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.
07/06/2024
04/17/2023
02/08/2023