Riggs Leatherworks

While in a perfect world, no one has problems, no one has disabilities and everyone gets along. We do not live in a perfect world. There is strife worldwide, everyone has some sort of problem, and people do suffer from disabilities. May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Mental health has been a taboo subject for years, but it really shouldn't be. Science has proven that some of the best artists, writers and leaders all had a mental disability, which it be severe anxiety, sever depression, or the combination of both - Bipolar disorder (formerly known as manic depressive disorder).  There are numerous true medical conditions that can affect mental health, and as we do not know everything there is to know about the brain, we can not always cure\alleviate the symptoms for those suffering. Mental health is a topic dear to my heart as some of those I love very deeply suffer from it, worst yet, I do as well, but it isn't always a bad thing, sometimes I think of things differently than...

  As Earth Day (April 22nd) approaches, I wanted to take the time to brag on how green we are. How green are we, you ask? Greener than Kermit the Frog. Well, almost. First off, all the materials (well ~95%) we use are already green or earth friendly.  From the quality leather, to the cotton thread, it's all natural.  The only thing that isn't really natural that we use is the tools, which we reuse until the end of life for the item, which in most cases is 5+ years.  Come to think of it, the tools are metal with wooden handles, so they are natural, but the finishes on them aren't always (the varnish\stain and\or laquer).  Our stains we use for the color on the leather are also all made from natural materials.  There have been a few projects that we have produced that we've had to used an acrylic paint and sealer, which is synthetic, but we don't often have to use those. We use every scrap of leather possible, even if we have to design something just right fo...

 There will soon be some new items hitting the store, and the best part is, with these, there won't be any manufacturing\fabrication time! These items will be one offs that I made and selling as I create them. These items will start with One Off in the title so that you can tell, but it will be in the description as well.

 In this entry in the series, I talk about acrylic resin.  I have actually been using this for a while, it's what I tend to use as a solid base to make my leather wet molds (ie the skull in the pirate chest). I've tried making dice, making skulls, making jewels and gems (with clear resin and tint). most of which are actually in fact used in the creation of the pirate chest.  I'm still trying to figure out a useful way to effectively use this in my leatherwork, other than making forms for wet molds.  I would like to make acrylic casts of firearms or knives so that I could premake some holsters, but that would be a lot of molds, and a lot of things being borrowed from people so I don't foresee that happening. In short, this is really a skill that will help me when making special molds for leather, so I branched out, and I wasn't terrible at it.  Quick Fact, most of the "jewels" in my pirate chests are hard acrylic that I made personally, and on that note, so...

  This would be the second hurdle I encounter with new customers.  After informing them and making them aware of the actual value of the item they want to purchase, then they see the fabrication time.  At any given time the standard lead time is 2 weeks, which allows me some room in case I am working on multiple projects (which is often the case).  Some items will require more time, the more intricate or custom an item is, naturally, the longer it will take.  It's not uncommon for a custom flat\messenger cap to take 3 weeks, and I have worked into this any correspondence time I need with the customer. What do I mean by correspondence time? Well, the amount of time it takes you, the customer, to answer any questions I might have.  The more custom, the more questions I'll be likely to have, but with all items that you wear, I always ask for measurements in the item description, but this doesn't always mean I'll get them with the order.  They might get lo...

 Every once in a while, I'l have an odd thing on my site.  It's storage cleanup, and it's my loyal customers who get the option to buy the items first.  It might be a leather product, or an electronic product, or something off the wall, but keep an eye out as there will be more, especially pending a possible location move, we are cleaning shop. I will email out to the email subscribers what will be on the site a day before I list it, so if you want fair warning, sign up! -James