Calico Jean from Arrowhead Leather Shop

A few weeks ago, my husband and I were at our local leather supply store stocking up on leather, tools, and other supplies. We bought leather hides in various sizes for our upcoming projects. The minute I got home, I knew what one hide would be used on. 

I spent the following day cutting out my 4 purses out of one hide. The scraps don't go to waste, that's what I use for my earring collections. So far, I've worked on two purses and this is one of them. I call this purse, Elena Handbag and Crossbody Purse. 

I make a lot of my patterns, however, I can't take credit for this one. I purchased this pattern from a supplier. I think this pattern is perfection. Everything about the design is art. I feel privileged to be able to put it on to leather.

I spent about a week and half on this purse alone. I take my time and thoroughly think every step out; and that's just on the tooling/carving. When it comes to dyeing, I prefer two-tone color palette; one for the background and one for the design. I usually grab scrap leather and play around with the dyes until I get the color palette that I want.

Once the color is applied, the waiting game begins, I usually take the time to start on another project. It's crucial you allow the dye to dry completely before continuing. This can take up a day or two. I prefer letting it dry longer than what would seem normal to most. That's just for my piece of mind.

After the leather is dry, you buff, apply your sealer of choice, and stich it together. As painful as stitching is to my fingers, I love the process. I find it therapeutic. 

The last week has been super crazy. We're doing our first show/event this upcoming Sunday, October 30th from 1pm to 7pm at Lola's Trailer Park in Fort Worth. We'll have all sorts of cool stuff such earrings, purses, lighter holders, and more. We'll also be available to talk about anything custom you may want. Don't forget to stop by and say hello!

I am constantly falling in love with the items I make. The Olivia Wrislet Wallet/Purse is no exception. Like I said in my previous post, dyeing leather anything other than black stresses me out, however, I am so happy with the results here. The colors are vibrant, it's exactly what I wanted. I'm considering doing these in additional colors. What those colors will be, I'm not sure yet. I'll keep you posted.

Dyeing leather anything other than black stresses me out. You can a good amount of time tooling, cutting, stamping your leather but if you do a bad dye job, then all of your hard work and efforts was a potential waste. Unless you can find a way to salvage your work.

On the left, you see how green the dye looks when it's first applied. It slowly dries to a beautiful turquoise color. 

One of my greatest loves in life, next to my husband and 3 pups is leather tooling. I draw a lot of inspiration from Mexican art and it’s ancient cultures. When I was an anthropology student I focused a great portion of my studies on Aztec culture, their rituals, belief system, and art. My Momoztlae (Náhuatl for daily, every day) purse features a variety of Aztec art. The purse shown here features one of my favorite deities, Quetzalcoatl, the features serpent.

In these pictures, you can see the series of steps taken from stenciling on the design, to cutting, tooling, stamping, dyeing, stitching, to the final product. It’s quite the process but well worth it.

To purchase this purse and other similar items head over to my website. www.arrowheadleathershop.com

I absolutely adore making earrings. It’s almost therapeutic for me. All of these are available for purchase through my website.