If you want to do things that others have already done, dot them exactly like others have achieved their success. If you want to accomplish things that nobody else ever has, you may have to go about it in ways that no one has ever done before. There are moments in which it will seem like insanity. But, there is a narrow line between insanity and genius, or so I hear. I won’t claim either until I either firmly accomplish my goals or fail miserably. So far, everything is going well, thank God.

In order to make top-quality luxury products, you need three things; skill, tools, and materials. I’m not necessarily writing this as a tutorial or a how-to, but for personal introspect. No, this is not advice. I’m way too early in the game to give any. Hopefully, when I get to the other end of the tunnel, I will write pretty much this same thing as advice, and add, “This is how I did it.”

The tools are anything that enable you to physically produce, or allow you to produce more efficiently. There is an overlap between tools and skills. I’ve accumulated a couple of sewing machines that allow me to stitch everything from fine silk and lace all the way up to saddle and strap type leather.

There are multiple cutting systems in my arsenal that include specialized scissors and shears, rotary wheel cutter and mat, knives, skivers, and other blades. I have made several tools, and modified others. I’ve gone from free-handing patterns onto lined yellow legal pads with a pencil to precision drawings using graph paper and a protractor, and transferring that to other media to translate it to leather. I have two vastly different rulers, two measuring tapes and a tape measure – each that get used on a regular basis. My work requires dummy guns precision cast from plastic and aluminum. It is safe to assume that this will be an ongoing process of accumulation, and weeding out of tools that proved to not be as useful as I originally thought.

All the best tools in the world are themselves useless without the skills to operate them properly and effectively. Anyone can gain skills with practice and experimentation. There are only two ways to gain skills quickly – formal training or purposeful practice and experimentation. I’ve taken the route of the latter. If I don’t like how something has turned out, I figure out what went wrong and how I must do it differently next time to get the results I want. My close friends and family have been impressed at how quickly I’ve picked up the necessary skills. My response, “I had to.” I don’t have the money or time to go through school, and I don’t have the time and luxury to learn this stuff on my own at a slow pace. Therefore, I’ve pushed myself to pick up the skills quickly. I’m not there yet, but what I lack in skills I can get with patience at this point.

Jonathan Swift coined an old saying that goes, “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” This is to say that you can’t produce a luxurious product from crappy materials. This is one of my biggest irks about the direction American retail is going. It was not that long ago that Jenni could buy Italian-made, all-leather shoes at the discount store on any given day. Now it seems that all the shoes are mostly (if not all) made from cheap, artificial materials. It’s not just the shoe industry either. Clothing is poly/cotton blend (if you’re lucky), furniture is particle board with a veneer, sprinklers are plastic, watches are battery-operated and largely disposable. Home electronics are designed to be obsolete in a few years. I have an antique chrome toaster with bakelite handles on it that just keeps on going. Any modern toaster that I’ve owned burns out after only a couple of years. Where are the things that last? The luxurious things? They are being driven out by the flashy and cheap. I know that I’m not the only one that doesn’t want to participate in a disposable lifestyle. Hence, the materials that I like to work with. I have made practice runs with cheaper materials simply because I didn’t want to screw up the good stuff, but I don’t want to make a real finished product with anything less than great materials.

Recently, I was commissioned to make a purse by an internet friend. Like me, she wants something special, unique, and luxurious. We settled on a basic concept and a price, and I went to town gathering up the materials necessary. The bag is to be black, because black goes with everything. So, I will start with buttery-soft, top-grain, black leather.

This stuff is soft and strong. Many of the factory-made bags are made of mystery cloth or vinyl. Even when they are leather, often they are a finished split instead of top-grain hide. Usually a top-grain bag is going to be expensive when you can find one.

She asked if I could line the bag in the brightest magenta that I could get my hands on. I scoured the local fabric stores until I sourced this heavy, tightly-woven, imported silk.

Not only is this stuff beautiful, silk has a tensile strength greater than steel, and it is highly abrasion resistant. As delicate as it feels, it is incredibly rugged and durable. At sixty inches wide, a yard is way more silk than I need to put a lining in this bag. But, there are other things it will be used for in this project. I’ll get into that more in a later post.

She asked me if I could do some accent work on her bag in stingray. She was open to color options on it, but wanted something extra to give it a little extra spark. So, I sourced this ivory-colored, sanded and polished stingray pelt.

(in sunlight)
(under fluorescent)

Here are the three materials together:

Of course, the whole thing will be stitched together in Kevlar thread where it doesn’t show, and bonded nylon where it does. I’ll finish the bag off with nickle findings and more pockets than you’ll find in a typical bag (including a couple of specialized pockets at her request). I’ll be working on this one next week. I have a feeling that it’s going to occupy most of my time over the course of the week to get everything just right. Of course, I’ll post more pictures when I’ve got a final product to show off!

Alright. So, I haven’t been great about keeping this thing moving. I’m feeling like kind of a slug about it at the moment. I don’t really have much to say right now… Not much at all…

We had a nice Independence Day weekend, for what that’s worth. Cat O’ Nine Tales drove in to our neck of the woods for the weekend. So, that was nice. Everything just kind of worked out great all weekend. We got to the parade later than we wanted, but we still got the best parking space in town. And, when we went to set up our chairs, we found a great place to park our butts too! The weather was cool and it started to sprinkle at the end of the parade. The go-cart drivers in the Shriners were in the finest form I’ve ever seen them. They must have a practice track somewhere, because I didn’t think it was possible to drive those little suckers that hard!

We had the same story when we went to the University to see the fireworks show. Got there late, still found a great spot. It was nice. Sunday afternoon we went to the range and converted money into noise and jubilation. I made some decent groups, but my lack of practice is starting to show. That kind of sucks.

On the business front, the sales are starting to roll in slowly. I’m seeing a very slow and steady increase in interest and in actual sales. This is a good thing. It tells me that it is actually working. I’m going to wager a guess and say that what I’m seeing right now is typical of a year in. If I’m right on that, I deserve a pat on the back or something. Maybe I’m just being optimistic. At any rate, I’m about to announce a great event over at The Holster Site. I’ve got to keep that pretty secretive for the moment, but I’m getting really excited about that!

Anyway, I’ve got some other stuff to finish up in the next couple hours, and that’s about all I’ve got for now.

I had a dream last night that I bought a cow and buried it in the front yard. I buried it alive, but I left a little tunnel from the surface to its head, so that it could breathe and I could provide it with food and water. Other than that, the animal was buried – its body completely encased in soil. The thought was if I could figure out how to make this work, just think of how it could revolutionize the beef industry! Besides that, domestic cows are not exactly active creatures. They just stand around and eat grass all day. They could do that any old place – like in a hole in the ground!

Of course, in real life, the thought of treating a living creature in such a manner is revolting, and it is very clear that there are many reasons that this would never work, but the dreaming mind doesn’t necessarily consider all of the same implications that the waking mind does. My friends and family were excited about my cow. They were constantly asking, “How’s that cow experiment going?” My initial thought was that I would bury the cow, making provisions so that it could live, and I would dig up the animal after a week to record and analyze the results.

About two days into the experiment, we had a get together at our house where we cooked on the grill. Our friends and family came to eat and have a great time with us. Someone in the party was asking me about the cow and my experiment. That’s when it dawned on me – although I had made provisions for air, water, and food to get to the animal for its consumption, I had made no provisions for the urine and feces. And even worse, I had the animal’s body buried with no room for it to expand as the cow breathed. I was mortified and discouraged as I realized what I had done. I answered the question at the party, “I’m pretty sure my cow is dead.”

Now, please allow me to interpret:

I believe the dream represents my latent fear in going into business for myself. The cow directly represents my leatherwork, and indirectly the financial investment in the tools, equipment, and raw materials. The experiment – burying the cow, digging the air/feeding tunnel, pretty much every effort of the experiment represents the real-world effort that I’ve put into learning how to make great leather goods. The very fact that I did something as outrageous as burying the cow both represents that I want to accomplish something truly unique with my efforts, and it represents planting a seed – in this case, planting the seed of my business.

The fact that I came to a sudden realization that I had done something horrible, and destroyed all the investment, and that all the effort was for nothing – that represents my fear of the unknown. In real life, do I have any idea how much money I will or will not wind up making by the end of the year? No, I have no clue. Do I have any guarantee that The Holster Site will make a living for me and my family? No – but I had no more guarantee this time last year that I would continue to work in a traditional job.

The fact of the matter is that the fear itself is kind of freeing. In traditional employment I enjoyed the illusion of stability, when I had no more job security than I do now. Frustration then came in the form of not feeling like I was being appreciated for my accomplishments and abilities, but that was the price I paid for the illusion of stability. And, I accepted a ceilinged-out paycheck that was probably less than I was worth in return for the false security that the next paycheck would be exactly the same as the one before it.

Had the dream with the cow continued, I would have liked to see myself do something wily and industrious with my failed experiment. Perhaps I would have discovered that burying beef for several days tenderizes and seasons the meat and makes it uniquely delectable. Conversely, maybe I would have discovered that my fears were in vain, and the cow had actually thrived in those bizarre conditions. I don’t know, but I think that’s the point – the dream was supposed to be a cliff-hanger. The lesson I take away from it is to not let my fears win. I will win. I will make the best of my situation, take the steer by the horns (as it were), and make my own destiny.

As I continued dreaming after the cow dream, a neighbor down the street had a shack in their back yard. In that shack was a hideous creature that appeared to be a cross between a human child and a piglet. They kept this child-pig in a chicken wire cage in the shack. There was a six-inch tall bi-pedal dinosaur that was in the cage with the child-pig. The child-pig would draw the dinosaur in and snuggle with it, but the dinosaur was uncomfortable with this and wanted to escape. A ninja-like character crept into the neighbor’s yard and entered the shack. He used a shovel to pry the chicken-wire cage open and scooped out the tiny dinosaur with the shovel. He tossed the dinosaur into the trees behind the shack. The child-pig was furious! It screamed and squealed and threw such a tantrum that the entire shack swayed and creaked. Just as the ninja made his escape, the child-pig’s tantrum peaked and he literally exploded in a burst of fire which leveled the shack to splinters and ash. And, that was all.

I don’t have an interpretation for that last one. I’m pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that I watched Beowulf before bed last night. That makes more sense than anything else I can think of.

To both my readers, I’m sorry. I’ve been a terrible blogger over the last few months. Towards the end of 2009 and even into the beginning of 2010 I got to the point that I was posting a new blog entry almost every day. Somewhere in the mess of life, I fell off and now you’re lucky to hear from me on a monthly basis. But, that’s all going to change.

I’ve made a personal commitment to update my personal blog at least once a week, and my business website at least twice a week.. Once I can get into that habit, I’d like to do even better than that. I’ve been busy, life has been a whirlwind, but that’s still no excuse. I know that both of you depend on my wit for your entertainment (or something like that), and I will let you down no longer!

Quick update –

1 – I’m finally beginning to learn how to really use the new sewing machine. She’s a brutal beast with a mind of her own, but I’m starting to actually feel comfortable!

2 – Not counting the above mentioned machine, I think that I’ve actually made more money than I’ve spent on my current self-employment venture over the last two weeks!

3 – I promised new and exciting products that push the envelope, and those products are coming together.

4 – Kevlar is a tough material to cut – even with the mightiest of shears!

5 – When I initially lost my job at the beginning of the year, at two weeks in I was freaking out. I gave up a good job opportunity two weeks ago and I’m feeling calm and confident. Making the choice makes a big difference.

So, thank you for your continued support. If you need leather goods, I need work to do. Give me a shout. You won’t be disappointed!

Nope. I’ve decided to branch out into ladies’ handbags. This weekend, we worked out the details on the purchase of an industrial sewing machine, started clearing a spot for it to live, and registered domain names for the new website. Ladies, I desperately want to hear from you. My comment section is yours for the taking. Whether or not you ever intend to purchase from me, I want to hear exactly what you love or hate about any bag that you have carried. I want to do this once and do it right. I don’t carry a purse, so I will take any and all input I can get.

All that being said, I am not – repeat NOT giving up the holster work. If anything, this new sewing machine will allow me to produce my great holsters faster and possibly more economically – if all goes well. Keep your eyes peeled. This thing is going to get real big real fast.

To that end, if you are a woman who would like to have a truly custom, hand-made purse, beautiful enough for the runway, tough enough for extended daily use and artistically made to your exacting specifications, I suggest you contact me immediately.

I have started production on several prototypes that will go into testing (and modeling) when ready. If all goes well, I’ll have pictures and durability reports very soon. I want this to be a shock to the industry, and I believe that even I’ll be shocked by my final results. You have undoubtedly seen my holsters. My handbags will be more bold and dramatic if anything. These beauties will make a statement, and yet be built plenty tough enough for the demanding stresses of real life.

I’m very much looking forward to showing you what I can do. Until later…

If you have been reading my blog, you know that I was excused from my job on January 15, due to no fault of my own, but because of a massive slow down in sales. As a side note, why is it that when sales slow, the company never takes it out on the sales department? I really should have seen it coming. Sales slowed and plateaued towards the end of 2007. It was uncomfortable, but manageable. Due to much effort, mine in particular, we were able to control inventory levels and thus reduce overhead to the point that we could continue business as usual otherwise. It took A LOT of work to control inventory to the just-in-time level. My biggest shortcoming is that I didn’t let anyone know exactly how hard I was working to keep it there, and what a delicate balance it was to not have stuff on the shelf until it was needed for manufacture. Then, about half-way through 2009, sales largely flat-lined. They took another deep dip, and the necessary, bold, creative efforts required to increase the market share were not considered, much less implemented. The word we were given is that if things did not improve, we would each take a 20% cut in pay and work one day less per week on a rotating basis, so that we could still stay open five days a week. This did not occur. Instead, twenty-five percent of the staff were excused and the remaining seventy-five percent took a 15% cut in pay, working the same hours. I don’t know who was involved in the decision to let me go, but I can’t help but feel offended at the obvious lack of appreciation. I certainly wasn’t part of that discussion. My selection in the lay-off group tells me that I was viewed as of lesser-value than my co-workers, and I object to that. I don’t know why the owners made the decision they did, but I’m sure they had their good reasons. I honestly do hope that things work out for them and they are able to get back on track from this awful recession. But, if they call to see if I want to come back, I’m not sure that I can. I’m afraid that in the back of my mind, I’ll always be wondering if I’m the second-class, ‘expendable’ employee. I deserve much better and owe myself better than that.

Anyway, if you have been reading my blog, you also know that Jenni and I have made a hard push on the custom holster business. I had been making custom holsters on the side for well over a year, but decided to attempt to push it into being a full-time business in lieu of outside employment. Deep, heart-felt thanks to great people like The Tam, SayUncle, Stranger – who shall henceforth be known as “Friend”, “Zack” James Zachary, and Caleb, just to name a few – using their mad linkiness, and honoring me as the guest on Gun Nuts Radio, pimping my leather (that doesn’t sound right does it); and, most importantly, thanks to my wonderful wife who had the crazy, mad idea to email some of these people asking for the help in the first place; the holster push was an unprecedented success, even if not unprecedented enough to actually pay the bills, and I was able to write this increcibly long sentence, which may actually be the longest to date on my personal blog.

It is by no means to say that I have any intention of throwing in the towel on The Holster Site, but neither should it be a secret that I have been seeking more traditional employment as well. The fact of the matter is that in the last three weeks, I’ve sold as many holsters as I did in my first year in holsters as a hobby. That is nothing less than incredible. Still, in order to think about making it a living, I’d need the volume to be four to five times that level – minimum. I know that posted pricing and an embedded payment method on the site would help immensely towards this. That is still part of my plan with The Holster Site.

I have applied for multiple jobs, fought with the unemployment office’s website, gave a few interviews, negotiated pay scales, saw a couple of jobs dead-end after all that, and just this morning reported for a second interview at a well-established company. I was given an attractive offer in this second interview. As of Monday, I will be starting my 90-day consultation with this company. My commute will be less than two miles, as opposed to over twenty. My responsibility will be to aid in designing a position to aid in operations planning as the company launches a program to grow and expand. At the end of the consultation, we will have a meeting and make a mutual decision on whether I will fill that position or move on. I like this idea! It sounds like an exciting project that may lead to a great job, or allow me an out if it’s not really what I want to do.

The bottom line is this – The Holster Site isn’t going anywhere. My most exciting, most beautiful designs are yet to be conceived, and I have plans to use materials that I’ve never used before – some that to my knowledge have never before been utilized in the holster industry. Every week, I will be working on holsters, expanding on some of my already great designs, and drawing new ideas. There will be more race holsters as well as all-new pocket holsters and shoulder rigs. I will start working with exotic leathers such as kangaroo, snake, eel, stingray, ostrich, and frog. I will work with new guns, branching out into the minuscule .380’s and the big, S&W X-frame revolvers. I will feel the waters of full-custom, cowboy action rigs. There will be reload carriers for magazines, speed loaders, moon clips, and speed strips. I am developing a design for a multi-purpose belt that will be like nothing you have seen before. Prepare yourself to see some wickedsickawesome designs, because they are coming. I will also continue to push the envelope on color combinations, and will always seek to make the holsters more rugged, more durable, and more usable. My ultimate goal is for my holster to be the most beautiful, most elegant, and yet the toughest holsters that money can buy.

If at the end of the 90-day project which starts Monday, the holster sales have not significantly increased, and I can reach a mutually satisfactory arrangement with the company, I’ll go full time with them, and continue to make holsters in my off-time, but in a much greater volume than I have in the past. However, if at that point the holster gig has turned into a demand that I can’t give divided attention to, I’ll fulfill my three-month contract and excuse myself to honest self-employment. Frankly, I think it sounds like fun either way.

So, thank all of you for your prayers and support. Thank you for keeping my family in your thoughts. Thank you for ordering holsters. Please wish me luck as I start this next chapter, this next adventure in life’s journey. I’m sure I’ll have more to report soon. Needless to say, this weekend the family and I will be doing some celebratory shooting!

Tonight, at 2000 my time (Central Time Zone), I will be the guest on Gun Nuts to talk about my holsters! I’m really stoked about this, as this may be the push I need to really make a living out of this endeavor! Caleb sounds really stoked about the holster I made for him, even if he hasn’t yet seen it in real life…

The holster can be seen here. Make sure to read the comments! Note that last sentence:

That is EXACTLY what I had in mind.

Folks, that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing. That’s my goal in this business. I want to make holsters for people. I’m not at all trying to make holsters that you can buy, I’m trying to pull the most fantastic creations out of your head and make them reality.

Anyway, please tune in to Gun Nuts this evening and hear me stutter and ramble on live broadcast! (J/K, of course!) It ought to be fun!

In my latest attempt to feed my family, I’ve got two new holsters up on the holster site! Check it out:

Make that SELF-employment!  I’m feeling pretty good, actually.  Apparently, I need to put together a real workspace.  My back has been hurting, and I’m getting sick of seeing work laying around.  Getting laid off sucks, but being in the first wave is a blessing in disguise.  It seems noble, but going down with the ship could not be a good thing.  I know that now I could get lulled in by the “I don’t want to work” bug, but if I make myself make a habit of doing what needs to be done, it will work out.  Last night, I did work on a holster for a little while, even though I said I wouldn’t.  Explanation:  I’ve seen way too many of the self-employed work at all hours.  I decided that I would work within hours and not otherwise.  Last night, I had to trim and wet-mold a holster so I could dye it today.  It wasn’t dry until this evening, so I was going to dye it and face another holster this evening.  Then, we got a storm.  I can’t dye when it’s raining, and the adhesive won’t set right when it’s raining.  So, I blew it off.  This is the first time I’ve felt relaxed since Thursday, and it feels WONDERFUL!!!  Two days in, two orders well underway.  I even finished a holster for Jenni.  (I have a friend that makes jewelry.  His wife gets diamonds as random presents.  Jenni got the short end of the stick, apparently.)  If that is any sign, it is going to work.  I still need holster orders, people!  Get off your duffs and buy! 

I know I’ve mentioned on an occasion or two that my sis in law is working at the gun range. At this particular range, the employees are encouraged to open carry while on the premises. She’s got her CCW license, and a couple of handguns, but she hasn’t really had a holster that’s suitable for the job. I have on my to-do list a couple of CCW holsters for both my brother and his wife (as well as another few for Jenni), but I’ve really been focusing on getting my SIL into a holster that she can OC on the clock.

Incidentally, I’m about to debut my new holster page which will supersede my current holster page. I’ve been working on a few, pretty radical designs to debut the new site with. So, I took the opportunity to stretch myself a little and cobbled together something quite unique for my bro’s bride. I’m probably not going to post this one on my current gunleather page, but rather save it for the debut of the new site. However, for both of my loyal readers, I thought I’d throw in a sneak peek.

Being girl-to-the-core, my sister in law loves her pinks and purples, and if it sparkles, even better. The gun in question is a S&W 686 SSR from the Pro Series. It’s got some beautiful model stamping and etching on the side of the frame and a slab-sided barrel that I wanted to leave visible while holstered, but I still wanted to fully enclose the trigger guard and provide enough retention that it wouldn’t fall out if she ran or jumped while wearing the thing.

After scribbling on graph paper for quite some time, I decided to go with a rig not unlike some of the competitive holsters that I’ve seen used by the likes of Jerry Miculek. I also wanted to give it flash. I’d been dying to try out a solid color with a thin, decorative panel in a complimentary color overlayed, in much the way of a toe-cap on a pair of wingtip shoes. so, this is what I came up with:

There’s just enough retention between the muzzle, trigger guard, and body side of the cylinder that the gun sticks nicely in the holster. since it rides right under the arm, it’s quite defensible. I wouldn’t recommend anyone wear a contraption like this in the general public, but I’m quite pleased with how it turned out for its purpose. Upon reholstering, it latches into place with a satisfying ’snap’. At that point, the gun won’t fall out even when inverted and shaken.

To draw, it takes a rock forward…

…and then a slight lift for the muzzle to clear the bottom of the holster.

Do you feel lucky?

The gun even rides surprisingly close to the body!

The next time I build a holster in this style, there are things that I’ll do differently. Most of that has to do with the way I layer the leather, and what weights of hide I use where. I feared that with the spartan openness of the design, I’d have to err on the heavier, thicker side. As it turns out, that may have been a pretty major detriment to the molding process, and I’m not convinced that it evenly traded out for rigidity – which was the original objective. The stitching hurt. Period. I had to do all my stitching in several phases, as my hands kept cramping up.

Even still, there are a couple concepts that I was testing out with the construction of this particular piece: I wanted to see if I could successfully do the wingtip-style overlay, and I wanted to see if I could successfully build a functional holster that was radically different from my standard pancakes. Mission accomplished on both fronts! I will be testing some other concepts with some of the ‘family’ holsters that I’ve got coming up. For instance, I’m going to try my own, unique concept of the ‘tuckable’ IWB. I’m also going to be experimenting with some new, exotic materials that are certainly not widely-used in the holster market. Once I go live with the new website, I hope to have several new show pieces to provide some eye-candy for the debut. Wish me luck!