Turquoise Serpent - leather appliqué

I'm now adding the appliqué pieces. They're all going to be in leather this time - I've had enough fiddly fabric pieces for a while!

I started with the mouth, in red leather, and teeth, in silver kid.

I then added the turquoise suede "mosaic" to the detail over the eye.

This was followed by more turquoise suede, forming the mosaic pieces for the head.

The gaps between each piece are intentional - they'll be filled in later. Other than the mouth and teeth, I'm cutting each piece out as I go along - I don't have a plan of what's to go where; each one is cut to fit the ones next to it.

Using leather is much faster than using fabric - no folding it round felt, tacking overlaps, etc. - but it is a bit hard on the fingers. I'm using a leather needle, or else it would be next to impossible, but with all the layers to go through, it's still quite tough. I've been forced to use a thimble. I know many people can't sew without one, but I've never found them comfortable to use. Still, sometimes they're necessary, and this is one of those times.