Works in progress (for you to covet)

Last week was the four year anniversary of Arts and Drafts, and like all of our celebrations we had a white elephant gift exchange. The guidelines are to either give crafting supplies or something handmade, and considering the number of extremely talented ladies (and a few men!) the gifts can be pretty amazing. This was my contribution to the proceedings - a simple leather pouch that's large enough to carry cash, checks or whatever else strikes your fancy:











But not all of my projects lately have been leather related. My girlfriend is in the process of classing up Persimmon, her mixte, and recently purchased some Velo-Orange fluted metal fenders. I've put a pair of VO fenders on my own commuter bike before, and that was a frustrating, multiple hour and beer affair, so I was able to take that experience and make this installation a much smoother and shorter job:




Velo-Orange metal fenders are designed to work with multiple styles and geometries of bike frames, and in order to accomplish this you have to do some drilling, cutting and modifying. And maybe some hair pulling, and hand wringing, and sometimes cursing. Also, some of their stock mounting hardware, while classy, leaves a lot to be desired in the "keeping things quiet" department. I figured out a modification that keeps them from rattling but still keeps things simple and hopefully clean looking.

In progress right now is a ninja-themed belt:


Also in progress is my first attempt at making a whip. It's a basic four strand Australian stock whip with one belly. The leather used is from an oily utility hide and so far the whip itself is about six feet long.