I originally made one of these for myself. But people seemed to like it so I made a couple more.
All the leather is hand cut, dyed, tooled and stitched (not in that order).
$50 per strap shipped worldwide.
First up a red with dark accents Escher pattern.
Next similar colors, but with skulls.
And last of the three another skull pattern but in black.
Dang great job
Thanks man. The design is simple enough but the patterns give it a nice extra bit of kick
That is some fine work!
Red with skulls is sold.
Pretty nifty!! Also that’s a fair price for handmade!
Hate to date myself but I was carving leather when Jimi Hendrix was still alive. That was over 50 years ago. I probably would’ve charged 20 bucks or so for that quality of work 50 years ago. So even though to some people right now, $50 might seem like man that’s a lot of money.
And that is a lot of money for something to hold just a yoyo .
But if you want to go first class it looks, $50 for that quality of work certainly looks worth it to me.
I won’t really comment on the efficiency of the design because I am not a yo-yo holder design efficiency expert.
But it certainly appears to be a very well-made good looking yoyoe holder.
Thanks. Also…a large portion of the amount goes to shipping from Europe.
(And with the dollar being low (especially when using paypal) sometimes it almost feels like I’m giving these away sometimes …)
Black one is sold. red Escher one still available.
Well said! I think this is a boutique product, and as such should command boutique prices.
The leather belt I wear cost somewhere around 80 bucks ten or fifteen years ago and it’s nothing fancy. Sturdy leather goods can last a lifetime and are well worth the investment for the long haul. Plus they just get better looking and feeling with age and use (to a point of course).
Ivan
I’m not exactly sure what the definition of “Boutique” is in this case. But this kind of stuff is basically the most traditional kind of handwork you can think of. I’m a one man operation who does this next to his day job, volunteerwork at the sports clubs and interacting with my wife and 5 kids.
Creating the pattern on each strap takes around 30-45 minutes, then it needs to dry for a couple of hours, after that dying the leather which takes around 15-20 minutes, next dry again for half a day. Followed by preparing the edges of the leather (rounding/giving them a slant so they fit in to the yoyo better) which takes around another 15-20 minutes. Then stitching (15-20 more minutes) Finishing up the edges with edge paint multiple 5 minute rounds with 1-2 hours in between depending on howc many layers I do. Applying the highlighted finish, 15 more minutes. And finishing up with a glossy coat for the leather (multiple layers 5 minutes each with drying time in between.
So all in all each one of these takes around (does quick math) 2,5 hours of direct actual handwork with a timetable of multiple days. It goes a little bit quicker when I do multiples at the same time…but not so much.
And shipping worldwide starts at around $13 dollars.
So $37 dollars for the strap/2.5 hours of work. = $14 an hour for skilled labor…and we haven’t taken materials in to account.
So I can understand that in the yoyo world (where you can get an excellent yoyo for $15 or so) $50 for a leather strap seems like a lot…but it’s actually not that high of a price.
And yes, with a little bit of oil/fat/leather care every couple of years these will basically last a lifetime.
I’m not sure if there’s an official definition of “boutique” but in my opinion it’s anything that’s handmade with care by only one or a very few people, generally in small batches so attention can be given to each piece, as opposed to mass produced or made using a production line technique.
For instance a boutique radio would be something that’s hand-soldered using through-hole components, versus a radio made with a printed circuit board and surface-mount components.
It’s all about the care and attention put into each piece vs. creating a bunch of them and spot-checking for quality. But that’s just my opinion of what the word means, some smart person probably has a textbook definition somewhere that makes me look (more) like an idiot, LOL.
Ivan
Just the Escher one left at the moment. One strap to carry them all (one at a time…).
Just though I’d do a quick inflation calculation on that $20 from when Hendrix was still alive.
Man…I might need to charge more. 
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