Shell Cordovan Wallet Pron

[Jr Mouse]

That looks great! I'm all for seeing new designs.

 

[nqtri]

I decided to try something a little different for this wallet. Every so often I abandon my responsibility for completing orders I should be doing and need to go "creative rogue". I started out with an idea in my head and go right to Illustrator. Some people like to sketch out their idea first but I find I'm significantly faster at just mocking up a design in Illustrator. I can make tweaks and changes and save all variants off to the side so I can swap different options in it out. This is what I ended up with for the final design. Pretty basic as it is only four "complex" pieces and then I didn't draft up the exterior.

I print out the paper with all four pieces, put it down on my desk, cover it with clear tape and then cut it out. I'd rather the template pieces have a little bit of structure from the tape than just being a piece of paper I'll inevitably crumple up on accident while tracing around it.

I opted out of doing t-slots which is really weird for me. I feel like I'm supposed to always be doing t-slots. The Tochigi Glazed Veg Tan is around 1.75 - 2 oz so it is really thin and ends up working well without doing t-slots.

I feel like most of my bifold designs are pretty vanilla and generic so I wanted to mix it up with something I haven't really seen before.

I still have a ton of random amounts of shell cordovan sitting around so I got wild and decided to use a piece of Shinki Hikaku Burgundy Shell cordovan for the exterior. This ended up pairing very nicely with the Tochigi Glazed Veg Tan.

I'm happy with how it turned out but would be curious to see how the non t-slots would fare with a slightly thicker leather (like a chromexcel horsehide). On the next go around, I'd probably figure out a way to space out the slots a touch more so they aren't so weighted towards the bottom of the bifold.
All in all - fun project and a good way to get the creative juices flowing again!

I would love to hear anyone's thoughts on the style!

Awesomely looking. But is there hidden slot?

 

[Deusis]

There are two hidden slots! The shape exactly matches the area behind the two slots on each side.

 

[rirakuma]

Another Japanese style wallet I made for a friend, this one is replacing his old Kangaroo riders style wallet I gave to him years ago. Made from whiskey Rocado shell.

 

[Deusis]

Another Japanese style wallet I made for a friend, this one is replacing his old Kangaroo riders style wallet I gave to him years ago. Made from whiskey Rocado shell.

Looks great! Have any shots of the interior?

 

[rirakuma]



Looks great! Have any shots of the interior?

Thanks man. Here's the inside pic

 

[Victor Shek]

Hi all!

This is Victor from Hong Kong. I'm a leather craftsman. These are some of my works by cordovan! ^_^










For more, please check out my facebook page and instagram:

www.facebook.com/lchaim2life

www.instagram.com/lchaimleathercraft

 

[Victor Shek]

https://www.instagram.com/rexjhuang/ - that's him.

He is my friend from Taiwan! ^_^

He is a great artist!

 

[rirakuma]



He is my friend from Taiwan! ^_^ 

He is a great artist! 

Agreed his work is incredible!

 

[Deusis]

I made a few more Horween "Frankenshell" Cordovan Bifolds. Made from 8 different colors of Horween shell.




Horween Unglazed Natural Shell Cordovan Bifold:

 

[BenLeaman]



I just recieved my #8 World Traveler this afternoon from Ashland Leather. Beautiful work. Just in time for a trip to Toronto next week.

My couple months old natural shell Little New York is aging nicely as well.

Also, I just found this thread. There is some excellent work in here! I look forward to reading back through the post later.

@geargarcon asked if I had any progression pics of my Ashland Lil Louis in natural cordovan. I snapped one for him and figured I would share here too. Approximately ~20 months at this point, really has darkened nicely with some indigo showing on the high points.
I really should carry cash more often...

 

[rirakuma]

Recently been working on some new designs. This one is a simple edc wallet that fits around 30 bills or the usual mix of notes, cards and coins. Made of no8 horween shells, what do you guys think?

 

[IndianBoyz]

Nice

 

[youtubs]

Hi Everyone, once again I got my 3rd Shell Cordovan men's bifold wallet from J Michael Ashland OR. This time the wallet is made with Italian Shell Cordovan by "Toscana Italia" tannery in Navy colour and inside is black Horween chromexcel horsehide. Compared from the pervious shell bifold wallet from J Michael, this one has some improvements, the wallet is now slightly taller and wider which makes putting in cards/cash much easier even it still new not yet broken-in. Also this time the center piece leather is not stitching down with the interior card pockets and the exterior shell, so that it relaxes the hidden pocket that makes the hidden pockets much easier to access and J Michael still cuts extra tab at the bottom of the center piece which will hides cash in cash compartment so it makes the wallet look more clean and classy when open

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Just wanted to say thanks for posting this. I hadn't seen his work before. I bought a shell cordovan bifold and a CXL bifold from J Michael Ashland this week and they are both fantastic.

 

[Deusis]

So this isn't shell but I think people here would appreciate it regardless...

I figured I'd take an opportunity to share something pretty rare. I visited Horween a few months ago and saw some very, very rare calfskin they had sitting around.

This particular calfskin is over 70 years old. It was tanned in the 1940s but Horween lost the recipe. They no longer tan calfskin and have yet to find the original recipe. I was lucky enough to acquire some of this and made a wallet out of it. No current plans for this leather but it is absolutely beautiful for 70 year old leather. It is soft and supply and has fantastic texture.





Can't wait to make more out of this beautiful leather.