Stamping on Leather Inspired by Liz Borer for Paper Artsy

 

There were some wonderful blog posts on Paper Artsy this month, and a lovely balance between festive and non-festive but the one that completely blew me away was Liz Borer's leather covered book. As I scrolled down the post I went 'oooh' and that was before I realized she had stamped on leather. She has a tremendous sense of composition and colour, and her shading is always beautiful. I also felt that it was brave in itself to stamp and then colour leather, but then to risk making that piece into a book was so courageous.

 

No such courage from me! First of all I wanted to do a test piece. I scoured e bay and bought some pale leather off cuts and did the practice piece above, following Liz's choice of stamps and colours as much as possible. I definitely wasn't going to risk going off piste! I loved doing it and am so thrilled to have another surface I can stamp and paint to add to the mixed media arsenal - I would never have attemped it without Liz's instructions but it was very more-ish!

 

So I was then a teeny bit braver but only to the tune of £3 and another e bay trawl - this time for vintage cream leather gloves. I measure bravery partly in how much money I waste. It took a while to find what I wanted as I didn't want ones that had seams on them that would be difficult to stamp on. The ones I chose had this gorgeous cut out detail which I chose to mask off when stamping so as to make a feature of it.

 

 

I did the flowers in exactly the same way as for the test piece, and as per Liz's instructions. I decided not to do the scrolls and face as I feel something that is to be worn should be a little simpler in style, and I am still not sure whether the recipient will actually wear them or hang them up (or hide them!).

 

Here's a closer shot. My heart was in my mouth when I stamped on them as I knew I only had one chance not to mess up! These are a Christmas gift for a very special person. The gloves are very tiny but she is very petite so I am hoping they are going to fit - it will be a Cinderella moment!

Thank you so much to the Guest Designers this month - I've run out of time as I'm off to Mum's. Thank you to Liz Borer as I will most definitely be stamping on leather again and painting with Frescos and it's been so lovely to have something new to try. I am entering this into the Paper Artsy challenge, inspired by Liz Borer.