What's on the work table today? - part two.

Nearly a month ago I showed you a picture my worktable and today I am happy to say that the bag I was working on, together with two other bags, are now for sale at Qetty Bang Bang Boutique in Tetbury. This is one first big step I've taken since I've moved to the UK, and it feels good!

I am feeling motivated and therefore I have something new on my work table today. This time I am working with another favourite theme of mine, the photo booth beauties. I rediscovered a few boxes in the back of my storage, full with beautiful trims and fabrics. A few of them handmade my grandma, others given to me by the daughter of a belgian seamstress who tried her luck as a designer in America in the early sixties. And more unique pieces picked up in thriftstores, bazaar shops and other unusual places. I am giving each photo booth picture a different trim... it's almost like a photoframe collection on handbag instead of on a wall!

What's on the work table today?

On mine: loads of postage stamps! I am working on a new postage stamps handbag and the only way for me to do this is to have all the stamps scattered around me. I know this will probably give stamp collectors a small heart attack, but I can't keep stamps in neatly sorted books and folders, organized by year or theme...no! I simply stuff them into boxes and envelopes and then when I start working I keep emptying box after box and rummage around till I find the perfect stamp for the perfect spot on the bag. Sometimes I lose track of what I am doing and end up staring at the mini artworks of countries that no longer exist, extinct butterflies, scientists from different eras. It's like walking through a history museum, but in the comfort of my own home. Some stamps are still partly attached to their envelopes, a far-away address still visible, and I wonder who sent them and what was written in the letters that travelled around the world. Funny how a tiny piece of paper can have so many different meanings, don't you agree?

Madame Lucie gets a makeover

Some ideas need time to grow. In Madame Lucie's case it needed two years. I have had this bag for more than two years and advertised it for sale several times. Nothing happened. Madame Lucie started to look sad...I hid her in the cupboard. After a while I started to ignore her completely and I was quite comfortable with it. Others took her place: sultry cairo cabaret girls, colourful matryoshka dolls and Lady Cameo, elegant as ever. Things changed after I moved and I was forced to get her out again. She looked as if she didn't care about it anymore...ready to be sent away to the charity shop or worse. I don't like to live with enemies in my flat so I decided to take her out and give her the most prominent place in my work room. Patiently she stood there week after week waiting till I would give her the attention she deserved. Last night she finally had the makeover she had been wiating for all this time and I must say, she and I are quite pleased with her new look! She's going to Camden with me later this week. ( wish me luck! )

Makeover over Makeover

Sometimes things don't happen the way i want them to happen. For example this bag : it's been sitting in my collection for months and it's the third one of my circus themed bag. The first one was about zebras , the second one about snakes, but this last one just didn't want to be captured. The circus theme is inspired by a picture and that picture decides type of animal print i will paint for the top section. It took me forever to find an interesting picture and a matching animal print. It's hard to paint elephant skin and i have no idea how to turn acrobatic dog fur into an attractive element...so leopard it was. The picture was printed, the animal pattern painted and the rhinestones glued into place. I've had it ready to put for sale for months, but something was missing and it was driving me crazy everytime i looked at it! I took of the prints, changed the colours and replaced the blue lace trimmings with this funky gold and black lace trim from Syria. I have finally fallen in love with this bag which means it is ready to go. It actually reminds me a bit of Cavalli's style,one of my favourite designer!

Image transfer continued...

Here's another example of the transfer technique i was talking about a few days ago. I made an illustration of a handbag, digitalized it and touched it up in Illustrator and then printed it out on paper. It was transferred onto a cotton applique and embellished with some glitter, silver paint and a lace trim with sequins. I purposely give it an antique look, which you can achieve by leaving the iron a little bit too long on the transfer when you are setting it. For this applique i needed a matching bag, so i got one of my vintage inspired bags, a black one, painted it silver and added lots of glitter. As a finishing touch i added parts of an old necklace and a bow made of vintage lace. The fun part is that the colour of this bag changes according to the light. It's a very sparkling and bright bag when it's sunny, but when the weather is dark the bag becomes black again and has a more gothic and mysterious look.