Leather iPad Cable Satchel

The Cable Satchel designed and made by the male half of this team.  This is the perfect size to hold an iPad in either section.  It's 9 &1/2" x 11"

Copper rivets for all the straps...they will patina really nicely along with the natural leather.

An extra piece of leather for the shoulder strap to reinforce the rivets since this bag could hold quite a bit of weight

Two sections each about 2" wide.  

Nice, simple strap attached to the bag with copper rivets. A buckle to adjust the closure depending on how full each section is...

Interior pockets for the smalls that tend to end up in the bottom of a larger bag. These will have to be redesigned since now that I'm using it I've discovered they are a bit too tight.  You can see that my pens are clipped and hanging outside the pocket.

Key clip, large cell phone pocket, and a couple of pen pockets.   I think one large piece of leather divided into sections by stitching would work better.  It would also accommodate different cell phones since those can vary in size quite a bit.

Overall, a nice sized bag especially if you carry an iPad with you all the time.  It holds a book really nicely as well if you're more "old school" ;)

Ring with Sterling Silver Bezel Set Stone

 For Christmas my husband bought me a sterling silver soldering kit.  It came with a book and all the basic soldering supplies to get started.  This is something I have wanted to learn to do for a long time.  To say that I love jewelry would be a huge understatement...

I started reading through the book and working up a list of sterling I thought I might need to buy to get started. 

 Then I decided to go through my own jewelry and see if I could repurpose some things I had.   I wasn't sure how it would go and I didn't want to spend alot and end up needing to scrap it.  

The band was a plain sterling band I've had forever.  So I cut it down the front center, opened it up and then cut each side open to create the prongs.  The flat piece of sterling for the base was also a large ring I had bought that I cut loose and hammered flat.

The red "stone" is resin I think.  I loved the color but the ring itself was just a cheap metal.  I cut it out with my jewelry saw.  The bezel wire that goes around the stone I had to buy. It's fine sterling and it's very thin and soft.

 The sizing is something I'm trying to figure out.  Especially with larger rings, but this one fits me how I hoped it would.

 My husband spent the day with me helping me get everything set up -- It was our Valentine's date.

I have to say it wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be.  Flux, solder, pickle ---it sounds intimidating.  But it all made sense once I started actually doing it.

 It is so cool that you can take pieces of metal and create this...and it is strong once it has been soldered.  Watching it melt down and become one piece then filing it into shape....

Burnishing the bezel itself is also fascinating, watching the metal just crimp down and then smooth out and polish like this...

A whole new way to create, take ideas and watch them come to life...

Hand Built White Oak and Steel Frame Coffee Table

My husband built this coffee table over the last few weeks...

This ideas has been brewing in his head for awhile and it has finally become a reality....

 He fabricated this 1" steel frame...

 And used some angle iron to make these little clips which make a spot to screw the table top to....

This is some reclaimed white oak which turned out really beautiful....

This was a mock up to check the fit and see how it was going to need to attach to the frame....

 All finished up and polyurethaned to seal the top.

 She is in our booth for sale right now

This is also something that we could make in custom sizes.  Of course the wood is dependent on what you can find or purchase....

 I thought I was in the clear to take photos without someone trying to get in them since the kids were at grandma's house this day but I was wrong.....

Now the chickens try to get in on it too....

 Pretty happy with how she turned out....

So it's hard to let her go!  Maybe in the future we'll have one of these in our living room....

Leather Belt with Hand Forged Belt Buckle

This belt went to my Father-in-Law for Father's Day....

we were just a little late getting it to him....

Hit a couple of snags along the way.

My husband decided to try to blacksmith the belt buckle...

I think it turned out really cool...

I love that you can see all the hammer marks and that it has all that texture....

Then he added it to a leather belt that he finished with Tan dye and finishing wax. 

The buckle gets handstitched on with some waxed linen thread....

I think his Dad was really surprised by it and liked it alot...

Not sure if we'll offer this on Etsy or not....

But I made my husband model it anyways and for those of you who know him well you'll get a kick out of that--

Hand Lettering 54 Chevy wagon

 My husband has always loved hotrods....

This 54 Chevy wagon belongs to someone who often asks my husband to paint for him....

 So today he painted this logo on the two back windows....

 Since this was on glass he first laid it out with a white grease pencil....

He uses 1 shot enamel paint and mineral spirits to thin the paint...

 It takes a very steady hand...I know I sometimes help him paint depending on the project...

 Today I was just the photographer...messing around with manual mode on the camera 

 Typically he does more of this in the spring when guys are gearing up to do car shows....

 So he usually gets a few guys calling around this time wanting him to pinstripe or letter something....

 He enjoys doing it too...

And we enjoy seeing the various cars that come through our garage....

 This one is fun...it would make a great family car

We were able to get it outside for a little while to get some nice shots in between rain showers here and there....

Hand Stitched Leather Bag

My husband seriously blows me away.  He surprised me for Christmas with this leather purse that he MADE...

I think that's worth repeating--

He made it.  Cut and shaped a wood mold/form, molded the leather, cut the pieces, dyed it and hand stitched it all together....

See the cool little flying "V"---yeah he made that too...

 Carved a stamp out of some hard maple....

We both are interested in working with leather so we had been looking through a book I have that gives you step by step directions for projects. I saw a similar style bag and loved it.  So he decided to make me one....how lucky am I!?!?!??!

This is probably one of the most amazing gifts I have ever been given.  His talent amazes me...

and I love that it's something he made me.

If we could do more of this we would.

I have more ideas....

other things I'd like to make...

Stay tuned.