So I was very honored and surprised in June when a belt that I had designed and hand-tooled won third place in the 3d Mixed Media category in the Wally Reichert Memorial Art Show here in North Florida. It was such a learning process making this piece, and I look forward to doing more.
I find leatherwork incredibly satisfying because by the end I’ve always learned a lot, and I have something incredibly useful and usually wearable. I still have so much to learn, but I’ve enjoyed every moment. I also have much more appreciation for quality leather and craftsmanship. It’s so easy to balk at the price of a hand-crafted item, even when you have put so much work into your own crafts, but real leather that isn’t the cheapest possible and mass produced in a factory?
I can definitely understand, now, and really, a lot of leather items basically last a very long time if they are cared for well. I admit I have been missing wearing this belt since it has been in the case at the library, but I’ll have it back soon enough!
My inspiration for this piece was the different sorts of parade and ceremonial armor that you can see on display in museums around the world. Some of my favorites are at the Met Museum.
Armor has always fascinated me. The weight of it, the work that must have gone into it, the time period and their lack of our technological advances. I can only hope to create something so beautiful one day, but in the mean time I’ll just keep trying to improve.
