steveb leatherworks: the blather

Digging back into the archive for this gem. This is one of those rare instances where a different and good idea snuck out and actually got done. Dan is a friend of Zeb, a good pal of mine and a riding partner. Zeb is also a paying customer, sporting a few bits and pieces of steveb leather garb, as does his lovely bride Sonia – friends and paying customers – it doesn’t get any better than this pair of motorcycle riding miscreants. I love them. You’ve met them in “blather” posts gone by or seen them in my friends and family photo gallery

So anyway, I don’t  know their pal Danny, but i am expecting his call as Zeb had called me and said “yea, Danny is gonna call you, he wants some junk”.  Ok then, a day or week later Danny calls me and I basically get nothing from him… “your the artist, you come up with something cool”… ha, yea – this is a set up. I know Dan is a fierce kind of character in appearance, actions, reputation and associations and hangs with some fierce characters – and i know these guys have strong opinions about everything. Rarely do i get “carte blanche” from a fierce guy. I usually try and avoid this kind of work, if it be known. I don’t need headaches or “hi-need” customers.

So I call Danny out on this “carte blanche stuff” and he says, no – this is for real, he has no clue what he wants, but  he likes all my stuff, he cant go wrong” – ok then, turnaround,  this is now, my favorite kind of job, totally dealers choice.

So I had this hi-contrast thing running in my head about this time: Black & white, good&evil, sinner&saint, vanilla&chocolate, etc  you get it …and so decided to take it to the bench on Danny’s wallet. I thought it came out wild, maybe too wild. I sent it to Danny and it definitely took him aback. WTF is this he asked me when he got it? I explained the concept and the thinking and then he dug it. Here, I thought i was going to be in for a beating, but wound up being a kind of hero….ha!

So, I recently saw Danny at surprise party Sonia threw for Zeb about 3 months ago, first thing he does is pull out this wallet to show me how its aged. Happy to say that after 4 years of daily wear, it looks better than it does in these pictures, the day i boxed it up in 2005 and sent it out, in part because I was too chicken shit to deliver it in person..ha..