Handmade leather wallets video

I have added a new video to my YouTube channel, presenting some of the latest products in my Etsy shop's "leather" section. These are entirely handmade wallets with tooled decoration, consisting of skulls, hooded or not, and ancient symbols such as the Dacian war standard, the so-called "draco".
Check them out for more details at Ana Maria Gruia ART. 
Or see my previous posts presenting the wallets in more detail, HERE and HERE.
 

"Night in the city" lincocut

"Night in the city" is inspired by my delicious trip to Torun, in Poland, depicting part of a street front from the town center. The linocut plate has been carved in 2011 and was used in the making of a graphic works series part of an exhibition I had that year in Cluj. This individual plate though, through its format and decorative effect, has been subsequently used for independent print, such as this one, dated 2014, made with bright green oil typographic ink.

For more on the sources of inspiration of works of the "About Toruń, gingerbread, and Copernicus" exhibition, see the "about Torun" video I made about it! 

Non-kitschy diamonds

I've always hated the "diamonds are a girl's best friends" line. It is hard not to find diamonds kitschy after that, and yet, here they are, in my latest Etsy treasury dedicated to raw diamond jewelry pieces, diamond-shaped tattoos, antique prints of diamond cuts, and concrete planters and pendants, playing with the nice contrast between the perfect diamond shape and the raw quality of concrete.

 

Experimenting with gold leaf

Adding gold leaf to paintings is much like including writing: it can be easily overdone, turning an extra decorative effect into the main impression and thus ruining the work. It naturally presents the advantage of its high associations, probably started from the gilded icons and religious works of art of the medieval period, adding symbolic value if nothing else (as the actual foil is rather inexpensive). 

I have tried out some new ways of applying gold foil. The first idea was to create a king of network to unify the composition, but it proved too much and a bit too Baroque (as all associations of white and gold in my mind :) The overall impression of the collage (lino prints, acrylic painting) is of too many elements in too small a space.

These first two works are inspired by the medievalish architecture of Transylvania, namely the Mathias Corvinus House in Cluj-Napoca (above) and the old city tower and typical eyed roofs of Sibiu (below).
 

The second attempt envisages the use of gold foil lines against a dark background. The abstract composition is not so much according to my style, but the desired effect is interesting: the small detail of gold leaf drawing, continuing the small row of linoprinted houses, the continuation of the arch in the center of the painting, even the signature might not be that bad. I've decided to name this third work "The Alchemist's Midnight Dance", though it is just made using elements from previous projects: alchemical symbols, the Happy Houses, and an older lino scene with the Virgin's Presentation to the Temple [read about this iconographic type HERE].

 

New draco linocut project

Today's work has been dedicated to yet another linocut project, again inspired by the ancient Dacian civilization, i.e. their war standard the mythical dragon - half wolf, half dragon or serpent. On Trajan's Column the draco is seen as a wind sleeve, so I have attempted to render it similarly, though a bit more ferocious.

This is an approximation of the final composition. The work should be a collage, with three linocut prints onto canvas, the background with gold leaf. Canvas size 20x20cm.

The tricky part naturally consisted of the left-right flip and the details (teeth). My solution was to break off the drawing into smaller geometric shapes and straight lines, doing the same with the contours (aka the lino board). As the canvas is square, I thought to balance the general composition with two vertical decorative strips.

See my previous draco linocuts and collages for Atelierul de istorie HERE.For the golden background effect, see this painting HERE.

Ancient Reenactment Festival in Zalau/Porolissum

The annual Porolissum Fest is to be held this year on the 2nd and 3rd of July in the traditional location of Moigrad, in front and inside the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Porolissum [not far from Zalau, Transylvania]. The 2016 edition, the sixth, hopes to rally more people at the event and thus stresses a cooking contest and evening music concerts, but we all know it is about reenactment while baking in the sun. As befits true reenactors. Join us [aka VIRTUS ANTIQUA] next weekend in Zalau and check our Facebook event for more info and photos from past editions!

Hand tooled leather wallet with hooded skull

My Etsy Shop has just been upgraded with this new leather wallet. Continuing the series of skull wallets, intended as gifts for men, this item depicts a hooded skull. It is entirely handmade, as no machines were used throughout the production process: leather cutting, model transfer, incision, tooling / carving, dying, sealing, sewing, and finishing. For more photos and insight stories from the workshop, check our specialized Facebook page, Piele sculptata.

 

Tutorial - asymmetrical houses leather earings

I had fun with another series of playful leather earrings. After attempting several complicated solutions, I returned to the basics: combinations of colors and textures, asymmetrical shapes, and overlapping. The design starts with several simple shapes, drawn on cardboard and then cut to be used as templates:

The house shapes are then drawn around the templates on leather (on the back side, naturally) and cut with a simple scissors. The combinations of leather shapes is all the fun - changing things, avoiding monotony, obtaining special effects through imperfections and the thickness/texture of the different types of leather employed (suede, glazed leather, usual kinds). The asymmetry of the earrings is not only meant "inside" one piece, but also in the combination of the pair (see below):

The closing system adds to the overall decorative effect, as it consists of a small bronze clasp (with teeth, securing the pieces of leather together) with the surface decorated with equidistant punches.
See also my older post on DIY leather projects HERE.

Epicness with VIRTVS ANTIQVA

My reenactment group, VIRTVS ANTIQVA, has produced a brand new recruiting video for its gladiatorial school. Open positions: gladiator (starting from candidate level, tiro), slave, libertus/a, priest/priestess, matron, dancer/acrobat, Furies/Erinyes. Who wants in?
Advantages: free weekends, driving license and car, location in/near Cluj-Napoca, Romania, sports, imagination and patience.

Here is also our older recruitment poster, that has also worked pretty well:

Hand tooled leather wallet with skull

The most recent listing in my Etsy shop is a fully handmade leather walled with a tooled skull. The item is made of high quality Veg-tanned leather - outside: 1.6-2.0 mm (4 to 5 oz) single bend European hide, inside: 1 mm (2.5 oz) calf hide. It is completely hand made (no machines were used). The leather has been hand dyed and protected with several layers of acrylic finish and the edges are nicely polished and waxed.

 

My books and articles on ACADEMIA.EDU

I just wanted to share my academic profile as well, for those of you who want to get into more details on some of the topics that I have approached here as well. My profile on the excellent Academia.edu, which I recommend all authors to join as it is makes a treasure of sources available from peers, is well stocked with copies of the materials I have published overt the years. Some of the book only have the contents, as expected, but for most other I have tried to add copies and make them available online. So if you are interested in medieval and early modern stove tiles, the history of smoking, the history of wunderkammers / kunstkammerns, medieval material culture, and iconography, here is the place to explore: https://ceu.academia.edu/AnaMariaGruia