Recent bespoke orders at Alex Misarins

[misarins]

Hi folks,

Just few of many updates for a last month.

One of my favourite keyring so far is this cute 3D turtle. I was made of aniline goat
skin in brown colour, hand drawn turtle shell and eyes, also a high gloss finish on the
edge, to make it more female attractive.

Also few bifold card holders were done. They are still quite popular due to gold calf
skin lining, which looks just stunning. I am a fan of contrast stitching, but still have to
complete orders with a monotone thread colour to match the colour of the skin.

Shown bifold wallets are made of lizard, bull frog, and water snake skins. I was surprised
with a bull frog skin. It is very thin, same as snake skin, but extremely durable.

I will keep posting updates and pictures from my studio, just need a bit more time

[sos]

That 1st wallet looks amazing - good stitches too!  What thread size & size of prick/chisel in mm are you pairing together?

[misarins]

All of those were made using fil au chinois 532 and 8spi pricking iron. This size looks a bit too wide and a new set of 9spi pricking irons is on its way.

[sos]

I think the size looks great - but yes, I have the 9 spi & they create very nice layouts!

[misarins]

Check out new bespoke orders. This time I was using 9spi and 532 thread from Amy Rokes. It looks more
narrow and accurate the same on 2 and 4 layers of leather.

 

It was a challenge to rethink Birkin bag in a clutch style. Needed to decrease real size flap
to 1.5x smaller to keep original shape. Also contrast snake skin handle and arm strap fitted well.
Flap slides in nicely and opens with no effort, but sits well without accident opening.

 

After reviewing a completed clutch was made a decision to add 2 contrast stitches on both sides
of the flap. And this completely changed to look to a more young and modern. This is a great 
example of how little details are important. Customer was happy after this little tweak.

 

As a bonus was created a yellow snake skin bracelet utilising a traditional watch butterfly lock.

 

And the most recent order was to create a mini version of "Karina Bag" which was designed few months ago.
Bag was redesigned to stand out from the crowd, and extra detail/cut on the flap following the original angle.

New name is "Karina Mini Bag". Smaller and more classic turn lock, light weight strap. Exterior made from
vintage Hermes calfskin and lining executed in beige shrunken calfskin. Contrast stitching to highlight the fact of
handmade bag. Size 20x16x5cm, very petite and cute. Customer was satisfied with the outcome.

[RockyAussie]

Hi Alex, Love the turtle but is it not amazing how just 4 stitches almost completely changed the look on the Birkin clutch? Not bad on the edging either.

May I ask what brand edging?

Regards Brian

[BillyBuck]

The bull frog you spoke about must be the yellow and blue picture under the turtle? I've worked with cane toad ( some people call it frog) but never seen anything like that! Is that something only available in UK or is it available in the US?  Great looking stuff your making!

[misarins]

10 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

Hi Alex, Love the turtle but is it not amazing how just 4 stitches almost completely changed the look on the Birkin clutch? Not bad on the edging either.

May I ask what brand edging?

Regards Brian

In a fashion industry which I am targeting every detail is important and that statement I received from an expert and geek in fashion  
Usually stand alone crafts and mainstream commercial fashion doesn't meet each other requirements. Of course sometimes their ways crosses and we see new collections.

The edge paint is Giardini in a black colour with max matt coating on top.

 

1 hour ago, BillyBuck said:

The bull frog you spoke about must be the yellow and blue picture under the turtle? I've worked with cane toad ( some people call it frog) but never seen anything like that! Is that something only available in UK or is it available in the US?  Great looking stuff your making!

This kind of bull frog you can buy from Thailand supplier who got a website (check your PM).

This skin is not under CITES regulations so you can order as many as you want

[RockyAussie]

Hi again Alex,

I have not tried the black but my trials with other colours showed a tendency to split line up the middle. I usually like to finish with a final application of the colour. Normal procedure I use is fine rounded sanding 80 Rubberized grindstone where possible followed by 1 or more coats,light sand if needed then ironed in followed by finish paint. Splitting at this point is ####T. At this stage I still resort to mixing all my colours myself but the pigment I use to mix with was in 1 liter bottles and now I have to buy 20 liters at a time. They mostly supply tanneries. I've tried light sanding and scotch brite grey and it still splits.Have you found this problem and have any solutions? Checked your instagram and thought you may find this prototype bag I did a while back interesting. The black croc one is the one now in production and the fitting I designed and had made in Japan.

[misarins]

Thanks RockyAussie,

This kind of pochette looks nice, well done! There is a short tip of how to use edge paint from Giardini and this trick doesn't work with Fenice and Vernice either.

1. Mix semi-dense edge paint with 5-7% of water, technically just few drops.
2. Apply a thick layer of paint on the raw sanded edge and let it dry naturally. It will help to penetrate deep enough and will not peel in the future.
3. Sand it till perfect flat. For a long time I was using my hands and various of grit sand papers from 100 to 2000. But recently I started to use dremel tool with a sand paper roll. To be honest it works like magic. 10-15 seconds of high speed sanding gives me a super flat edge. Also it helps for better connection with next layer of paint.
4. Apply a thick layer of dense edge paint (not water mixed) and wait to let it dry.
5. Then apply coating which can be high-gloss of max matt. It dries quite long, but it's really worth waiting. Final layer of coat helps to protect the edge paint from scuffs and marks in the future.

As a bottom line you need just 2 layers of edge paint and 1 layer of coating to get a perfect edges without a line in the middle. Also by using dremel tool yo can invest your time into something else rather than sitting and sanding for hours till flat.

Good luck!

[RockyAussie]

Thanks Alex

I have tried similar to what you say here, but I do notice that when humidity is high and then temperature is cool it seems to work better (Longer to dry). Trouble here in Central Queensland Oz the weather is quite the opposite. The best I have found to date is OMAC LUX semi matt black OM 357556. But this seems to be only in the black. I think the other Omac semi dense edge paints are just rebranded Giardini. The Omac Lux black I think is a rebranded Kenda Faben Orly SL opaco and as I said behaves way better. I would like to be able to buy max of 5 liters at a time of other colours but have had no luck so far in Australia. As you see by the pics I need a wide variety of colours. Thank you again for your answer and I hope to be able to reciprocate some help in time.