steveb leatherworks: the blather

Digging back in the archives for this feature.
Had a little celtic thing going here with this belt. Love the off kilter red dot center….
As I recall this was one belt of a set of 2, with the other one being the tried and true tribal flame belt design. 

Winter in NYC these days aint shit.
Back in the day, a snowstorm shut it down
Getting shut down was a pretty normal event growing up.

Typical scene here. You can see my car buried in front of the house, while my old man’s had 4+ feet of snow on top of it drifting off the side of the house.. No cars ran, everyone was buried. Gonzo’s Dad was the only person I knew who had a 4WD truck, a rough and ready International Harvester, predecessor to the SUV. We walked to the main strip with the sled to get food. It was cool, it was winter. I hustled money shoveling snow with some of my buds, paid for gas and other things we wanted but did not need. Easyriders was a favorite purchase. Before i headed out, I had to help my Dad clear the house. He wore his special shovelling hat for this event, i see.

I think this pic is from 1975 or 1976.
It was in a folder marked 1978, but by then, I had split – having enough of “home” life and being parented.

You believe in ghosts?  Well I do.  I grew up with them in the pictures that I saw as a kid, in the stories that I heard the adults in my family tell and now, in being the guardian of their memories. Ya see, in my heart of hearts, I am afraid that all of these people, their stories, their faces and their names will be lost if I don’t do something with them. I just cant let them sit in the many albums, file folders and boxes…dead. Seems wrong. So I scan and i write, and I try to remember what i was told or overheard as a kid.

I am going to start sharing some of these interesting captures of people & moments past in pretty hi-rez form, and i invite you all to “right-click”.  Once online, my hope is that these images live-on….  Since we don’t sit around campfires and tell stories anymore to keep memory’s alive, I will do it here from time to time. we’ve all got stories to tell and I will share some of mine here.

As background: my mom, Mickey was an entertainer from her early teens until her early 30’s, born into a vaudevillian family when that was deemed a respectable profession (sorta kinda). Mickey and her dad Max (a recent Dutch immigrant) had what could be characterized as song and dance acts, even though she couldn’t sing or really dance. Her talent was looking good, being funny, not taking herself too seriously  and acting as the foil for Max, her dad…she was the cutie. She worked it. Prior to this My Grandfather had a series of acts with his brother in Holland, Europe, Australia, etc…, they were clowns, they had trained poodles, juggling, tumbling, mime’ing and all kinds of odd-ball stuff, like a bird-call act… I have this influence in my DNA, think’n on it…ha

So during WWII,  Mickey and Max were serving our Country by entertaining the troops with the USO in what was called the “European Theater”. This father/daughter team traveled all over the world with the USO doing their acts for the “boys”. I really do mean they traveled all over. I have a collection of pictures, luggage “stickers” from all over the world…boats, planes, “caravans”, trucks, buses, trains… they did it all. I can only imagine the adventures they had and the things they saw. Luckily both of them had cameras in hand nearly all the time. When I was a kid, Mickey didn’t regale me and my sister of tales of those wartime days, ya had to pry it from her a bit. I think it was a pretty wild and emotional ride, looking at the pictorial evidence. There was no PTSD back then, you just dealt. She lost lots of friends, like guys in the picture below – she had to, the attrition rate was pretty hideous.

Which brings me to the subjects in the pictures below. Mickey could hold her own, she was cute, smart, worldly and seasoned in the ways of hanging out with Soldiers..the “boys”. She loved to party, she smoked, she drank, she could tell jokes, loved to laugh and do things. I could only imagine the boys couldn’t stay away from her… Probably one of the very few attractive women they’d seen in awhile, and a cool one to boot. She had lots of dates, when a date meant a cup of coffee and a talk of home,  and I have lots of pictures with inscriptions on the back from the guys she impressed.

Max was always close by, but Mickey met lots of guys and by the looks of these pictures, many “adopted” her. This pic is of Canadian Airmen, but I’ve got similar shots of American guys guys in Naval dress. Mickey didn’t discriminate, a handsome dude in uniform was a handsome dude in a uniform, no matter what branch of the Allied Service he was in.

What happened to the Canadian guys in that Bomber group?  Did they live through D-Day  – one month past when this photo was taken at a training school for the invasion –  to enjoy old age? Did they even live through the war – they had more than a year to go until the end?  Did they have families?  Have their memories lived on?  After signing the back of this pic for Mickey, did they go out for a few tall-toads?  Did she break any hearts in this group?  Where is the goddamn Time Tunnel when ya need it? I got questions ferchrissakes. Why is it that we only think of these questions when the chance to ask them has passed?

So, take that as a warning, if you have family members who’ve got stories locked away….find the key, before it’s too late…..

Anyway, thanks for indulging me, if your interested in hearing more, let me know.

I dye alot of belts and use an airbrush when browns, reds or any fade is called for. Great way to make a big mess.. using airbrushes and not having a spray booth or backstop. I needed a way to secure a belt in a spot that I could dye it. ..minimizing over spray, maximizing control…minimizing mess. Ingenuity was needed…no running to a Grainger catalog for this one.

So being a big buck tool guy, I took a length of seamless gutter, 4 fender washers, 4 eye bolts w/nuts, a little chain, a binder clip and… ba-da-bing, instant belt dying spray booth. Cost me about $10.

I hang a belt from the clip on top down the center for a no mess spray. Put a little corrugated platform running down the center that sits on a few styro blocks, so my work wouldn’t sit in over spray. Been using this setup for years and works great. A rag clipped to the bottom catches any runoff before it runs onto my shoes.

As I have mentioned in posts past, making a set of leather goods is a kind of special affair, most folks buy one piece at a time, so getting the chance to do a few pieces for one person at one time is cool – i enjoy tying a belt and wallet together with a theme..and i enjoy adapting an idea from one item to the other, its a fun challenge. Making gifts is also rewarding, nice to know your in on something that is going to be memorable. This job had both of these hallmarks – very cool.

A tight basket weave throughout the fin wallet was set off by my usual marine grade stainless chain, nickel plated grommet and partnered up with a nice chain keeper that attaches to the belt. This “keeper” is now a standard feature  on all of my chain wallets and really adds a bit more zing. For those who like clasps for their wallet chains, they are still available. Both wallet and belt are stitched (by arm power) with a bright white 277 thread. The inside of the wallet is set off by a nice red to brown fade. The belt is lined with pig, the wallet is lined with cowhide.

Now here is a small factoid that you didn’t know. Many of the wallets I make that are lined with a cowhide are lined with leather that comes from Langlitz Leather in the rainy PNW. I made friends with their shop manager and owner some years back and I haggled for a monster box of pieces, too small for their usages, but perfect for mine. This is top shelf leather, really really good stuff – and in some ways, I think it is good karma to: not be wasteful in the ways we use an animal and to use as much of it as we can and secondly,  in using leather that comes from one of the (if not the most, next to Vanson) most respected custom motorcycle leatherwear shops in the USA, is just plain cool and laden with positive juju. If your in the know, you know Langlitz.

Anyway, back to the show…..Mrs. Dennis contacted me about this set for Mr. Dennis, we figured out an overall look that Mr.Dennis would find fitting. Details addressed, a few short weeks later, Ms. Dennis took delivery of the goods. Upon getting the package as a holiday gift, this was Mr. Dennis’s note to the entire design and production team at steveb leatherworks, llc, inc., co, esq, pzq:

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Steve,  I got my present the other day from L**, “Black Belt/Wallet” and have to say you did a terrific job.  I appreciate the work and time that you put into this and it definitely shows your attention to detail.  I wear it with pride and have been showing it off to everyone. Thank you for your superb work and enjoy the holidays.  Dennis
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Well, this made my day (as well as the entire team)  as you could well imagine. You have to know that it doesn’t get any better than this for an artisan. Thanks for the kind words Dennis and thanks for the business!

So, take a look at the basket weave stamping on this wallet, if you would. One of the reasons I put such large image files up on my site is so you can really see just what kind of detail goes into my work. I don’t hide anything and am not afraid to show my work in the clearest way possible.

Fortunate to have family members that live in fairytale film sets (see example below), I spent the Holiday here with part of my clan. Funny how being in a place like this puts you in the mood to eat vast quantities of rich food and burn plenty of wood. Of course, I would be remiss in my celebrations if I didn’t leave a few malty beverages in the snow on the deck in the backyard for some frosty enjoyment during my two days of sitting my lazy ass on the couch in front of the fire doing nothing that could be viewed as productive, other than filtering malty beverages and processing  lots of food.

I hope you had just as good a holiday as I had.

home is for the holidays

Sitting here with a full stomach, visiting relatives on Xmas day with snow on the ground, it feels like the last time i was on a bike was a year ago. Looking at the shots on my camera, i must admit that this is not wholly true.

Only 24 days ago Shank, Dan-o and me went for a blast up to Squirrel Country. Shank had an estimate he needed to drop off at a wealthy customers house and so Dan-o and me tagged along to make sure the rich kids in the ‘hood wouldn’t knock him off his bike and take it from him. Tough kids up in Squirrel Country.

The three of us headed up to the sticks and got to the destination – horse farms, monster McMansions and all sort of fancy pants cars, SUV’s and other obnoxious manifestations of wealth surrounded us. Ironically, all of these nice road machines are piloted by dumbshits that don’t know how to operate them. Guess these nice whips didnt come with “operation instructions”.

We got to the spot and Shank asked me and Dan-o to hang back so as to not freak out the Customer with 3 bikes rolling up his cobblestone driveway. Shank aint no fun. So Dan-o and I parked on the side of Fancy Pants Drive and waited for Shank to come back from his visit to the “Main House”. By the way – wtf is up with having a main house? Isnt a plain old regular house enough? I mean  what is up with that….. I dont get it, how much room does a family of 4 need? 20,000 sq ft? I dont think so. These are the sucker-heads that are feeling the Hedge Fund debacle in a big way. Poor rich folks, sniff sniff.

Anyway, me and Dan-o got comfy and burned our burnables, whilst camped out on a stone wall waiting for Shank – and lo and behold, a parade of neighbors begins the slow drive by our previously quiet out of the way location . Great – at this point I am waiting for the local Resident Trooper to come by and scare us off. I know that in this ‘hood, me and Dan-o look like clay pigeons waiting to be taken out. Not so good. I am not a big fan of billboarding my presence in areas that my “get out of jail free” cards dont get good reception.

Just as i am feeling like we’ve outstayed our welcome (were we ever really welcome?) Shank comes tooling down the dirt road and we hit it – and head back to home turf – where the cars are dirtier, where our friends and family’s live and where we fit in.

In our ‘hood we all live in the “Main House”, fucking A.

Merry happy ho-ho

For your Xmas consideration – another in the series of Journal covers I’ve been producing…presented here for your viewing pleasure is a real sweetie. This Journal came out nice. Deep and dramatic stamping really sets this Journal off the hey-now scale, you must feel it in your hand to appreciate just how good it feels – its that tactile point of difference i look for in all my work.

A rich blended palette of browns and reds give this a snarky hi-tone son-of-a-bitch look, something not seen very often. The finish on top is a clean and tough acrylic, so although this Journal will show wear over the years – as it should, it’s coming to the party wearing protection. Clean machine stitiching gives it a little added snap.

Lined inside with electric blue (find that anywhere else!) and accompanied by a antique brass birdcage snap and detailed snap strap, this is a Journal that will inspire the owner to write and record the whats what.

After nearly 20 years of faithful service my novelty jockey helmet needed a rebuild in a pretty big way. Back in the day, most any self respecting NYC biker wore a jockey helmet – this was most certainly a *club* style influence.  Growing up at ground zero in the moto scene, there was never really a choice about headgear and it was a rite of passage for me and my friends to take the ride to the tack shop near Belmont Racetrack to select our jockey helmets. You rode a HD, you lived in Queens, you wore a jockey helmet…simple. The Boss calls this helmet Q-tip head,  and cant believe that Bikers would ever wear anything *so stupid*…..*sigh* girls…they just don’t get it…

I remember the day pretty clearly when i got mine – it was just after i got legal license wise (had to before i moved to CT) and got my motorcycle accreditation – after a bitch of a road test. It was a new and improved helmet with a semi indestructible coating on the outside. I wasn’t too happy at the time with this innovation – I really wanted the *really really* old school version all my friends wore. But i walked out with it and it became my primary lid. After getting hassled a few times when being on the bike out of state for it being a non-DOT lid, i picked up a *real* half-helmet, which i wore out and replaced just last year… Seems all my shit is wearing out. I still wore my jockey helmet  when harassing motorists locally, so it has seen pretty consistent (ab)use over the years.

Amazingly, 20 years of  miles and road trips, the outside of my helmet still looks like new, really surprising considering the lack of care. The inside liner is still in pretty good shape, but the leather pieces that hold this lunker to the head, not so much – they were pretty ragged and really began falling apart this riding season, so I promised myself to add this to the production schedule for steveb leather works llc, international inc. co.. Brendan replaced Pupkins helmets leather bits years ago, so i knew it could be done. I wound up making a chin cup for that rebuild, contributing to Brendan’s work.

The riding season here is pretty much done for the time being with the weather being oh-so East Coast-y, so I thought, now is a good time to tackle this chore. Giving this some thought, i knew I wanted to use a laminated construction – lined, glued and sewn materials, and a specific weight of veg tan. The leather pieces needed to be comfortable and I couldn’t go overkill in terms of weight, as I am known to do that on rare occasion.. I knew I wanted to improve the chin cup materials and get rid of all the nylon webbing and adjustable buckles…I don’t need the adjustments, once the helmet is set for me, I am good. At this point in my life, I think i am done growing. Well my hat size isn’t expanding anyway….

So I got my helmet, materials and game plan figured out –  drilled out the rivets on the old set up, made my templates, made some adjustments in the design, based on my *user experiences” and got to making hay. All the pieces cut, dyed, glued, stitched, edged – I made the chin cup, lined it with Elk for comfort (elk is thick stuff and soft) and decorated the straps holding it on. I opted to keep the helmet simple in terms of decoration for the most part, the stitching gives it a little zip, which is all it needs.

So ther yea have it, the new helmet set up holds to the back of my head a little closer, the chin cup is nice and the strap snaps on now, rather than the lames-ass hook arrangement it came with. I didn’t buff out all the edges like I normally do, and the stitching is a bit rough, but hey – it’s a prototype and its for me – so cut me some slack, if you would. Either way, I think that this should last me another 20…. I also know that I will be getting some calls for this service once the cat gets out of the bag that I am doing this, now that I’ve worked out the prototype on my own gear. ……excuse the lousy helmet model, hard to find good handsome help these days,,,

Freddy – wanted to give his Dad, Big Joe, a steveb belt for the holidays. Big Joe, is not a jeans wearing kind of guy, instead favoring “slacks”. This necessitated the manufacture of a narrow *dress* belt. So in answer, a 1″ strap was cut from a brand new, delivered last week hide, because, Big Joe, is a big guy, requiring an inordinately lengthy piece of leather be used for this belt- and as you know from reading my crap in the past – the longest strap is cut from the leather along the animals back. You don’t get many long pieces worth a damn out of a hide – the leather towards the neck and back tends to be “plongy” (soft) and unusable for my work – so I use the center portion of the hide primarily. if I can squeak 2-3 big boy belts out of a side I am doing well.

This belt is made from 8oz veg tan, with a simple stamping pattern. Keep in mind , this simple ornamentation will probably be viewed as very *blingy* by Big Joe, as he is pretty conservative, just as you would expect from a man who wears slacks and not jeans… As usual, I lined it with Pig and stitched it all together with a lightweight black poly thread (this is a dress belt and burly thread would have looked silly).

The belt is set up with a pretty detailed/stitched and lined leather keeper  and a sweet, simple nickel buckle – i found some really good brass and nickel 1″ buckles from a new source…on closeout of course, so who knows if they will be available again…, and I used Chicago Screws to attach the buckle, so Big Joe is free to swap out the buckle for another. As a courtesy, I included a brass buckle and matching set of brass Chicago screws if Big Joe is feeling adventurous in a brassy way and wants to swap buckles.

A new belt for Tyler.
Black color, tan thread, brass buckle, a wack stamping pattern, lined with Pig.
Tyler never had his draws so stylishly secure. 

My normal Scrapper belt is a three piece affair with a buckle end, a billet end and a back piece…very fancy, and a bit complicated, requiring skiving, gluing and some odd sewing. I made Bill’s belt a half a Scrapper with only two pieces, simplifying matters and giving him something deceivingly simple and unique.

Color can be half the story when it comes to a piece of custom leather. I love this color, saddle tan with a kind of Carmel, with a bit of honey. A light touch with the dye and antiquing is required to pull this off smoothly and consistently over the piece. Bill was a happy guy when he got his “half-a-scrapper” belt.

Spending a full day in the shop under fluorescent lights standing on concrete was enough to send me out into the snowstorm pummeling the area today just to get some air and move my body to an area larger than 15sq.ft. Heard on the radio there are 6 hour delays at the airports. I feel for the poor saps stuck around the country. Been there, done that, I’ve spent my time sleeping in O’Hare…not so nice…or comfy.

Well, the sno provided an opp to capture a few of my “not so green” neighbors burning oil in the front yards. Good for them. For all of you in places where the chance of seeing snow over the “Holiday’s” is remote at best, enjoy these images of the Northeast’s finest freshly fallen sno.

Hmm, simple, clean elegant and certainly something different – this latest Journal stands on its own. Made with the very finest domestically tanned saddle skirting, the Smooth journal feels substantial with high-quality tactile overtones, has a hefty hand and is imbued with beautiful color, a complex blend of: brown, dark brown, saddle tan and burgundy. This melange of color is surrounded by a frame of black with white stitching and really shines. The “color” shadow box on the front, wraps to the back and will never be duplicated – this requiring very tricky sleight of hand with an airbrush.

I love logos. I have a thing for graphic design. My specific interests are in logo’s, identity’s, brandmarks – whatever you might want to call ’em. I like the idea of distinguishing ones self and services through a graphic mark or device. If designed, with knowledge and sensitivity of the subject matter – a logo can work great and looks…just right, speaking volumes in a way that few other devices can.

Through my involvement in this and that over the ages, I’ve amassed quite a collection of stickers, my very favorite manifestation of a logo.  I’ve had my shop at this location for more than 10 years and so slowly,over time, have pretty much plastered every rollaway, tool cabinet and metal surface. People send me stickers all the time to add to the collection, keeping it fresh.

I am back to making toolbags. I thought I’d share this recent toolbag that left the shop for a happy new home. The proud new owner, a repeat customer, has simple tastes: black leather and red flames.

This bag was particularly challenging to make because of the material- 10oz, fat stuffed motorcycle latigo- overkill in all regards – this is stiff, hard to wrestle and form, and not normally used in a toolbag application. Not only is this leather thick with a stiff temper, but I lined it with pig and topped the whole shebang off with 6-8oz leather trim and lined gussets. This is one heavy bag. The back panel, reinforcement is another slab of the same 10oz Latigo leather, glued, stitched and riveted onto the body of the bag. #12 copper rivets hold the bag together.

Made the straps, with a nice embossed pattern, giving it a little extra interest – i suspect this will last a good long time.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx-lh3_LbrM[/youtube]

Some tools you really need to do a job well and there are some jobs you can get by with a sorta-kinda tool, maybe. Edging is one of those things, that having the right tool, in the right size really helps. Edgers are foundational tools for most any leather crafter. You reach for them often enough if you work with veg tan to warrant buying a range of sizes and buying good ones at that. I prefer Ron’s Edgers. There are a number of tools and techniques that are necessary to get a nice slick edge, especially on a laminated construction, like what I generally use (everything is at least 2 layers with a lining) but a good edger begins the process to achieve slick-edge nirvana.

15 years ago doesn’t seem all that long from a numerical standpoint. But the truth is that 15yrs is a helluva long time, in a lot of other ways….  looking at these old shots from a memorable road trip of long ago reminds me of that.

Pupkin, Gonzo and me headed up to the wild Northern Kingdom during Laconia Bike Week that week in 1993, one of the hottest weekends on record in that area. The three of us grew up in the same neighborhood in Queens, mere city blocks apart and so, know each other very well. Gonzo is indeed my very oldest friend, us having met in Kindergarten. Gonz and I had some weird falling out years ago over something stupid and inconsequential…him being a hair trigger, touchy kind of guy, and me having little tolerance for that kind of behavior from someone I’ve known since the age of 5…oh well, hopefully we will connect again as life is too short and our connection is too deep and meaningful.

Anyway, the three of us FXR pilots headed out from the big shitty for a week of riding and carousing. It was a great trip that had one memorable (well one of a few) events. We, being younger, stupider and poorer wanted to go up to Bike Week but none of us really had the scratch to do it in style. Gonzo, thinking on it realized his niece was living in a town up that way with some girlfriends and asked if the three of us could crash there for a day or two…they said yes, no prob..it could be fun to have us as guests…ha.

So, we sauntered up (rode like devils is more like it) to the Northern Kingdom in the goddamn most awful stifling heat and humidity I can remember…the shit was nasty, sweltering and downright uncomfy. So we get to Gonz’s nieces place and lo and behold it is not air conditioned and they’ve prepped a “nice spot” for us on the wooden living room floor. huh?

We go out, have (quite) a few tall toads, eat a nice meal and get back to the crash spot. The three of us lay on the goddamn wood floor till we cant stand it anymore: heat, a back that is stiff from a day on the bikes, heat, no bed, more heat topped by humidity keep us from getting a single wink of sleep. we are freaking delirious, giggling…insanity… no way Jose

3AM – I am freaking out, out of my damn mind from the heat, suffering dehydration, exhausted and “not in the mood” to stay in this spot one more minute, I convince Gonz and Pupkin that we need to find another spot to crash NOW – cuz I just cant stand sweating one more minute….huh? ok…so we head out at 3am to seek out some cool…something we’ve not gotten a taste of in 2 days. We head to town and find a nice air conditioned ATM vestibule. We park the bikes in front  of it, go around to a dumpster, take a bunch of corrugated boxes and use them as a mat for the floor and crash out “homeless NYC” style. This is the first time I can honestly say I slept in an ATM, and it was great….friggin lifesaver. Out like lights we go beddy bye.

Sunrise comes and we hear a “tap tap” on the totally fogged, misted and steamed (from us sleeping in it) windows of the ATM booth…sure enough, its the cops telling us to move along…..lol..well at least we got some sleep. we had many other adventures on this trip. Someday, If I remember I will regale you with more of them.

Ahh, the good old days..didnt need much, didnt have much and didnt want much. No comfort, no baggers, no music, no worries, no gray hair. I guess 15yrs is a long time after all…

g’night

It is not too often that I start a project without a clear idea of the “desired end-state”. Usually with customer work, I attend to the details in a number of emails or conversations that drill down into the  specific colors, design and hardware they’d like me to use. I don’t ever cut leather until i know where i want to end up – the essence of measuring twice and cutting once.. The glaring exception is things I make for myself or new prototype development..then it can be like drawing a wild card..it either “sings or sucks”. Some of this experimentation winds up in the trash, most of the time it winds up in my pocket, because generally, it is something i want or need…and I am too busy and cheep to chuck my sorta kinda work.

So being the “can-do” guy at the multi-national global megamonolthic steveb leatherworks, I take a big leap and slot another job in the queue, a new Journal cover for myself to replace the beater prototype I have been using that really doesn’t showcase my work very well and since alot of people see it, it needed to be updated. How to update it, I wasnt sure, but I wanted to use some veg tan and texture it up for a nice “hand”, becaue when someone asks me about it, the first thing i do is hand it to ’em. That interaction always results in sale, I am happy to say. The way I finish leather and stamp it, feels great to the hand and most folks have never seen anything like my work…city folks especially.

So – I cut the leather for my own personal journal and begin prepping it…and then the dinner bell rings. Some broccoli rabe with sausage and linguini and two beers later I am back out in the shop..a little buzzed, fat and happy and feeling a little lazy, definetly not focused and so I ‘resume ” where I left off. Ha

Weeelll, I start on the back of the journal with a nice tight big-block basketweave…and then decide half-way through that maybe some of my wack texturing would be cool….ok….and then for some reason i pull my beader blade out and take a swipe at a freehand curve (which i never do cuz it is a bitch to control)….and then think that a tri-weave might look good..uh huh….. what a friggin mess. So i step back and look at my handy work…and decide to go have another beer…,and watch a little computer screen…..and then later on around bedtime, I decide to take another look at my handiwork.

Well, thinking how i was thinking, i thought i could “fix” it and pull this buncha crap together with some slight of hand coloration….not so much.  So after witching hour, i fire up the dye machines, back up the big-rig mixer and whip up some colors for this beauty….and came up with this.

Don’t let it be said that I am not willing to show a little ass every now and then. I was not impressed with the design and, should have just stuck with the basket weave, or the wack texturing or the tri-weave – but all three put this thing over the top and made it a mess. The color begins to bring it together, but this is something that never would have gotten to this point, had it been for anyone else. I probably would have buried it in the backyard…probably SHOULD have buried it in the backyard, but being stubborn, I thought i could salvage it….ahhh…hmmmm….bad idea

This is what happens when ya dont pay attention and stray from the “way”. So as penance, I am going to carry this thing till it wears out and will use it as a reminder of what happens when ya don’t have a plan and just freewheel it.

Epilogue: so i was carrying this today, someone saw it – loved it and asked them to make me one “just like it”. LOL – Maybe I will sell her this one. I don’t see making another one of these anytime soon…..

Alot of my customers carry a briefcase or over-the-shoulder/sling/ messenger/ computer bag. Usually they are some sort of heavy duty ballistic nylon – like my favorite (and pricey) brand of choice – Tumi. All of these type bags come with a standard issue shoulder strap – pretty ugly. Since I am always looking for ways to ply my wares and look for new applications of my craft, I thought I’d take a stab at coming up with my version of a shoulder strap that is suitable for this type of application. Someday I will take on the whole bag, but for now – the strap will have to suffice. These bags last forever and so I wanted to come up with something that would provide a stylish counterpoint to the bag and also last just as long.

So here is my answer to dressing up a sling bag with a special shoulder strap. The details: 1.5 in wide, 8oz veg tan, lined with pig, stainless Stohlman roller buckle and keepers, nickel bronze snap clips, held on with latigo leather and copper burr & stake rivets. The color is a standout two tone brown, the thread is white and I complimented the billet with my trademark rivet treatment, adding a bit of bling on the rearward facing part of the strap. Also worth noting is the uniqie way that I attach the nickel clips to the strap – using latigo and copper rivets – you’ve never seen that before, I bet.

Want something different? Give me a shout at: steveb@steveb.biz

As if you havent figured it out by now, I like my words. I like words in general, but i especially like my words…lol. I always carry a journal with me, to capture thoughts, take notes when i am in a meeting and in general, to make me look smarter than I am. For many years I have exclusively carried Moleskine journals.  They are the best, hands down. You can spend more money on “organic paper, hemp stitched, preservative free inks, etc., but you will not find better in terms of a Journal. I go through about 2 of these a year and always have ’em in my bag. One of the reasons I like Journals is because you can save them and keep a record, unlike pads.

Some time back (years ago) I was in a fancy pants gift store on the Cape with the Boss, that was selling all sorts of rich-folk gifty trinkets and happened upon a display of “specialty hand-made leather goods”. This stuff was rough in its design, crude by its construction and all in all,  not very well done (by my standards) – but it sure was pricey. Amongst the stuff they were selling was a collection of journal covers. These were made of “chap sides” – a soft and plongy leather, the bottom of the barrel quality wise. To boot, these covers were crudely stitched with fat latigo lace. The paper journals in these covers was ok, but not really made for ink, these were more for pencil sketching. For $400, these were useless and poorly done (in my opinion) and waay overpriced, but they sold, related the  storekeeper.

Well, the seed was planted. I thought to myself, I need to slap a cover on my trusty Black covered Moleskine journal. It took about a year for me to finally get to it and I made myself a prototype (this was about a year ago), which I carried up until today when i made myself a new one. I like the design I came up with and am going to roll with it, the design has stood the test of time and has seen some refinements based on daily use for a year+.. This is one of the first of a series I will be producing. This series (all with the same crazy turquoise leather as a liner) has a limited edition of four Journal Covers and all are already spoken for.

I am taking orders for the next Series of four, so if you carry a journal – consider this – you’ll ALWAYS be able to find a refill (Moleskine’s have been around for more than 100 years) and you’ll wear out before this cover does – it is made with my usual Grade A veg tan, same as my wallets and belts. Also looks classy in a corporate setting to show up with this distinctive nugget rather than be seen carrying a free schwag pad, or clipboard with someone else’s logo on it. Let me know if your game – a stamped journal cover is $250 and includes a Journal to get you started.

I am looking to do one more series of four before the New Year, so if you want one – move fast!

This particular Journal Cover has a very deep and distinctive stamping pattern with my trademark pebbling treatment. This “honeycomb” Cover is as good to hold in the hand as it is to look at, featuring a  complex coloration of reds and browns that looks different depending on the lighting. Made of 6oz Veg Tan and lined with chrome tanned leather, it is heirloom quality and will last a lifetime. A low profile birdcage snap insures that you can let this journal lie flat on a table and comfortably write on both sides of the page.  Every detail has been considered.

Looking at these two pictures of Dennis’s bike, I think to myself – “oh man, what is up with you? Featuring a bike looking like this – a powder puff pimp queen?”  Forever and ever, I’ve been a 3 shades of black guy (wrinkle, gloss, satin), my fxr best personifying this ideal, as that bike looks almost perfect to me. I hated Baggers for their lack of chops, I hated powder puff bikes for their gayness and silliness, i hated choppahs for their lack of handling, comfort and utility – i’ve always been a truck bike kind of guy – straight utility, great mechanics with a burly, dark edge….now look at me…jumping the damn shark….

BUT – i am learning, in my increasing decrepitness and aging, that there are other things out there for consideration beyond what I (have always) liked and to simply dismiss them because they don’t live up to my “ideal” would be denying myself the opportunity to learn and grow. I think buying the Shiny Penny this year is an example of “loosening up” as my better half would say.

Yeah, right whatever – call it mellowing, call it a bad back, call it the “fag-ification” of steveb… I’d like to think of it as keeping an open mind and being non-judgmental (an in the case of the FL, comfortable!).

The Boss talks about this technique to open your mind and it boils down to “learning to love an idea, even if it is not yours and you don’t agree…for 10 minutes”..ya got to love the idea for 10 minutes..after that you can do what you do, but the mental exercise of training your brain to work for you, rather than to just be reactive and run down the same old path – is really interesting. Takes alot of work and mindfulness, but every now and then when i find myself making a snap judgement and being reactive, I think of this…..that is not saying i do it, mind you…….

A pretty Softail, Dennis bike is worthy of a feature, no? Dennis is a good guy, a vet, an auto tech and former auto garage owner, he’s ridden for longer than most of us have been alive and just bought this particular bike last year. He loves the shit out of it and keep is showroom clean. Dennis is also a true rider, that bike has a surprising amount of miles on it and most any decent day you can find Dennis tooling around town…and further, usually in search of “some decent coffee”.

Keep an open mind and “learn to love it for 10”

or not……