ROT GIRL FALL IS HERE. Cranky Creature Couture is an Eau Claire duo's leatherwork and arts brand offering 'spooky' and edgy aesthetics through handcrafted wallets, collars, earrings, lighter cases, key chains, and more.

Walking around downtown Eau Claire today is a vastly different experience than it was 20 years ago or even five years ago. Reasons for that are plentiful and nuanced, though in at least the past two years, a longtime cultural undercurrent has found its way to the surface.

While seated on a bench outside Black Kettle Tea Shoppe (217 N. Barstow St., Eau Claire) last week, local artisan Ray Nelson and I talked about their pets (two cats and nine spiders/tarantulas); leather as both their artistic material of choice and as a natural byproduct of the meat industry; and the growing local visibility of oddity and horror wares and fanfare.

Just steps away from where we sat, curated art, locally-made goods, and more thematically or aesthetically similar items await. Black Kettle Tea Shoppe is a horror haven, in that owner Brianna Vodvarka is a purveyor of all things strange and unusual. It only makes sense that Cranky Creature Couture, a largely handcrafted leatherworks line, has a home there.

Ray & Mikey, founders of Cranky Creature Couture.

Ray is one of two locals behind Cranky Creature Couture (Mikey, her partner, joined our bench chat after getting off work). She has a big, bright smile only initially outshined by their current ‘do (a neon hued buzzcut), typically donning all-black attire – and a few pieces of their own making. The day we chatted, a leather and chainmail collar was the most notable.

For frequent makers market attendees in the Eau Claire area, Cranky Creature Couture began popping up at local events around early 2024. As Ray recalled, it only took a couple of months of Cranky Creature Couture having an online presence to be approached by market organizers and small businesses interested in carrying some of their work.

“I just feel like everybody welcomed us with open arms because there’s such a spooky community around here,” Ray said. She pointed to Black Kettle Tea Shoppe, The Beyond, and Bleed & Bloom Tattoo as local storefronts exemplifying that pocket of the community.

But, as is the case for many artists starting out, Ray said she didn’t think many people would want to buy their artwork. “It’s kind of terrifying to ask people to pay for things that you make, but so much work goes into every single thing – it’s all handmade by us,” she said.

“When we started (vending at markets), people were like ‘Leatherwork? Perfect!’ but then we’d get there and they were like, ‘Oh, this is different.’ ”

What, you don’t collect jewelry, accessories, and artwork featuring chainmail, animal bones, and  potentially sacrilegious imagery?

Both Mikey and Ray are heavily inspired by traditional tattoo style – including the overlap between tattoo and skating culture – with iconography like upside-down crosses and pentagrams staple to Cranky Creature Couture’s items. (One design depicting a church on fire is “weirdly popular,” Ray says, and “sells pretty much right away.”)

Cranky Creature Couture has also expanded into oddities such as animal bone displays, pictured.

Ray said they have certainly had conversations and interactions with folks less than thrilled by those particular styles.

“(Creating art is) also kind of healing the baby me, all that religious trauma and those sorts of things,” Ray explained. “It’s my – and our – art, so I can do what I want with it. I’m okay with our stuff not being for everybody.”

“When people hear ‘leather’ they think Western, which is definitely cool too, but just not what we’re doing,” Mikey said.

Leatherwork as a hobby and art form began purely out of curiosity for Mikey, who received his first materials from a childhood friend’s dad. “(He) built motorcycles and stuff and had a custom seat and some bags for it,” Mikey said. “I just had never seen anything like that before, so it kind of piqued my interest. He gave me a little scrap piece to try out and practice with, and little by little I got into it.”

Today, Cranky Creature Couture largely sources its material through Tandy Leather, an American retailer and wholesale leather distributor with roots dating back to the World War II era.

Leatherwork was introduced to Ray in a less traditional way.

“Mikey (started leatherwork) before we knew each other. When we first started dating he kind of hid it from me since he knew I was vegan, but after we moved in together he was like, ‘By the way, I have cow hides that I’ve been keeping in the this closet,’ ” Ray said.

“The more I learned about it, I realized that leather is a byproduct (of the cattle and meat industry). If we don’t use it, it’s going to be wasted,” she explained. “Being Native, I thought it could be a way to honor the animal – to use the whole animal.”

While Ray says Mikey is more of the “pattern guy” – something of a perfectionist when it comes to measurements, particularly handy for handcrafting wallets and their numerous card slots – she is most fond of the artistic designs and dying or painting process.

Cranky Creature Couture (which was originally going to be Cranky Creature Collars, as handcrafted collars were their first products) focuses on leatherwork. The pictured wallet had to be hand-punched before being hand-stitched, and the skull design hand-carved. Each individual piece can take anywhere from a few hours to roughly a week's worth of time to complete.

Hair slides, like the one pictured, are one of Cranky Creature Couture's popular pieces. Custom work can also be completed at request and has previously included guitar straps, camera straps, leather rings, and more. Cranky Creature Couture has also collaborated with local businesses Puff Tough and Leona's Pizzeria for custom lighter cases and key chains, respectively.

As a former hairstylist, her experience with coloring and color theory lends itself to Cranky Creature Couture’s use of its custom-mixed orange dyes and paints.

“Dyes are going to penetrate the actual leather and kind of go underneath the surface. I love using what’s called antique gel,” Ray said. “When we put it over a design, it seals it and fills all of the cracks of the leather.”

The real magic comes with time. As leather naturally ages and wears over time, it doesn’t necessarily lose its value – for Mikey, it’s the opposite. “Leather can last forever; a wallet, belt, a backpack, whatever. (The longer you have a leather piece) it shows more signs of life: A little beat up and a little more loved,” he said.

“Like our slogan,” Ray added, “ ‘Made to last longer than all of our miserable lives.’ ”

Cranky Creature Couture may evoke ‘spooky season’ vibes, but it isn’t limited by specific holidays or weather. You can catch the artisan duo at area vendor markets and find their work at local shops. Stay cranky, folks.

Keep up with Cranky Creature Couture through Instagram (@crankycreaturecouture) and find their work at Eau Claire shops Black Kettle Tea Shoppe (217 N. Barstow St.), The Beyond (218 N. Dewey St.), and Bleed & Bloom Tattoo (301 Main St.).