Everything is hand tooled the old style traditional way, one stamp at a time. Nothing is embossed! The following year his old booth was used for guest artists.
How I got to be “The Leather Dragon”
THE LEATHER DRAGON·MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2019·
I originally started coming to Sterling in 1988 as a patron. I enjoyed it so much, I would come at least 3 or 4 times a year. About my second year I struck up a friendship with one of the craftsmen. That would be Keith Teachout who had a stained glass booth on the high road just past the herbalist. I started working fo
r him as a helper to take care of customers and when he had to be out of the booth. After about 6 years his booth fell apart one winter and Jerry the owner at that time, built him a new double sized booth next to the maze. I worked for him for another 7 years until he decided to leave the Festival and move to New Orleans and open a B&B. And the first guest artist was John Osborne, Ozzie to his friends. Ozzie is a leather craftsman who had been plying his trade for over 40 years. He is from Robinson, Kansas and had been doing the Festival circuit for about 25 years or so. We hit it off quickly and I started the same arrangement with him, that is helping with customers, etc. While he was on breaks and when I had spare time I would work with scrap leather to try to duplicate some of his techniques. He would give me pointers and show me tricks of the trade. After about the 2nd year, he had bought a booth at Peddlers Corner and I continued working for him there. It was also about that time that I got serious about leather working and we set up sort of an informal apprenticeship. I also bought some of my own tools and started working out my home, practicing what I had learned. The following year I formed The Leather Dragon as an official business with a D.B.A. and I started doing local shows in the Rochester area such as the Lilac Festival and the Hilton Apple Festival. I continued working for Ozzie every summer at Sterling, learning new techniques in tooling, carving, water forming, cobbling and dying. About the 10th year of working for him He decided to quit the Sterling Festival and concentrate on shows closer to him, such as the Kansas City and Arizona festivals. So I ended up buying his booth and got juried into Sterling. That brings us up to the present where I have been doing Sterling as the Leather Dragon for the past 5 years.
07/06/2024
🏰🎉 Opening Weekend at the Sterling Renaissance Festival! 🎉🏰
The time has finally come! Join us this weekend for Family Appreciation Weekend on July 6th & 7th as we welcome back the 2024 season. Get one FREE CHILD's ticket for every regular adult priced ticket purchased!
Experience over 100 stage and street performances, including comedy, daredevils, jousting, swordsmen, royalty, wenches, trials and dunks, pub sings, games, and more! Set in the beautiful woods of Warwickshire, this is an event you don't want to miss!
Opening weekend special price ONLY AVAILABLE AT THE GATE
Plan your visit and get ready for an unforgettable adventure: sterlingfestival.com
July 6-August 18. Weekends only. Rain or shine.
Huzzah!
07/06/2024
I’d like to wish all of my Faire friends and patrons a great opening weekend!
I am really missing being there and seeing all of you!
Unfortunately my health issues prevented me from continuing.
I really enjoyed my time there over the past 30 years, the last 15 as a vendor leather craftsman.
I hope to have a website up and running soon, where you can still get my wares.
I do plan on making at least one or two visits there to say hello to old friends.
Take care until we meet anon!
05/11/2024
Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, life was getting in the way.
I regret to say with extreme sadness that I won’t be coming back to Faire. But with some of my health issues and not having a full time assistant, I decided to call it quits. Also the fact that they tend to have power outages occasionally at the campground, and I can’t be without it, doesn’t help.
I will however still be doing leatherwork out of my home. Currently you can check out my work on my page, but I hope to have a website up and running soon.
All of my belt designs will be available , and as always custom orders are welcome!
I do have a number of my new design small belt pouches available. They are the perfect size for any size cell phones.
Also my booth will be up for sale, call me if you’re interested.
I again want to thank all of my faithful customers for your patronage over the years.
I will be making at least one trip out to Faire this year.
Take care my friends and safe travels!
12/25/2023
I want to wish a Merry Christmas to all my Rennie friends and loyal patrons!
Sorry I haven’t posted anything lately and I missed you all last year! I’ve had a lot going on but doing much better. And I hope to see you all this season!
06/28/2023
It’s with a heavy heart I regret that I won’t be able to do the Festival this year!
I’ve had some health issues that I have been dealing with since last year. It’s left me feeling tired and no energy. I won’t get into details.
As a result I wasn’t able to get enough inventory done for the season for one thing and not having enough energy to get set up and work the festival.
The good news is that I’ve been working on the health issues and hopefully should have most of them resolved by the fall. This would enable me get my inventory back up for next season, as I plan on continuing on next season!
Also I do have a limited inventory of belts, pouches and barrettes, so if you need anything you can get in contact with me through here or through my daughter Michelle at Bella’s Baubles at Festival.
To all my festival friends and patrons, I appreciate your support over the years and look forward to seeing you all next year!
04/17/2023
Sorry I haven’t posted for a while, I’ve been dealing with some minor health issues, mainly slow thyroid. Total lack of energy!
But I finally managed to get my act together and start working on my inventory.
These are small belt pouches. They are of new design that I’ve been working on. They are a little less labor intensive than the other ones, and just a little larger to accommodate most cell phones . These are ready to dye, and then put on the closures and belt loops.
Next up, belts!
03/26/2023
02/08/2023
I need a knight to rescue me.
12/24/2022
I want to wish all of my Rennie friends and customers a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year! Hope to see you all this summer!
Also anyone who talked to me about a special project and I haven’t got back to you, feel free to contact me!
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I originally started coming to Sterling in 1988 as a patron. I enjoyed it so much, I would come at least 3 or 4 times a year.
About my second year I struck up a friendship with one of the craftsmen. That would be Keith Teachout who had a stained glass booth on the high road just past the herbalist. I started working for him as a helper to take care of customers and when he had to be out of the booth.
After about 3 years his booth fell apart one winter and Jerry the owner at that time, built him a new double sized booth next to the maze. I worked for him for another 7 years until he decided to leave the Festival and move to New Orleans and open a B&B.
The following year his old booth was used for guest artists. And the first guest artist was John Osborne, Ozzie to his friends. Ozzie is a leather craftsman who had been plying his trade for over 40 years. He is from Robinson, Kansas and had been doing the Festival circuit for about 25 years or so.
We hit it off quickly and I started the same arrangement with him, that is helping with customers, etc. While he was on breaks and when I had spare time I would work with scrap leather to try to duplicate some of his techniques. He would give me pointers and show me tricks of the trade.
After about the 2nd year, he had bought a booth at Peddlers Corner and I continued working for him there. It was also about that time that I got serious about leather working and we set up sort of an informal apprenticeship. I also bought some of my own tools and started working out my home, practicing what I had learned.
The following year I formed The Leather Dragon as an official business with a D.B.A. and I started doing local shows in the Rochester area such as the Lilac Festival and the Hilton Apple Festival. I continued working for Ozzie every summer at Sterling, learning new techniques in tooling, carving, water forming, cobbling and dying.
About the 10th year of working for him He decided to quit the Sterling Festival and concentrate on shows closer to him, such as the Kansas City and Arizona festivals. So I ended up buying his booth and got juried into Sterling. That brings us up to the present where I have been doing Sterling as the Leather Dragon for the past 3 years.
