Shaping the Eucalyptus leaf from reclaimed leather colour swatch samples

The forest and our beautiful Eucalyptus trees are a part of Australian life and culture. There are over 700 types of Eucalyptus trees native to Australia. 

Elegant long leaves

I grew up down in the south west of Australia in Albany, surrounded by majestic Karri and Jarrah trees (part of the Eucalyptus family). The Karri tree is one of the tallest trees in the world, growing up to 80 metres high.

I spent a great deal of my childhood in the bush, exploring the forest floor, while the giant trees towered above. I made boats from the leaves to sail down creeks, picked the gorgeous spring flowers and made little animals out of gum nuts. 

Eucalyptus is iconically Australian. I love the long elegant leaves and fresh scent. 

I have always felt at home in the forest, inspired by it's beauty. A few years back now, I started to make leather earrings shaped like the Eucalyptus leaf. I call them my Forest Floor earrings. I don't usually wear super long earrings, but these earrings are beautifully long and leafy. I love them! 

Leather destined for the bin

I make them using reclaimed leather. It started with a swatch of leather samples I found chucked in a bin at a tip shop. Do you know those bundles of neatly cut leather squares you might find in a furniture shop? A swatch book you can flick through if picking a custom upholstery job. Well these eventually get thrown out. Usually to be replaced with new season colour trends. I like to salvage them.  

The leather comes in all sorts of vibrant and earthy colours. The leather swatches are small, so I can only cut out a handful of leaves from each colour.

The creative process

To make the earring I cut out three different leaf sizes from the leather, using a template I created.

To allow for constant wear, I apply a thin coat of leather sealer round the cut edge of each leather leaf. This stops the leather from becoming ratty with use. This a rudimentary process and one that I prefer to do out in the sunshine, sometimes even in the bush.

Then back in my studio, I stitch each leaf with a delicate gold thread, punch a hole near the top of the leaf and join them together with gold wire. The stitching is the hardest part, I go very slow, counting out each stitch, hand turning the sewing machine wheel. The thread is tricky to work with and can slip in the machine.

I still wear the very first pair of forest floor earrings I made, and that was over four years ago now. They are elegant, long and surprisingly light. I don't make as many of these as I used to.  Motherhood has as way of commanding and priortising my time.

Despite the repetitive process, I still enjoy sitting down and fashioning luscious eucalyptus leaves from leather otherwise destined for landfill.   

Until next time

xx Isabella

The Forest Floor - Full of beauty seen by few, deep dark shadows and amber hue.