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My Experiences at WhirliGig in Elizabethtown, PA

Wander down the main street in Elizabethtown, PA, and you are bound to discover the glass-fronted building of WhirliGig Unique Boutiques and Creations Re-Imagined (this is probably after you’ve caught the fantastic aroma of chocolate wafting by from the nearby Dove factory, so you will know you are in the right place).

Stepping inside, you’re greeted by some warm, wonderful people and some of the coolest upcycled and hand-crafted items–furnishings, décor, jewelry, art, soaps, candles, quilts, leather goods (yes, that’s mine!).

I’ve been selling there for several months now, and so far the experience has been nothing short of fantastic. Okay, I don’t have those Hollywood filmmakers knocking on my door to design and create costumes yet–however, if you ARE from Hollywood and like my work, please contact me via my e-mail! I wasn’t expecting to be able to quit my day job (yet) but that’s a goal for the future.

I’ve learned some pretty valuable lessons so far:

  • It’s great to have a place where my goods can be found regularly. Up until now, I’ve done shows and sold to friends and family through Facebook and via word of mouth. Having even a small spot in a brick-and-mortar has been a God-send as people can find my things even when I can’t be around.
  • No packing car/set up/break down/pack car/unpack car. Others who have done craft shows know exactly what I mean. At first I was a little skeptical of renting what amounted to a smaller piece of real estate (typical booths are 10′ x 10′) but paying a similar price for a one-time setup that sits still, aside from decorative changes, was the way to go. My weekends can be mine again.
  • Someone else is minding the store. In this case, the lady minding the place is a fabulously fun and friendly lady with a jubilant, positive personality and a joy to be around. And she’s there on a regular schedule, which results in…
  • Better sales. Someone may not have made up their mind to buy at the craft show and when they did it was too late because I already packed up to go, but they can come back to the brick-and-mortar where they might have to wait a whole month/year and will likely have forgotten about the items by then.

To sum up–at first I was a little leery but after checking the place out, asking questions of the proprietor, and reading the contract, I took the plunge, and am glad I did.

Vegan Leather?

I’ve been in the market for some leather Victorian-style boots and found some that are beautiful in their simplicity, based on actual 19th century designs. (No, I’m not quite at that level of skill to make my own. Yet.)

When I opened up one of the descriptions, I discovered that they were made from “vegan leather.” Reading that, I laughed, of course. How could leather from an animal possibly be “vegan”?

That little critter that goes by the name of Curiosity started running on that hamster-wheel in my head.

“What is vegan leather?”

So I looked it up, and found out that it’s just the current trendy branding for “pleather”, or plastic leather. PVC. In other words, fake.

That got me thinking (especially after looking it up and finding that one of the top entries that comes up is for that group that claims to love animals) of the impact of buying and using fake leather. I’m not normally into the habit of bashing on something, even if I have a strong dislike for something, but… I have to say something.

First, it’s a plastic. Which means it’s a chemical, created in a lab and multiplied in factories and sent out to other factories to mass produce other items. Often, the fake leather items are very nearly as expensive as the real leather goods. But here’s what happens. Factories produce a lot of waste. In the case of chemical companies, the waste can be extremely toxic. Granted, places that tan leather can (and unfortunately do) produce toxic outcomes, especially with the chrome-tanned leather. Toxic dumping of any kind harms the environment, where those animals people claim to love actually live. I am sure that’s not what animal lovers intended to do – save the animal but destroy the critter’s home.

Leather tends to be a far more durable product than the fake counterpart. Not only does it last longer, but it also retains the ability to be reconditioned and takes a lot more abuse than the fake leather, which, no matter how well you treat it, becomes brittle and cracks over time.

When the time comes when the leather can no longer recycled, it’s organic material. I wouldn’t recommend tossing it in your compost heap unless you know for certain that the leather is not chrome-tanned or colored with toxic dyes, but, let’s face it – the organic material will break down in a landfill far faster than the plastic leather. So the fake leather products will find their way into the landfills far earlier than a genuine leather counterpart. So how good for the environment and animalkind can “vegan leather” possibly be? And if you’re worried about the cost, consider over time what replacing the fake leather items will cost you, versus the initial cost of the real deal and a small investment in leather-care products.

I have no statistics, so I can’t quote how many tons of “vegan leather” are dumped into landfills, or how much is being produced versus genuine leather production, or which overseas production causes more harm, plastic or leather tanning. What I can say is that I, and many leather artisans like me, don’t mass produce products that are meant to disintegrate over time and force you to come back for replacements. We create one-of-a-kind items from genuine leather, putting care and love into the craft (ask an assembly worker how much they give a darn about one of thousands of plastic leather handbags they assemble) and acknowledging the sacrifice of creature that it once belonged to (in addition to many of the source animals having been used for food). One has only to look to the Native Americans of the plains to see the value in using the whole of the creature as efficiently as possible. “Vegan” leather seems to only serve to line the pockets of those who created it in a factory and have tagged it with a term that will get people buying their chemical-based product instead of genuine leather because it’s labeled “vegan”, all without spending a single brain cell questioning where it really came from and how it is produced.

I can’t help but think that an investment in one good leather item from an artisan is a much better option than in some assembly-line-manufactured, one-of-many. If you can’t bring yourself to use genuine leather, go with cotton, linen, cork. If you need something really rugged, 100% cotton duck canvas isn’t exactly the most comfortable right next to your skin, but it stands up to abuse. But don’t just buy into the hype simply because they brand it with the word “vegan.”*

Oh, and if anyone knows where I can get some reproduction Victorian boots made with genuine leather, I’d be happy to know.

*I have always had a problem with the use of the word “organic”. Frankly, everything we eat is organic, because the word simply means that there’s at least one carbon atom somewhere in the molecule. Organic farming doesn’t always mean healthier farming, but has been hijacked by marketers and ends up meaning “more expensive” for the consumer, but that’s another rant for another time…

June Makers Market

Greetings!

I’m so excited to be a vendor in the upcoming June and July Makers Markets! Come out to the Clipper Stadium in Lancaster, PA and see all of the gorgeous handmade goods being offered. You can see a lot of what’s going to be available here, on Creatively Lancaster’s Facebook site. So many wonderful handcrafted items – not just mine!

I’ll be at Booth 62, and am looking forward to seeing you there!

~Victoria

Autumn Covenant Leather Creations

Welcome all! Maybe you’ve just stumbled upon this site, or possibly it came up in an active search for handcrafted leather goods. Either way, thank you for visiting the site and taking the time to check out this blog and the products available.

Leather is a relatively new passion for me–at least in creating items from it. I’ve always been a big fan of leather jackets and shoes. My current love affair with the medium began in the late spring of 2017 when I desired to make my own quiver, and disliked many of the ones I saw available as they were made of synthetic materials, or very expensive real leather with little character or uniqueness to them. I made my first quiver out of the sleeve of an up cycled 1970’s suede jacket. It worked, but was rather flimsy.

Leather Archery Arm Bracer with Elven Markings

Thus began my quest to craft a quiver. Which lead to creating an armguard (pictured above). Which lead to making bracers. Which lead to making bracelets. And bags. And belts. Then, a leather corset, which I wore to my “local” Renaissance Faire to many compliments and rave reviews.

So many people had asked me about the items I made, including “do you sell them?”

The answer at the time was, appallingly, no. But that’s changed. I’m making a lot of my smaller unique items available at any time right here on this website, and am open to crafting custom items. If you’re interested, take a look at the shop or at the gallery.

Thanks again, and hope you enjoy browsing the site!

~Victoria