Time to Play! Elves Have Fun and Get Creative at Spring 2015 Playday

Time to Play! Elves Have Fun and Get Creative at Spring 2015 Playday

Time for a Playday! Elves Have Fun and Get Creative

If you follow our blog, then you'll know that once or twice a year we have an official playday at the Soft Star workshop. This is a day when we stop working and are encouraged to embark on the creative project of our choice. Soft Star owners Tricia and Larkin cover our customer service and the rest of us are given free use of the tools (and some materials) in the shop. We're also given a small budget in case we want to purchase anything new to use.

There are no requirements for what we make or for what experiments we conduct, as long as it interests us and we have fun doing it. That means our projects don't have to be related to shoes in any way. The purpose of our playdays is to encourage creative thinking, develop new skills and to see what we can learn. It also helps us keep our workplace fun, which is one of Soft Star's core values.

Yesterday was our spring playday. At the end of the day, we all had a show-and-tell to share our projects. We're now delighted to share them with you.

Do you have any favorites? Let us know what you think! And please keep in mind that these are all staff experiments, not products that are available for sale on our site:

Soft Star Playday - Handmade Leather Bicycle Seat

Founder Elf Tim made a Soft Star bike seat cover.

Soft Star Playday - Handmade Leather Tooth Fairy Pillow

Elf Cindy made a tooth fairy pillow, with a pocket for a tooth!

Soft Star Playday - Handmade Leather Dog Collar and Doll

Elf Elizabeth H. made a leather dog collar, as well as a doll to display it.

Soft Star Playday - High Ankle Dash RunAmoc and Slip-On Leather Sandal

Elf Emily worked on two shoe designs: a high-ankle Dash RunAmoc and a step-in sandal.

Soft Star Playday - Handmade Leather Coaster or Hot Pad

Elf Hava used old leather scraps to make a stylish coaster, which can also double as a hot pad.

Soft Star Playday - Handmade Leather Bracelet

Elf Hava also made a classy bracelet from our scraps.

Soft Star Playday - Merry Jane Shoe Pattern

Not yet done, Elf Hava also experimented with split leather patterns for our Merry Jane.

Soft Star Playday - Handmade Vegan Moccasins

Still going at it, Elf Hava experimented with using different vegan materials for our moccasins.

Soft Star Playday - Handmade Leather Boots

Elf Elizabeth K. impressed us all by whipping up two new boot ideas: a lace-up boot version of our Portlander and a slip-on fringe boot.

Soft Star Playday - Arch Educational Toy

Elf Jana sculpted a model of an arch to show people in our workshop why we don't use arch supports in our shoes.

Soft Star Playday - Handmade Braided Leather Hairband

Elf Jana also made a braided leather hairband.

Soft Star Playday - Handmade Leather Flower

Elf Tesla experimented with scratching, sculpting and dyeing leather to make ornate flowers.

Soft Star Playday - Handmade Leather Flowers

Elf Jodi also made leather flowers, and dyed them herself using fresh raspberries and blackberries!

Soft Star Playday - Handmade Leather Wallets, Snakeskin Print and Wild Elk Leather

Elf Keita made several beautiful wallets from our leather scraps, including our snakeskin-print leather and our wild elk leather.

Soft Star Playday - Handmade Leather Keychain Fobs

Elf Martin turned leather scraps into simple keychain fobs.

Soft Star Playday - Handmade Leather Sandals

Elf Martin also worked on a sandal design.

Soft Star Playday - Handmade Leather 6-Pack Bicycle Carrier

And Elf Martin made a 6-pack carrier that can be mounted on a bicycle.

Soft Star Playday - Handmade Leather Checkbook Covers

Elf Patty made leather checkbook covers.

Soft Star Playday - Handmade Leather Sole Keychains

Elf Rob experimented with branding our logo on different leather and sole materials to make cute keychains.

Soft Star Playday - Handmade Leather Face

Elf Rob still had some time left, so he also made... this.

Soft Star Playday - Handmade Leather Tree

Elves Dina, Sarah, Melody and Brad teamed up to make a leather tree mural. Each leaf is imprinted with the initials of our staff. They dubbed themselves "Team Awesome."

Click here to see more of our Playday projects

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12 Comments

  1. Megi
    Love the ankle boot!!!
    Reply
  2. Alisa Bennett
    I wish those boots were available on your website. Wonderful!
    Reply
  3. Rebecca
    I would really like one of those wallets... and perhaps some of those boots!
    Reply
  4. Elaine
    Nice! I love the bike seat! The wallets, and 6-pack carrier are also my favourite.
    It looks like fun!
    Reply
  5. Jay
    I want the lace up boots and the toe loop sandals - REALLY - please start selling them! Also love the blue bracelet with ring - lots of cute things! Wish I worked there:)
    Reply
  6. Kim
    Really love the lace up boot! Hope you continue to develop it so it becomes one of your products!
    Reply
  7. Elizabeth
    I'd love to see the step-in sandals become a real offering! The leather wallets are great too!
    Reply
  8. Lisa
    PLEASE!!!! Make that lace up boot in knee high so we can buy it! Also please make those Elf Martin Sandals available! Long live Softstar!!!
    Reply
  9. Gail
    Love the wallets and Elf Martin's sandals!
    Reply
  10. Alicia
    oooo!!! lace up boots, step-in sandals and wallets- O MY!
    Reply
  11. Marian Sanphy
    So many great ideas...like the bike seat, ankle boots, wallet, bracelets, and dog collar...creative!
    Reply
  12. Elf Martin
    Thanks Marian. Those are some of our favorites, too!
    Reply

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