tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-315634042024-03-13T19:42:02.310-07:00wombatsuckerwombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.comBlogger94125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-76665783001437356822015-05-18T19:25:00.000-07:002015-05-18T19:25:18.922-07:00Leather work recent and past, plus some carvingThings 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:<br />
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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:<br />
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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:<br />
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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:<br />
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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:<br />
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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:<br />
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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:<br />
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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:<br />
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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.<br /><br />
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<br />wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-64743430734289804982015-02-15T16:34:00.000-08:002015-02-15T16:34:07.844-08:002015 is off to a good startAfter my winter break project of working with metal and synthetic fabrics, it felt good to get back to the familiarity of leather. Up first is a clutch modification. The client had purchased this leather clutch/portfolio at a thrift store, but wasn't thrilled with the monogram that decorated the flap:<br />
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She wanted a tooled leather piece with her own initials to cover the stamped monogram, which seemed simple enough. However, once I was ready to start sewing it into place, I discovered that, while the exterior leather was in great shape, the interior lining was extremely thin and fragile, and tore as easily as tearing a sheet of paper. I ended up replacing the entire lining with vegetable-tanned leather, to match the tooled piece on the flap:<br />
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Somehow it was rainy and dark the entire time I was working on this, which is why I don't have better photos of this project.<br />
Up next is a fun project - another squirrel wallet. The client wanted to acquire for his girlfriend a nice wallet, but wasn't exactly sure as to the specifics. He put me in touch with her, and we figured out the details of what would fulfill her carry needs - zippered all the way around, with enough space for cash/cards and a smartphone, plus a wrist strap. There would be some tooling on the interior of a saying from her dad, plus some imagery to match. And here is the end result:<br />
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Dark blue/violet pebbled Horween leather for the exterior, tooled veg-tanned leather for the interior, and the wallet zips shut with a sturdy YKK zipper.<br />
This next project is another zippered wallet, and an Etsy request. She really liked the zippered wallets I have for sale, but wanted a different color scheme - something a little more natural. After some discussion as to what "natural" meant, we settled on black doe kidskin for the exterior, with an interior color to be chosen by me:<br />
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Usually I use a thicker leather and use that for the entire wallet, but the kidskin was thin enough to do turned edges and I think it turned out quite well. I'd forgotten how fantastic that particular leather feels.<br />
A friend from work wanted just a plain, sturdy belt, and wanted to reuse the buckle from his soon-to-be-retired current belt. Here is is, made from thick Hermann Oak leather and dyed black:<br />
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And finally, I decided at kind of the last moment to make something complicated for my own special lady for Valentine's Day. She's a big fan of purple, and I had a lot of new purple leather to try working with, and it seemed like a good idea to turn it into a chambered nautilus clutch purse:<br />
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It's mostly constructed from soft purple cowhide, and gold speckly leather was used for the inlays and onlays, plus the interior lining. It closes with an antique brass YKK zipper.<br /><br />
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<br />wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-78375243598149758402015-02-08T10:46:00.000-08:002015-02-08T10:46:02.715-08:00Winter breakWhile I was away from work on an extended winter break, I finally tackled a project that I've been wanting to do for quite a while - create some low front panniers for my commuter bike. Normally I use a large bag that sits on top of the front rack and it works just fine, but the handling starts to feel perilous in wet road conditions. I thought it would be a good idea to put the weight much lower and see how that affected the handling.<br />
First, the rack had to be modified to hold the panniers where I wanted and also keep them out of the spokes. I added a portion to each side that would be a low attachment point and also keep the bags from bashing into the wheel:<br />
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Once these were attached I could start planning and building the panniers. Here they are in place with a typical work day load:<br />
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I didn't want to build hooks and have a rigid back on each pannier, so I used a combination of straps and tension locks, plus some heavy duty elastic to loop around the lower attachment points:<br />
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The interior of each has a floating liner of vinyl coated polyester, for maximum water resistance, and to keep them from being an unorganized mess on the inside there are dividers with two pockets and multiple pen/pencil slots:<br />
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I've only been using them for a couple of weeks but the difference was immediately apparent. The bike handles much better with the weight down by the axle, and the ride is much more nimble. I no longer feel like I'm wrestling with the steering. Also, this frees up the top of the rack, in case I need to lug something else around. There are a couple of downsides though. It's less convenient to carry two separate bags around, as I couldn't think of a way to utilize a shoulder strap with both of these that was clean and simple. Also, getting them on and off the rack is very finicky and slow, so I may reconsider putting hooks on the top instead of those straps. Overall, I think that, with all the time I spend riding, the improved handling outweighs the inconveniences.<br /><br />
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<br />wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-20359616394830717522015-01-09T11:52:00.000-08:002015-01-09T11:52:54.608-08:00Most of my Xmas workNow that the holidays have come and gone, I can finally post some photos of the Xmas presents I made for my family. But first, a couple of larger zippered pouches. These are roomy enough to hold a smartphone and can hold cash on either side, and the divider can hold cards in either of the two pockets. The brown one was for the Arts and Drafts holiday party, which always features a white elephant/gift stealing extravaganza. The dark blue pouch is still available:<br />
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My mom requested another purse, this time of the slouchy variety. It's
constructed out of the same dark blue/violet leather as the pouch and
has enough adjustment in the strap that it can be worn crossbody or on
one shoulder:</div>
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Laurel also asked nicely for another purse, as her lavender one was getting fairly worn. It's the same basic construction as her last one and my mom's, but she wanted the leather to be milled vegetable tanned. It's really soft and supple, and it's been left undyed so as to acquire a natural patina:<br />
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My sister wanted some leather bracelets, so this seemed like a good opportunity to use a variety of construction techniques. Not pictured (because I forgot to photograph it) is the vibrant blue one that almost perfectly matches her purse:<br />
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My brother-in-law ended up with a travel case for neck ties:<br />
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And my brother wanted some sort of vessel to empty his pockets into at the end of the day. There are a lot of companies and makers that offer a basic leather change tray, with the corners pinched together with rivets, but I wanted to do something nicer. This was my first time to do intrecciato (woven leather), and I like the results:<br />
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<br />wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-86608301213015515932014-12-06T14:58:00.000-08:002014-12-06T14:58:00.448-08:00More brass carving, and even some paintingI'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:<br />
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The painting project is to make a book cover illustration for a novel my friend <a href="http://www.spotinator.com/" target="_blank">Spot</a> 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:<br />
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My brother recently celebrated a birthday, so of course he needed some carved brass lanyard beads:<br />
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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:<br />
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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.<br />
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<br />wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-35870606514331729102014-10-11T16:31:00.000-07:002014-10-11T16:31:11.741-07:00Tablet caseThere'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.<br />
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<br />wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-79309200184533411052014-08-17T12:17:00.001-07:002014-08-17T12:17:50.790-07:00Poorly documented recent workWhat 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:<br />
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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:<br />
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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.<br />
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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:<br />
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Recently I've been toying with some ideas for weirdo clutches. Prototype the 1st:<br />
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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:<br />
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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:<br />
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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:<br />
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Oh, and there were a couple of t-shirt designs that I drew too, but once again, no photos.<br />
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<br />wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-43157678626997174102014-08-14T20:50:00.000-07:002014-08-14T20:50:18.268-07:00Main site undergoing maintenanceHello folks, my main <a href="http://www.joeymarez.com/" target="_blank">site</a> 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 <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wombatsucker/sets/72157594176199447/" target="_blank">here</a>, and there are plenty of examples of my leatherwork <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wombatsucker/sets/72157594176187718/" target="_blank">here</a>. If you need to contact me, don't <a href="mailto:wombatsucker@gmail.com" target="_blank">hesitate</a>.wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-58376047795802004392014-05-24T14:18:00.001-07:002014-05-24T14:18:31.897-07:00Alligator 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.<br />
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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.<br />
<br />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<br />
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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.<br /><br />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<br />
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<br />wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-20552737326877904462014-04-13T15:17:00.000-07:002014-04-13T15:17:30.709-07:00A briefcase for TomRecently I finished a briefcase for my good friend Tom. Over the years he's built a couple of different versions of my website, served as tech support for that website, and continues to host the site to this day. In return, I've given him nothing...until now. It's big enough to hold a 17" laptop, has two interior dividers and a few pen/pencil pockets to keep things organized, and the outside has a large phone pocket on each side along with more slots for writing instruments, tools, flashlights, etc. The black leather is deer-tanned cowhide and the brown is deer hide. There's a removable strap that's lined with a stiffer utility leather and stitched the entire length to prevent stretching. Lots of brass hardware, and as per usual, all stitching is done by hand.<br />
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<br />wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-5499909440652413332014-03-11T20:24:00.000-07:002014-03-11T20:24:55.121-07:00FancyLots of work lately. I decided that simple wallets were not very interesting and dragged out the exotic leathers. Cane toad, ostrich, ostrich leg, and alligator - all fair game. Up first are the snap bifolds, all with edge braiding and interiors in cowhide:<br />
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Next we have a couple of biker wallets. I took advantage of the alligator that's been laying around on the workbench and came up with a couple of designs. First is the one with the solid gator exterior. It also has black cowhide edge braiding and is lined with black buffalo calf. The matching belt loop is connected with a stainless steel wallet chain. Both clips are stainless, and I made the chain in a Full Persian 6-1 pattern out of stainless rings:<br />
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Next is the weird one. I combined the burnt orange alligator with this blue-gray nubuck leather that I've been quite fond of lately. The stitching is brown and so is the kangaroo lace that I used to do the edge braiding. There's a matching belt loop, and it also is connected with a full stainless wallet chain in the same pattern as the other:<br />
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<br />wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-13790095771027888612014-01-06T13:31:00.000-08:002014-01-06T14:08:59.957-08:00Recent projects that have occupied my hands and brainRecently I picked up a Martin Turbinator T-100 stand hair dryer via our local Freecycle, and of course it had to be turned into a lamp. I started this particular project over the holiday break, welded the stand yesterday, and finished the wiring earlier today:<br />
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I wired the bulb to an existing exterior switch, and flipped the heating element upside down and that made an excellent screen for the bulb. It is mounted where the motor used to live:<br />
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It was easy enough to run the cord through the square tubing for a neater appearance:<br />
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And of course, things wouldn't be right if I wasn't making wallets. Here are some trucker wallets and bifolds that were recently completed. The trucker wallets are vegetable-tanned and were lightly oiled, and the bifolds are something of an experiment. I used a green leather that may or may not age well, so these will probably be sold for cheap:<br />
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Side note - I think I might stop making so many of these simple, unfinished, small leather goods. There are so many people doing the exact same thing and there isn't much to distinguish these from what other people are making. I should probably concentrate on the weird things - unique tooled imagery and more items like the isopod clutch. Speaking of clutches, here's one I made for the Arts and Drafts holiday party while elephant gift exchange:<br />
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There's been some more carving lately too. First up is a unique exchange - a veterinarian's wife bought one of my brass teeth key fobs for him a while back. She mentioned that he often ended up with extracted animal teeth and asked if I would be interested in any of them. Recently he ended up with a couple of dog teeth, a canine and an incisor, and they asked if I would make him a brass key fob based on the canine, in exchange for the two real teeth. I was definitely interested:<br />
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Here is the canine I was given, and the basis for the carving:<br />
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Here's a simple fang/tusk lanyard I carved for one of my pocket knives. It's carved out of elk antler, stained with coffee, and finished with some plaiting and knotwork:<br />
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Last but not least, here is the doom turnip I carved for my special lady friend. She's been hooked on a video game called Animal Crossing, and one of the tasks she keeps repeating is the buying and selling of turnips. So, I made her a special one:<br />
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Forgot to include this trade - a friend of my dad wanted to know if I could make him some beer koozies. He'd shot an alligator and had the hide tanned, and wanted me to use this hide. The trade would be that I could keep whatever alligator hide was left over. I ended up using somewhere between one half and two thirds of the hide to make him seven koozies. It's the underside of the gator, so it's not as ridged and knobby as the back would be, but there's still plenty of variation and texture. They are lined with veg-tanned leather to give them some rigidity and they are designed to be used with a real koozie inside. The tricky part was the sizing - long neck bottles, short neck bottles, and cans all have different diameters. The owners of these will need to use different koozies for different beers, but I don't think that will be a problem:<br />
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<br />wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-58541387745582321622013-12-27T11:22:00.000-08:002013-12-27T11:22:23.375-08:00Deep sea isopod clutch purseSometimes when Xmas is approaching you're completely stumped as to what to make your significant other as a gift. And sometimes that special young lady, a few days before the actual holiday, makes a joking remark about how cool it would be if she had a clutch purse that looked like a deep sea isopod. Challenge accepted!<br />
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<br />wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-1946440988190144582013-11-05T13:39:00.000-08:002013-11-05T13:39:02.865-08:00Some thoughts on the concept of a waiting listI am terrible at managing my waiting list, and here are some of the reasons why:<div>
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1 - My unrelated, full-time job doesn't leave me much time to dedicate towards working on items in the queue. I think of my leather work as a second job, but I really only have the time to spare that one would use for a hobby.</div>
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2 - When I do have spare time, it doesn't always go towards working on the projects that are waiting. Sometimes I need to make new designs, or refine existing patterns, or just try new things to keep this line of work from feeling stale. Sometimes I create wallets for my Etsy store. Sometimes I work on a legitimate hobby (lock picking, learning to make and crack whips). And then there are the requests for small projects that I know won't take very long, so I squeeze them in right then.</div>
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3 - I believe it was Bruce Sterling that said "the more you can do, the more you will do." There's a lot I can do, so there are things other than leather working that occupy my time. If my car breaks, I fix it. If my bike needs maintenance/modification, I do it. If there's something I need for the house, I'll probably try to build it.</div>
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Recently, I took a long hard look at how I've been spending my time this year, and it was kind of a shock to see just how little time I've spent working on items from the waiting list. Then I spent way too much time trying to think of new and exciting ways to approach the queue, as the traditional, take-them-in-the-order-in-which-they-came approach didn't seem to be working for me. I gave some serious thought to declaring "waiting list bankruptcy," and just erasing my waiting list. This was to be paired with a very simple approach to requests - I'm either available to work on one project, or I'm not. A waiting list would not be maintained, and I'd either work on a request right then or interested parties would have to check back later. There would be a notice somewhere, probably on this site, when I was available, and it would be removed when I took on a project. The other option was to just stop doing custom work altogether, but this option seems less likely as I really do like new challenges. </div>
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After lots of thought in this vein, I decided that declaring waiting list bankruptcy was the cowardly approach to avoiding a lot of awkward email and/or phone conversations. "Hey, um, I know it's been years since we talked about this and you probably forgot who I am, but do you still want that guitar strap?" So, I'm going to keep working through the waiting list at my customary glacial pace, but I am going to make a change or two. Without a regular supply of free time, giving someone an estimate as to how long it will be till I can get to their order is both optimistic and foolish. From now on, I'm going to be much more honest and just tell interested parties "I don't know how long it will take, but it's going to take a long time."</div>
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One other thing - when I do contact people to tell them that it's their turn in the queue, there is a good chance that I'll never get a response from them. Maybe their contact info changed, maybe they don't remember who I am, or maybe they (justifiably!) got sick of waiting for me to get in touch. So maybe this waiting list isn't nearly as daunting as I think.</div>
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As always, feel free to get in touch if you think your project has been forgotten.</div>
wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-5217441765183982112013-10-22T14:10:00.000-07:002013-10-22T14:10:00.388-07:00Mostly wallets and some transportation issues<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Lots of work happening lately...that is, when I'm not having to do repairs on my truck or making major modifications to my daily commuter bike. Up first is yet another trucker wallet, this time with a prickly pear/eyeball design:</div>
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On a whim, I decided to make myself a newer, fancier wallet. The exterior is ostrich leg and uses cowhide for the edge braiding. The interior is an eye-watering shade of green, and a side snap keeps all my essentials secure (I usually throw my wallet in a bag):<br />
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Here is a batch of nubuck front pocket wallets for my Etsy store:<br />
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Here's a snap bifold in that same ambiguous not quite gray/not quite blue nubuck leather:</div>
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Then I made a batch of really simple front pocket wallets/card cases. Also on Etsy:</div>
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Then, I decided to spring for some Horween shell cordovan and made a couple of, you guessed it, wallets. Up first is a snap bifold:</div>
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And there was enough left over to make a front pocket wallet/card case:</div>
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Last but certainly not least is a pipe and tobacco pouch for a rather long, Gandalf-style pipe. This was yet another opportunity to tool a design with that Great Old One, Cthulhu. It's got four inner pockets for tools and/or cards, and one large zippered and undyed pocket for tobacco:</div>
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wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-64074950153457912072013-08-27T13:03:00.002-07:002013-08-27T13:03:53.730-07:00Now that the dust has settled<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
There hasn't been a lot of work happening lately. I ended up moving to a new residence, which also meant setting up a new workspace, and all of that took up a lot of free time. However, now that I've got my workbench set up just the way I like it I can get back to work. First up is something I actually made at the old place, while I was in the middle of packing. This is a trucker wallet in vegetable-tanned leather that I dyed green and black and texturized. One big open space in the middle, with pockets on either side for cards and cash. One of my chainmaille wallet chains completes the package, and it uses brass and bronze rings in a Full Persian 6-1 variant:</div>
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Right after I got settled in my new place it was time to start working on my girlfriend's birthday present. I'd picked up a hide of lavender leather a while back, thinking that it would be perfect to use for something for her, and she's been hinting that she'd like another purse lately. This time she wanted something slouchy, like a floppy hobo bag, so that's what she got:</div>
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A lot of edge paring went into this purse, though I left the strap edges and decorative elements plain and raw. It's not lined, as I wanted to keep the weight down and also so it would stay floppy. The solid brass rings came from some old saddle tack.</div>
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Finally, there's been more work completed on my neverending quest to perfect my commuter bike setup. When I moved to another part of town, it effectively doubled my bike commute to work. Now that I'm riding further and through hillier terrain, it made me realize that my most recent bike bag was, well, just too damn huge. It's great and it's holding up fine, but it's way too big for my day to day riding, and it ends up putting a lot of weight pretty far forward. Plus I can't resist the urge to tinker and fine-tune designs. So here it is, Bike Bag version 2.0:</div>
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It's about half as deep as the previous version, and when it's mounted on the rack there is still room to carry other things. The interior is a floating liner of vinyl coated polyester, so the main compartment is waterproof. This time, though, I didn't line the pockets, as it turns out it's not very effective at keeping the outside pockets dry. I figure if I ever get caught in a shower (like this morning) I'll just transfer electronics to the main compartment and keep going. There are open pockets on the sides for a water bottle, which is now a necessity, the back is padded, and there's even some interior organization, with lots of pen slots and some smaller pockets in a divider. And, because it was satisfying to me, I even added some PALS webbing to the front and back, so I can attach more pouches to it if needed. The first ride with it was great, minus getting soaked, so I feel pretty good about this latest version.</div>
wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-53363115486905098072013-06-18T21:28:00.001-07:002013-06-18T21:28:53.417-07:00Wallets galore.As indicated by the title, I've mostly been working on wallets lately. First up is a mockup of a larger zip wallet, rendered in a slightly oily nubuck:<br />
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Four card slots and two larger pockets for bills, plus all the space in the middle, and a small ring in case there needs to be a chain. This led to this:<br />
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Same concept, but I moved the card slots to the center to keep the thickness of the wallet consistent. Once again, I forgot to photograph this before applying the clearcoat, so here's an in-progress shot - tooling complete, prior to dyeing:<br />
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This client also wanted a smaller zippered bifold, which is here:<br />
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This particular request was for a retro robot doing the Robot dance:<br />
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This individual didn't actually request any imagery, so they got a three-eyed goat:<br />
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This wasn't a request, but was something I've been wanting to make for a while. It's a snap bifold, and the exterior is two different colors of cane toad skin. Spanish two loop edge braiding keeps everything clean and fancy, and the interior is natural veg-tanned leather. This wallet is available, and unless someone claims it I'll post it to my Etsy store:<br />
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This is the second wallet I've done of the houses in A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones. This time it's House Stark:<br />
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Last but not least, my girlfriend and I have been doing some chain maille. She really took to this particular craft, and has made quite a bit more than me, in terms of volume and variety, but I've made a few wallet chains myself and just need to make some wallets to go with them. Pictured here are two in stainless steel, one each of bronze and brass, and two that are a combination of brass and bronze. Three are the Full Persian 6in1 pattern, but three are my own variation on that pattern:<br />
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<br />wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-44895149899210754022013-05-12T14:15:00.001-07:002013-05-12T14:15:18.253-07:00An announcementAs of today, I will no longer be taking orders for work. My waiting list has gotten to an unreasonable length, considering that I only have nights and weekends to dedicate to it, and every little job that I take on just means that people in the queue have to wait that much longer. Also, I think I've been scaring potential clients off with the wait time, so it's time to focus just on working through the commissions that have been patiently waiting. Once I've worked through a good chunk of the waiting list, I'll start taking orders again.<br />
In addition, I need to put all tooling-intensive projects on hold, which means belts, guitar straps, and anything that involves hours of tooling. I've managed to give my right elbow an overuse injury and it needs some time to recover, before I make it worse. I really hate to do this, because this means putting the majority of the waiting list on indefinite hold, but this should only be a temporary situation. There's plenty of drawing I can do in the meantime, and I'm still going to finish up anything where they've already paid or I have something to repair. This also gives me some time to fine-tune patterns, evaluate prices, and I'll still be working on jobs that aren't as likely to re-injure my elbow. In the meantime, there are plenty of items available in my Etsy store.wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-51933196375856649612013-05-05T17:26:00.000-07:002013-05-05T17:26:57.556-07:00This should guarantee that it will never rain again<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As a bicycle commuter in Texas, rain poses some particular problems for me. If I were to wear my rain gear for the ride, it's usually so hot that I would be soaked in sweat by the time I got to my destination. Not to mention the fact that my rain gear is so old that the waterproofing has worn off. The simplest solution is to just put on some grubby clothing, get soaked, and change when I get to work/home. However, this means carrying a change of clothing and another pair of shoes, in addition to all the other gear I need for my day. Years ago I made myself a leather bike bag which has worked quite well for when it's dry, but when it's pouring rain it doesn't quite hold everything I need, and it isn't completely waterproof. When I made the large front rack for my bike, it was intended to be paired with a new, waterproof bag that would hold everything I could possibly want, and I've finally finished it:<br />
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The exterior is constructed out of urethane coated Cordura, in addition to some webbing, twill tape and Velcro. The adjustable shoulder strap is permanently attached, so I can just grab it and go, rather than having to hunt for the strap to attach it. All the pockets and pocket flaps are lined with vinyl coated polyester: <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The interior is a floating shell of the vinyl coated polyester, and the main compartment securely fastens with a roll top closure:<br />
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It attaches to the bike at the rear rack loop, at the handlebars, and uses elastic cord to attach to the rack at four points:<br />
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Here is is on the bike, where you can see just how ridiculously huge it is:<br />
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While posting these photos, I noticed the one screw-up that escaped my notice until just now, but I've spent so much time working on this project that I'm just going to let it go. This was sewn on my industrial sewing machine, and when I started I still wasn't all that confident in my usage of it and there were plenty of stitching errors. There was a previous version of this, but it ended up not working out. I had planned it out with the idea of constructing things like I would have if I'd used leather, and that turned out to be a bad idea. This version is the simpler version, and now that it's complete (and now that I've given the machine a speed hack) I feel much more comfortable sewing with the machine. And now I can get back to the leather work.<br />
wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-71310094333519026412013-05-04T10:07:00.002-07:002013-05-04T21:21:02.787-07:00More working, less bloggingIt's been a while since the last blog post, but that's due to the fact that a lot of work has been happening here in my workshop. The only slacking is where this blog is concerned. First up is an archery arm guard. This client is quite the fan of Dr. Who, and she wanted to use two different pieces of artwork from the show. I've never seen this particular show, but from the info she gave me they were the Seal of Rassilon and a Time Lord Seal, and I combined the two to make something unique (and to avoid copyright/trademark issues.) Vegetable tanned leather for the exterior, and deer tanned cowhide for the underside and the straps. The leather buttons are reinforced with plastic on the inside to keep them stiff:<br />
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I ordered myself a new knife recently, and that seemed like a perfect opportunity to make another tooth, this time out of elk antler:<br />
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A while back I made myself a belt buckle out of an old sewing machine rotary hook, and eventually I got around to using some scrap deer tanned cowhide to make a scrap belt:<br />
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For Valentine's Day I made my girlfriend a case for her Kindle. Again, it's vegetable tanned leather for the exterior and deer tanned cowhide for the interior, and it's been tooled with the imagery of a giraffe dragon, or girafagon, or giragon. And raccoon paws:<br />
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My friend Doug wanted a tool bag for his motorcycle, and he wanted it to fit in a very specific spot - on the front of the frame, between the frame and the front tire. His bike has some decorative accents in the paint job, so he asked if the tooling could be made to match. I came up with some designs that were inspired by the paint job but unique, and here's the result. The bag had to be thin and tall, so as not to get caught on the tire, and I think that off the bike it looks like a little kid's backpack:<br />
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I've been getting more and more requests for repair work, mostly from people that find my Yelp page, and this woman wanted to see if I could fix a camera case. She has a really nice Leica that she inherited, and she found a case at a local shop that would fit it. It was in good shape for the most part, but it had been used and a lot of the stitching had torn, so I restitched what I could:<br />
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Another Yelp request - this was to make a plaited leather bracelet for a name plate. It had another leather bracelet on it previously, but it was too thin and the owner wanted something beefier. Here is the result:<br />
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This project was to construct a small case for a trench lighter case. This client has come to me enough times that we've even got a signature color for him - tan over red:<br />
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Our weekly craft group, Arts and Drafts, recently celebrated our 6 year anniversary, and once again we had a white elephant gift exchange to mark the occasion. Although, this was the first time that there wasn't rampant gift stealing, which seemed odd. Here is my contribution - a simple zippered pouch:<br />
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Somewhere in here I found time to work in another request for key fobs from the Hotel St. Cecilia:<br />
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Last but not least, here is a wallet I made for the motorcycle tool bag owner...six years later. It looks like it's been through hell and back, so it's time to make him another one:<br />
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There's one more thing that I've been working on that took a very large chunk of time, but that's going to get its own post.wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-56186391922284708872013-01-15T20:11:00.000-08:002013-01-15T20:11:13.776-08:00Busy timesIt feels like I haven't gotten much work done lately, but looking back on some recent photos proved that this was not true in the slightest. Not much work was accomplished as far as crossing projects off the waiting list, but there was still plenty of productivity. Up first are a couple of gifts for the Arts and Drafts holiday party. We always have a white elephant gift exchange and the crafters are quite ruthless when it comes to gift stealing. For a useful gift, I carved a crochet hook out of a section of elk antler and put a skull in the handle:<br />
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Then, as an experiment and because it makes me laugh, I made a riding crop from a section of fishing pole, some paracord, and some leather. I tooled a small "A&D" logo at the business end to keep things appropriate, and here's the end result:<br />
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As you probably noticed, Christmas just happened and even though I always say I'm not going to do this, I ended up making a few gifts at the last minute. My brother-in-law was rumored to like slim wallets of the front pocket variety, so I made him one out of black buffalo calf. Two card pockets on either side and a space for cash in the middle, yet it's still quite thin:<br />
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It had been a while since I'd made anything for my sister, so she received a sunglasses case. It's constructed with a vegetable-tanned interior, an olive green calf exterior, and a couple of cane toad accents on the ends:<br />
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My mom managed to destroy her previous gardening tool caddy, so I got reacquainted with the industrial sewing machine and made her one out of blue and natural canvas with webbing handles. Lots of exterior pockets and two small pockets in the large interior section:<br />
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My girlfriend loves giraffes, and I like to think of myself as someone who knows their way around a rotary tool, so I carved her a giraffe head pendant for a necklace. It's made out of G10, which is a glass-reinforced epoxy laminate often used in knife handles. The chain is a solid brass peanut chain:<br />
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This particular project took up a large chunk of my holiday vacation, but it was worth it. I've been wanting to make myself a porteur rack for the front of my commuter bike, and the holiday break was the perfect opportunity to work on it. I'd started it earlier in the month, but only had a little bit of time here and there to work on it. Once I had numerous days off in a row I could get some serious welding done:<br />
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It was constructed from mild steel rod, 1/4" diameter, and was then wrapped in athletic tape, painted with enamel and then clear coated. This serves a few purposes - when it's dry, it's tough as nails and makes a great protective coating. It also acts as urban camouflage, by making the rack look less polished and hopefully less of a temptation to thieves. Also, it disguises the fact that my welds are not that pretty. I ended up giving a previous rack the same treatment:<br />
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<br />wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-9071675851378836962012-12-08T08:44:00.000-08:002012-12-08T08:44:09.727-08:00Tiny and ToadsOnly a couple of things to share this morning. Up first is a very tiny book that I made for my girlfriend to celebrate our anniversary. She's very enthusiastic about miniatures and tiny things in general, so I thought this would be both a challenge for me and something she'd appreciate. Onward to the progress shots - sewing the signatures onto cords:<br />
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Spine treatment:<br />
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Cutting channels into the boards for the cords:<br />
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The endbands are sewn by hand, and are composed of my beard hair (she also like Victorian hair art):<br />
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For the cover, I used cane toad skin:<br />
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Here is the finished piece, along with its slipcase and a penny for comparison:<br />
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I'd rescued some marbled paper from a repair at work, and that made for an excellent pastedown:<br />
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Up next is a potential piece for a client, who's been waiting patiently for quite a while. "Potential" in that I hope she likes it, and if not, I'll try and sell it through my Etsy store. The request was for a bright, colorful clutch that was a little larger than normal, with removable straps. She wanted to be able to carry a phone, sunglasses, and a wallet, and as an artist she needed to have pen and pencil slots. The exterior is pieced together from multiple cane toad skins, and the strap, interior and sides are a softer pale yellow leather:<br />
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<br />wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-27964836564928477732012-11-10T12:41:00.002-08:002012-11-10T12:41:46.556-08:00Surinam toad walletsThis project has been brewing in my mind for a long time and it's finally come to fruition. Ever since I made the tentacle/sucker wallet, I've wanted to do more wallets along the same lines but based on the Surinam toad (star-fingered toad, Pipa Pipa, disgusting abomination, etc.) If you don't know what this is then do a web search at your own risk.<br />
First up is the subtle version. Natural vegetable-tanned leather makes up the majority of the wallet, and the green leather peeking through like a baby toad is cane toad skin:<br />
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And now for the not-so-subtle version. This bifold wallet is made up of dyed and tooled vegetable-tanned leather on the outside, and the brown is again cane toad skin. The interior is a combination of buffalo calf and doe kidskin, and an anorak snap keeps things secure:<br />
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Please don't hold me responsible for any gag reflexes that may result.<br />
<br />wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-65094895965552222812012-10-21T11:13:00.000-07:002012-10-21T11:14:05.211-07:00Checking in on some past projectsA few of my past projects have made their way back to me for one reason or another, and I thought I'd post some photos of what time and handling has done to them. First up is the sucker wallet. It came back to get the snap replaced, as the spring in the initial snap just got too loose. This particular wallet was left undyed and natural, so this is how it looks after 15+ months of handling and some treating:<br />
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Up next is one of the drawn-upon curse purses. That particular approach was kind of experimental (using dye to draw linework on white doe kidskin), and while it looked great initially it doesn't seem to hold up. I really like how the stark white looks after it's been handled and gotten darker, but the dye faded too much for my, and the client's, taste:<br />
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I didn't have high hopes for cleaning this piece, so I offered to redo it in a veg-tanned alternative. Also, this was made to fit tampons and not cards, but she used it as a card case anyway, so I made the new version slightly larger for a better fit:</div>
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Finally, this is a good reminder not to leave your leather goods where pets and/or animals can get to them. My friend Rachel has a couple of really sweet dogs, but unfortunately one of them got the urge to gnaw and this is the result:<br />
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I'm not sure what approach I'm going to take with this. It can be shrunk down and turned into a coin purse, but that might be the only thing I can realistically do with this.<br />
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On to some new pieces. My fascination with whip making continues, and I finally picked up some steel shot and was able to construct a shot-loaded snake whip. Snake whips are typically referred to as something you can roll up and put in your pocket, but this thing is a beast and it's not going to fit into any of my pockets. A saddlebag, maybe...the thong (braided portion) is 6 feet long and the fall/cracker add another 2 feet. I haven't quite got the hang of cracking this thing confidently, due to the flexible handle and the weight, plus this isn't really my best example of plaiting, but when it does crack it's thunderous:<br />
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Up next is a clutch and phone pouch combo. The client wanted something to replace a zippered dayplanner, so it needed to be smaller yet hold a smartphone, pen, cards, checkbook, etc., all without a zippered closure. She also wanted a small leather case for her phone that could hold a few cards and some cash. Here are the results, which use luchador masks and skull imagery:<br />
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Six card slots, two larger slots for cash and receipts, and a dedicated slot for her checkbook. The phone pouch, pens, etc., all fit in the middle.<br />
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Now I can move on to some different leather. I recently purchased some cane toad skins and I've got some interesting plans for them:<br />
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<br />wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31563404.post-35273430585376351142012-09-08T12:42:00.000-07:002012-09-08T12:42:07.161-07:00Just in case it looks like I'm not doing anything<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Lots of activity happening in my kitchen workshop lately. First up is an upholstery project. There's a bike swap meet that happens roughly once a month in my town, and the last time I attended I scored a couple of old Selle gel saddles (my personal favorite.) The covering on both was in pretty rough shape, so I decided to recover them in leather. Here's the first one:<br />
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And after removing the old covering:<br />
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There were some larger chunks of foam that came off while removing the cover, so I filled in the voids with some thin leather:<br />
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The second saddle:<br />
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Minus the covering:<br />
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The leather scrap I wanted to use wasn't big enough, so I stitched two pieces together, hopefully with the seam in a place that wouldn't chafe:<br />
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The finished saddles, which are now both in use and are quite comfortable:<br />
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Speaking of scraps, I decided to make another large wallet that utilized thin scraps of black doe kidskin. I figure if anyone wants it I can either make it a chain wallet or give it a wrist strap, depending on how they intend to use it:<br />
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Fun times modifying knives continues - I picked up a Kershaw OD-2 knife for my girlfriend so I could make some scales for it in the toxic green she likes so much. It was close enough to the color of an artichoke that it seemed like a good idea to shape them like one. This project was quite a bit more difficult than the previous one, as the knife is an assisted opener and there are moving parts inside the handle.<br />
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For my girlfriend's birthday she asked if I would make her a belt. So I did. This extra-fancy belt is tooled with animal imagery and includes giant anteaters, a giraffe, an octopus and a pelican, and has edge braiding all the way down the length of the belt. For the buckle, I took a polished solid brass buckle, ground off a thin layer in the shape of giraffe spots and dunked the whole thing in acid. Only the ground away spots tarnished:<br />
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Last but not least is a fairly large bag. A buddy of mine works for a local brewery, and frequently travels to bars to set up unique casks of their brew for special events. He needed something that could hold all the gear he needs to accomplish this - tools, the spout, a collapsible stand that holds the cask, etc.<br />
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<br />wombatsuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09884641245091426840noreply@blogger.com0