Wednesday, January 18, 2012

A Ladylike Accessory

 I have a small collection of vintage handbags which I frequently use. It struck me a while ago that I could try making them in miniature. After a bit of fiddling around, I came up with this:
 I used very thin imitation leather for the handbag. I used a brass pin, some fine chain (for the handle), and a scrap of a brass finding for the hardware. I had a terrible time getting the chain to stick.

 After the terrible time I had with the chain, I decided to try a clutch type handbag next. The fancy clasp on this one is made from a cheap ring (from the craft store 'wedding' aisle)
 And just for a laugh, here was my first attempt at a handbag a few months ago. I used silk-covered card and metallic tape for the clasp. The silk was a horrible choice: it frayed horribly, and got glue spots which I tried to hide with gold beads.
I never showed it because there were so many problems with it, but it's been sitting on my table for months as I worked out better ways to make a handbag. I often like to keep "failed projects" like the green bag below until I've worked out a successful version. I think seeing everything that went wrong in previous versions can help me figure out a new approach. At the very least, it (usually) stops me from making the same mistakes over again!

 

4 comments:

  1. You have done a BEAUTIFUL job making these. They are very impressive! Who would know they were not real!

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  2. I love the way your bags turned out. I see no fault with the green one. It looks beautiful to me.
    Hugs

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  3. Beautiful bags. I like the green.
    Bye Faby

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