leather works: wedding gift fun and inspiration

As we head into prime wedding season, I figured it fitting to share a few recent wedding gift ideas that were extremely fun to make. Someone once told me that you had a year to get a gift and so for most, I take that year to craft the je ne sais quoi of gifts. I’m almost afraid to share these recent few for fear that I’ll ruin the mystery around the few still unfinished and the several more not yet imagined.

1. A Suede Polaroid Photo Album – After running out of a thicker leather, I decided to craft a book from the leftover back of a memo pad and some deer skin (that happened to be stashed in a closet). It was the first time I tried using stamps on leather and while this picture doesn’t do it justice, the Martha Steward stencils with brushed in fabric ink worked quite well.

I finished the gift at the wedding itself by taking 5 “rolls” of polaroids (with my fabulous Holgaroid consisting of a Holga with a Polaroid back as gifted to me by the most fabulous friends a few years back) and taping them inside with some double-sided tape.

This was a gift for my girlfriend’s cousin who was marrying the love of her life in Mendocino Ca. We decided to road trip down from Portland and spent the night in Faye’s favorite town, Eureka Ca. While I find it hard to call myself a morning person, I typically have the mornings to myself and spent this one fetching coffee and scouring Instagram. In doing so, I stumbled across a beautiful photo that roped me in to a larger feed … and before I knew it I was practicing some calligraphy to polish off an original WanderLove card.

 

2. A Leather Scroll – This came about by accident, as I had a piece of leather that cried out to be in this shape. After taking a steel file to it and carving the beautiful couple’s initials into the leather, I rolled it up, sewed in a regular 8.5 x 11 “booklet” and nearly called it done.

The minute I got home from the beach wedding (above), I knew exactly how I’d finish the scroll. I’d letter it!

This was done using a fine pointed pen on the inside of the leather, which I did my best to pencil in first. Leather certainly doesn’t erase like paper and though I was rather pleased with the outcome, my hand was surprisingly sore! The next time I hand letter such a surface, I will practice taking breaks and some alternate grips.

Extra: Today is Day 2 of my 30 day blog challenge. Click ‘Follow’ at the bottom of the page to receive weekly updates in your inbox or follow me on Tumblr if that’s your scene.