custom brief cases and satchels

[Mike Craw]

My former neighbor came over a couple weeks before he transferred out to his agency's (my former agency) Headquarters in Washington, D.C. and handed me a King Ranch catalog. It was opened to a page with some brief cases and satchels on it, and he pointed to one that looked like a saddle bag. He asked me if I could make him one. I told him that I probably could, but it would probably cost as much or more as just ordering it from the book. He said, "I want to make a statement when I get to Headquarters, so I want it tooled!" When I asked how much of a statement he wanted to make, he just laughed and said, "Surprise me."

When I mailed the bag to him, he was surprised, and he said he's made quite a statement in every meeting he has attended. He is still really happy with it, and it's one of the few thing I've done that I'm fairly happy with, too.

[freak]

i think i would be more then fairly happy if i made something that nice.

Very nice !! Do have any more pics of it ?

[Roger]

very nice looking bag!

do you have any other pics? any pics of the inside???

[electrathon]

I like it!

I would like to see the inside/side views too.

[Mike Craw]

Thanks for the nice comments, folks. To tell the truth, I was just happy to get it done and shipped to him. I had never made a bag before and had only the catalog photo and description to go on, so I just made up the inside. I sewed the whole thing inside-out, with two dividers, the front and the back making three interior sections. Inside the front panel is a series of pockets for pens, pencils, and a calculator - because that's what the catalog said it had.

I had a fine time with the white poster board background. If the background stayed up, the bag fell over. If the bag stayed where I put it, the background slipped. If they both stayed put, I didn't frame it right. Bottom line, I have about twelve other shots of the outside and never gave a thought to the inside. That never dawned on me until after I dropped the package off at UPS and started going through the photos.

[BruceGibson]

That's a hell of a nice statement! Awesome work, Mike!

[mudman]

What a statement!!

[Dan Hammons]

That is one sharp looking bag !! Awesome job!

[ETW Grumpy]

Definitely something to be proud of. I want to do one when ( if ) I ever get time.