I haven’t posted any ecoprinting for awhile here as I’ve been doing the daily postcard posts so here’s a round up of some of my recent makes. I’ve been mostly working with my eco printed kangaroo leather. I’ve shared a few of my favourites and some maker’s thoughts. If you feel inspired to try your hand at printing with leaves on leather I have a beginner’s guide here.
I use organic shapes and natural materials for closures
Bags are a favourite make and I enjoyed adding a lot of little extra details on this one. I rarely do a standard closure anymore…I like to play with different organic shapes and materials to close the flap
Here I used some silver birch prunings , drilled some holes and threaded with elastic or leather thonging to make the closures for these covered sketchbooks.
When I make a mistake there’s an instant opportunity to get creative
I decided to add in a pocket after the bag was finished so I used a leaf motif on the back to secure the pocket which left a sewn leaf motif on the inside as well.
These are some shoes I made for myself. They’re very light and very comfortable but i did make a few mistakes, I took a little nick out of the upper printed leather so i added in a small leaf cutout to cover and matched it on the other shoe as well.
Using all the scraps is important to me.
I collect all the little offcuts of leather in a basket and coming up with creative ways to use them is a challenge i set myself.
These cardholder keyrings make a sweet little gift and the earings take a very small amount of leather. Often there are bits of leaves on a scrap and reshaping them into a cutout leaf lets me use them in an attractive way.
Sometimes there are slightly bigger scraps and I can use them for a pen/brush holder or a glasses case.
Every make is a one of a kind.
I rarely use a standard pattern for any leather make. I might use the same dimensions for the carcass of a bag but the flap and the accent strips are all free designed as I make. Mhis means it takes me longer as I play around with the design on the go but it’s what I enjoy so that’s how I do it. I also don’t like to do assembly line makes because it bores me. Here’s what I made today. The pink bag wasn’t a new make but I altered the strap which wasn’t long enough…it had been sitting around for ages!
If you have any questions about any of these makes let me know in the comments.
Lindy Whitton Studio 
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