steveb leatherworks: the blather

Scrapper for Lisa

Belts… might seem a little weird, but i invite you to meditate on the true nature of a belt with me. Sometimes in steveb land, we like to dig into the mundane and peel back a layer for contemplation, not that a belt is mundane, mind you. A belt can be as simple as a rope with a knot, a plain strap of material with some way to tie it off at a given length. It need not be rocket science. If that’s the way you see a belt (plain utility) you aren’t going to be a customer of mine.

I like to complicate shit. A personal quirk i guess..i love to dig into and explore the little details. I see a belt as an opportunity to show some low key, not-too-flashy-smart-style. I see this as a way for a person who shares my sense of style to stand apart with a necessary utilitarian accessory – a killer belt, a one-off, something made just for them, with their input.

In a time when our heroes are politicians who promise the world, finding someone to actually make you something personal, for you alone, that you’ll use everyday, for years and years is rocket science… How many people do you know that can take some raw dead, crap and make something beautiful and useful from it? In my estimation the people that can accomplish that, should be our heros. We’d all be better off if they were. It is one of the reasons I love being near the bike business… making stuff is great, making stuff that has class and moves you along at 60mph is super great, putting a smile on your customers faces is also great…and that sorta, kind of leads me to the point of this story, before i went off on this rambling, half-a-rat-rant…Lisa’s Scrapper belt.

So as it turns out, Lisa is Kirk Taylor’s wife, Kirk being Kirk Taylor of Custom Design Studios fame – the bike builder/painter/fabricator/stylist of great talent and renown. I met Kirk some many moons ago, at a Custom Chrome shindig in Morgan Hill, Cali through my friend Johnny Chop (RIP). A small group of us went to what passed for a topless joint in that neck of the woods…imagine my surprise when the girls simply parade around in bikini’s!! LOL Guess they aren’t allowed to go topless in this area, so needless to say I was a total dick and tortured Chop about that for years…”you Cali rookies cant even find a decent boob bar for a few beers…ha!” I’ll say it again, East Coast Rules!! Jesus, let me get to the point..anyway – Lisa saw my Scrapper this summer in Sturgis and said “i want one”. This is a lady who gets what she wants!

where was I? Yea, the belt – so I designed this belt I call the Scrapper – basically made from half pieces and scraps from belts made previously. Constructed from three distinct pieces, it allows some really different decorative treatments. I made myself one of these belts, dressed it up with two domed penny conchos i made with a dapping block from pennies from my birth years and happened upon a winning formula – the Scrapper – a high contrast, classy “sumpin different” production. This is what i mean by making stuff complicated, this is as far as you can get from a plain strap, insofar as decorative aesthetic. Yea right. Lots of sewing, pieces, skiving – really a big pain in the ass to make, but i love the look – hope you do too!