Time for a wedding post.
The plans are all coming along very well, and bar a certain amount of cash to be handed over, we have everything we need booked and in place for the wedding.
This gives me a cool 11 months to fret and fuss about the trimmings - call it eight to account for my tendency to want everything done in advance.
One thing I had been pondering was gloves. It's much, much easier to propel the wheelchair wearing gloves with a leather palm, as it means the grip is part friction, rather than having to be entirely based on the muscle-power of my hands repeatedly clutching and releasing the push-rims. Seriously, after the first day's use, my hands were every bit as sore as my shoulders. I currently use these cheap cycling gloves from Halfords and very good they are too.
What they are not, however, is 'attractive' or 'weddingy'. You will also notice that despite being 'fingerless', they do cover up that bit at the base of the finger where a ring sits. On my wedding day, I do want to be displaying my wedding ring. But I also would like to not hurt my hands.
A lovely woman on a wedding board I frequent showed me a couple of glove designs that I'd never even thought of: Design 1, Design 2. I was thrilled.
But, picky me, I don't want black (it seems less 'wedding' and more 'special interest') and although of the two I prefer the second design, the palm really needs to be grippy, frictiony leather rather than spandex. I'm googling my way through but it's a bit time-consuming trying to filter out all the cricket gloves, boxing gloves, defunct websites, websites that appear in a UK search but only service the USA...
Does anyone have any ideas, contacts in the UK custom leatherworking industry, or other potential solutions?
Sunday, June 27, 2010
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12 comments:
Googling (for evening fingerless gloves leather) gives a few options, including these and these.
Second suggestion - There seem to be a lot of lace fingerless gloves available, designed largely for brides. I wonder how easy it would be to either sew or stick some soft leather (maybe chamois, which I suspect would stitch easily) to the palms.
Ha! I was about to post the link to the ASOS ones Serena has alreadt found.
I do know a lovely woman in America who does beautiful designs on leather. She doesn't make gloves, but if you find a boring pair you need beautifying, she might be able to help:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/moxieandoliver
Generally, Etsy's a v good call on things like this. They have a service called Alchemy. If you have an Etsy account, you can appeal for an artisan to make you something particular, and they will contact you with suggestions / pricing:
http://www.etsy.com/alchemy/
I'd suggest finding pretty bridal gloves that you like and then putting a soft leather patch on the hand - you could get the sort that people put on elbows and cut them down to size.
While pretty, the ASOS ones still seem to be the type of fingerless that covers the bottom of the finger where a ring sits.
Googling "bridal fingerless gloves" seems to give a number of pretty results that could be suitable with a patch of soft leather on the palm, so that's a really good idea.
The twitter posse have found all sorts of things on Etsy, so it looks like I'll need an account with them in order to communicate with a few sellers and get an idea of possibilities.
Found this company on the internet, they do special order, could be worth an enquiry -
barefootleather.co.uk -
Could you reverse the problem and get leather bits to go on the wheels, instead of your hands? I'm kinda thinking like a pink fluffy steering wheel cover, but not pink or fluffy.
Sounds like Etsy might well come up with something though.
Ooh, that's an interesting way of turning the problem on its head.
I don't think it would work on my specific chair because of the way the power-assist works, and it would have to be non-permanent because wheelrims can get quite mucky and it wouldn't be wipe-clean. But I definitely see where you're going with it and it could well be a useful idea for a bride with more standard wheels.
I've not found anything leather but had the idea of maybe you could get something like an almost-flat diamonté transfer to put on the palms of the spandex gloves. This would provide grip and look pretty but might be uncomfortable. I think it would be ok though if they were quite small/flat decorations. The other disadvantage is that you might be accused of wearing the gloves the wrong way round!
er... this definitely comes under 'special interest' but, if you don't have to explain your browser history to anyone, Google for 'Spanking Good' - the lady is awesomely good at leathercraft and very nice. Maybe if you email her, she'd be able to make something?
Thank you!
I have found a company who do adjustments and repairs to motorcycle leathers, who are interested in the project and can probably help me.
But if that falls through, I don't think anyone cares much about my browser history.
They are black, but have you got covers on your pushrims? I use the same emotions as you, and am totally in love with pushrim covers (don't really need gloves anymore, just splints, but I need them when not pushing). Emotion/Alber charge 300 quid ish, but you can get exactly the same if you google for wheelchair pushrim covers or similar for around 30 - 50. They are silicone, and start out life seeming slightly sticky. Around 30 mins of use means they go kind of matt and grippy and wonderful (IMO). They may come in different colours, I don't know because i like mine black. Useage over time results in snags and holes, which can be irritating ... but they last quite a while.
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