Leatherworks: Redux

I've been working on a fun project this week... creating leather wristlets and cosmetics cases out of the leather tiles from my gallery exhibit Leatherworks: From Form and Function to Fashion, on display at the WKP Kennedy Gallery in North Bay, Ontario in early 2008.

A leather shield/wall hanging was a large part of the exhibit -- pardon the pun, the shield itself was over nine feet tall! -- and, once dismantled, was simply waiting for its reinterpretation into something new and wonderful.

The shield protrayed the Lion Rampant of Scotland, using an applique technique similar to South American mola textile work. I layered pearlescent blue leather with four additional shades of red and blue lambskin and outlined each portion of the design with metallic thread.

Reinterpreted into chic cosmetics bags, each case is a unique part of the shield -- no two are alike!