Lisa

I was thrilled to receive this custom order from a customer who loved the LPDstudios Leather Pet Collar with Heart Design so much that she wanted a belt made from the same design! 

To make a belt version, I started with a much longer piece of leather and cut according to the belt dimensions my customer requested. This takes a steady hand and a lot of muscle to ensure I make a clean cut through the leather. A little while back I had a custom heart shaped punch made for me, which came in handy for this project. I was able to quickly punch out the leather hearts and know they would all be uniform in shape and size.

Next comes the fun part, the color!! My customer wanted a slightly brighter red than the red I use on the dog collars, so I put together a custom pigment to dye the leather.

Once the dye has saturated the leather, typically after several coats, I am able to distress and soften the leather using my brass roller. Then I add a cream to my leather and buff it, this adds a bit of shine .

Now that the leather is where I want it for color and texture, I affix the hearts to the belt using hand cut brass rivets.

Last but not least, I add the brass hardware, that coordinates nicely back to the rivets, and add my signature LPDstudios label.

Now the custom distressed antique red leather belt with hearts, brass rivets and buckle is ready to be worn for many, many years!!!!!

Thank you to all of my customers for supporting LPDstudios, and keep visiting me to see what is new in the studio!!