If Lee Ecker is as good with a dentist drill as he is with a leather punch, then there must be some dazzling smiles leaving his Denville office.
Ecker’s intricate leather saddles, briefcases, baseballs and gun belts will be on sale from Oct. 17-19, 2014, at the 38th annual Morristown CraftMarket.
The juried show at the Morristown National Guard Armory features 160 artists from 25 states, to benefit charities of the Randolph Kiwanis.
“This is really my first crafts show, and I’m excited to see what response I get,” Ecker said.
Although this marks Ecker’s debut as a CraftMarket vendor, his custom saddles have been winning fans at venues such as the Yogi Berra Museum in Montclair and the Red Sox Living Museum at Fenway Park.
“I got into saddle making as a fluke,” a dozen years ago, Ecker said. He had just turned 50 and wanted a hobby. While driving through Warren County with his wife, he came upon a saddlery shop in Blairstown.
He loved the leather smell. The place reminded him of Bonanza and other TV westerns he enjoyed as a boy.
“Cowboys were heroes. I remember them sitting in the saddle, and the creaking of the saddle. It brought back great memories,” recounted Ecker, a Randolph resident who organized an early CraftMarket show for the Kiwanis.
He asked the shop owner if he could apprentice in his spare time. The owner invited him to help design a saddle.
Ecker invested $1,000 in tools and leather parts… and then learned that the veteran saddler had decided to move down south.
“He gave me a book and a video!” Ecker said with a laugh.
Ecker stuck with it. His saddles, which can take four months to create, now fetch up to $3,500 via his website, Black Oak Saddlery.
Ecker has leather-crafted everything from guitar pick-guards to toilet seat covers. But the saddles are his show-stoppers.
While they work just fine strapped to a horse (the horse is not included), he suspects CraftMarket patrons may prefer them as “unusual art deco furniture pieces–maybe as bar stools.”
Leather crafting is a pleasant diversion from the stresses of daily dentistry, said Ecker, possibly the only Jersey guy in the Colorado Saddle Makers Association. The hobby combines a childhood penchant for drawing with the finer skills of his professional practice.
“To be a dentist, you have to be an artist, especially if you’re doing any cosmetic dentistry. That certainly carried over,” he said.
Of course, behind every great artist is a great patron. Ecker’s side-career got a kick-start from his wife, Bari.
“I was making items for my friends. My wife said she was tired of seeing saddles around, why don’t you look into a craft show?”
This weekend you can thank her for that inspired suggestion.
Hours of the 38th annual Morristown CraftMarket are 5 pm to 9 pm on Friday, Oct. 17; 10 am to 6 pm on Saturday, Oct. 18; and 10 am to 5 pm on Sunday, Oct. 19. Artists will display and sell original creations in jewelry, ceramics, glass, leather, wood, metal, wearable fiber and more. A Fall Plant Sale also will offer elegant and unusual plants from horticulturist Ken Selody. Admission is $10 at the door; a weekend pass is $12. Children under 12 with an adult are free. A $2 discount coupon is available online. The Morristown National Guard Armory is at 430 Western Ave. in Morris Township.
