Woodland & Blaze

A two-leather build for the picker who's just as at home in the forest as on a fretboard. The outside shell is La Bretagna's Small Print Camo — a fine Italian vegetable-tanned leather finished with a dappled green-and-brown pattern. The inside panels are Wickett & Craig English Bridle, a hand-finished American bridle leather in a warm blaze orange. Bridle leather is famously firm and long-lived — used for horse tack and gun belts built to outlast their owners. Saddle-stitched with waxed Riza Tiger thread.

Built around big, heavy flat-picks — Bluechip, Token, Tone Slab, Wegen, Golden Gate, real tortoiseshell — the triangle picks that cost real money and vanish the second you set them down. Eight of them slid into their own slots and stay put. The flap folds over a skived tongue and tucks closed — no snaps, no magnets, nothing metal to gouge a pick or instrument. About 3¼ inches square: slim enough for a gig-bag pocket, a jacket, or the accessory pouch of a hard case.

Cut from 4–5 oz full-grain leather and saddle-stitched entirely by hand — two needles, one stitch at a time. If a stitch ever gets nicked, the seam holds instead of unraveling the way machine stitching does. The tongue is skived down to make it easy to slide through the closure. Made in batches of 5 or so, after work, in my Chicago apartment. No two exactly alike.

Both these leathers are vegetable tanned and will benefit from occasional conditioning with a light leather conditioner like Venetian Leather Balm or Bick 4, when the leather starts to feel dry. Wipe it down with a dry or barely-damp rag — skip soap and harsh cleaners. Vegetable-tanned leather water-spots more readily than chrome-tanned, so blot spills right away instead of letting them dry in. Keep it out of long soaks and direct heat. Expect the colors to deepen and a patina to build quite a bit with use — the blaze will mellow and warm as it goes.