Leather work recent and past, plus some carving

Things have slowed down as far as commissions, but there are still plenty of new things leaving my workbench. Up first is a long zippered wallet in a very soft purple and gray cowhide. The client wanted to include the image of a feather, so I took that opportunity to do way too many tiny stitches. Very satisfying:

A friend from my hometown wanted a dopp kit for his toiletries and wet shaving essentials. He also wanted it to be tooled with Masonic imagery, which was a first for me. Vegetable-tanned leather exterior, dark brown cowhide for the lining, and plenty of zippered pockets:

 

Another friend had this leather collar that she loved, but unfortunately it was mostly glued together and was half felt, half leather. It was falling apart, so she asked me to make a nicer version. Doe kidskin for the black, and it's lined with a soft brown cowhide:

A while back I did a bunch of key fob/pouch things for the Hotel St. Cecilia, but I never did take a picture of the final product. Recently I was doing some repair work on a few that had busted hardware, and I remembered to take a photo:

I've been going through my stash of exotic leather, and found enough useable pieces to make a batch of front pocket wallets. Seven are ostrich, two are alligator, and all are available:

Making leather goods that look like or are inspired by animals is turning out to be a "thing" with me, so here's another one (that's available too) - a clutch purse inspired by the Surinam toad. Soft gray leather for the exterior, dark green for the interior and what would be where the babies hatch, and it fastens with a magnetic snap:

This is a pretty standard wallet style for me, but it's kind of experimental - it's vegetable-tanned leather, but it wasn't dyed in the traditional sense. Instead, it was turned black with vinegaroon, which acts on the tannins in the leather and turns it a dark blue/black without the use of pigments. As this is my first time trying this, I'm not sure how it will hold up, so I'm going to give it to a friend and see how well they can abuse it. Oh, and the chain is handmade too:

And last but not least, sometimes you just want to do some carving with no real purpose or plan for the final product. I've been seeing some amazing body jewelry lately that was carved out of tagua nut, and it reminded me that I had a few of these laying around. And here is what I came up with:

The nut had a lot of cracks and voids on the inside, but it ended up working well with my choice of subject matter. The loop and tassel is kangaroo hide lace. Not sure if I'm going to keep this or put it up for sale just yet.