July 5, 2024 • 35 mins
Welcome to Full Cow, a podcast about leather and kink where your host, Edge (he/him), shares his 30+ years of experience in the community. This time we're talking covers!
Ask Edge! Go to https://www.speakpipe.com/LTHREDGE to leave ask a question or leave feedback. Find Edge's other content on Instagram and Twitter. Also visit his archive of educational videos, Tchick-Tchick.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:18):
Let's talk about covers that you are an adult.
Welcome to Full Cow, a podcastabout leather, kink and BDSM.
(00:42):
My name is Edge, my pronounsare he, him, and I am your host,
and in this episode we'll bediscussing that mythical,
mystical hat that sits at thecenter of so much imagery in the
leather community, the covercalled by many names, worn in
many ways and with many ritualssurrounding it.
(01:05):
As always, I'll start bytalking about my own cover and
its story and the role it hasplayed in my journey.
We'll do a little bit of ahow-to when it comes to covers,
which can be really quite tricky, and then we'll finish off with
an Ask Edge segment.
I think it's a pretty goodepisode, so I hope you enjoy it
(01:27):
and let's get started.
Technically, I have had threecovers in my leather journey.
The very first cover I everbought was from Mr S in San
Francisco and my guess is thiswould have been probably 1995,
(01:49):
certainly the late 1900s and itwas unique in that it was
completely made of leather,which meant it was foldable, and
I thought, oh, that's fantastic, that's what I want.
Fantastic, that's what I want.
But what I discovered is beingso foldable, it also did not
(02:09):
hold a shape particularly welland I never ended up wearing it
very much, and in fact, I can'teven tell you what happened to
it.
My primary cover, the cover Iwear all the time, all the time
(02:29):
I purchased in 1999.
And actually I had to doresearch on this.
I went through my Tumblr, andif you're not familiar with my
Tumblr, well, it's a whole otherstory, but it basically has
every photo of me I've evertaken since the beginning of my
online presence.
And I scrolled back years andyears and years and the first
time I had pictures of mewearing a cover was in 1999.
(02:51):
And I must have bought it atLeatherman, nyc, because I was
living in New Jersey at the time.
I can't tell you why I boughtit.
I'm pretty sure at the time Ihad just gotten my first leather
uniform, custom made for me byDavid Samuel Mankeys.
That's reflected in the photoswhere I found the cover, and I'm
(03:13):
pretty sure I bought it becauseit completed the uniform.
There was nothing speciallysignificant about it.
It was not marking some hugemoment in my journey.
It was another item of gear Iwas acquiring Coincidentally not
to feed too much into some ofthe mythology surrounding covers
(03:34):
, but coincidentally, I boughtit right around at the time I
started to make that transitioninto dominance at the turn of
the millennium.
I've had my cover, therefore,for 25 years, and that's one of
the amazing things about coversis usually you only need one
because you may gain a lot ofweight.
(03:57):
You may lose a lot of weight.
Your body's shape may changeradically across time, but
usually your head stays aboutthe same size.
I'm very happy with my cover.
If anything, I feel like it'sslightly too small, but I'm very
pleased with it.
The original badge I had on itwas given to me by a local boy
(04:22):
and I'm trying to remember if Idiscussed this, probably in one
of the interludes, perhaps in anepisode, but I ended up really
doing wrong by him.
Oh yeah, it was the episode onmentorship.
He was one of the ones where Ijust really fucked up and so
eventually I changed that badgeout for a pretty simple pair of
(04:43):
pilot's wings that I purchasedfrom Leatherworks.
The third cover I never wear.
I don't like it.
What's ironic is that it is aMuir cap, as in I actually
purchased it from Muir.
We'll talk about that in thenext segment.
I was excited to get it.
I was not happy with it themoment I got it.
(05:05):
It is not shaped well for myhead.
It is not proportioned well formy head.
I don't love the leather theyused, and now I'm kind of stuck
with it because I just feel likeyou can't throw away a cover.
What am I going to do with it.
I suppose I will donate it tosome local leather auction or
(05:26):
perhaps one day I will find theCinderella-esque boy or sir who
looks good in it and I will giftit to that person.
But my cover is my LeathermanNYC cover and I don't assign too
much significance to it.
(05:47):
And in fact you know I have alot of rituals around quite a
bit of my gear but I don'tnecessarily have any rituals
around my cover.
I will say I don't like whenpeople touch it.
I'm not angry about it, but Idon't like it.
But you know, in general Idon't like it when people touch
my gear without permission.
But the cover does have acertain kind of you are touching
(06:11):
my soul, please stop touchingmy soul.
So there's that.
The other thing is that when Itravel with it it sort of gets
its own bag.
But that has less to do withthe specialness of my cover and
more to do with the fragility ofit.
Other than that it does have aspecial place in the gear closet
(06:31):
there's a special cover shelfwhich is actually over in the
play area, not in the leatherarea.
So it has some specialness butnot the sacredness that is often
assigned to covers.
And I'm okay with that.
I place my sacredness in otherplaces and you're welcome to
place your sacredness in yourcover or elsewhere.
(06:53):
I wear it.
You know, it sort of depends onthe whole ensemble, right?
I feel like it goes best withleather uniforms, certainly
given its military background,and it's also highly temperature
dependent Covers are hot Coversare sweaty.
I live in Florida.
(07:15):
I will not be wearing and I'mrecording this in late June.
Happy Pride everyone.
It's actually June 29th Pridein many places around the
country.
June 29th pride in many placesaround the country.
I will not be wearing my coveragain, probably until November,
because leather doesn't breathe.
There's actually a plasticpocket on the inside of the
(07:35):
cover to sort of make it evenmore sweaty and it just I melt,
I melt, I melt in my cover allthe time.
There are times where I willwear it because it has a special
power to it and it can transmitpower to a man who's come over
to serve me, for example.
(07:55):
Otherwise, it is an occasionalpiece.
For me.
It's important.
It is important because it isthe only cover I have, despite
the first one I bought, despitethe third one I bought, which I
do not like.
It is my cover and it has aspecialness.
I treat it with a specialnessbut not a sacredness, and that's
(08:20):
an interesting line to considerthat it is special to me but
not sacred.
I don't even know how I canunpack that here in this moment,
except to say that I feel it'sirreplaceable.
That's part of the specialness,but I don't feel it has a power
(08:40):
in itself, and that's thesacredness that's missing power
in itself, and that's thesacredness that's missing.
In any case, it's not aparticularly long story, is it?
But that is the story of mycover, which has walked my
journey with me for 25 years,has been well not around the
world with me, but certainly hasbeen to many other countries
(09:00):
with me, countries with me.
It is the cover which many menhave seen me in many men have
knelt before me in and very fewmen have touched.
We're going to talk a lot moreabout covers in the next segment
and hopefully those will giveyou some help and guidelines
(09:22):
should you be looking for acover of your own, and once you
find it, I think you will findthat it's yours for life.
You don't need more than one.
You're welcome to have morethan one.
I know people who have manydifferent covers, but there is
(09:47):
something about it that is thatuniqueness, that specialness,
that when you find the cover foryou, it's yours for life.
We should probably start bytalking about what the hell I
mean when I am talking about acover.
It is known by many names.
Most people will know it as aMuir cap, Some people will call
it a master's cap or a biker cap, but it is technically a cover.
(10:11):
It comes from a military context.
It is a military style hat.
And one thing I was reallysurprised most people don't know
which.
Now you know if you've listenedto the first segment it is not
Muir cap A Muir cap.
It is not a Muir cap.
Muir is a manufacturer and sothere's brand dilution.
(10:32):
It's like calling any tissuepaper a Kleenex or any bandage a
Band-Aid.
If you call it a Muir cap,you're you may not actually have
a Muir cap.
They are located in Canada.
You can purchase a Muir capfrom Muir.
They are made to order.
So have a little bit ofpatience.
(10:52):
And that's an important thingto know, because I did a video
on Twitter once and people werelike shocked to realize that
they'd been calling it thisthing without realizing there
was a name.
Actually it was.
Someone had asked where's agood place to get a Muir cap and
I said, well, you could get itfrom Muir.
And that's when people werelike what?
Yes, you can get it from Muir,but its origin comes from the
(11:16):
military.
And that's not at all surprisingif we think about the history
of our community, that we beganas a leather community from the
disaffected World War IIveterans who returned from the
horrors of World War II andpurchased motorcycles and rode
around the country, so theywould have been familiar with
covers, and that intersection ofmilitary culture and biker
(11:38):
culture created the leathercover that we know today.
Now there's been a great dealof mythology that has grown
around the cover.
One of them is this notion of acovering ceremony, and I'm
using little air quotes aroundthat covering ceremony where
(11:58):
someone is recognized as anaccomplished master and
presented with his cover by thecommunity.
I never witnessed, I neverheard of this until I was, oh
goodness, maybe 20 years into myleather journey and I did a
(12:18):
little bit of research, and I'mnot alone in that.
There's a notion it ispresented as somehow old guard.
It is not.
It is not.
The old guard did not havecovering ceremonies, nor do we
have a repository of ritualisticknowledge from the old guard.
So covering ceremonies areprobably a fairly new invention
(12:40):
and that's fantastic, right.
We are a living community andwe are a community that is a bit
like a tribe, and so we want toinvent rituals.
We want to inventmeaning-making activities that
reflect who we are and reflectour values.
So there's nothing wrong withcovering ceremonies.
However, they are not old guard.
(13:01):
They are probably historicallynew and it doesn't mean that you
can't get a cover unless you'represented with it.
It's also not true that onlydominant peoples are allowed to
wear covers.
A submissive person in myservice wearing a cover I don't
(13:30):
think it immediately orexclusively signals dominance.
That is a sort of.
It is a correlative, notcausative, right.
So there, a lot of dominantpeople wear covers, but just
because you're wearing a coverdoes not mean you're Don in
person.
There is a correlation butthere is not causation.
So I invite you to wear a cover.
I invite you to wear as manydifferent covers as you want.
(13:55):
The thing that's special aboutcovers and recognize they are
clearly capacious for holdingmeaning, because all kinds of
things get mapped onto the cover, including this community
notion through a coveringceremony, including concepts of
dominance, including ouroutsized mythology of the old
(14:18):
guard itself.
Lots of stuff can get stuckinto a cover.
They have a lot of room.
They have a lot of capacity tohold meaning.
A lot of that has not been partof my particular leather
journey, but what I will say.
What I find special about coversis that they tend to be as
(14:38):
unique as a fingerprint, andthat is certainly.
I've seen photos where I'veknown who it was.
Maybe their face was obscured.
I knew who was in the photobecause of the cover.
Think about the combination offactors that go into a cover.
So first there is the coveritself, which will have a
(15:00):
distinct shape in terms of theheight of its peak, the
pointiness of its peak, the sizeof the band around, the size of
the brim, whether or not thebrim has a little mylar strip on
the end, what the badge is.
If there's a badge, the strapthat goes over the top, the
(15:20):
strap that goes in front, is ita chain?
Is it leather?
Is it patent leather?
Is it an expansion strap?
That combination creates almostinfinite possibilities, and so
a person's cover has a verysingular combination of factors
that makes it.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
I want to argue uniquely theirs.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
You can certainly find two people who have the
exact same cover because theybought it from the same place
and didn't do anything to it,but I think most people who
purchase a cover make decisionsaround it.
The first decision is the coveritself.
I will say I strongly recommendagainst buying a cover online.
(16:03):
I will say that that iscontraindicated, and that's
because whether or not a coverlooks good on you is so
dependent on not just the sizebut the proportion of the peak
and the brim and the shaping ofthe cover.
The proportion of that, to yourhead, there's no way to predict
(16:26):
that from online.
I strongly recommend that ifyou're shopping for a cover, you
buy one in person, because youhave to try it on, not just for
sizing but to make sure it looksgood on you.
Once you've purchased it, youhave a lot of decisions to make.
Most covers will come with asort of generic plasticky,
(16:48):
patent, leathery kind of strapacross the top and across the
brim, shall we say.
These are removable.
Now, if you go inside the capand you peel back the kind of
leather band that's on theinside, you will see this little
sort of wire, these two littlewire prongs, which you can bend,
(17:13):
and then you remove the littlebutton on the sides and all the
straps come off.
Let me warn you now, theselittle button wire things are so
delicate.
I mean, if you bend them morethan two times, they're going to
break, and so you really needto maybe first of all get extras
, if you can like Muir sellsextras for good reason, or you
(17:38):
really need to know exactly whatyou want to do, because you're
really only going to be able tochange it probably once.
They're the most delicatepieces of wire I have ever
encountered and I have had somany break when I've just sort
of been bending them two orthree times.
However, sound right.
So you fold back that innerleather liner.
You find these wire prongs, youunbend them, you take the
(18:01):
little button things out.
The straps come off.
Then you have a lot ofdecisions to make.
You can get leather straps.
You can keep the originalpatent leathery looking straps.
Some people like chain.
There's an expansion strapwhich is metal and looks like I
don't know the best way todescribe it is a bunch of
rectangles.
You need to make decisions Now.
Some people like a chain in thefront and a leather on top.
(18:24):
Leather on top and expansionfront.
Expansion on top, leather onfront.
It's any combination.
You want Total personalpreference.
There is zero meaning encodedinto your choice of these straps
.
So you get the straps, youdelicately put those wire prongs
(18:44):
back in and you've startedmaking the cover your own.
Now.
Badge Eagle is very popular andtraditional.
Some people will do an actualpolice-style badge.
I've seen people get apolice-style badge with their
bluff member number.
Mine again is pilot wings.
(19:05):
You can get a pig pin, you canget any number of pins, and then
you have to make a decision.
Are you going to put it rightthrough the band?
Are you going to put it up atthe peak?
A lot of that will have to dowith the size of the peak, the
shape of the peak, the size ofthe pin, et cetera, et cetera,
et cetera of the peak, the sizeof the pin, etc.
(19:28):
Etc.
Etc.
You really want to thinkcarefully about this decision,
because you're about to puncturea hole into your cover and it's
the kind of thing where youwant to get it right the first
time, because redoing it isgoing to leave holes that could
be visible.
Once you've made the decisionof what sort of badge or pin you
want, once you've decided onthe placement and once you have
(19:50):
kind of arduously pushed itthrough the leather,
particularly if you're doing itthrough the band, it takes quite
a bit of effort.
That's it.
The cover's yours, the cover isyours.
I will say I have never done.
I'm checking, I'm thinking inmy head.
I don't think I've ever doneany care of my cover.
(20:11):
I've never polished the brim.
I don't think I've everconditioned it.
I just wear it a lot and handleit a lot.
So it's picking up a lot ofoils from my skin, but that's
about it.
Covers are pretty lowmaintenance and there's so many
options.
Now.
Covers come in all kinds ofcolors, some with quilting, some
(20:36):
the actual cover is quilted.
I've seen some where the brimis quilted.
You have a lot of options hereand I would say that for some of
the more nouveau options of thedifferent colors, you might
want to save that as your sortof secondary cover.
I feel like much like a littleblack dress is universal in some
(20:58):
fashion areas.
I feel like every leatherperson needs a black leather
cover.
That's theirs, that's uniquelytheirs, that's special, that is
their fingerprint, with theircombination of bands and badges
and all that.
So I'd recommend you start withthe sort of standard cover
before going out there, shall wesay, the other thing to keep in
(21:22):
mind is how to wear a cover.
Okay, now, if you're intoprotocol, you're going to love
covers because they come fromthe military and there's a
gazillion, gazillion militaryprotocols around covers about
how many fingers you should beable to fit under the brim.
(21:44):
And how many fingers?
From the ear to the top of thecover?
All that right, there's allthat.
The ear to the top of the cover?
All that right, there's allthat.
But I will say, to wear itproperly, I pick it up right
Between your two hands, put yourhands on the side of the cover
and then place it down on yourhead.
So the goal is, you want to makesure that the sides are
(22:07):
perfectly parallel to the ground.
The side should be straight andI've seen a lot of people.
The temptation is to wear thecover tilted a little bit back
so that the brim doesn't coverquite as much of your eyes.
However, the power of the cover, the power of the cover, is the
(22:33):
way it shades your eyes.
For me, this is what makes acover partially, uniquely,
dominant and super powerful.
If you think back to cruising,cruising always started with eye
contact.
Eye contact was permission toapproach, and what the cover
(22:53):
does is it allows you to controlwho has eye contact with you
when I'm wearing my cover.
If I dip my chin just acentimeter, then I will block
eye contact from anyone, and ifI raise my chin just a little
bit, I'll make eye contact, andso part of the reason we want
(23:17):
the cover to be perfectlyparallel on the sides, perfectly
straight on the sides, is sothat the brim is partially
covering our vision so that withjust the slightest movements we
can control who gets to makeeye contact with us.
That's the magic.
That's why covers are sopowerful, because you get to
(23:38):
control who looks into your eyes, and that means you get to
control whether or not peopleare seen.
Oh goodness, because everyonewants to be seen, everyone wants
to be recognized, and we dothat broadly like, hey, I
recognize you as a member of thecommunity.
But particularly if you are adominant person, your ability to
(24:02):
see a boy, slave, pup, object,to recognize them, to make eye
contact, is super, superpowerful and initiates the
encounter.
That can lead to a night ofpassion perhaps.
So it's important to wear thecover correctly so that you can
(24:23):
have that control of eye contact.
Now, obviously it's importantin military reasons too.
If we go back to protocol andregulations, be aware of the fit
of your cover.
There shouldn't be any big gapsaround the side, and this
requires a little bit ofpatience, because covers are
(24:44):
round, heads are oval, so you'realways going to be at first.
In particular, you're going tobe squishing, squishing the
cover into shape as you gentlylower it like a crown.
I will say gently lower it likea crown onto your head, but
there shouldn't be any big gapson the side.
That would indicate that thecover might be a little too big.
(25:06):
If your cover is slightly bigand granted, you know hat sizes
how do you measure your hat size?
You put a tape measure aroundyour head and whatever you get,
that's your hat size.
But they're done in likequarter inch increments, right,
and your head may fall slightlybetween sizes.
My cover is a little small forme, but I know that if I go up a
(25:28):
size it's going to be a littlebig for me and I would much
rather it be a little small.
If your cover is a little big,you can put some moleskin or a
folded up piece of cardboardinside the leather liner that
runs around the inside to kindof create a little smaller size.
(25:49):
And you want to be strategicabout where that put that,
because it doesn't show hugelybut it is slightly noticeable.
So doing it maybe at the backwould close up any gaps on the
sides.
Just something to keep in mindStoring covers.
I store mine brimmed down,because the peak of a cover is a
(26:12):
little mushy, it is a littlebit more delicate than the brim,
so I simply put the cover down,and so it looks as though we're
on my head, right, I don't putit upside down so that I'm
trying to think of theterminology.
You should not be able to seethe inside of the cover when
you're storing it Does that help?
(26:33):
I hope so, and that's you know.
I don't know if that's likesuper important.
I think that's just what Iabsorbed from the community
where I was growing up.
That that's how you store acover brim down, not brim up and
you don't put it on the peak,and it makes sense.
The peak is, I'm pretty sure,just shaped with cardboard.
(26:55):
It's not the most rigorous,resilient manufacturing process
and therefore it's a little morelikely to lose its shape if
you're storing it upside down.
So that's just something tokeep in mind if you're storing
it upside down.
So that's just something tokeep in mind.
Some people do like to polishthe brim and you can do that
(27:16):
just sort of, I think, withWindex.
Don't quote me on that, but Ifeel like it's essentially
plastic right.
So a little bit of Windex andyou can wipe off fingerprints.
I'm not that fussy.
I'm not that fussy about mostof my leather either, though you
certainly can condition a covermuch as you would condition any
piece of leather If you justagain, if you decide to remove
(27:39):
the bands so that you can get toall of the leather, better have
some extra of those littlebutton wire things, because they
are going to break.
I promise you that, and myexperience again has been I've
never.
I've never, once, maybe onceI've maybe once conditioned to
break.
I promise you that, and myexperience again has been I've
never, I've never, once, maybeonce.
I've maybe once conditioned bycovers.
I don't think it requires a lotof care.
You can buy them at mostleather shops.
(28:00):
If you don't have a leathershop near you, then you can try
to get to a leather event.
They will certainly have themas well.
I will say again I recommendbuying it in person, and I think
that's the introduction tocovers, both sort of why we call
them a cover, why they'recalled Muir caps, who Muir is,
(28:22):
the different ways to make ituniquely yours and how to put it
on, how to wear it and thepower that comes from wearing it
, on how to wear it and thepower that comes from wearing it
.
Let me end by saying this isuniversally true for everything
in this podcast, for everythingI do in social media, so I'm
going to emphasize it herebecause I think this is an
episode where it needsemphasizing.
(28:43):
Nothing I am saying is gospeltruth.
Nothing I am saying reflectsany sort of quote, unquote rules
at all.
All I am ever doing is sharingmy experience, and you can take
it and do with it what you want.
(29:03):
Maybe it reinforces your ownexperience, maybe it is a
scaffold for you to move forwardin a journey, and then you do
something completely differentthat works for you.
Maybe you're doing somethingdifferent, but understanding how
I got to where I'm at insomething gives you new
perspective on the way you'redoing things.
All of this is to say, takeeverything I've said with a
(29:26):
grain of salt.
At the end of the day.
This sounds a littlesacrilegious, but I'm going to
say it.
At the end of the day, thecover is a hat, and if the hat
looks good on, you wear the hat.
If the hat doesn't look good onyou, don't wear the hat, and
that's really what it comes downto.
Regardless, I hope you find acover that works for you and
(29:47):
fits you and looks good on yourhead.
I hope you make it uniquelyyours and I hope you discover
some of the power that iscapable through controlling the
gaze Not the homo—I don't meanlike the gays, like the
homosexuals the gaze of power,okay, thanks, power, okay,
(30:11):
thanks.
Welcome to Ask Edge, thesegment where I answer questions
from all of you, if you wouldlike to submit a question.
You could email it to ask.
At full cow dot show or evenbetter, leave me a voicemail at
speakpipecom.
(30:31):
Slash leatheredge.
Both of those links areavailable in the show notes this
episode.
We have one question from Alex.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Hi Edge, I'm Alex and my pronouns are he, him.
I've had some ideas on creatingnew types of leather gear, but
I don't yet have the skills tocreate them myself.
Would you know any resources onworking with leather?
Thank you very much forcreating your podcast.
I've greatly enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Well, alex, that depends in part on what kind of
leather you want to make.
If we're talking something likeharnesses, belts, suspenders,
things that require punchingholes and putting in rivets,
then a really wonderful resourceis Tandy Leather, if you happen
to have a store near you.
(31:19):
They are located in many urbancenters.
It is a store that sellsleather and leather crafting
supplies, but they also doclasses on basic leather
crafting.
Now, if you want to dosomething more like clothing,
like a vest or a shirt or a pairof pants, things become a
little more complicated.
(31:41):
If we're thinking about aheavier weight leather, it
actually requires a sort ofheavy-duty industrial sewing
machine that not everyone willhave access to.
If, however, you're willing towork in a lighter weight leather
, something like a lambskin or agoatskin, then you might be
able to do that with a regularsewing machine, in which case
(32:02):
you might check out local craftstores to see if they have any
basic lessons on pattern makingand sewing.
I will note that last year atClaw LA which technically is
called Leather Getaway, but noone calls it Leather Getaway, we
just call it LA Claw or Claw LAthey had a special track of
(32:23):
classes on leather making andactually I think they made
leather vests.
So you may want to pay attentionto their schedule.
It is in Los Angeles in lateNovember.
My guess is also that TikTokprobably has a ton of resources.
I've kind of drawn the line atTikTok in terms of my ability to
(32:46):
absorb, consume and producesocial media, so I don't
entirely know, but I do think ofit as this sort of abundant
resource with all sorts of shorteducational videos besides
other kinds of dance videos.
So you may also check there.
And YouTube always is just agreat, abundant resource for
(33:07):
learning things.
You might also check there.
But if you're looking for handson instruction, I would
recommend Tandy Leather or alocal hobby shop that might
teach sewing or definitely LAClaw, because I know they were
doing classes.
Hopefully they will repeatthose.
The other thing is and thisprobably isn't possible, but I
(33:29):
can tell you, almost everyleather store I know of is in
desperate need of leathercraftspeople and would be
probably more than willing totake on apprentices who are
willing to learn the craft inexchange for producing leather
for the store.
So that might also be aresource, although of course it
(33:51):
assumes you're located in aplace where there is a leather
store and that that leatherstore does production and that
that production team could usesome help.
I hope those offer you someavenues for exploration.
I can say more broadly that asa community, we are desperate
for leather makers.
There are only a handful ofstores left in the country and
(34:16):
of those, an even tinierfraction produces anything like
custom leather.
So I really want to encourageyou to find the resources you
need to produce the kind ofleather you need to produce, so
that maybe someday I can buysome of it.
I'm always looking for moregear.
Thank you so much for thequestion and I would like to
(34:37):
encourage everyone to thinkabout submitting a question.
You know I get a lot ofanecdotal notes and messages and
DMs about the podcast and howmuch people enjoy it, but it is
such a simple way to support mein this podcast by submitting a
question, and it doesn't have tobe a profound question like hey
(34:59):
Edge, what's the future ofleather?
This is also an opportunity toget to know me better, to get to
know me as a person better andnot just as a figure in the
leather community.
So please consider submitting aquestion.
It only takes a few seconds andit can be utterly weirdly
random.
So that's all we have for thisepisode.
(35:21):
I'm so grateful for all of youand, as always, I hope your
leather journey is utterly andprofoundly blessed.
And that's it for this episode.
Thank you so much for joiningme.
Please consider subscribing, oryou can send feedback to edge
at fullcowshow.
As always, may your leatherjourney be blessed.
Let's talk about covers that you are an adult.
Welcome to Full Cow, a podcastabout leather, kink and BDSM.
(00:42):
My name is Edge, my pronounsare he, him, and I am your host,
and in this episode we'll bediscussing that mythical,
mystical hat that sits at thecenter of so much imagery in the
leather community, the covercalled by many names, worn in
many ways and with many ritualssurrounding it.
(01:05):
As always, I'll start bytalking about my own cover and
its story and the role it hasplayed in my journey.
We'll do a little bit of ahow-to when it comes to covers,
which can be really quite tricky, and then we'll finish off with
an Ask Edge segment.
I think it's a pretty goodepisode, so I hope you enjoy it
(01:27):
and let's get started.
Technically, I have had threecovers in my leather journey.
The very first cover I everbought was from Mr S in San
Francisco and my guess is thiswould have been probably 1995,
(01:49):
certainly the late 1900s and itwas unique in that it was
completely made of leather,which meant it was foldable, and
I thought, oh, that's fantastic, that's what I want.
Fantastic, that's what I want.
But what I discovered is beingso foldable, it also did not
(02:09):
hold a shape particularly welland I never ended up wearing it
very much, and in fact, I can'teven tell you what happened to
it.
My primary cover, the cover Iwear all the time, all the time
(02:29):
I purchased in 1999.
And actually I had to doresearch on this.
I went through my Tumblr, andif you're not familiar with my
Tumblr, well, it's a whole otherstory, but it basically has
every photo of me I've evertaken since the beginning of my
online presence.
And I scrolled back years andyears and years and the first
time I had pictures of mewearing a cover was in 1999.
(02:51):
And I must have bought it atLeatherman, nyc, because I was
living in New Jersey at the time.
I can't tell you why I boughtit.
I'm pretty sure at the time Ihad just gotten my first leather
uniform, custom made for me byDavid Samuel Mankeys.
That's reflected in the photoswhere I found the cover, and I'm
(03:13):
pretty sure I bought it becauseit completed the uniform.
There was nothing speciallysignificant about it.
It was not marking some hugemoment in my journey.
It was another item of gear Iwas acquiring Coincidentally not
to feed too much into some ofthe mythology surrounding covers
(03:34):
, but coincidentally, I boughtit right around at the time I
started to make that transitioninto dominance at the turn of
the millennium.
I've had my cover, therefore,for 25 years, and that's one of
the amazing things about coversis usually you only need one
because you may gain a lot ofweight.
(03:57):
You may lose a lot of weight.
Your body's shape may changeradically across time, but
usually your head stays aboutthe same size.
I'm very happy with my cover.
If anything, I feel like it'sslightly too small, but I'm very
pleased with it.
The original badge I had on itwas given to me by a local boy
(04:22):
and I'm trying to remember if Idiscussed this, probably in one
of the interludes, perhaps in anepisode, but I ended up really
doing wrong by him.
Oh yeah, it was the episode onmentorship.
He was one of the ones where Ijust really fucked up and so
eventually I changed that badgeout for a pretty simple pair of
(04:43):
pilot's wings that I purchasedfrom Leatherworks.
The third cover I never wear.
I don't like it.
What's ironic is that it is aMuir cap, as in I actually
purchased it from Muir.
We'll talk about that in thenext segment.
I was excited to get it.
I was not happy with it themoment I got it.
(05:05):
It is not shaped well for myhead.
It is not proportioned well formy head.
I don't love the leather theyused, and now I'm kind of stuck
with it because I just feel likeyou can't throw away a cover.
What am I going to do with it.
I suppose I will donate it tosome local leather auction or
(05:26):
perhaps one day I will find theCinderella-esque boy or sir who
looks good in it and I will giftit to that person.
But my cover is my LeathermanNYC cover and I don't assign too
much significance to it.
(05:47):
And in fact you know I have alot of rituals around quite a
bit of my gear but I don'tnecessarily have any rituals
around my cover.
I will say I don't like whenpeople touch it.
I'm not angry about it, but Idon't like it.
But you know, in general Idon't like it when people touch
my gear without permission.
But the cover does have acertain kind of you are touching
(06:11):
my soul, please stop touchingmy soul.
So there's that.
The other thing is that when Itravel with it it sort of gets
its own bag.
But that has less to do withthe specialness of my cover and
more to do with the fragility ofit.
Other than that it does have aspecial place in the gear closet
(06:31):
there's a special cover shelfwhich is actually over in the
play area, not in the leatherarea.
So it has some specialness butnot the sacredness that is often
assigned to covers.
And I'm okay with that.
I place my sacredness in otherplaces and you're welcome to
place your sacredness in yourcover or elsewhere.
(06:53):
I wear it.
You know, it sort of depends onthe whole ensemble, right?
I feel like it goes best withleather uniforms, certainly
given its military background,and it's also highly temperature
dependent Covers are hot Coversare sweaty.
I live in Florida.
(07:15):
I will not be wearing and I'mrecording this in late June.
Happy Pride everyone.
It's actually June 29th Pridein many places around the
country.
June 29th pride in many placesaround the country.
I will not be wearing my coveragain, probably until November,
because leather doesn't breathe.
There's actually a plasticpocket on the inside of the
(07:35):
cover to sort of make it evenmore sweaty and it just I melt,
I melt, I melt in my cover allthe time.
There are times where I willwear it because it has a special
power to it and it can transmitpower to a man who's come over
to serve me, for example.
(07:55):
Otherwise, it is an occasionalpiece.
For me.
It's important.
It is important because it isthe only cover I have, despite
the first one I bought, despitethe third one I bought, which I
do not like.
It is my cover and it has aspecialness.
I treat it with a specialnessbut not a sacredness, and that's
(08:20):
an interesting line to considerthat it is special to me but
not sacred.
I don't even know how I canunpack that here in this moment,
except to say that I feel it'sirreplaceable.
That's part of the specialness,but I don't feel it has a power
(08:40):
in itself, and that's thesacredness that's missing power
in itself, and that's thesacredness that's missing.
In any case, it's not aparticularly long story, is it?
But that is the story of mycover, which has walked my
journey with me for 25 years,has been well not around the
world with me, but certainly hasbeen to many other countries
(09:00):
with me, countries with me.
It is the cover which many menhave seen me in many men have
knelt before me in and very fewmen have touched.
We're going to talk a lot moreabout covers in the next segment
and hopefully those will giveyou some help and guidelines
(09:22):
should you be looking for acover of your own, and once you
find it, I think you will findthat it's yours for life.
You don't need more than one.
You're welcome to have morethan one.
I know people who have manydifferent covers, but there is
(09:47):
something about it that is thatuniqueness, that specialness,
that when you find the cover foryou, it's yours for life.
We should probably start bytalking about what the hell I
mean when I am talking about acover.
It is known by many names.
Most people will know it as aMuir cap, Some people will call
it a master's cap or a biker cap, but it is technically a cover.
(10:11):
It comes from a military context.
It is a military style hat.
And one thing I was reallysurprised most people don't know
which.
Now you know if you've listenedto the first segment it is not
Muir cap A Muir cap.
It is not a Muir cap.
Muir is a manufacturer and sothere's brand dilution.
(10:32):
It's like calling any tissuepaper a Kleenex or any bandage a
Band-Aid.
If you call it a Muir cap,you're you may not actually have
a Muir cap.
They are located in Canada.
You can purchase a Muir capfrom Muir.
They are made to order.
So have a little bit ofpatience.
(10:52):
And that's an important thingto know, because I did a video
on Twitter once and people werelike shocked to realize that
they'd been calling it thisthing without realizing there
was a name.
Actually it was.
Someone had asked where's agood place to get a Muir cap and
I said, well, you could get itfrom Muir.
And that's when people werelike what?
Yes, you can get it from Muir,but its origin comes from the
(11:16):
military.
And that's not at all surprisingif we think about the history
of our community, that we beganas a leather community from the
disaffected World War IIveterans who returned from the
horrors of World War II andpurchased motorcycles and rode
around the country, so theywould have been familiar with
covers, and that intersection ofmilitary culture and biker
(11:38):
culture created the leathercover that we know today.
Now there's been a great dealof mythology that has grown
around the cover.
One of them is this notion of acovering ceremony, and I'm
using little air quotes aroundthat covering ceremony where
(11:58):
someone is recognized as anaccomplished master and
presented with his cover by thecommunity.
I never witnessed, I neverheard of this until I was, oh
goodness, maybe 20 years into myleather journey and I did a
(12:18):
little bit of research, and I'mnot alone in that.
There's a notion it ispresented as somehow old guard.
It is not.
It is not.
The old guard did not havecovering ceremonies, nor do we
have a repository of ritualisticknowledge from the old guard.
So covering ceremonies areprobably a fairly new invention
(12:40):
and that's fantastic, right.
We are a living community andwe are a community that is a bit
like a tribe, and so we want toinvent rituals.
We want to inventmeaning-making activities that
reflect who we are and reflectour values.
So there's nothing wrong withcovering ceremonies.
However, they are not old guard.
(13:01):
They are probably historicallynew and it doesn't mean that you
can't get a cover unless you'represented with it.
It's also not true that onlydominant peoples are allowed to
wear covers.
A submissive person in myservice wearing a cover I don't
(13:30):
think it immediately orexclusively signals dominance.
That is a sort of.
It is a correlative, notcausative, right.
So there, a lot of dominantpeople wear covers, but just
because you're wearing a coverdoes not mean you're Don in
person.
There is a correlation butthere is not causation.
So I invite you to wear a cover.
I invite you to wear as manydifferent covers as you want.
(13:55):
The thing that's special aboutcovers and recognize they are
clearly capacious for holdingmeaning, because all kinds of
things get mapped onto the cover, including this community
notion through a coveringceremony, including concepts of
dominance, including ouroutsized mythology of the old
(14:18):
guard itself.
Lots of stuff can get stuckinto a cover.
They have a lot of room.
They have a lot of capacity tohold meaning.
A lot of that has not been partof my particular leather
journey, but what I will say.
What I find special about coversis that they tend to be as
(14:38):
unique as a fingerprint, andthat is certainly.
I've seen photos where I'veknown who it was.
Maybe their face was obscured.
I knew who was in the photobecause of the cover.
Think about the combination offactors that go into a cover.
So first there is the coveritself, which will have a
(15:00):
distinct shape in terms of theheight of its peak, the
pointiness of its peak, the sizeof the band around, the size of
the brim, whether or not thebrim has a little mylar strip on
the end, what the badge is.
If there's a badge, the strapthat goes over the top, the
(15:20):
strap that goes in front, is ita chain?
Is it leather?
Is it patent leather?
Is it an expansion strap?
That combination creates almostinfinite possibilities, and so
a person's cover has a verysingular combination of factors
that makes it.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
I want to argue uniquely theirs.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
You can certainly find two people who have the
exact same cover because theybought it from the same place
and didn't do anything to it,but I think most people who
purchase a cover make decisionsaround it.
The first decision is the coveritself.
I will say I strongly recommendagainst buying a cover online.
(16:03):
I will say that that iscontraindicated, and that's
because whether or not a coverlooks good on you is so
dependent on not just the sizebut the proportion of the peak
and the brim and the shaping ofthe cover.
The proportion of that, to yourhead, there's no way to predict
(16:26):
that from online.
I strongly recommend that ifyou're shopping for a cover, you
buy one in person, because youhave to try it on, not just for
sizing but to make sure it looksgood on you.
Once you've purchased it, youhave a lot of decisions to make.
Most covers will come with asort of generic plasticky,
(16:48):
patent, leathery kind of strapacross the top and across the
brim, shall we say.
These are removable.
Now, if you go inside the capand you peel back the kind of
leather band that's on theinside, you will see this little
sort of wire, these two littlewire prongs, which you can bend,
(17:13):
and then you remove the littlebutton on the sides and all the
straps come off.
Let me warn you now, theselittle button wire things are so
delicate.
I mean, if you bend them morethan two times, they're going to
break, and so you really needto maybe first of all get extras
, if you can like Muir sellsextras for good reason, or you
(17:38):
really need to know exactly whatyou want to do, because you're
really only going to be able tochange it probably once.
They're the most delicatepieces of wire I have ever
encountered and I have had somany break when I've just sort
of been bending them two orthree times.
However, sound right.
So you fold back that innerleather liner.
You find these wire prongs, youunbend them, you take the
(18:01):
little button things out.
The straps come off.
Then you have a lot ofdecisions to make.
You can get leather straps.
You can keep the originalpatent leathery looking straps.
Some people like chain.
There's an expansion strapwhich is metal and looks like I
don't know the best way todescribe it is a bunch of
rectangles.
You need to make decisions Now.
Some people like a chain in thefront and a leather on top.
(18:24):
Leather on top and expansionfront.
Expansion on top, leather onfront.
It's any combination.
You want Total personalpreference.
There is zero meaning encodedinto your choice of these straps
.
So you get the straps, youdelicately put those wire prongs
(18:44):
back in and you've startedmaking the cover your own.
Now.
Badge Eagle is very popular andtraditional.
Some people will do an actualpolice-style badge.
I've seen people get apolice-style badge with their
bluff member number.
Mine again is pilot wings.
(19:05):
You can get a pig pin, you canget any number of pins, and then
you have to make a decision.
Are you going to put it rightthrough the band?
Are you going to put it up atthe peak?
A lot of that will have to dowith the size of the peak, the
shape of the peak, the size ofthe pin, et cetera, et cetera,
et cetera of the peak, the sizeof the pin, etc.
(19:28):
Etc.
Etc.
You really want to thinkcarefully about this decision,
because you're about to puncturea hole into your cover and it's
the kind of thing where youwant to get it right the first
time, because redoing it isgoing to leave holes that could
be visible.
Once you've made the decisionof what sort of badge or pin you
want, once you've decided onthe placement and once you have
(19:50):
kind of arduously pushed itthrough the leather,
particularly if you're doing itthrough the band, it takes quite
a bit of effort.
That's it.
The cover's yours, the cover isyours.
I will say I have never done.
I'm checking, I'm thinking inmy head.
I don't think I've ever doneany care of my cover.
(20:11):
I've never polished the brim.
I don't think I've everconditioned it.
I just wear it a lot and handleit a lot.
So it's picking up a lot ofoils from my skin, but that's
about it.
Covers are pretty lowmaintenance and there's so many
options.
Now.
Covers come in all kinds ofcolors, some with quilting, some
(20:36):
the actual cover is quilted.
I've seen some where the brimis quilted.
You have a lot of options hereand I would say that for some of
the more nouveau options of thedifferent colors, you might
want to save that as your sortof secondary cover.
I feel like much like a littleblack dress is universal in some
(20:58):
fashion areas.
I feel like every leatherperson needs a black leather
cover.
That's theirs, that's uniquelytheirs, that's special, that is
their fingerprint, with theircombination of bands and badges
and all that.
So I'd recommend you start withthe sort of standard cover
before going out there, shall wesay, the other thing to keep in
(21:22):
mind is how to wear a cover.
Okay, now, if you're intoprotocol, you're going to love
covers because they come fromthe military and there's a
gazillion, gazillion militaryprotocols around covers about
how many fingers you should beable to fit under the brim.
(21:44):
And how many fingers?
From the ear to the top of thecover?
All that right, there's allthat.
The ear to the top of the cover?
All that right, there's allthat.
But I will say, to wear itproperly, I pick it up right
Between your two hands, put yourhands on the side of the cover
and then place it down on yourhead.
So the goal is, you want to makesure that the sides are
(22:07):
perfectly parallel to the ground.
The side should be straight andI've seen a lot of people.
The temptation is to wear thecover tilted a little bit back
so that the brim doesn't coverquite as much of your eyes.
However, the power of the cover, the power of the cover, is the
(22:33):
way it shades your eyes.
For me, this is what makes acover partially, uniquely,
dominant and super powerful.
If you think back to cruising,cruising always started with eye
contact.
Eye contact was permission toapproach, and what the cover
(22:53):
does is it allows you to controlwho has eye contact with you
when I'm wearing my cover.
If I dip my chin just acentimeter, then I will block
eye contact from anyone, and ifI raise my chin just a little
bit, I'll make eye contact, andso part of the reason we want
(23:17):
the cover to be perfectlyparallel on the sides, perfectly
straight on the sides, is sothat the brim is partially
covering our vision so that withjust the slightest movements we
can control who gets to makeeye contact with us.
That's the magic.
That's why covers are sopowerful, because you get to
(23:38):
control who looks into your eyes, and that means you get to
control whether or not peopleare seen.
Oh goodness, because everyonewants to be seen, everyone wants
to be recognized, and we dothat broadly like, hey, I
recognize you as a member of thecommunity.
But particularly if you are adominant person, your ability to
(24:02):
see a boy, slave, pup, object,to recognize them, to make eye
contact, is super, superpowerful and initiates the
encounter.
That can lead to a night ofpassion perhaps.
So it's important to wear thecover correctly so that you can
(24:23):
have that control of eye contact.
Now, obviously it's importantin military reasons too.
If we go back to protocol andregulations, be aware of the fit
of your cover.
There shouldn't be any big gapsaround the side, and this
requires a little bit ofpatience, because covers are
(24:44):
round, heads are oval, so you'realways going to be at first.
In particular, you're going tobe squishing, squishing the
cover into shape as you gentlylower it like a crown.
I will say gently lower it likea crown onto your head, but
there shouldn't be any big gapson the side.
That would indicate that thecover might be a little too big.
(25:06):
If your cover is slightly bigand granted, you know hat sizes
how do you measure your hat size?
You put a tape measure aroundyour head and whatever you get,
that's your hat size.
But they're done in likequarter inch increments, right,
and your head may fall slightlybetween sizes.
My cover is a little small forme, but I know that if I go up a
(25:28):
size it's going to be a littlebig for me and I would much
rather it be a little small.
If your cover is a little big,you can put some moleskin or a
folded up piece of cardboardinside the leather liner that
runs around the inside to kindof create a little smaller size.
(25:49):
And you want to be strategicabout where that put that,
because it doesn't show hugelybut it is slightly noticeable.
So doing it maybe at the backwould close up any gaps on the
sides.
Just something to keep in mindStoring covers.
I store mine brimmed down,because the peak of a cover is a
(26:12):
little mushy, it is a littlebit more delicate than the brim,
so I simply put the cover down,and so it looks as though we're
on my head, right, I don't putit upside down so that I'm
trying to think of theterminology.
You should not be able to seethe inside of the cover when
you're storing it Does that help?
(26:33):
I hope so, and that's you know.
I don't know if that's likesuper important.
I think that's just what Iabsorbed from the community
where I was growing up.
That that's how you store acover brim down, not brim up and
you don't put it on the peak,and it makes sense.
The peak is, I'm pretty sure,just shaped with cardboard.
(26:55):
It's not the most rigorous,resilient manufacturing process
and therefore it's a little morelikely to lose its shape if
you're storing it upside down.
So that's just something tokeep in mind if you're storing
it upside down.
So that's just something tokeep in mind.
Some people do like to polishthe brim and you can do that
(27:16):
just sort of, I think, withWindex.
Don't quote me on that, but Ifeel like it's essentially
plastic right.
So a little bit of Windex andyou can wipe off fingerprints.
I'm not that fussy.
I'm not that fussy about mostof my leather either, though you
certainly can condition a covermuch as you would condition any
piece of leather If you justagain, if you decide to remove
(27:39):
the bands so that you can get toall of the leather, better have
some extra of those littlebutton wire things, because they
are going to break.
I promise you that, and myexperience again has been I've
never.
I've never, once, maybe onceI've maybe once conditioned to
break.
I promise you that, and myexperience again has been I've
never, I've never, once, maybeonce.
I've maybe once conditioned bycovers.
I don't think it requires a lotof care.
You can buy them at mostleather shops.
(28:00):
If you don't have a leathershop near you, then you can try
to get to a leather event.
They will certainly have themas well.
I will say again I recommendbuying it in person, and I think
that's the introduction tocovers, both sort of why we call
them a cover, why they'recalled Muir caps, who Muir is,
(28:22):
the different ways to make ituniquely yours and how to put it
on, how to wear it and thepower that comes from wearing it
, on how to wear it and thepower that comes from wearing it
.
Let me end by saying this isuniversally true for everything
in this podcast, for everythingI do in social media, so I'm
going to emphasize it herebecause I think this is an
episode where it needsemphasizing.
(28:43):
Nothing I am saying is gospeltruth.
Nothing I am saying reflectsany sort of quote, unquote rules
at all.
All I am ever doing is sharingmy experience, and you can take
it and do with it what you want.
(29:03):
Maybe it reinforces your ownexperience, maybe it is a
scaffold for you to move forwardin a journey, and then you do
something completely differentthat works for you.
Maybe you're doing somethingdifferent, but understanding how
I got to where I'm at insomething gives you new
perspective on the way you'redoing things.
All of this is to say, takeeverything I've said with a
(29:26):
grain of salt.
At the end of the day.
This sounds a littlesacrilegious, but I'm going to
say it.
At the end of the day, thecover is a hat, and if the hat
looks good on, you wear the hat.
If the hat doesn't look good onyou, don't wear the hat, and
that's really what it comes downto.
Regardless, I hope you find acover that works for you and
(29:47):
fits you and looks good on yourhead.
I hope you make it uniquelyyours and I hope you discover
some of the power that iscapable through controlling the
gaze Not the homo—I don't meanlike the gays, like the
homosexuals the gaze of power,okay, thanks, power, okay,
(30:11):
thanks.
Welcome to Ask Edge, thesegment where I answer questions
from all of you, if you wouldlike to submit a question.
You could email it to ask.
At full cow dot show or evenbetter, leave me a voicemail at
speakpipecom.
(30:31):
Slash leatheredge.
Both of those links areavailable in the show notes this
episode.
We have one question from Alex.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Hi Edge, I'm Alex and my pronouns are he, him.
I've had some ideas on creatingnew types of leather gear, but
I don't yet have the skills tocreate them myself.
Would you know any resources onworking with leather?
Thank you very much forcreating your podcast.
I've greatly enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Well, alex, that depends in part on what kind of
leather you want to make.
If we're talking something likeharnesses, belts, suspenders,
things that require punchingholes and putting in rivets,
then a really wonderful resourceis Tandy Leather, if you happen
to have a store near you.
(31:19):
They are located in many urbancenters.
It is a store that sellsleather and leather crafting
supplies, but they also doclasses on basic leather
crafting.
Now, if you want to dosomething more like clothing,
like a vest or a shirt or a pairof pants, things become a
little more complicated.
(31:41):
If we're thinking about aheavier weight leather, it
actually requires a sort ofheavy-duty industrial sewing
machine that not everyone willhave access to.
If, however, you're willing towork in a lighter weight leather
, something like a lambskin or agoatskin, then you might be
able to do that with a regularsewing machine, in which case
(32:02):
you might check out local craftstores to see if they have any
basic lessons on pattern makingand sewing.
I will note that last year atClaw LA which technically is
called Leather Getaway, but noone calls it Leather Getaway, we
just call it LA Claw or Claw LAthey had a special track of
(32:23):
classes on leather making andactually I think they made
leather vests.
So you may want to pay attentionto their schedule.
It is in Los Angeles in lateNovember.
My guess is also that TikTokprobably has a ton of resources.
I've kind of drawn the line atTikTok in terms of my ability to
(32:46):
absorb, consume and producesocial media, so I don't
entirely know, but I do think ofit as this sort of abundant
resource with all sorts of shorteducational videos besides
other kinds of dance videos.
So you may also check there.
And YouTube always is just agreat, abundant resource for
(33:07):
learning things.
You might also check there.
But if you're looking for handson instruction, I would
recommend Tandy Leather or alocal hobby shop that might
teach sewing or definitely LAClaw, because I know they were
doing classes.
Hopefully they will repeatthose.
The other thing is and thisprobably isn't possible, but I
(33:29):
can tell you, almost everyleather store I know of is in
desperate need of leathercraftspeople and would be
probably more than willing totake on apprentices who are
willing to learn the craft inexchange for producing leather
for the store.
So that might also be aresource, although of course it
(33:51):
assumes you're located in aplace where there is a leather
store and that that leatherstore does production and that
that production team could usesome help.
I hope those offer you someavenues for exploration.
I can say more broadly that asa community, we are desperate
for leather makers.
There are only a handful ofstores left in the country and
(34:16):
of those, an even tinierfraction produces anything like
custom leather.
So I really want to encourageyou to find the resources you
need to produce the kind ofleather you need to produce, so
that maybe someday I can buysome of it.
I'm always looking for moregear.
Thank you so much for thequestion and I would like to
(34:37):
encourage everyone to thinkabout submitting a question.
You know I get a lot ofanecdotal notes and messages and
DMs about the podcast and howmuch people enjoy it, but it is
such a simple way to support mein this podcast by submitting a
question, and it doesn't have tobe a profound question like hey
(34:59):
Edge, what's the future ofleather?
This is also an opportunity toget to know me better, to get to
know me as a person better andnot just as a figure in the
leather community.
So please consider submitting aquestion.
It only takes a few seconds andit can be utterly weirdly
random.
So that's all we have for thisepisode.
(35:21):
I'm so grateful for all of youand, as always, I hope your
leather journey is utterly andprofoundly blessed.
And that's it for this episode.
Thank you so much for joiningme.
Please consider subscribing, oryou can send feedback to edge
at fullcowshow.
As always, may your leatherjourney be blessed.
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