The Sleeper

[JohnBarton]

This one was done for a customer who wanted a case that has a lot of work but is not flashy. He wanted a case that people wouldn't notice as soon as he walked into the room.

I think we managed it with this one. The customer wanted to combine floral tooling with reptile prints so we did that. The sides are filled with florals done in black and textured on the scallops to transition into the reptile print on the front and back.

For the top pocket we did a custom built magnetic Puzzle latch that doesn't open by itself and has a solid and satisfying closing force. It's hard to explain in words but when you use this latch you will understand that it's the best solution for this type of pocket for what the customer wanted. It's not a commercial magnetic latch found on purses - we designed it from scratch.

For the closure on the case itself we did a custom in-house design Puzzle Latch. This is another type of latch I invented where the flap is locked into the body by the leather nesting into the guides on the body. This allows the body to absorb the stress that would normally be on the latch when the case is carried by the top handle.

The customer also requested a shoulder pad that is twice as long as our normal one. No problem and no extra charge :-)

We used black gunmetal rivets to complete the look. This is a very hard case for me to take pictures of. (Karl I promise to send you my camera specs so you can teach me how to use it) It probably would have helped if I didn't use a black background on this one.

The case is a 2x5/3x4 configuration.

Well that's one of the cases we have been up to lately. More to come later when I get caught up on picture taking and editing.

[badger]

Now that, I like!

Nicely understated. Classy.

Great job John.

Badger

[charley]

This one was done for a customer who wanted a case that has a lot of work but is not flashy. He wanted a case that people wouldn't notice as soon as he walked into the room.

I think we managed it with this one. <snip,>

I *really* like that case!

There's really a *lot* there, but you have to look to see it. Really nice.

I know people don't like covering their great work with black, and use black to hide mistakes (I do too), but I think it's great to combine really nice detailed carving (and complementary elaborate assembly parts, and reptile inlay, and studs) with a one-tone (black) to "tone it down" some.

That might also solve some of the problem for "its too nice that I won't use it". (I've been told that with purses I've made -- maybe I should have made them black? ;-))

I don't make much for myself, and I'm not real flashy either, but I like really intricate tooling. Maybe I'll start some projects that are closer to this theme ...

"In the house of the blacksmith, there are wooden spoons."

[SteveBrambley]

Absolutely marvelous, as usual!

Steve

[Jim]

This one was done for a customer who wanted a case that has a lot of work but is not flashy. He wanted a case that people wouldn't notice as soon as he walked into the room.

That they won't notice? What . . . . are they going to be blind?

[hidepounder]

John,

I think this is one of the best looking cases you've done. Personally I love combining floral tooling with exotics....particularly alligator. Unfortunately not very customers want to spend the money. To me, this case is rich and elegant. Nicely done!

Bob

[JohnBarton]

John,

I think this is one of the best looking cases you've done. Personally I love combining floral tooling with exotics....particularly alligator. Unfortunately not very customers want to spend the money. To me, this case is rich and elegant. Nicely done!

Bob

Here is a funny story for you about exotics and customers. And it's not over yet.

I have a good customer who is a dealer - he has standing orders with me and would buy everything I make if I let him. This is his website, www.indyq.com and his name is Roy. Roy has been in the high end cue and case business for a long time and has a wide range of wealthy and loyal customers. One of these customers is a high ranking military officer in Indonesia who is attached to the British SAS - these are the badasses of the British militiary - UKRay, help us out here - like the Seals and the Rangers rolled into one -

So this customer of Roy's has a guy under him who is something of a real life Rambo. Roy's customer mentions to the guy that he wants to get a case made out of alligator or crocodile. So they decide to go and pick out a crocodile from the far. He goes to a crocodile farm in Indonesia and picks out one that is about 8-10ft and tells the people that he wants that one. The guy at the farm refuses to go in and get it saying it's too big for him - will have to be done another day and anohter way, etc....

So Rambo wades in and jumps on the croc and drives a knife through it's head and drags it out of the pond with no regard to the other animals there or the protests of the farm's guy. He drags it out and says something like "get it ready".

So now my customer Roy, calls me and tells me we have an 8ft croc skin that is going to be tanned in Indonesia and how can we get it into China to make a case for his customer.

Well turns out this isn't so easy. First it's difficult to find out who to go to just to get the proper CITES paperwork for importing to China and then you need an import license from the Chinese government and these are difficult to obtain. So we are left with having to go through a broker who will import on their license and "sell" us the skin once it's in China. All well and good but it's a pain in the butt and reliquishes control over this $500 skin that my customer, Roy has paid for. So I am hesitant to go this route because I fear that the skin will disappear between Indonesia and me and I won't be able to do anything about it.

So sometimes the customer not only will pay for the exotics, they will kill them for you to. I need to tell them they have to be responsible for getting the skin to me as well. :-)

Edited June 7, 2009 by JohnBarton