WHAT can you make out of fish skin and curtains? It may sound unusual, but they make good bags.

Friends Agusta Andreasen and Karen Moorhouse have been using salmon and catfish skin as well as other materials to make their creations.

The pair met at Holy Trinity Church, Halstead, in October and have bonded as they have both overcome disabilities.

Agusta, from Pebmarsh, but originally from Iceland, lost her arm in an accident involving a mincer when she was 15.

Now 52, her disability hasn’t stop her and she is a qualified tailor.

Karen, of Chapel Hill, Halstead, is a freelance social worker and has been focusing on her artistic side since last year, mostly on fabric painting including table cloths, roller blinds and cushions.

Karen, 42, originally from South Africa said: “After meeting Agusta in October, we discovered although she is from the north and I’m from the south, we have the same interests. If we join that together, we can make something special.

“Both of us have impairments – Agusta lost her left arm when she was 15 and I am living with bipolar depression after being wrongly diagnosed and treated for years.

“Gladly, I am in remission now for some time and am able to have an opportunity to look back and experience the difference and being confident to talk about it as well.”

The pair have collaborated on creating handbags in particular. Agusta designs and makes them, while Karen decorates them and makes matching silk scarves.

Karen, who also teaches silk painting at Elim Pentecostal Church, Braintree, said: “We made a few prototypes which proved to be very popular and we have a few ideas in mind we want to explore.

“For artists, it is challenging to focus on a business, but we are trying to compile a business plan and want to start up a website so we can reach as many people as possible with our works.

“We travel a lot, but are in constant contact.

“Thanks to technological advancements, we can still operate from north and south, which makes our efforts worth it and unique.”

The friends are currently using recycled fabrics, such as old denim and curtains.

But their more unusual materials are sourced elsewhere and Agusta is currently in Spain buying leather.

Karen said: “Salmon leather looks a bit like snakeskin, but it is not and it does not smell like fish either.

“Where Agusta comes from in Iceland, they use natural products to keep warm in the winter.

“The leather looks so elegant and the other bonus is you can eat the fish, so nothing goes to waste.”

Karen admits she is too attached to most of her work to currently want to sell them, but she has donated some of her silkwork for a raffle at Holy Trinity to raise money for Help for Heroes.

Agusta can sew between five and eight bags a day.

Karen, whose father is a professional commercial artist drawing political cartoons for a South African newspaper, said: “Since I have started freelancing, I have more time for art and compare myself often to a Chinese bamboo. It takes years for it to germinate and develop the first leaf, but once it starts, there is no stopping it.

“It feels a bit like a creative explosion!”

Elim Pentecostal Church, Manor Street, Braintree, runs the Oasis Creative Cafe on Fridays from 11am until 3pm for people to let out their artistic side or just socialise.

For more information, vist www.elimbraintree.org.uk