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Our Classic Bells products are re-creations of durable, attractive designs from the past.
The sleigh-bell straps and other products shown in the Classic Bells section of our website are a selection of our clients' and our own favorites. We hope you will enjoy them too.
Although we now offer the option of using new solid-brass sleigh bells on some of these items, we do not cut any corners on the quality of our workmanship or our materials.
Our leather is USA grown and tanned. Our hardware and fasteners are made of no-rust materials -- stainless steel, solid brass, and copper -- and are as similar to the old styles as we can find.
We like the idea of producing heirloom quality products with heirloom tools and techniques.
For example, our treadle-powered harness stitcher ("Goldie") was made about 1915. Our "creaser", a hand-cranked machine that forms decorative lines along a leather strap, was patented in the Civil War era.
DeeAnna's favorite leather knife, strap cutter, and many of her other small hand tools were also made in the mid 1800s to early 1900s.
Tish, our irrepressible calico cat, sticks her cute whiskery nose into every aspect of our business. When we started to make a line of attractively-priced gift items featuring new bells, we decided to name these new products after her.
Our Calico Cat products are made with pride in Iowa! We don't make bells, and we don't tan leather, but we do personally design and construct the products in our small, rural workshop.
We welcome wholesale and corporate orders for our Calico Cat products or for production runs of custom designs that feature new bells. Please see Customer Service for more information.
Sleigh bells play a key role in two enchanting holiday books -- The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg and The Magic Sleigh Bell by W. Peter Elliott.
Our selection of Santa's antique and new gift bells was chosen to enhance the charm of these stories and celebrate the magic of the holiday season.
Our antique bells date from the late 1800s and early 1900s. We can't say for sure if these bells were ever worn by Santa's reindeer, but they certainly are old and have been used.
In our rural Iowa workshop, we buff each bell, old or new, to a soft luster and lacquer it to retard tarnish. The bell is then decorated with a glove-soft deerskin lace and packaged with a durable fabric gift bag.
After a short hike across our hay field, you will eventually reach our delightful William's Creek. Wandering along its rocky banks is a delightful way to escape from the daily grind.
Like William's Creek, the products featured in this section are a bit of a wander away from our primary focus on sleigh bells.
Although sleigh bells are our passion, we enjoy making a variety of other leather items: knife sheaths, portfolios and notebooks, chaps and chinks, harness, and horse tack.
As with our sleigh bell straps, we don't scrimp on the materials we use in our William's Creek products, and we take pride in the quality of our construction and finish work. Our leather products are made to be enjoyed and used for many years.
The General Store is the place to purchase Harness Honey leather conditioner, the Horse Bells book, sleigh bell advertisements and catalogs, bridle-leather straps, and a selection of hardware -- buckles, bell pins and other fasteners.
Our hardware items come from the working inventory of our leather shop, so quantities are limited to what we have on hand. If you want a few of our high-quality buckles and fasteners, we will be glad to help you out.
We always carry a good stock of 10-12 ounce bridle leather in three standard colors. Other colors and weights are available by special order.
We can supply finished straps of this leather to other craft businesses as well as to do-it-yourself customers. This sturdy, attractive leather is suitable for sleigh bell straps, dog collars, trouser belts, rifle slings, and similar items.
Our Custom Projects section showcases the custom work we have done for clients. The antique sleigh bells on these pieces are either bells selected from our inventory or are bells supplied by our clients.
The prices shown for these projects are based on the cost of bells taken from our inventory. If a customer supplies the bells for a project, the total cost will often be considerably lower than that shown.
If you see a design that sparks your interest, we will be glad to adapt it to meet your particular needs. Please feel free to contact us for more information or to place a custom order.