Leather Pirate & Re-enactment Merchandise Handcrafted With Care

Being performers at Renaissance Faires for many years, often, we couldn’t find exactly what we wanted in the way of costume accessories; so many pirate hats and bags out there were mass-produced with little attention to quality or the small details. We began to do some research and decided to make some items for ourselves. Soon, friends and strangers saw our work and started asking for custom products; eventually Pyrate Leatherworx was born.

“Handmade” vs. “Handcrafted” is there a difference?  YES! Sure, our items are made by hand but they are also “Handcrafted”. The terms are so similar but there is definite difference.

Many crafters claim that their items are “handmade” but that can be a very misleading statement. It could mean “handcrafted” but more often, it means any or all of the following: machine stamped parts, riveted together with a hammer, sewn on an industrial sewing machine or a design embossed on a bag by a mechanical press or designs on a belt made by a hand-cranked machine. Though these may be "technically" hand-made to some degree, don't let it fool you into thinking that you are getting a higher quality item because of it. These items still fall into the "mass produced in order to make a buck" category.

To truly be handcrafted, items are made wholly by hand. Cut by hand, finished, stained, painted, punched, stitched, tooled, and embossed; all by hand, like our counterparts did throughout the ages. None of our leather products or glass etchings are mass-produced. For glass etching, each & every stencil is hand cut. Tooling one sporran can take several hours with small stamps and tools to get the desired look. Even cutting and stitching a basic hat can take upwards of 4 or more hours. Yes it is tedious but we love to create a unique product so it is time well-spent. We make our own patterns based on historical research and don’t use kits or commercial patterns. We pay close attention to detail and the little extras that would make an ordinary item extraordinary.  Because of this, each item is truly a unique, one of a kind original and no two pieces are ever exactly the same. We also listen to your feedback and try to create the item to suit your needs. Sure, it takes a little longer to make each item but we take pride in our work. If we can’t be proud of it, we won’t sell it!

"Shouldn’t your stuff be more expensive since everything is done by hand?"  Generally speaking, yes. But you have to understand that many other leather vendors actually raise their prices excessively. Often, to them, it's more about making a buck, and they will keep their prices as high as people are willing to spend. In contrast, we put a value on our time, calculate the cost of our materials, and use formulas to figure out what we should be asking for our pieces. Very often people are surprised at the superior quality they receive for our very competitive prices. You’ll often find that our prices are comparable to if not even lower than some of the machine made, mass-produced items you’ll find in the marketplace.

*Of course, the preceding message is a general statement, we are not saying that some other crafters do not use similar processes or take as much pride in their work, just that it is a rarity these days. There are many amazing artisans out there that do some incredible work and for that, we admire them! We encourage you to shop around, see what you find and let us know, we love feedback. Check out other sites on the web, check out crafters at other faires, there is a lot of variety out there, just make sure what you are getting is going to hold up and of course, that you like it.

So who are these guys that make this stuff anyway? Check the Crew page.

What Do You Make Anyway? See the Products Page.

So How Is It That I Can Go About Ordering This Stuff? As a matter of fact, you can check out the Ordering Info page for more information about making an order or even purchasing a gift certificate.

Want to meet us and check out our wares in person? Check out our show schedules.

Want to see some customer comments regarding the quality of our work? LOOK HERE.