edit: This is very nice, I won the "most creative" category in this contest. And that's what struck me most about this contest anyway ... that it makes you search your creative side deeper and in ways that you might not have thought of before. It's a great idea for a contest, pairing two galleries together and this pairing was intriguing. Glad to see that maybe there'll be more contests like this in the future.

My entry for the FanCraftic contest. It is Rumpelstiltskin from the "Cinderrumpelstiltskin" story from The Stinky Cheeseman and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Lane Smith, a children's storybook that was all the rage when it came out in the early 90s. Bought the book for my daughter when she was 10 and it's one of the books we couldn't bear to part with when she grew up (she's now 25).

I know that I didn't entirely take creative license with the original, but I did have to come up with several creative ways in making it possible to do in leather. For instance, the ruff was just impossible to do so I made up a fancy one of my own for him (it is padded, beaded, and has a double flounce at the top). Things like his face ended up being 5 layers of leather. The gold decoration on the sides is supposed to represent the gold threads he spun from straw. I put the stars in the upper left because there had to be something for him to look at because in the story he's actually looking at Cinderella, who in this story is just about the ugliest fairytale princess imaginable. I asked *Jagarnot to draw me an equally demented looking cat for me to do in leather, which she did. I drew Rumpelstiltskin out freehand, changing all of the elements, especially his costume, to make it look more colorful.

I might leave this panel as it is. But I could also frame it or set it onto the front of a handbag or garment.

all leather, 13 colors
total measurements: 9 5/8" wide by 9 3/4" long
time: almost the entire time since the contest was announced (2 months ago!) taking breaks only to do my tax return and to tear my hair out while persevering and convincing myself that this was actually do-able.