this was a gift to my boss for xmas, from the employees. I took the horns, and redid the middle piece, and made the shield that hangs below. It is his family crest. He was very suprised, and really dug it. it now hangs in his office over his desk. it has a real presence and adds a lot of character to the office... since he is also my bro-in-law, and this took alot of hours to do, i am jipping him this year on additional gifts from 'me'..!

Bell Buckle

thanks to all my friends and family for stopping by to support me. It was also nice to meet alot of new folks and 'talk shop'... The weekend was an overall sucess. I was also 'invited' to set up at the Webb School show next year. So that was pretty cool. I didn't get a chance to go over there, but my intel reported that it was more "hand crafted" stuff, and more 'my scene'..

Craft fair wares...

these are some of the decorated, dead animal hides I've made for the "downtown show" in Bell Buckle, TN (Oct17-18)

Guitar Strap

some better pics of J-Ryans bike...

to date, this is gonna be my best shot at gettin some work 'in print'. this dude builds some cool, homade, bare-bones, real-deal choppers... and will hopefully get some deserved mag time one day.

***motor is a Triumph 650 Tiger

For my little Princess...

I made this for Reagan's 4th bday. She is ALL things Princess. She is one of the top women in my life. i love her like she was my own.....but am fine with being her uncle!

Seat for J-Ryan

I'm taking this seat over to J-Ryan tonite. Blew the "deadline" by a couple weeks..but he just got the chop all together anyways. He builds some COOL bikes. his IronHead (old sportster) chop won "best hardcore chopper" at the Willie's show in Daytona last month (big accomplishment) i'll be proud to have this seat rockn on one.

Heres a bad cell phone pic. I'll get some better ones tonite.
***its for sale too****

First Vend

was nice to 'live the dream' for the day. i set up at the tattoo convention on Sat and did ok. would have sold 3x more if cuffs would have fit right. oh well. pasted out alot of cards for custom orders (which i never have time to do..!) and had 3 shops want to sell my stuff on consignment. Wanted to create some local 'buzz'... all in all, mission accomplished.

about half my sales were to good friends. Thanks you all. And a special thanks to my dearest friend Shi for all you do!

S&W .40, pancake holster

this is for my buddy Jarrod H.

IWB holster for my 1911

this is experimental, design wise. An "IWB" (In WaistBand or Belt (not really sure the correct term) is designed for extra concealment while just wearing a t-shirt. The gun is worn in the pants with only the loops and handle showing when your shirt is lifted. You can go a step further with a different strap set up, so you can actually tuck in your shirt. I rarely tuck my shirts, so i opted against. maybe another day.


I removed the rubber grips to slim it down. Just for kicks, I made this leather handle, which i kinda like, plus it's smooth on my belly. I will probably tool it up fancy tonight. The holster as a whole works pretty well, still need to mold it some more. Wearing it on the hip, where it is most comfy to sit and stand, it is still a little noticable. we'll see, or will we.....

lifesaver...

The first ride on my new (larger) gas tank, left me stranded in the middle of downtown Nashville in a hairy spot on the interstate. luckly Kiwi saved me. i quickly realized that with the super slick positioning of my fuel petcock, i have absolutley ZERO reserve. when its out, it out. so i bought this fuel can from a camping store before our FLA trip. holds 33oz of gas. I packed it in my side bag and it gave me a nice sense of security going thru the mountains and 'no shoulder' interstates of Georgia. on the way home it saved me. we were riding into a headwind and didn't get as good as gas milage as before. i ran out just short of our planned 100 mile stop. again in a hairy situation (fast lane) on a 4 lane interstate. I pondered this creation in the next 605 miles home. figured it needed to be a permanant fixture. my main concern was making it secure, especially since i usually ride up front..

"no guts no glory"

I got this sweet buckle from Billy /Barebones Choppers. i told him i was lookin for one for that last belt i made (upside down) and this is what he sent!! i was stoked.


even tho i can't 'legally' carry this blade (too long), i felt i needed a good sheath for it.

Seat update....

the seat i made for my scoot (below) worked great. Me and Bee just pulled a 1600 mile trip in 2.5 days of riding. on the way home, we rode from Orlando to Nashville (700 miles) in 12 hours....i was able to walk the next day which is a testiment to the seat.

i've been working on a bunch of 'wares' for an upcoming tattoo convention. pics to be posted soon.

Cuff-a-ramma....

Made a bunch of random cuffs this weekend. Turns out a friend of ours owns a Spa kinda place on the east side. She sells some leather wares from a local chick. But there all just plain jane. She told me she'd put some of my stuff on consignment. We'll see.

the belt is for me.

Cuff for my buddies wife...

finished this up last night. Got a few more to make, then i'll have it down. there's a cat on ebay from NYC that sells these from $99-$149....! i'm about to give him a "run for his money".....!

helmet relined.

Bee gave me this lid on my bday several years ago. One of my all-time favorite gifts! I had to rip out the already scuzzy lining to fit my lockes in.... i've been rockin it for probably 4+ years. Got bored the other nite and had a fresh can of glue. sacrificed (2) bandana's, and wah-lah....!

New seat for The Pearl.

i got the supplies for xmas. My lovely wife got me this sweet gel pad (I only used a little piece of it for this), as well as a "biltwell" hidden seat mount. Yeah, I picked'em out, but she did the rest. Thanks babe! I used the money my Nanny gave me to buy this awesome seat pan from Redtailleather. He makes'em good. It has an aggressive curve on the back, to keep my curve off the fender....




















I bought a couple rolls of 1/8" neoprene closed cell foam... ebay score for $20 shipped. I cut out several pieces and glued them together.. I then cut out the insert for the gel pad.



















I then took the pan down to the welding shop and had Bee hook it up.. we figured out where it'd sit, then welded in post for the springs. also a couple post up front for the new hinge mount, which we also welded to the frame.
I wasn't aloud to take the camera, my wife's, (i broke mine) to "that dirty grimey shop" for fear i'd break it. so i didn't get any pics.

back at the casa, I ran a strip of 'edge trim' around the pan to keep the edges from cuttin into the leather...autozone, $9.95 with about 15ft extra.































glued the first layer down and let it dry. then glued the rest, put the gel insert in, and covered with a top piece. I wanted to 'sandwich' the gel pad in there so it can't slide around. I sanded it down smooth with a rubber wheel thingy attached to my drill. Dad, I still have that thing...!
























then I clamped it all down and waited for it to dry. Waiting=the hardest part for me.



















glued the bottom piece on. I had already cut the holes for the post to poke thru.

My pictures sequence is shoty from here on out. Coincediently, My wife's camera DID break, and guess who caught the heat...! I lost 'Privileges ' for a few days and actually had to sneak these last ones in.

Bee gave me this line drawing and I used the printer at work to blow in up to size. It's our 'crew' logo that we came up with years ago. Really represents everything this bike is about, and was built around. Home-made with lots of help from friends. Can't think of a single one that hasn't helped us (me and The Pearl) in some way or another throughtout the years. From the original build, to rebuilding the motor, rewiring it 4x, to picking me up off the interstate 100 miles from home..!
Most of us have this permanently on our bodies.























after I got the top piece tooled, I glued the foam heavy and let tack up. then wet the leather and put it in place. molded around the foam. This isn't the most 'choice' piece of hide, kinda thick and marked up, but it's what I had in the scrap bin. More character, right? Wet then mold, repeated several times till it fits just right. Then I clamped'er all togther and let sit overnight.

Then I made a groove around the base, and punched the holes. I had to eyeball the groove and it isn't perfectly symetrical...character, right...? Then I laced it up while watchin a boring movie with the wife. This is really the only time my projects and I come out of our designated area. Makes for some good quality time!















after it was all stiched up. I trimmed off the excess and dyed it with my antique "saddle tan" to match the briefcase/saddlebag. Got a few more coats to go, then I'll apply a bunch of Neatsfoot oil to soften it up and protect it from the elements.










































Me and Bee gotta 1400 mile 'test run' to Daytona planned March 1, so we'll see how comfy she is....!

makin a cuff for Zeke.

I decided to make something for Zeke, my bestfriend. Zeke is 7 years old, and getting his "orange" belt in Teakwondo this saturday. It's a big deal for him. I am going to go and watch, I can't wait, I think it will be very entertaining. anywho. I wanted to make him a gift for this special day. This cuff will probably be WAY to big and bulky for his little wrist....but maybe one day he'll grow into it, or his pops can steal it! I figured for now, it'd be good play gear for my young warrior friend.

heres how I made it:
Pretty basic. cut some straps, using my new round knife. punched some holes. stiched on the buckles and dyed it. I like to use this antique dye, it shows all the imperfections in the grain, which turns out lookin cool. I also "burnish" the edges using this "tar" substance. You just wet the edge with the tar, then rub something over it rapidly. the friction causes the tar to harden and it makes a nice smooth edge.

Way to go Bud.