of two parts; one with a hole and one with a stalk. Put the stalk through the holes and use a rivet setter or spindle machine to set the rivet, as shown in the image below. Repeat this this on the other side aswell.

Step 5 – Instal the straps around!

The last and final step is to put it to use and strap the straps around your yoga mat or plaid. And you are good to go! Wasn’t that easy? It would also be an amazing Christmas gift so maybe you should make a few extra! Below some more pictures of the final result.

Recycle your old bag to brand new one

22 November 2018

As you might have picked up by now is that I don’t really like fast fashion bags… They are stylish and fashionable for sure, but the price-quality ratio is often horrible. Therefore I’ve got a few solutions for you; 1. Make your own!! 2. Get some vintage 100% leather bags. 3. Or maybe even better, recycle old ones. And the latter is the topic of today’s blog post!

Start over

The first option of recycling a bag is to use it purely for the leather, fabric and maybe you can reuse some of the zippers. You can cut around any scratches, pen marks or in the worst case some holes. Often a new hide is more expensive than using an old bag so this would actually not be a bad idea for beginners in leather craft! The only limitation is the size of the piece you can reuse… It is definitely smaller than the one this bag is made off. So probably you can think of a small clutch, a watch strap or a simple wallet.

Repair and retouch

If you find a bag all dirty, worn and a bit broken… Look again! Can it be repaired, cleaned and retouched? Often these bags are thrown away but are a real potential if you are looking for a bag to recycle. Start off by cleaning the bag, give it some moisturizer and do a thorough inspection which stitching needs a redo. Once the structural work is done, don’t forget the finishes. Add some edge paint where it used to be or burnish the edges with some beeswax. Hammer some shape in it again and it probably will look just as new!

Upcycle

The last option of recycling a bag is actually upcycling. For example, if you’ve got a clutch you can add some straps, a new closure, or turn it into a belt-bag! Give it some feet, maybe another color edge paint and you’ve got yourself a completely new bag!

When you recycle your bag could keep your bag in the loop over and over again until it really falls apart. Or if you don’t have any money left for a new bag this Christmas, take a look in your closet and upcycle it! There is always a way to turn something old fashion into new fashion. All you have to do is follow one of these three methods. Good luck ladies!