Art Crawl and Indy Rockers

Tonight's the James North Art Crawl. We usually have an artist at Bike Hounds on a night like this, but dammit it's been a long time since we were able to go on the crawl. And we have guests staying with us right now, so we'd like to show the street off to them.

I have no pictures to post as the porch (where I take all my photos) is covered in snow and mud and wet, but I hope to finish some stitching and get some shots up this weekend.

I've spent the day cutting a load of guitar straps out of the leather I bought a couple days ago. A light orange/tan and a deep chocolate, both of which have the kind of soft finish that's susceptible to scratching in a most gorgeous way.

I know new things are supposed to look new. To be flawless and free of wrinkles, tears, etc. but I love when leather distresses and takes on the impressions of the things that impact it - scratches and watermarks and oils from unclean hands - so it looks like something Indiana Jones might carry around.

Keep your eyes peeled...

Unchain my Heart

Also, just got a package in the mail from a supplier of vintage chains.

A couple of the copper ones were so amazing I have to show them off...

Coming to Fisticuffs

Over Christmas my Grandma gave me a baggie full of vintage buttons. This week, I've been working to give them homes on leather bracelets.

Behold! a mess of cuffs!

Besides these I've been working on a pretty elaborate (as well as just plain pretty...though not too pretty since it's for a rocking and rolling kind of guy) guitar strap, as evidenced below.

Start With the Answer

My Pigott Building painting serves as the cover for the most recent chapbook from GritLIT.

Post Office Box

Mailed out a few orders today - two flasks (one customized with the initials of its future owner), a hair comb and a pair of earrings (not pictured).

Spent about an hour rifling through the leather at Tundra and picked out a couple of thick, heavy hides for some new guitar straps I plan to work on this week.

Next on the list is a custom strap I think is going to be pretty fun to tool - a Grateful Dead-inspired strap for a lovely lady from Des Moines - and a couple of flasks for a pair of brothers in California.

Feather Cuff

I have a lengthy piece of leather waiting to become feather...

Much like the cuff below.

Agenda

Tomorrow I begin preparing for Hillside Inside. I have a long list of stuff to make. My goal is to have (in addition to the considerable stock I already have) the following on hand:

- Feather cuffs (10)

- Solid leather cuffs (10)

- Necklaces (10)

- Wallets (5)

- Guitar Straps (3 tooled, 5-10 solid with hand-stitched, tooled images)

- Purses (3)

- Handlebar bags (3)

- Solid leather hip holsters (5)

- Tooled hip holsters (5)

- Change purses (5)

- Peacock earrings (5)

- Leaf earrings (5)

- Belts (4)

I'm feeling pretty confident about it. For the first time in who knows how long, I feel balanced - like my head and my heart have caught up with each other and I have the time to breathe; to do all the things I want to do as far as work goes.