THE PIRATE SIDE . . .

Not sure if y'all recollect, but the Missus has talked about Mr. Legendary

Leather's alter ego -the pirate - a few times before.

June 2014

September 2016

Well, as of late, Mr. Legendary Leather has had the hankerin' to design leather regalia

that would carry one of the pirate's most important of provisions - rum! Or in other words, 

Mr. Legendary Leather needed something to carry water at the pirate events and 

he needed it to theme with the costume. Pirating at these events can stir up quite a thirst.

Ha ha ha!

Oddly enough, it started out with one that could still theme in with the cowboys.

Then the pirate side easily took over.

And the Missus' favorite . . .

There are so many directions that Mr. Legendary Leather can follow with his newly

designed leather carrying vessels. How about somethin' for the ladies?

AN EASY TRANSITION . . .

Howdy!

Well, once again the Missus finds herself apologizin' for her lack of bloggin'.

I know it's been a long dry spell for those of you who look forward to

updates on Mr. Legendary Leather's craftin', and for that, I am deeply 

sorrowful. He continues to receive new referrals for his leather work as 

well as continued requests from some of his old faithful followers. 

There have been many times that we have showcased his work requested 

by one of his most tried and true customers, Ron Stein AKA Tupelo Flash (The 

Cowboys of Norco). Tupelo continues to push the limits of Mr. Legendary 

Leather's craftin' skills. As a result, there have been some mighty fine

creations as he's pushed the 'leather envelope' and had to think outside the box.

Some of you may remember that Mr. Legendary Leather's bovine craftin' came 

about the way of his love of knives. Some of his collectibles were store-bought

and others were handmade by the Mister himself. And what's a knife without a

sheath? His earlier creations were primitive, but served their purpose.

And while most of Tupelo's requests are 'leather' in nature, as of late, he has

requested some updating on knives that he already owns as well as requesting

some new creations made from scratch. The knife below was one that Tupelo 

already had in his collection. Apologies for not having a 'before' photo to 

compare, but Tupelo requested 'blueing' of the blade and tacks added to the handle.

A mighty fine knife, however by making the adjustments requested by Tupelo,

the overall look of the knife 'ages' it, enabling it to blend in better with the old west.

Tupelo's other request required making a knife from the ground up. To do this,

 Mr. Legendary Leather purchased a knife blade and blade guard. He then used a 

piece of elk horn that he already had to make the handle. 

He aged the elk horn by soaking it in coffee. By adding the tacks, he's 

once again taken the handle to the realm of the old west, proving that the 

transition from leather to knife is an easy one for the Mister.

Many thanks to Tupelo for his continued, generous support and 

faith in Mr. Legendary Leather's craftin' skills!

NO APOLOGIES NEEDED IN A FRIENDSHIP . .

One of the things Mr. Legendary Leather had gained throughout his leather 

vending years are lasting friendships. A particular bond that has formed is with 

the "Buffalo Soldier Mounted Calvary Unit" 10th division reenactors. Whether 

it's jabbering with the 10th at their encampment or the 10th chatting at the 

Legendary Leather tent . . . learning history, retelling stories and fun are had by all.

Most recently the friends ran into each other at "Old Fort MacArthur Days" in 

Long Beach. As usual, the 10th Calvary Unit had their encampment set up and

invited Mr. Legendary Leather in for a chat. Wanting to rest his weary bones for 

a while, Mr. Legendary Leather accepted a seat - however, the seat did not accept

Mr. Legendary Leather. Yup, Mr. Legendary Leather's presence was a bit too 

much for that alluring seat. Naturally, the kind men of the 10th said it was nothing.

No apologies are needed in a true friendship. However, in this case Mr. Legendary

Leather felt he needed to make amends and set to work on a hand-crafted

leather "apology" piece to present to his friends at the 10th.

This journal cover was inspired by Mr. Legendary Leather's friendship with the 10th.

I have no doubt that when Mr. Legendary Leather has the opportunity to present

his journal to the 10th, they will accept it more in friendship than they do an apology.

Mr. Legendary Leather with Trooper Jay M. Collins 

For more information about the "Buffalo Soldier Mounted Calvary Unit"

please visit bsmcu.com

WESTERNSPICE CHANNELS A MODERN CATWOMAN . . .

Just to show you how diverse the leather making world can be, The Missus

has decided to share the latest request from WesternSpice for her daddy. 

I'm sure there are those in the cosplay world who would be envious of WesternSpice

if they only knew she had access to Mr. Legendary Leather's bovine crafting 

talents purely through her blood-line as his daughter. As you know, WesternSpice

doesn't limit herself to the cowboy realm - she also has a passion for the 1940's

(whether it be WW2 or civilian), Marvel Comics, Victorian era, blood-thirsty
pirates, and now the world of DC Comics. Yes, WesternSpice channeled
"Catwoman" for her most recent visit to Long Beach Comic Con.

. . . "holy ancient costumes, Batman!" We don't mean Julie Newmar!

In preparation for her more modern version, WesternSpice found it relatively
easy to find the necessary items to complete her costume, However, she didn't
 ponder long on the puzzling question of what to do for Catwoman's head gear.
And as you might have guessed, she turned to her daddy.

Once again, WesternSpice had a vision that she needed to convey to Mr.

Legendary Leather, and Mr. Legendary Leather had to interpret a vision into

a tangible hand-crafted leather piece. But how to get those Catwoman ears

and put a modern 21st century spin on them?

 

Fortunately it only took a couple of prototypes before the end result was achieved.

Not exactly what the "old school" parents were picturing walking around in Gotham 

City, however it was exactly what WesternSpice had envisioned.

And as always, a fun time was had by all at the "Con".

AS TIME PASSES . . .

Happy New Year to y'all!

2016 seemed to slip by so fast. We're hopin' that 2017 might slow down a bit.

It's been awhile since The Missus has posted the happenin's of Mr. Legendary

Leather, but truth be told, I didn't realize that time was passing so quickly.

Mr. Legendary Leather has continued to create several more of his unique leather

treasures - mostly for repeat loyal customers, but every now and then somebody

new comes along and poses a new challenge. 

Most recently, a fellow merchandiser from the The Cowboys of Norco requested 

a set of double bandoleers. Now Mr. Legendary Leather has created bandoleers 

before, so this wasn't something new to him. However, this customer was female

and she wanted them to be black. What made this a conundrum, you ask? Well,

a female fit would require a little different configuration and I think I've 

mentioned before the problems that black dye creates. 

While taking into consideration the overall fit for Miss Lily, Mr. Legendary

Leather was a little unsure since he didn't have Miss Lily available for fittings.

The Missus suggested creating an "adjustable" bandoleer. Since this hadn't 

been in his realm of thinking, it provided Mr. Legendary Leather the means

to create another unique leather item.

By adding a belt-like fitting to the shoulder of each bandoleer, Miss Lily would be

able to make adjustments to fit her costuming. If she chose to wear the bandoleers

over a jacket, she could adjust the strap. 

Mr. Legendary Leather also added a heart concho that he attached to a chicago screw.

This allowed for movement at the bottom of each bandoleer which would allow

it to sit more comfortably on its owner.

Now we really wish we had a picture of Miss Lily wearing her new set of bandoleers,

however because Mr. Legendary Leather made these unique adjustments to his creation,

it allowed him to "test" the set by wearing them in a costume contest at Calico Ghost Town's Calico Days. Oddly enough, Mr. Legendary Leather placed third in his category. 

Thank you very much to Miss Lily for puttin' her trust in Mr. Legendary

Leather's creative skills!

PIRATESPICE . . .

im • merse (verb) 1. involve oneself deeply in a particular activity or interest.

        cos • play (noun) 1. the practice of dressing up as a character from a movie, book,
or video game.

 

I've mentioned before how WesternSpice loves to immerse

herself in cosplay/roleplay. Always thinking of new ideas to

add to her costumes. Once again, she had a special request

for Mr. Legendary Leather. For the Pirate Invasion event

held last month, she wanted some type of small belt pouch

to hold her phone and "pirate treasures"

 

 

 

The collaboration between Mr. Legendary Leather and "PirateSpice" was a

unique one. As usual, WesternSpice explains her design and then Mr. Legendary

Leather begins production. The removable leg strap is what sets this pouch

apart from others made by Mr. Legendary Leather.

 

 

The removable leg strap allows for costume adjustments and preferences.

For the Pirate Invasion event, WesternSpice chose to remove the leg strap.

 

 

She was very happy with the end result for her "Mary Read" costume.

Shown here with "Anne Bonny" (right), the backstory for the two

is an interesting one and makes for perfect cosplay costumes.



ARTISAN MEETS ARTIST . . .

As you know, Mr. Legendary Leather and Westernspice like to seize

any opportunity to play "dress-up". When at an event, each usually goes

their separate ways to explore their own tastes. While attending WonderCon

this past spring, Mr. Legendary Leather came upon an artist's booth that he

recognized from his "Dia de los Muertos" board on Pinterest. The artist was

out of the booth at the time, however his wife recognized Mr. Legendary

Leather's outfit as one from SASS. Knowing that her husband was

interested, she insisted on Mr. Legendary Leather coming back to

the booth a little later to meet her husband . . . and that's how the

mutual admiration society of Mr. Legendary Leather and David

Lozeau began. Artisan and artist.

 

 This print titled "The Cattle Raid" was pinned by Mr. Legendary

Leather a year ago. He never imagined that he would end up

meeting the artist . . .

 

 

. . . nor could he have imagined that David Lozeau would request a

set of custom holsters from Mr. Legendary Leather. The two agreed

upon a design that would be used to create a strong-side right holster

and a right cross-draw holster.

 

 

 It isn't until the holsters are side by side, front and back

that you can tell the difference between a strong-side and cross-draw . . .

 

 

Mr. Legendary Leather will soon be mailing these beauties

off to David Lozeau.

 

 

In the meantime, if you want to see some great artwork, you need to

check out Dave's website www.DavidLozeau.com

 

 

Much thanks to Dave for puttin' his trust in Mr. Legendary Leather's craftsmanship!

HARD WORK MAKES FOR A GOOD END RESULT . . .

The Missus has always been proud of Mr. Legendary Leather's

creations. I've always claimed to be his number one fan. After

knowin' each other for 35 years, the discussions we have might

seem a bit heated and it may not show at times, but I'll be the

first to jump into a conversation braggin' about his work.

 

While vending at The Cowboy events, the Legendary Leather Clan

has met quite a few new characters and is proud to call them friends.

 

 

One such friend - we'll call him Mountain Man Dave, because when we

first met him, he was dressed in mountain man gear - showed up while

we were vending last fall. Mr. Legendary Leather was surprised when

Mountain Man Dave requested a pair of  custom made spur straps

from Mr. Legendary Leather. What?! Was he changing his style

 to western? Turns out that Mountain Man Dave was going to be

riding a horse in the Hollywood Christmas Parade

and was in need of spur straps.

 

 

The request was for "B Movie Western" style spur straps, which means

black dye. Black dye usually requires a few coats because, when dry,

streaks are often visible. Mountain Man Dave provided the 3" conchos.

 

The next time we saw Mountain Man Dave, he was wearin' a big old

sombrero and those mighty fine spur straps. He was so happy with his

spur straps, he then requested two one-holster rigs to match them.

Now this is the part where the Missus starts gushin' about hubby's

leather work. Not only did he have to deal with several layers of black

dye, but he also had to hand sew cartridge loops (45 LC) for both belts,

hand sew two holsters, and hand sew the lining into both belts.

Trust me, that's a lot of hand sewing!

 

 

But you can't tell me that those belts aren't some of the finest western

gear you've ever seen. Mountain Man Dave was mighty satisfied -

and you'll never guess what he's planning to do next. He's going to

add a Scottish flair to his costume! We're not sure when we'll

be able to get a picture of the finished get-up, however in the mean

time, we'll need to work on a new alias name for Mountain Man

Dave - how about "Scotty McDave"?