Using the popular design of water moving into flowers, the bougainvillea move into detail as they creep up over the town and around to the back of the bag.

The artwork on this bag is partly carved and partly burnt. Starting at the far right hand corner of the bag, the town works its way from a sketched look into a more impressionistic, watery image and down into more clarity.

The flowers move the same way starting at the far right bottom edge of the bag. These flowers are burnt in without paint and slowly the paint creeps into the flowers. They are in full detail and color on the back of the bag. The flowers on the strap move from full color to washy colors with burnt outlines, to very subtle, lightly “sketched” flowers.

Under the flap the words, “”Two things stand like stone, kindness in another’s trouble, courage in your own.”

-1866 Adam Lindsay Gordon

Painted and carved on the back of the bag are Positano’s love, lemons.

The buckle on this bag is a one of a kind 1960′s hammered brass buckle. This particular buckle is on longer available as it lives with this bag, but I do still have a variety of very cool vintage buckle to choose from.

This bag was hand cut from an exquisite premium latigo leather hide.
It is made to last and hand down for years to come…

The musician’s children and fiance’s names are also burnt into the tail of the strap.

Not pictured (because I had yet to burn in the quote when these pictures were taken), but also on the tail are the words: “Go instead where there is no path”.

I grew up singing Whitney Houston and Barbara Streisand songs. My mom would sit on my bed and I would sing to the karaoke machine doing my best to imitate her soul, strength, and passion.

It’s amazing how a voice can reach so many. Obviously I don’t know her, have never met her, but I still feel a sincere sadness that she’s gone and will always remember her as one of the greatest singers and performers of our time and, in my opinion, probably of all time.

Let them entertain you….

My plants didn’t like the trip over one bit. We happened to drive up from Bath to Newport on the coldest day this winter and it chilled my plants to their core. For some of them, sadly, to their death. Although, I’m holding on to them with high hopes so right now the room I’m in has one, two, three, four, five scraggly, twiggy plants scattered around.

Three of them are not showing me any signs of life, but the other two are going to make it, I think. I would visit these plants every day back in the Bath house. I didn’t think they would thrive the way they did inside, but they were even beginning to flower. Now look at them…

Something I learned…never put ivy in a window. I thought maybe a little sun would help them (I had the lower one in that little circle window you see in the background), but the leaves burnt. I think the ivy will bounce back, though.

Any hope for this one? Are there any green thumbs reading?

I actually just finished book 6 of Harry Potter last night. I started those books years ago and loved them (I was addicted to be truthful), but something diverted my attention for a while and somehow I was torn away and stopped reading. Well, I’ve decided to finish the series and oh how nice it is to be whisked away back to Hogwarts again!

Well anyway, now all I think about is magic. If only I could wave a wand and have flourishing plants again!

But…there is hope…

Sweet, sweet plants.

Alas, my latest piece…

The Philosopher’s Bag:

This messenger bag/soft brief case is cut from the absolute finest latigo leather. Two canvas pockets are hand sewn into the inside of the bag, perfectly sized for an iPad. The entire bag measures 10 in by 12 in by 3 in.

The bag was created for a Doctor who wanted the upper and lower borders of the front picture lined with the biochemical process of the metabolism of tyrosine. Chuang Tzŭ and the butterfly sits under a large, burnt oak tree. He is also burnt into the leather and then highlighted with paint. Chuang Tzŭ (Zhuangzi) was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BCE during the Warring States Period, a period corresponding to the philosophical summit of Chinese thought. (Information taken from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuangzi

Painted and carved onto the back of the bag is Khidr, also known as “the Green One”. Khidr is a revered figure in Islam, whom the Qur’an describes as a righteous servant of God,[1] who possessed great wisdom or mystic knowledge, represented iconically by a fish. (Description taken from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khidr )

Pewter “D” rings are on the sides of the bag so a strap can be attached if desired.

The dyed canvas top zips shut with a heavy duty silver zipper.

More to come soon. This is an extremely busy month. I’ll be showing you English tack, martingales, bags, and lots of guitar straps…

Good thing Walter got me a cappuccino machine for Christmas!

Have a beautiful day and smile at yourself in the mirror!

Clarence and Sophie had a long, uncomfortable vet visit yesterday. We dropped them off at 7:30am to get them fixed, but Clarence had to stay until 5pm so they could keep an eye on him while he recovered because they heard a heart murmur. We picked them up at 5pm and then had a nearly 6 hour drive back to Newport. It should have been shorter, but the roads were bad.

Oh, by the way…we’ve moved to Newport, R.I. for the next 5 or so months. We’ve been here a couple of days now and we’re loving it!

So we had two little achy kitties and thought we would pop a movie in for them so they could settle in and relax. They were enthralled…

Eventually Sophie realized she couldn’t actually get at the birds and tired of the movie, but not Clare. He watched every movement of every bird at every second until the very end.

If Vice Magazine had not contacted us we never would have known he was using our image. The worst part is Sojourner and I are in the photo! His tweets cover us once the page fully loads, but if your computer is slow to load, then there we are. I do not support this politician and cannot believe he would have the nerve to use not only our photo, but a photo I’m in for one of his sites.

After posting this news on facebook word got around fast and as of a few minutes ago Roy Blunt has changed the photo. I have yet to hear from him (I wrote to him a few days ago). Above is a shot my friend got of Roy Blunt’s twitter page before he changed the photo.

There have been these Wim Hof Columbia jacket ads that come on for the commercial break and they’re basically saying “you’re not Wim Hof so you need this jacket”. Now, that kind of advertising doesn’t work for me. It brings out the fire! What do you mean I can’t do that!? I don’t need that coat! I don’t want Wim Hof laughing at me as he sits naked in a pile of ice and I have a little electric $1,500 coat on!

So….the challenge was offered….

 And I got cold and Walter accepted.

Now that’s not totally true. We both ran down to the stream and revved ourselves up for the challenge. I just let Walter do it first. In seconds his legs were going numb and I was going numb simply standing on the shore. I did, however, still step in. Or at least some toes did. 

It had been a beautiful morning and I was pleasantly surprised when I looked out the window after waking up and felt happy to see the snow. Last winter was so brutal that I forgot about its beauty and shivered in a corner in fear.

But this morning I jumped out of bed and went to visit the animals and stand in awe of the magnificent beauty nature had created in the night. It was a heavy, wet snow so the branches hung low making it look like a scene out of “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe”.

The animals greeted me with great big hellos as they do every morning. Mostly because they want to be fed, but a bit, I think, because they just like to say “good morning”.

The chickens stayed up in the coop later than usual. Maybe the massive branch that had fallen made them leery of venturing out, but once they heard my voice they mustered up some courage and made their way down the ramp…

And eventually out into the snow…

And so I ran inside and offered the challenge to Walter, “Wanna go swimming?! Let’s go swimming!” I wanted to feel whatever my body would feel after getting out of that icy water. Hopefully the feeling wouldn’t be shut down. But I had, after all, gone swimming in the SF bay with my mother and sister in November. This would only be a little colder….

I really thought he was going to go all the way in and I squealed a little with delight. He was up to his knees and just about to take the plunge, but the water was oh so cold and he though better of it. I was starting to get so cold just standing out in the snow in my birthday suit that I was starting to balk at the idea of now going into ice water.

So we warmed our feet for a minute….

And then ran inside for a nice hot cup of coffee. It was still invigorating.

Later we went back out and gathered up some kindling from a massive birch branch that had fallen. Walter made a stick sled and dragged it up the driveway to the wood pile. 

Oh my sweet…you are a force to be reckoned with.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!!

I was up late last night finishing this knife roll. Knife rolls are satisfying in the end the way refinishing a room is satisfying, but like refinishing a room, it’s laborious work. I felt all of my muscles begin to clump together into one little ball as I hunched over this bag for hours upon hours until it seemed as if I would never stretch out again. I was turning into Smeagol…just moments away from battling with myself and chasing gold rings. Wait, do I do that anyway? Ah, so what? I always thought Smeagol was cool.

This bag reads “Passion and Courage”. Anyone who has ever worked in the food industry knows that those are two things needed to carry you through. I had my fair share of food and beverage related jobs during and after college and I can tell you, it’s hard work. Sometimes you have to muster up a little courage to walk back to that angry table and sometimes you have to muster up a little courage to walk into that angry kitchen!

Actually, I have some pretty fond memories from waiting tables and bar tending. I always developed strong friendships with the chef (mission number one when you’re a new server….just kidding). I would enjoy watching them zip around their kitchen, flipping things easily around in the pan with just a flick of their wrist. And then I would be offered a taste…

I loved to watch them watch me with the same intensity as a dog’s stare when you’re about to throw a stick. Frozen. Breathless. Waiting. And then….(oh I have been in the presence of some marvelous chefs)…and then…pure bliss. I close my eyes, smile, and they start to nod, a smile beginning…”pretty good, huh?”

Oh chefs….thank you.

I’ll bid this roll farewell as it makes its journey to meet its chef in Australia. Harbor his knives well, little roll, for this world would not be the same without chefs!

***

This 10 knife roll measures 17.5 inches across when open (not including the pocket) and 16 inches in height. The adjustable shoulder strap is 61″ at its longest and 49″ at it’s shortest. It adjusts with a vintage buckle.

The shoulder strap is attached with swivel snaps so it can come off if desired. There is a handle on the top of the bag for easy carrying without a sling.

The pocket on the inside of the roll measures 5 inches in height and 16 inches wide. It closes with 3 brass snaps.

The entire roll is hand stitched and riveted. The inside leather is a supple, slightly textured leather (very cool, as you can see) and the outside is cut from a premium latigo hide.

This item, like all of my pieces, is 100% handmade.