Leather Accessories  »  Process Making

Exquisite leather accessories are known for their exquisite designs, vibrant hues and graceful patterns. They are all designed artistically to impart an elegance that matches both traditional as well as contemporary tastes. Ethereal and attractive, the beautiful leather handbags are expressions of love while gifting them to dear ones. They are crafted out of durable leather that undergoes several processes.

Design Process
The handbags go through an elaborate process of design composition to choose the suitable design and color combinations for the handbags. Traditionally "batik" printing was used on these handbags, but as the fashion era keeps changing and new styles are introduced, the Indian artisans have also modified their designs with the varying patterns.

Tanning Process
Leather tanning as art form reached its zenith in India by 3000 B.C. Because of its wide prevalence much of the tanning is locally done by indigenous methods which are pretty laborious. Some degree of tanning is required in order to keep the leather skins stiff to enable embossing and colouring on the handbags. Once the tanning process is over, an extensive drying process under the natural sun is carried out.

Weather-Proofing Process
After the completion of the painting and drying process, weather proofing process is done using a special weather-proof chemical that enables the leather to protect it from extreme humidity and rain. After this process, the third round of extensive drying process is done so as to let the leather hides soak in the weather-proof chemical.

Hand skills
Depending on the design which has been approved, it is decided whether the handbag will have the embossed look, or some embroidery, patchwork, or even some batik printing. These skills are of great importance to evolve the actual design of these handbags.

- Embroidery is the embellishment of cloth with designs made by needle and thread, an art that stretches back to antiquity. There are different kinds of stitches belonging to each state in India, like 'satin stitch' is used in Kashmir, the 'darn stitch', which produces the 'bagh' and 'phulkari' stitch of Punjab. The 'kasauti' stitch of Karnataka, the white 'chikan'work of Uttar Pradesh, the 'silk embroidery' done in Surat has exquisite patterns and the 'interlacing stitches' of Kutch and Kathiawar which are as beautiful and unique. These handbags have a mix 'n' match of all kinds of stitches which makes it more traditional and the designs are breathtaking.

- Embossing is done by wooden blocks of varying size, which have designs carved on them. The embossing is done by hand by pressing the block very firmly on the face of the leather hide and the design gets imprinted.

- Hand Painting is carried out after the embossing is completed. This work is done intricately as you can see in this handbag with the pattern of an Owl. Then a brush of the weather-proof liquid is applied after which the bag is kept out for drying.

- Patchwork Design is done on a stitched and painted handbag. A pattern is completed on a smaller size of leather skin, which is cut out at the edges as per the design and painted. This handbag depicts a design of patchwork, where each maple leaf is cut, coloured, dried and then stitched on the face of the handbag.

- Stitching After the design and drying on the handbag is over, it is time for the entire handbag to be stitched to make it complete. After stitching the handbag, other additional items are stitched like the inner lining, buttons, buckle and zippers where ever required.