Leather Goods

Johnstaf Ostrich seems to be divisive. Most leather gives a sufficiently "sanitised" picture of its origins, but ostrich really looks like the skin of an animal.

I remember years ago I purchased a bible from one of my favorite Bible Publishers R.L. Allan (Glasgow, Scotland, now located in London, but still Scottish company). It was covered in "Highland Goatskin." It had a beautiful natural grain pattern, but I noticed a distinct mark in the leather that seemed out of place with the rest of the natural grain. I contacted R.L. Allan and was told that the natural hides sometimes show scars from where the animal got snagged on a barbwire fence.

I give a lot of bibles away as gifts and unfortunately I gave that one away. I wish I would have kept it because it had a very real uniqueness to it.

God Bless,
David

Bible Acquisition Syndrome?

QuasiUnaFantasia Bible Acquisition Syndrome?

I've had more Acquisition Syndromes than I'd care to admit. 😳

Found a nice man on Facebook that makes custom journal covers. He made this cover for my Moleskine Journal out of genuine ostrich leather. Matches my bible quite nicely.

The inside is made of lambskin just like my bible.

Love those bumps. 😎

God Bless,
David

CyberGene I might have read somewhere that they market it as a proudly synthetic material that is good in itself without trying to imitate leather, so it's not Pianoteq but is rather a nice Moog synth

Pianoteq does not try to imitate sampled VIs, because there is no sense in imitating something worse :-)
Contrary to that, sampled VIs try to imitate a real piano, and suck big LOL!

Vlad Pianoteq does not try to imitate sampled VIs, because there is no sense in imitating something worse :-)

If you mean Pianoteq doesn’t imitate anything and is an instrument in its own, I whole heartedly agree 👍🏻 I’ve heard some people are using it as a cheap substitute to pianos but I guess they missed the point of it not trying to imitate anything (at least not hard enough) 🤣

David B He made this cover for my Moleskine Journal out of genuine ostrich leather.

Ostrich leather! Just you wait until Greta hears about this!
She'll reverse course on her Palestine-bound boat and start a new mission: CONSERVE THE OSTRICH!

MacMacMac Ostrich leather! Just you wait until Greta hears about this!
She'll reverse course on her Palestine-bound boat and start a new mission: CONSERVE THE OSTRICH!

Ostrich is significantly more environmentally friendly than cow. Let her go after the cows and leave my ostrich birds alone.

Leather, leather, and more leather.

I got this leather book cover from a business out of Ukraine. Ordered on January 3rd and delivered today.
Here is the storefront on Etsy.

You can get these covers in different sizes or he can make a custom size for you. I'm very happy with the work. It's interesting to order from a business in a country at war right now.

Here is the book I'm going to put in it.

fits great.

Here is a collection of some other covers not from the same business, but a similar style. One is a smaller book that I like to carry around and my day planner. I still use an old school day planner. I have to write things down.

Love me some leather. 😎

God Bless,
David

Beware!
Your leather comes at the cost of a murdered cow! 🙂
The vegans will come after you! 🙂
Greta Thunberg will be outraged! 🙂
(But you can remind her that one less cow means less cow flatulence ... which means less greenhouse gas.)

Hmmm ... this reminds me that I need a new wallet. And I have a birthday coming up.

MacMacMac Hmmm ... this reminds me that I need a new wallet. And I have a birthday coming up.

I got my Ostrich leather wallet from Bullhide Belts.

They have wallets in exotic and regular leathers in trifold and bifold designs. They are American made (by the Amish) and very good quality at a reasonable price. I've given a few of their wallets as gifts. The American Bison bifold is nice.

God Bless,
David

Got another great product from this fellow in Ukraine. Just under three weeks from the time of order until delivery today. I just picked it up at the post office and I’m very happy with it.

Here is the storefront on Etsy.

This time he made a custom cover for a particular book I had and didn’t charge me any extra for that. He did a great job and I’m very happy with the work. I like this blue color. It has a regal appearance.

Hope this guy stays safe in his country and is able to continue building his business when the war is over.

God bless,
David

David B Beautiful!

I rarely use leather, but I recently purchased a leather backpack for my laptop, documents, and other small items. I used to use regular backpacks, but my colleagues started mocking me for them by saying I look like an American 😂 Here in these latitudes, we’re a bit like the Italians; people tend to dress in a fancy way with fashionable clothing, and so putting a regular backpack on top of such attire would be ridiculed as “American.” So, I decided to still look for a backpack but one that is more chic and found one on Etsy, produced by a Greek man in Athens, so I also helped a small local business.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Grecorium

CyberGene I rarely use leather, but I recently purchased a leather backpack for my laptop, documents, and other small items.

That looks really nice. I'm actually looking for a leather purse for my wife. Her birthday is in a few months and she has never had a good leather purse. However, I'm not into buying a super expensive designer one. I'm looking for a simple, stylish genuine leather purse. Looks like the Grecorium has a few purses I'll have to check out.

God Bless,
David

Believe it or not, I actually spent about 14 years of my career working in the leather goods business, for an Italian manufacturer who had a small office in NYC to service American clients (mainly mid-to-higher end fashion companies like Banana Republic, J. Crew, Tory Burch, etc). I did product development and design, mainly of belts, but also small leather goods like wallets, pouches, keychains, etc.

We generally didn't deal with exotics like Ostrich, crocodile, etc., largely because the process of importing them into the US is a nightmare (you have to deal with fish and wildlife services, and they frequently would get held up by customs), but we had a showroom on 5th Avenue with all kinds of leathers from the top tanneries in Italy, and I was able to travel there a few times to visit suppliers, tour the factory, etc. Italy traditionally has some of the best leather tanneries in the world, although other countries have caught up to a large extent.

I think I still have a few calf hides in storage somewhere, but I've never figured out what to do with them.

Another cover from Ukraine. This one arrived in 2 weeks from the time I ordered it. This guy cranks them out, and this had some custom dimensions to it.

I treated myself to something really nice. It was my wife's birthday recently and I bought her a new purse from Time Resistance. A Lithuanian company that has their product materials sourced and made in Italy. Hand-dyed, vegetable tanned, Italian leather. 😎

I liked her purse so much that I had to get a leather briefcase from them. 😃 For work, I regularly carry a nylon briefcase that holds my bible, computer, glasses, wallet, keys, water bottle, and other assorted things. I've been carrying bags/briefcases for almost 30 years, but I never had a nice one like this.

They laser engraved it for free with my denominational logo and name. I'm really impressed. The leather smell is pretty strong (I love it). It really is a luxury item that I don't usually indulge in.

God Bless,
David

P.S. They offer a 10% discount if you order from their site and use the Italy10 code. I didn't know that when I ordered my wife's purse and paid full-price. I got 10% off on my bag.