Elena Doulianinova
The entire process of making a piece is meditation and magic. I started making artistic pieces a long time ago, but my serious “leather love affair” began some four years ago. I am a school teacher. Ever since my school years I did much sawing, knitting, designing and making Art and Craft work. When I began professional studies there was very little time for my passion of crafts.
Having graduated from the University, I worked in my profession very briefly. Many jobs awaited me on my life path. I worked as a Customs Officer, a Court Secretary, a Kindergarten Teacher. The new chapter of my life began with the immigration to Sweden. This was the time to learn new language, establish a new career. This was not the time for creativity.
I discovered leather as a craft medium unexpectedly. Having moved yet to another country, I had a strong inspiration to return to creative passions. Internet lessons invoked a desire to give leather work a go. Yes, I discovered that flowers made of leather looked stunning. My first experiments took my own handbag as a sacrifice. Nothing too beautiful came out of that first attempt. I did not surrender.
As I was discovering, each piece of leather had its own look and purpose. I continued to collect information about leather virtually bit by bit in the wide world of internet. I was buying much material, some of which later proved useless for my purposes. Each Master Class in Artistic Leather Work I begin with a brief story of how to avoid pitfalls similar to mine.
Following the Flower design there came more sophisticated leather ornaments and fashion accessories combined with semiprecious stones. I kept experimenting working with various materials. The centre of any work remained leather. It enthralled and captivated me. Leather is an amazingly flexible material while being quite capricious. Every Art piece comes out differenteven if the same piece of leather is being used.
The entire process of crafting an item is meditation combined with magic. After four years of work I gained experience and knowledge in leather processing techniques, which I happily share with my keen students. This is an interesting way how my profession of a Teacher found its place in my life. While conducting lessons in the Artistic Leather Work for almost a year now, I keenly continue creating the Leather Flowers and Artistic Leather Ornaments.
Each work piece is individual and unique, filled with passion and inspiration. It carries the feelings of warmth right off my hands that created it when it is dispatched to its loving owner. I enjoy my current pursuit. I plan to continue conducting lessons in Artistic Leather Work and to certainly create new flowers and various accessories, pleasing my customers with the wide variety of the familiar and new designs.
Skype: oceana3100
e-mail: 66ed@mail.ru
