Toss n Tell – July

Talk with Raye Facic

Working with leather  is just like working with any textile, you never know what you are able to make with it until you push the boundaries a little.  It’s expected that furniture weight leather is for furniture alone but saturated with watered down PVA glue it can be sculpted into variety of shapes. It’s ideal to have fine Italian leather to create flowers but I only had scraps of furniture leather so I gave it a go and it worked.     I’m a determined type when I put my mind to do something. My creation of flowers in shades of white was made for a workshop at the Guild house. I was encouraged to enter it in Royal Show and to my surprise it won a mayor price. Some of the flowers were created using heat as leather reacts to heat by curling on the cut edges. To cut leather good sharp scissors are a must. Soldering iron with a rounded tip is used to make dents in petals and leaves. I will show a quick demo of stages to create a flower as I feel that visual show is always the best way to understand the a technique.

My name is Raye and I’m a Croatian that’s been living in Australia for most of my life .I started crafting art as a very young child. As far back as my memory goes I’ve been creating something out of whatever was available to me. Hand embroidery I started very young learning from older family members as well as a village embroidery teacher. To attend a lessons from embroidery teacher I had to bring an egg or money ,chicken we had money we did not. In Australia things changed it wasn’t easy but I did get a job at 14 and so had some money so I was able to get items for what I love doing “creating “
Life gets in the way so there was less time spent on creatively but I always snuck a moment or two doing what I love.When I had more time I went full on into hand embroidery in every style. As I was a garment maker I made porcelain dolls just so I could dress them beautifully. Creating pictures with textiles, burning/ melting  polyester fabric with passion. Somewhere along the way someone mentioned leather and as I had limitless supplies working in industry sewing marine seat covers I gave that a go. Mountain of flowers made with leather followed Whatever I have a go at I do try to do it to the best of my ability. I should mention that I have spent 25 years in the market garden growing vegetables. Gardening I love and spend endless hours tending my small suburban garden. I must confess I don’t quilt or knit, felting I have done and was amazed how magical wool is. This is a small insight into creative side of my life, Raye.