Why buy flower making kits?

by | posted in: flower iron, flower making iron, flower making tools uk, flower tutorial, handmade leather flower, handmade silk flowers, millinery flowers | 0

If you have followed our recent tutorial releases you have probably noticed that with every new tutorial we try and offer you flower making kits as well.

leather poppy kit BROOCH
Leather Poppy Brooch KIT

Now, you might prefer to source your own materials, if you know well what you are looking for. However, if you have not had much experience in flower making as we offer it, hunting down the right materials can be more complicated than it seems. That’s why when making your first silk or leather flowers you might want to try one of our flower making kits.
Although having a kit is just a part of success, you will get a very good understanding of what materials I use myself when I make my flower pieces as well as develop tutorials for you Friend. Next time when you source your own materials you will know exactly what you need. Say, leather for leather flowers has to be rather thin, soft and pliable, with as little sealant or coating as possible, to give the required result. If you make a leather poppy from our latest tutorial using a kit, you will get the feel of the suitable leather you want to source for your future projects.

Silk Dandelion kit
Silk Dandelion Clock KIT

 

Some flowers may require specialist fabrics because of their nature. One of such flowers is the Silk Dandelion Clock made with finest pure silk organza plus several other fabrics.
Luckily, the silk dandelion clock can be made without the use of flower shaping tools. All you need is one of our Silk Dandelion Clock kits, some silk dyes, good quality thick PVA glue and lots of patience to create this jaw dropping design.
In case if you decide to make a Silk Dandelion Clock with a flower, you will receive a DIY kit which contains 7 DIFFERENT FABRICS. And they are there for a reason.

Due to popular demand, we are now developing flower making kits for of our older tutorials, like this one on the Wild Leather Rose Corsage. That’s another great flower that can be made without the use of flower shaping/ millinery tools. All the parts of this open leather rose design are hand shaped, the petals being finished with a pair of tweezers. A limited quantity of the Wild Leather Rose Corsage kits is now available on our website.

 

wild leather rose kit
Leather Wild Rose KIT
leather rose kit
Leather English Rose KIT
leather dahlia kit
Leather Dahlia KIT
leather hydrangea kit pink
Leather Hydrangea KIT

 

Remember that our kits are flat packed and therefore can not contain any dyes, glue or tools.
If you have a question regarding any of these, please get in touch with us via enquiries@presentperfectcreations.com to receive a recommendation or advice on what sort of dyes, tools or glue are the best to use and where to obtain them.
A lot of basic information of this kind can be found in my introductory ebooks on Silk and Leather flower making, designed specifically for beginners, as well as at the beginning of each tutorial.

 

leather flower tutorial

New leather flower tutorial is out!

by | posted in: handmade gifts, handmade hair accessories, handmade in the uk, handmade jewelry, handmade leather flower, leather accessory, leather brooch, leather corsage, leather flower uk, leather gift, leather jewelry | 0

LEATHER GERBERA TUTORIALNew leather flower tutorial is out now

LEATHER GERBERA TUTORIAL IS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD NOW.

As promised yesterday I am sharing a link to the new leather flower tutorial.
To read more about it, see the materials and tools needed and purchase please go to https://presentperfectcreations.com/product/leather-gerbera-brooch-photo-tutorial-pdf/

This new tutorial is more than any previous ones full packed of pictures showing every step of the process, but should you have any questions or would like me to comment of the flower you have created using this tutorial I am here to help. You can always e-mail me at enquiries@presentperfectcreations.com. I would also like to hear if there are any particular flower tutorials you would be interested in. There are so many beautiful blooms in this world and they are all so different that it is virtually impossible to create all of them. But such all time favourites like roses and poppies are already on my list of tutorials to do.

Ah, and the last thing (but not the least)! To purchase your copy of tutorial with a 30% discount simply use gerbera30 discount code on checkout. But do remember that this is a time sensitive offer and it is valid only until midnight Sunday 14 December 2014 GMT.

I am sure that there is still plenty of time to make a couple of gerberas and present them as original and hand crafted Christmas gifts. Good luck to you! ☺

Here are the tools and materials that are required for this tutorial.

 

materials

 

This is a choice of flower iron tips you can use in this tutorial. You will require JUST ONE of these, any that you have in your set. I am using the far left wide foot with 3 grooves.

iron tips

And finally, some pleasant news for you as subscribers of my blog. I am going to offer you a special introductory price on this tutorial till the end of this week (midnight on Sunday) so you will have a chance to make your own leather gerbera and pay 30% less for the tutorial.

Tomorrow I will send you a link for the tutorial at my online shop as well as a discount promo code for it.

I hope that you are as excited as I am waiting for the release. I have a lot of other ideas on tutorials on silk and leather flowers but your comments and preferences will be much appreciated, so if you want to ask or suggest something please do so by leaving a comment for me below.

leather gerbera flower shoe clips

Stiffening leather and getting ready!

by | posted in: handmade gifts, handmade hair accessories, handmade in the uk, handmade jewelry, handmade leather flower, leather accessory, leather brooch, leather corsage, leather flower uk, leather gift, leather jewelry | 0

beige gerbera knit

Hours are left before the release of the tutorial and I can not keep it a secret any longer! Yes, the tutorial is on creating a leather gerbera flower just like one in the picture to the left. It is easy enough even for a beginner to try and at the same time those of you who can not wait to use their flower irons can have a go at them when making this flower. Although the tutorial shows how to finish the gerbera with a brooch pin, it can be turned into a range of other accessories just like any other flower. In fact, I take pride in my ability to come up with quite unusual and quirky floral accessories. To share one idea with you I can say that a pair of leather  gerberas can make stunning shoe clips which you can jazz up your favourite pair of shoes with. It goes without saying that leather gerbera brooch makes an original and much appreciated gift for those who understand about hand crafted accessories. Provided you have got some suitable leather and a bit of time you can still make one or two flowers before Christmas!
To use time efficiently you can stiffen you leather in advance. I am explaining how to do in in my blog post here.  It is better to use 2 contrasting colours, say, a darker leather for the centre and some pale (or rich!) coloured leather or suede for the petals.

Here is the list of materials and tools you will need for the tutorial. If you have any questions regarding this list please feel free to leave a comment below.

materials

 

This is a choice of flower iron tips you can use in this tutorial. You will require JUST ONE of these, any that you have in your set. I am using the far left wide foot with 3 grooves.

iron tips

And finally, some pleasant news for you as subscribers of my blog. I am going to offer you a special introductory price on this tutorial till the end of this week (midnight on Sunday) so instead of full price  you will have a chance to make your own leather gerbera with a 30% discount.

Tomorrow I will send you a link for the tutorial at my online shop as well as a discount promo code for it.

I hope that you are as excited as I am waiting for the release. I have a lot of other ideas on tutorials on silk and leather flowers but your comments and preferences will be much appreciated, so if you want to ask or suggest something please do so by leaving a comment for me below.

Tools for shaping leather flowers

by | posted in: handmade gifts, handmade hair accessories, handmade in the uk, handmade jewelry, handmade leather flower, leather accessory, leather brooch, leather corsage, leather flower uk, leather gift, leather jewelry | 0
millinery tools
SET OF 2 EXTRA NARROW MILLINERY TOOLS

What tools for shaping leather flowers should you choose?

ph-open-leather-rose-close-2-logo1

Now that we have chosen thin and soft leather for creating leather flowers it is time to talk about the right tools which are going to help us turn a flat piece of skin into a 3D floral masterpiece.

Tool number one is (believe me or not) our hands. A lot of shaping can be done with just hands. In fact, some flowers are made without any special tools. Different ways of folding, twisting, stretching and rolling leather give a wide range of special effects that allow us to create beautiful leather flowers.

Tool number two is a floral iron with interchangeable tips used for shaping fabric flowers. This tool can be used to almost the same extent with leather but bear in mind that leather can not withstand high temperatures. It can burn and shrink if the flower iron is too hot for it, so I recommend to always check the temperature of your iron on an off-cut before touching a petal or a leaf. I wrote about my set of tools in this post here, so if you have not seen it you might want to read it now.

tweezers

The third tool I would like to mention is a pair of tweezers like these ones in the picture. Tweezers are heated in the body of the flower iron and used for curling petals for roses, poppies and other flowers.
Leather petals might be quite stiff to the touch but the shape you are giving them will make them look light, airy, breathable and ever so live! I highly recommend to get yourselves a pair of tweezers like those. Humble as they look the role they play is very important and the results will impress you.

 

A PAIR OF SUITABLE TWEEZERS FOR SHAPING FLOWER PETALS CAN BE PURCHASED HERE.

The work on the new leather tutorial is in full swing at the moment. Tomorrow I will reveal what flower can be created with the help of the tutorial, but if you are good at guessing here as a couple of photos for your inquisitive minds:

tools for shaping leather flowers                         tools for shaping leather flowers

If you are interested in learning how to make fabric or leather flowers feel free to subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more flower making videos.

Indian Summer has arrived. New line of leather flowers

by | posted in: handmade leather flower, how to make leather flowers, leather brooch, leather flower, leather gift, leather jewelry, third anniversary gift, wedding anniversary gift | 1
It is official, autumn is here. And although the days are still rather warm and even sunny the mornings are chilly and filled with dewy cobwebs.
In colder months I find that silks and other delicate fabrics tend to lose their appeal and give way to more seasonally appropriate fellow material, leather. Lately, I have been working on my new line which I dubbed Indian Summer. Those of you who live in the Southern Hemisphere may not have experienced this natural phenomenon. Indian summer is a bit of summer in autumn, a period of lovely warm and dry weather that occurs between late September and mid November in the Northern Hemisphere .
So what I was trying to achieve here is a line of brightly coloured accessories featuring autumnal blooms in rich and seasonal hues.
I started with chrysanthemums and have created this rusty orange open chrysanthemum corsage made of thin leather.

Click here for more detail on chrysanthemum corsage

The next piece was a red and brown leather gerbera.

Red leather gerbera brooch

Of course I could not possibly forget about roses, so I created two: an open one made of velvety suede in cerise colour

Cerise suede rose brooch. SOLD OUT

 and an English multipetal rose in deep aubergine hue. The latter one was experimental and I am pleased with the result. When I get hold of more very thin gloving leather I will make more of it in other colours.

Click here to read more about the purple rose brooch

One of the most unusual pieces from my Indian Summer line was this one called Summer Reminiscence. Not exactly a wearable hat, but a leather hat brooch, that’s what it is.
To give you a sense of scale I’ll just mention that the diameter of the pink rose is about 1 cm.
The hat and the trimmings are made using genuine leather and suede.

Leather hat brooch

The autumn has just started and I am planning to add more pieces to this bright line of accessories. I must admit, not all the experiments were equally successful, some like cyclamens and anemones need more work done to them which will keep me entertained during shortening autumnal days.
As always I would love to hear your feedback on my work, do it by either commenting below or e-mailing me at svetlana.faulkner@gmail.com

stiffening leather tutorial

How I tame leather. Mini-tutorial on stiffening leather skins

by | posted in: flower iron, free tutorial, handmade leather flower, how to make leather flowers, leather flower, millinery flower iron, stiffen leather, tutorial leather flower | 2

Leather dahlia flower pin Stiffening leather tutorial

Those of you who have tried working with genuine leather know how temperamental it can be. Leather is a natural product and as a result may have imperfections such as holes or scars, the thickness and stretch can vary too. And it is completely unpredictable when it comes to shaping it with hot flower iron.
For my floral pieces I stiffen leather is several ways. Today I am going to share one of this ways with you. The result is a flat stiff piece of leather that can be shaped with a flower iron. I use flat stiff leather to make a range of flowers including my camellias, gerberas etc.So here is how I do it. But first of all the kit:

1. Measuring jug
2. A piece of genuine leather for stiffening
3. Bowl
4. White (PVA) glue
5. Measuring spoon
and a piece of plastic or a glass board as seen in the picture.
I use a rather thiсk PVA glue intended for craft purposes. The ratio of glue to water can be 1 part of glue  to 5 -10 parts of water depending on how thick your leather is or how tacky your glue is and how stiff you want the leather to be. You might need to experiment with the quantities, but the general guidelines are: the thicker the leather the weaker the solution (less glue). The ready to use solution should look like milk.

I use a measuring spoon to measure the amount of glue.

In the picture 10 ml of glue are being mixed with 100 ml of water.

Dissolve the glue in water to get a solution resembling milk. If you have sensitive skin consider wearing gloves.

Immerse the piece of leather (about A4 size or so) into the solution and make sure it is well soaked in it.

When the whole piece has been soaked, twist it to get rid of extra solution. The leather should be almost dry.

Then stretch it to make it even and thin it a bit more. I tend to use leathers with a thickness of 0.6-0.8 mm or so the sellers say but it is still rather thick for the flower making. Stretching the wet piece of leather in some cases makes it thinner but it all depends on the properties of the particular leather you are using.

I stretch in all directions: horizontally, vertically and diagonally.

With your both hands flatten the stretch piece of leather on the smooth flat surface (like this glass board).

Leave the flattened and smoothed piece of leather to dry completely before cutting and tooling it. It might take up to 24 hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

stiffening leather

 

Coloured leather skins are rather delicate and may require more gentle handling than the black leather shown in the photos  above.

Consider using a large kitchen tray where you can place your leather in one layer. Place the piece of leather into the tray (either side up) and pour the warm stiffening solution over it. Let it soak for several minutes. Most probably you will need to help the leather get well saturated by gently rubbing the solution into the leather with your fingertips. Try to do it carefully to avoid making any marks or damage the surface of the leather.

stiffening leather

 

 

Once the leather has gone evenly darker all over its surface, lift it and gently squeeze any extra solution out of it by running it between your fingers. Then you can spread it onto a work surface or a glass table evenly as shown above and leave to dry completely.

 

 

 

 

leather dahlia brooch tutorial

I hope find this stiffening leather tutorial useful.

For more detailed instructions on how to stiffen coloured (especially pale) leather skins refer to our detailed LEATHER DAHLIA TUTORIAL.

 

Good luck with your stiffening!

 

You are welcome to follow me on Instagram here 

or become my patron on Patreon here 

Leather Lily of the Valley Brooch

leather lily of the valley brooch detail

Leather rose

by | posted in: couture flowers, flower iron, gift for her, handmade leather flower, how to make leather flowers, leather accessory, leather flower, leather jewelry, leather rose, millinery flower | 0
I am continuing my experiments with genuine leather, this rich and pliable material, great for making floral accessories.
As a part of my new capsule collection I have created 2 leather roses, different in size and shape.
The new collection called NATURALS will comprise of a range of accessories made using natural materials in natural colours and hues.
So the new roses (both corsages) are created using beige leather  and tan suede. They make an essential wardrobe addition for any girl who prefers natural fabrics such as linen, cotton, raw silk, as well as straw and genuine leather and suede in light colours.

The small closed rose is about 5 cm in diameter. It is finished with a brooch pin.

Small leather rose

The large open rose is complemented with tan-coloured leaves made of genuine suede.

Open leather rose corsage

It is finished with a brooch pin as well as the small one.

These unique leather corsages will make a lovely gift for your Mum, sister or a girlfriend. They are available from my Etsy shop.

If you are interested in learning how to make leather flowers or in purchasing a .pdf tutorial on leather flowers, please feel free to contact me via this blog, my Etsy store or e-mail me at svetlana.faulkner@gmail.com.

Leather and suede flowers

by | posted in: genuine leather brooch, handmade flower uk, handmade leather flower, how to make flowers, leather accessory, leather flower uk, leather jewelry, suede corsage, suede flower | 6
As I have mentioned before the techniques similar to the ones I use for silk flowers can be used for genuine leather and suede in order to make floral accessories. Although there are some specifics when working with leather I use the same set of tools to shape leather petals and leaves. 
I must say that leather being such a rich and luxurious material requires less work done to it to make an accessory when compared to using silk. In my experiments I have tried both leather and suede and as any natural material they proved to be great to work with.
I would like to share several of my latest leather accessories with you.
This fantasy cornflower brooch is made of intense blue leather and decorated with faceted glass beads.

The fantasy camellia in rich berry colour is made of both suede (the petals) and leather (the leaves). It is finished with a brooch base. The corsage is available from my Etsy shop. Not only great for a jacket or coat lapel this handmade fantasy camellia brooch is perfect to decorate your belt, handbag or hat. It makes a great gift too, especially for the forthcoming Mother’s Day.
The aster brooch is similarly created with genuine suede for the petals and leather for the leaves. This corsage in grey blue colour with navy blue leather leaves is a perfect accessory to go with denim clothes this coming spring/summer season. I can also see it complementing floaty cotton dresses 😉

Alternatively it can decorate your jacket, belt or a handbag. And again you can consider it a nice gift to your Mum or a friend. This fantasy aster brooch is available here.

I would be pleased to hear your comments on these leather accessories or ideas of how to incorporate them into our outfits this coming season.

Thanks for your time!

P.S. In this post here I am sharing some tips on stiffening leather for making leather flowers. Hopefully you will find it useful

What about a leather flower?

by | posted in: beige leather, flower iron, genuine leather brooch, handmade flower, handmade leather flower, leather accessory, leather brooch, leather corsage, leather flower, leather rose | 0
I purchased some differently coloured leather pieces back in November and could not find time to turn them into flowers. Finally time has been chosen and last week I tried my luck in creating my first real leather flower. It is a cross breed between a rose and a camellia. Well I think it is a rose but my husband said it looked more like a camellia. It is made of greyish beige genuine leather including a pair of leaves. For the leaves to stand out and not to blend with the petals I tinted them lightly with a golden spray. The leather camellia is finished with a brooch pin (see pictures). I must say it is a perfect accessory for the winter period when silk flowers are somewhat fragile and light. The leather corsage would look good not only decorating an outfit, but a belt or a handbag too.
Here are some pictures of the leather camellia flower brooch

You can always order a custom flower from my Etsy shop.
Please stay updated with my latest news through my Facebook page
And a Happy New Year to you! 🙂