Finalement!!!!

The bag to end all bags is done......

Inset with a gorgeous, pristine cabochon of rhodonite, complete with handmade fine silver bezel and sterling canvas, this bag is for the sweetest cowgirl you know.

The back reads 'tough and tender' in western font and hand-drawn gentle cursive and the inlay cover inside reads 'Love Thyself',

a steady reminder each time you open the bag that both your tender and your tough are worthy, beautiful and special: two sides of an incredibly valuable coin.

The Tough and Tender bag has been lined (both inside and under the strap) with a butter-soft chamomile suede and my oh my is it a joy to touch!!

The tooling pattern is a gorgeous classic poppy pattern, with a resist 1/2 inch border all along the entire bag, including the 36 inch strap.

To say this is a labor of love is lacking: it takes 20 hours or more per bag: nearly two hundred rivets, each one set by hand with a manual single-rivet press, hand cut and punched leather, all edges beveled and carefully antiqued and painted.

During the course of making a bag, I am likely to laugh in utter joy at the result of the incredible labor, cry at the moments of deep frustration, sweat like a trucker, swear like a sailor and sing with all my heart very frequently.

I take pauses for snacks, kitteh snuggle sessions, phone calls to my mother, to talk to you online in the shops and breathe:

when I make a bag the result is a true capture of 20 hours in my life:

it is more like a time capsule that can be filled with your own memories and lip gloss!

The Tough and Tender bag will be listed later this evening in the Leather Shop.

Here is a picture of the body of the custom order, which will be done tomorrow and mailed on to its royal owner:

Now that these two mountains have been climbed, I will be preparing in earnest for Los Angeles and making the studio shine for my return on November 1st!