More brass carving, and even some painting

I've had a project waiting for my attention for quite a while, but I kept putting it off for one reason or another. First off, it involved painting, and I haven't painted anything for a couple of years at least. Second of all, since it involved painting, I would need to build an easel. When I moved this last time, I ended up throwing away my easel, because it was a piece of junk and because I hadn't needed it for so long. I figured I could always build a better one. Well, it was finally time to stop making excuses and get to it. Up first is the easel - lots of pine, some wood screws, and a couple bolts and wing nuts. Two adjustable "shelves" will accommodate a very large canvas, and the whole thing is much more stable than the previous easel:

The painting project is to make a book cover illustration for a novel my friend Spot wrote. It's initially going to be an ebook-only release, but I think he's open to making a tangible version at a future date. This is what I've got so far, and the rest (background imagery, copy) will be added digitally:

My brother recently celebrated a birthday, so of course he needed some carved brass lanyard beads:

Laurel and I recently celebrated an anniversary, so of course she needed another carved brass bird skull pendant, though this time it's a hummingbird skull:

There is quite a lot more in the works, but it's all Xmas related so I won't be posting photos till after the holidays.

Tablet case

There's been a lot of vehicle repair happening lately, but I still managed to find some time to make myself a tablet case. The exterior is constructed out of black deer-tanned cowhide, and the interior is a bright orange cowhide. It has a snap fastener to keep things closed, but it's laid out so that it never comes in contact with the tablet itself, to prevent scratches and/or other damage.

Poorly documented recent work

What follows are some photos of recent goings-on on or around my workbench. First up is a freshly completed batch of zippered wallets. I've been tweaking this design for what feels like forever, but I've now got one that I'm (mostly) happy with. Which means it was time to construct some out of nice leather and put them up for sale. They're made out of a dark blue-violet Horween leather with a pebbled texture and sturdy YKK antique brass zippers:

The other project that's occupied so much of my time was a large batch of key pouches for the Hotel St. Cecilia. And now that it's complete, delivered, and paid for, I realized that I never took any photos of the finished project. All I've got to show for it are some in-progress phone pics:

Basically, they are pouches that are open on both ends, and there's a brass snake chain that runs through them. At one end is a split ring with the room key and a brass dog tag, and the idea is that you can pull the key ring into the pouch and use the other end of the chain as a wrist loop. This was my first time soldering brass, so I suspect I'll be seeing some of them for repairs.

It's birthday month, and Laurel's birthday happened recently. Per her not-so-subtle request, I made her another Tentacle Restraint Unit - carved hair pin and tooled leather strap which she can use to put up her dreads. Oh, and that's supposed to be a bee on the end of the hair pin (probably going to revisit that particular carving). I tried to make it more stylized and rounded, so as not to inflict any damage on other people, like myself, but it still feels a little vague:

Recently I've been toying with some ideas for weirdo clutches. Prototype the 1st:

I've also been doing some repair work. A friend had a very nice belt with some busted stitching, so that was an easy fix:

He also had a shell cordovan watch strap with a problem - a keeper that was separating from the inner layer of leather. I happened to have some shell cordovan laying around in the proper color, so I replaced that too:

And one final repair - a friend from work fell off a shed and busted his knife sheath. Once again I didn't take a picture of the repair, but it was a simple enough matter to remove the stitching, replace a rivet, and re-stitch:

Oh, and there were a couple of t-shirt designs that I drew too, but once again, no photos.

Main site undergoing maintenance

Hello folks, my main site is undergoing some routine maintenance, and as a result it may be unavailable for a few days. In the meantime, you can see some of my paintings here, and there are plenty of examples of my leatherwork here. If you need to contact me, don't hesitate.

Alligator biker wallets, only available here!

Due to my failure to pay attention to the fine print in the Etsy policy section, a couple of my listings for wallets were removed. It turns out that they don't allow the sale of any products made with alligator hide, even though this leather is from a legally harvested American alligator. Which means that there are now two alligator biker wallets that you can purchase directly from me.

Up first is one long biker wallet, with the exterior and belt loop in alligator and the interior of both in black buffalo calf. The alligator is burnt orange (the tannery called this color "Peanut"), and isn't as vivid as the color appears on my monitor. The edges are braided in the Spanish two-loop pattern with black cowhide, the chain has been made by hand in a Full Persian 6-1 pattern, and the rings and clips are all stainless steel. The chain can be completely detached from the wallet and belt loop, should one want or need to use the wallet without it. There are 8 card pockets, each of which can hold 2-3 cards easily, and two large pockets for cash, receipts, notes, etc. All sewing, braiding, cutting, and chain assembly is by hand.

Dimensions are approximately 8 3/8" long by 3 3/4" wide by 1/2" when empty, and the chain is approximately 19 1/2" long. Price is $300, and I'll ship it anywhere in the US for free. If you are overseas, get in touch with me and we'll figure out the shipping cost. wombatsucker@gmail.com

The second one is a long biker wallet, constructed out of alligator and a bluish-gray nubuck leather that I've been quite partial to lately. The alligator is burnt orange (the tannery called this color "Peanut"), and isn't as vivid as the color appears on my monitor. The edges are braided in the Spanish two-loop pattern with brown kangaroo lace, the chain has been made by hand in a Full Persian 6-1 pattern, and the rings and clips are all stainless steel. The chain can be completely detached from the wallet and belt loop, should one want or need to use the wallet without it. There are 8 card pockets, each of which can hold 2-3 cards easily, and two large pockets for cash, receipts, notes, etc. All sewing, braiding, cutting, and chain assembly is by hand.

Dimensions are approximately 8 1/4" long by 3 3/4" wide by 1/2" when empty, and the chain is approximately 19 1/2" long. Price is $275, and I'll ship for free anywhere in the US. If you're overseas, get in touch with me and we'll figure out the shipping cost. wombatsucker@gmail.com