Carolina Characters | It’s all in the bag

Nabobs pay hundreds of dollars for what Natalie Boggs gets for free – thanks to her husband’s curious, brown hands that build her bags.

Markese Boggs, a meat cutter and a website developer, began his stylish pursuit of making satchels and such in September after watching YouTube videos during the summer only to discover what supplies to use and where to purchase them. The designs are all his.

“To be honest, I enjoy making anything,” he said while dying leather squares dark brown and tuning out the noise coming from the flat screen television directly in front of him. “All of my life, I always tinkered with something and turned it into something.”

The first – and the most impressive bag to date – is a sturdy and stupendous work satchel made for his wife. He dyed it canela brown, a hue that is born when rust and burnt orange mingle and make magic. The color pops and causes inquisitive eyes to notice it straightaway. Without even trying, the shade says, “I’m unique. You like me, don’t you?’’

And even if eyes don’t like this pigment, they can’t deny there is talent aplenty in these big, broad hands that take medieval-looking tools and know-how to craft ready-to-wear works of art.

“I thought it was really good when he was actually putting it together,’’ said Natalie Boggs, head teaching assistant at Coastal Montessori Charter School in Pawleys Island. “I could see how wide and deep it was going to be. He did a great job.”

Her 38-year-old soul mate has built and repaired computers for as long as he can remember, but he ventured into this fashion realm after he discovered she needed a bag for school.

His handiwork caused her to smile with delight and beam with pride. Of course, she gladly put it to use and showcased her man’s talents to colleagues.

“This is so amazing,” said Sarah Marshall Stimpson, his wife’s coworker via Facebook after pictures of the satchel were posted. “He is a very talented guy!”

Another of his love’s friends, Jennifer Zingales Sanchez, asked when could she order a bag.

Some folks believe that he will be a busy man in the months to come as word spreads of his latest venture. How about kinfolks that may want free leather bags and wallets?

“I haven’t really thought about it, but if my family wants me to do it the easiest way to get around that is to tell them how much it will cost them,” he said.

His prices vary with small clutches costing $65 to large satchels that can also be laptop bags or briefcases costing $300.

However, his 9-year-old daughter, Kyaira, and his 67-year-old mother-in-law, Jane Taylor, did not spend a penny. He made them both complimentary navy blue shoulder bags.

“This is a gorgeous beginning,” Taylor said of the bags created by her son-in-law whose bedroom is his workspace. “You would think he was someone who has been making bags for awhile. I’m not unfamiliar with men who sew. My father (Calvin W. Cheatham) was a professional tailor for years.”

Perhaps that’s why Taylor was shocked when she saw the initial bag her son-in-law made for her daughter.

Neat hand stitches, shiny hasp latch locks, striking metal embellishments, roomy inner and outer pockets, the adjustable, detachable shoulder strap, and the fancy handle all give the satchel chic.

With an architect’s care, Markese Boggs draws and plans how each bag will look and function with meticulous details before he gets started.

It took him three weeks to make the debut bag. He would have actually finished faster, but he had to wait for ordered materials to arrive.

Many tools of his trade are stored in a clear, plastic container.

There is a leather rotary punch, which makes holes in the leather. A straight edge-cutting tool is in the container, too, and it allows him to slice the leather with ease. Japanese pricking forks are utilized to make small, uniform stitching holes.

Needle nose pliers are also among his supplies. Sheets of thick leather, waxed sewing thread, and the stitching pony are among the essentials outside of the storage box on his bed. Basically, everything he needs to make classy leather inventions are within the reach of his skilled hands.

“I just enjoy creating things,” he said. “That’s what I enjoy most of all. I am a creature of the night so everything I do is at night.”

This declaration comes as a fan used to dry the leather hums slightly over the sound of his voice, which adds that the dyed leather dries for a day before leather sheen is applied to give it gloss.

When crafting his bags and wallets, he always enhances each with extra touches like using cloths with peek-a-boo hues to line each product. For instance, he placed white polka dots posing on a zaffre blue background inside the zipper compartment of his wife’s asymmetrical navy blue clutch. Paris-themed cloth emblazoned with Eiffel tower images still had to be cut to line the wallets being constructed.

Yes, more loveliness is on the way, and he’s in trouble because fashion hounds will surely hound him.

Yet for now, on this day, he has done all the work he plans to do. And whatever hobby he may purse next, he is certain he will do it well.

“I look at something and I say, ‘I can fix that. I can do that. I can make that.’

And I can. I always figure it out.”

This story was originally published November 29, 2015 at 7:46 AM.