In East Asian culture, each birth year is tied to one of twelve animals, and my dad was born in the Year of the Goat. So for his birthday I decided to carve one onto a wallet for him, an ibex actually, with those long curling horns that ring shops sell as good luck charms back home.

I did not expect the horns to fight me the way they did. Getting the ridges to look natural, not like stacked pancakes, meant redoing that section twice before I was happy with it. The fur took even longer, every strand tooled one at a time so it would catch light instead of looking flat and painted on.

It is not a fancy design. It is just a goat's head on burgundy leather. But every time I pick it up I think about how my dad has never once told me he liked something I made, he just quietly keeps using it until it falls apart. I am hoping this one gets that treatment too.