When the planets line up in a certain way, I get a creative streak to do some low-budget and short-term projects. Ideas are often triggered by random conversations with total strangers and situations I find myself day by day. Since I’m trying not to store too many unnecessary things (although it certainly doesn’t seem like that when you see my workshop), this projects were meant to be a gift for people that either inspired me or I think they would want something like that.

There is a fair amount of enjoyment in getting positive feedback and I hope this small gesture encourage other people as well to be positive and bring a little joy in some stranger’s life, just because they can. About eight months ago, I got myself a leather sewing machine and by now I have collected a bunch of leather leftover pieces, from various projects – so, this is the main reason why most of the projects are made from automotive leather. Here are some of them:

Goga used her artistic skills to draw a stupidest looking spider she could.

After I traced an outline on the back side of the leather, everything was cut.

From my grandma’s button drawer, I took a bunch of eye button candidates and started combining.

Since it’s a real leather and looks nice, even if it’s stupid, I presumed somebody would actually mount the thing somewhere, so the back side was covered in double sided tape.

Menacing looking spider all done.

They say if you look at his eyes long enough you get a magic potato that will allow you to travel backwards in time. For forward traveling option you need a magic cucumber but unfortunately that is
yet to be found so for heaven’s sake, if you get a magic potato don’t travel through time because you won’t be able to get back.

I never made a key chain so there is a first time for anything
Again, Goga traced a Capri silhouette on the piece of paper over a monitor screen

The template was cut and double sided tape was mounted to stop it from moving while the leather is traced.

Since this will be a key chain, it has two pieces sandwiched together, but the edges were rough and uneven as expected.

I used some old Dremel bit to burnish the edges of the leather.

Now it looks much nicer.

After adding an appropriate chain it was all done. Maybe usual bystander won’t be able to notice a Capri silhouette, but the usual Capri nut will see it immediately.

For this one I was uninspired for days but then it hit me. There is a need to make a purse guardian monster. I wonder what will I make it from. Let’s say automotive leather

After the usual drawing (this time by me) and cutting, I decided to make it little plushy and add some foam inside.

To get little more substance out of shape I used white coffee colored thread.

After some head scratching how would somebody attach the monster thing to the purse, I found a solution – this under the chin bicycle helmet strap that I have been saving for years was just perfect. I even crashed my bicycle at 60khm while wearing that thing and as you know, survived, so I knew it’s a good strap.

Since this idea of attaching came after everything was sewn together, I had to do some painful hand stitching. Why painful – because thick leather like this one is usually hard to puncture with a needle and especially the dull one I had at the moment.