What’s on the bench?
I thought it might be a good idea to let everyone know what I have working on the shop bench at the moment. I tend to work on multiple projects at a time as I can shift from project to project while pieces are drying from dye application, glue, etc. So… what’s on the Dragon Bench currently?
1) A Double Pancake cell phone case to hold an iPhone 5 in a Lunitik Taktik Extreme and a BlackBerry Bold. I originally created this sheath to hold two knives, one on top of the other but designed to be separately extracted when needed. The customer thought this would be an interesting case to have as he carries both his personal iPhone and business BlackBerry at the same time. I had to modify the design somewhat due to the size of cellphones vs. knives but I really think it’s going to turn out really cool. A link to the original Double Pancake knife sheath can be found here.
2) A Custom Notebook Portfolio to hold a Large Moleskine notebook. This piece will be a rich tan in color with a tan lining and chestnut brown stitching. The customer has requested a 2-3″ custom hand-carved sunflower on the front center with his custom initials on the bottom right corner. The portfolio comes with a secure pen/pencil loop built-in on the right hand side of the notebook. A sample of a smaller one can be found at this link here.
3) iPad portfolio to hold an iPad 3 and a Logitech Ultra-Slim keyboard. This gentleman carries (and uses) his iPad for business purposes. He also has a Logitech Ultra-Slim keyboard and would like a portfolio to carry and use both. This will be what I call a “Dragon Smoke” product as it is specifically designed to be very light weight and as thin as possible. The portfolio will utilize custom leather molded strips to hold the iPad and Keyboard secure when traveling but easily accessible when required. It will incorporate a magnetic flap mechanism to keep the portfolio closed when being carried.
4) Pipe Bag Origami. OK, now it’s getting interesting? A customer that owns and operates a high-end on-line smoking pipe store had an idea to for pipe bag that can be configured in many different ways depending upon the requirements of a customer at any given time. I can’t say much more about it as we are still in the development process. Once all goes well, this pipe bag will be released at the Chicago Pipe Show in May of 2014.
5) An iPad Mini Portfolio. I am creating this for a customer that has two of my pieces currently. She wishes to carry a variety of items including an iPad Mini, an iPhone, a Moleskine notebook, glasses, Mont Blanc pen and a small pocket knife and a few other nicks and knacks. A sample of one created for a customer some time back can be found here.
6) Chef Knife Rolls x 2. I have two customers that would like a custom Chefs Knife Roll. One in Portugal and the other on Long Island, NY. The former is a Professional Chef in Europe that is moving to Denmark to work for the world’s number 2 restaurant and the other is a Professional TV Chef that wants something a bit over the top (As in Stingray for the cover piece). My knife rolls are in pretty good demand and are very very sturdy. You can view a few sample here and read about a set of them that was given to a set of chefs for an anniversary dinner here.
7) Sarah. I always have a project on the bench for this customer. I have completed 2 “Hippie Purses” (pic here), 2 belts, and a custom document envelope (no pics yet but hope to get them up soon). I still owe her another purse and a belt and REALLY need to get on them…
So, that’s what I am up to at the moment. The list above does not include conversations I am having with customers for 3 Personal Carry Systems (PCS that you can read about here), various knife sheaths and leather bits for costumes. I do tend to stay pretty busy and this isn’t even my “Real” job! I am building the business in order to have something to do when I retire (eventually). In addition to the “other job”, keeping things moving in the shop I also consistently work on this webpage.
Nuff said for now. You have some ideas to bounce around or a project that your just not sure if it can be done, contact me please. You might be surprised at how we can make your leather ideas come true. Thanks for reading, Dave
