The first time I saw it I instantly thought ‘seashell’ and for a whole day I looked at seashell and mermaid inspo. And I tried so hard to make this idea come to life but no colour combination felt right. So in the end I tried the ‘boring’ watermelon design I had in my head…. And it ended up being one of my favourite design 😅
The final look
Ngl I love it so much! It way too long to do but so worth it! I’m not sure I wanna sell it anymore 😅
And what’s really cool about it is that it’s shiny and kinda changes colour depending on the light! My mom really wanted me to take it home and upcycle it for her so of course I had to do so!
How I wanted to design it
Well more like how my mom wanted me to paint it 😅
She really wanted this design so she could wear this belt-bag when she’s out on her motorcycle
How it turned out
Almost exactly how I wanted it to look like! Wanted the logo a bit darker but I’m fine with how it turned out. My mom was so happy with it!
Hand-Painted Wooden Owl Box Purse
Box purses have always seemed clunky to me, but something about the big round eyes drew me in. The tree branches and tree trunk are nicely detailed and I enjoy that it continues onto the lid a little bit.
I suppose the benefit to a heftier handbag like this would be that you automatically have something to defend yourself with in the event of someone trying to steal the rest of your owl-themed merchandise (that you carry with you at all times). We all gotta have something.
A handmade The Nightmare Before Christmas bag I made myself. It was made about 10 years ago when I was doing a machine sewing class. I had never done any machine sewing before. I don't know if I would be able to remember how to machine sew now though. I haven't tried it since taking the class although I would do machine sewing again. I don't really like hand sewing crafts and art but I will sometimes. I prefer painting and drawing.
I recently came across these old school painted signs/advertisements on a couple of buildings near 5th Avenue and 33rd Street and Madison Avenue and 32nd Street. They all seem to be advertising handbags and the like. I looked up the companies listed. Here is what I found.
Robert Bestien was located at 1 East 33rd Street from 1978 to 1987. The company specialized in handbags and leather goods since the 1950s.
The Magid Handbags name brand has been around since 1916 and was created by Eastern European immigrants Anna and Isaac Magid. As per the MagicNYC website The, The Rand family led by patriarch Moishe Rand started making handbags in 1956 and is still a family owned and run company in the hands of the Rands.
The Coblentz Bag Company was created by Frenchman Louis B. Coblentz and was established in 1935 at 6 West 33rd Street. The company would move to 30 East 33rd Street in 1938. They were there until the business went out of business in 1980.
For Further Reading:
Robert Bestien, 1 E. 33rd St. (2003) from 14to42.net
Magid, Coblentz, Alan Miller, etc., 30 E. 33rd St. (Crystal Bldg.) near Madison Ave. (2002) from 14to42.net
MagidNYC.com
The Coblentz Bag Company from the Bag Lady Emporium website