Reveal: Snake Jacket Art Project Finished, and First Outfit

I know you've all been on tenterhooks waiting for me to finish my Snake Jacket Art Project, so go ahead and scroll down. 

We went from this:

An acceptable tan, leather jacket, somewhat dated (so mid-90s!), in pretty good condition. 

It was only $16.95 due to loose/missing buttons. 

To this!

I cut off the buttons and loops on the sleeves, and bought new Czech glass/gold buttons. 

I used a tutorial for drawing henna-style roses, mixed together a bunch of clip-art snakes and skulls, took a deep breath and went for it. I used alcohol-based pens and paint-pens, plus a tiny bit of a gold pen. 

The buttons and pens cost me more than the jacket! We'll do a deeper dive into the final process. You can revisit my previous work here:

• Back panel, Part I
• Back panel, Part II
• Back panel, Part III (finished)
• Sleeves, Part I
• Sleeves, Part II
• Sleeves, Part III (finished)

Here we go with my outfit. 

I really wanted the jacket to be the focus, and you know I love my cowgirl-themed looks. 

It was dark and gloomy on the stairs this morning, so I had to make the pic black and white.

I went out for dinner after work with my former Fairweather boss, Tammy. We first met when she chased me down the mall in 1999 after I'd dropped my resume off at my favourite clothing store. 

• Leather jacket - Q2 Collection, vintage 90s, thrifted and customized by me; purchased here for $16.95
• Sweater - Yest - first seen here under my metal dress in September
• Flamenco skirt - no label, consignment; last worn here in January with bronze leather for brunch
• Cowboy boots - 1883 Lucchese, consignment; last seen here (3rd outfit) in April for Book Club in the park

I kept with black and red to accentuate the "tattoo" vibe of the jacket. 

This flamenco style skirt seems to be handmade - I have always thought that it was actually used for dancing. It's very swooshy! 

You can see that the high-low hem is quite extreme. It's almost above the knee at the front and nearly full-length in the back. 

I showed off the jacket to my colleagues today - Chris, Ngoc and Lada were very impressed.

Masked up and showing my secret roses hiding behind the lapel.

The mask has rose petals on it - a perfect match for the roses on my jacket. 

I have been hot flashing like mad this week. Jacket off. 

I added my gold snake jewelry so that the outfit would still look cohesive if/when I took the jacket off. L offered to loan me his red rattlesnake belt buckle if I wanted a belt - hmmm, next time! 

Outerwear - where? I didn't wear a coat, just added a scarf and gloves. 

It was spitty rain on the way to work - don't worry, the colour doesn't run! I didn't put any kind of spray or protector on it. 

Accoutrements: 

I loved how this scarf looked with the jacket. 

• Studded leather gloves - Danier
• Silk scarf - fake Louis (Lewis!) Vuitton, thrifted

I have to take my giant rings off to put the gloves on. 

The stuff: 

I walked to work in my cowboy boots - they are incredibly comfortable, like they were made for my feet. 

Gold bling: 

I love my snake pieces - and so appropriately spooky for October! 

• Snake necklace - vintage expo
• Snake coil bracelet - Whiting & Davis, vintage 80s, vintage fair
• Chain bracelet - thrifted
• Earrings - thrifted
• Klimt ring - consignment
• Bronze Brutalist ring - vintage 70s, vintage mall

Tammy and I had a wonderful dinner at Il Terrazzo, a fabulous Italian place that's been around for decades. She gave me a lovely card for my birthday, and let me pick out a hat from her shop, Catawumpus (best fudge ever!).

The lovely wool cloche-style toque is by Pegabo Black. The funky Hallowe'en shopping bag is from my office building's management company - it was full of decorations for the office. 

And now...

Art Project: Snake Jacket - Finished

Ready for some detail on the final work? 

I started on the lower peplum section. I wanted a big rose on the front with some leaves/vines, so I sort of mirrored them. 

The upper chest and lapels are tricky. I knew I did NOT want big roses on my boobs! 

I put the jacket on and determined where decoration would look best, then did dots (the roses start with a dot in the centre) where I wanted them to go. 

Here, I just did the basic outlines, letting the roses peek out from behind the lapels and collar. 

I did all of the peplum, waist, bust area, lapels and collar all at the same time. I started with the basic outlines so that I could eyeball it and make sure it was looking balanced and not too crowed or sparse. 

It was when I was trailing a vine up the front of the jacket that I had the brain-flash: I need hidden roses!  

There's the dot for it under the lapel! 

Yup, that looks pretty even. 

I've had a few people ask me why I didn't sew the buttons on earlier, and it's because I flipped this jacket around and around and upside down and back again, and I didn't want the glass buttons to hit something and chip or break. 

Ooh, I like those roses on the collar and lapels. 

Very traditional in the "cowboy suit" vein. 

I added my initials to the back. 

And did some flowers on the back of the peplum. 

To go with the secret roses under the lapels, I put one at the back of the collar. 

My hair covers the collar when it lays down, so no point in decorating that. I was also mindful that skin oil can darken leather over time, and didn't want any drawing there to smudge or blur. 

Showing off the secret roses! 

They are maybe my favourite part of this. 

I stopped for a bit at this point. I like to "rest" on any project so that I can come back to it with fresh eyes. 

I took the jacket over to Chris and Ali's for Thanksgiving dinner, and worked on adding all the black detail: adding the tattoo-style shading by thickening up some of the lines, doing "line" shading, adding veins and the spiky outer edges to the leaves, and thorns to the vines.

All that extra black makes a huge difference. 

It takes it from plain to wow. 

I added little vines and leaves on either side of my monogram. I did the same on the front waistband.

At this point, I was ready for colour, which is the fastest part. 

I spent most of Sunday colouring it while watching football. 

The alcohol-based pens leave a bit of a shiny finish, so in places where it looks blue, that's the light. 

Wow, I can't believe I actually did all this. 

I'd had thoughts of going over the jacket with my gold pen (the big skull has one gold tooth). 

But I decided to leave it alone. Know when it's time to stop. 

The last step was sewing on the buttons. The existing holes in the leather were still there, so I securely stitched the new buttons on.

Ooh, pretty....

I wanted the texture of them to echo the snake's scales - that was the plan when I first bought them. I actually stopped in at the Button Boutique on the way to meet Tammy and showed the proprietor my handiwork - he took a bunch of pictures, very impressed. 

I feel like I got the right balance of density and "white" space. 

I'm really pleased with how this turned out. 

I did add a gold outline to my initials. 

And I signed and dated it inside.

A Sheila original! 

I probably spent close to 40 hours working on this from late August until last weekend, so around 6 weeks, working here and there when I had time and the inclination. Not bad for a $16.95 jacket! 

Tammy raved over it, and I've asked her to check her closet to see if there's something I can customize for her, as she has a birthday coming up. Mom, have you got a leather jacket that needs "Badass" on the back?

I hope you've enjoyed my artwork - doing this has given me immense satisfaction and pride in my ability to actually DO something. It's also been a delight to discover this is like meditation to me - and so now (after I rest from finishing this) I'll be moving onto the next Art Project: my Gold Wings Dress.