Blue Bear Customs

10/08/2021

Good afternoon Bear fans. Little promotion for a good cause! Come out and support your favorite first responders for the first ever Ga***rd first responder Blood Battle Royale! Who'll win the new coveted belt? The police? EMS? Fire department?! Link below!!

https://donate.michigan.versiti.org/donor/schedules/drive_schedule/142953

08/16/2021

08/12/2021

Here's the finished wallet. The lion was deceptively complex with lots of little fiddly bits. Full lacing and premade liner.

08/12/2021

Well it looks like book face is finally letting me post as Blue Bear on my own site again! Sorry for the hiatus but Everytime I tried to post something lately it did so on my personal page instead. This is the in progress photos for a recent wallet project. I'll post the end pictures soon.

04/27/2021

Sorry for the delay. Actually finished this one well before the weekend. As you can see black won the contest. As stated, the idea for this one was to strike a good balance between economy and quality. Looking at about $50 for this one, most of which is sunk into the pattern and leather cost. I can also do a similar one with no pattern for about $30. Belt is over 70 inches in length and ready to be cut down to any size desired.

04/20/2021

And the winner is black for the economy belt.

03/31/2021

Well the week has been off to a slow start. Finally got some time and everyone in the house is sick. My poor girls! Pretty sure it's not the C word and I've had the vaccine already so there's that. Did manage to get most of the way through one new belt, but partly because it's designed to be a more affordable one. This one is sitting at $43 right now with no buckle. Still need to dye and finish but since at a single color that won't take long I don't expect this belt to go over $50. Comment below if you want to see this belt go black, tan, or other!

03/25/2021

The bear stirs again...

Folks may have noticed a pronounced lull in Blue Bear activity. This is due to my having to currently hold down two jobs to make my ends meet. However it looks like I'll have some time coming next week and I paid the business back from when the Bear pulled my britches out of the proverbial fire during pandemic unemployment earlier last year. So I have some blanks coming in for belts, rifle slings, purse, and wallets to build some stock. Goal is to have enough to set up a table at the Elkfest and/or gunshow I happen to have a scoop on. If anyone has a request for a theme let me know.

01/14/2021

Raccoon Hunt Belt and
Suspender Set
The air is crisp with the night, the moon shining full and lancing with silvery light through the pines. The hunter crashes though the forest holding his rifle firmly, listening. His Walkers Hound is out ahead, baying, calling to his master “This way! I have found him!” it seems to call and he listens homing in and glorying in their teamwork. The hound ahead continues to bay sounding like a banshee’s howl and proclaiming as a herald that soon his master would be there and death along with him. The hunter can tell the hound has stopped moving and he is finally closing in. Then, through the brush the flash of white of the Walker’s fur at the base of a tree. The hunter’s eyes scan upwards, a pair of eyes shine back like fire and give away the raccoons position in the branches where it thinks it has finally outwitted its opponent, unknowing that it was never the hound that it was truly facing. There the piercing silver moonlight offers just enough light for him as the hunter raises his rifle. He breathes slowly a few times, steadying, lining up his shot. The world shrinks and there is naught but the timeless tableau. The raccoon in the tree, the loyal hound shaking with excitement, his baying given way to simple excited barking at his partners approach and what is to come, and the hunter. The noises fade away and time stills with his breath and in the valley between his inhale, exhale. Between the soft rhythms within his own breast, in stillness incomprehensible to the uninitiated his finger squeezes of its own accord until suddenly thunder cracks the night and the hunt has come to its end. This belt and suspender combo is made to evoke and represent the thrill of the hunt.
The belt of the Raccoon Hunt is made of top grain vegetable tanned leather and features a hand tooled hunter, Walker hound, and a pair of raccoons about to seek refuge in a tree. The length of the belt also features a hand stamped forest in the background. Finally the belt is capped off with a vintage brass buckle held in place with a pair of Brass Chicago screws. The tail of the belt features extra close holes for extra comfort.
The suspenders of the Raccoon Hunt are also made from top grain vegetable tanned leather and feature all hand tooled raccoon prints running up each of the straps and terminating at a similarly hand tooled raccoon upon the back patch. The suspenders also feature coordinating brass trigger snaps and buckles with brass floral Chicago screws used throughout and similarly close holes for comfort.

01/07/2021

Belt fully dyed and assembled with freehand tooled hunter, Walker Hound and raccoons as well as hand stamped forest background. Also features a vintage brass buckle. Rest is done too but I don't have a good chance to post about it right now.