Have you met Twisted Gryphon Leather?

Butch Brehm in his purple wizard's garb The long purple wizard’s robe may be familiar around Scarborough and Texas Renaissance Festivals, but this year the wizard showed up some place new. Only once, though, the rest of the time at Four Winds Renaissance Faire the tall thin man wears the britches and tunic of a merchant. His first time vending has been interesting, bringing unexpected experiences, new business, and a feeling of having finally found the right place for his wares. He’s having a good time at it, enjoying faire so much that he’s developing a story line for himself. Let me introduce you to Butch Brehm, leather artisan and proprietor of Twisted Gryphon Leather.

Background

Though born in Kansas, Butch claims the state of Texas as home, having come here as a child of four and staying ever since. A class project in junior high was his first introduction to leather working. The resulting belt wasn’t very good but the entire process was intriguing to him. He’s come back to leatherwork on and off through the years, taking breaks as life changed. In the early 90’s he took on the challenge of creating leather jacket patches for his motorcycle club and has continued developing his skills ever since. These days, he has a garage full of tools, including several industrial sewing machines. One of them is capable of sewing through anything. “Including me if I’m not careful, that machine can be evil,” he told me with a laugh.

Though he’s been doing leatherwork for years, he has only recently opened Twisted Gryphon Leather. While he works to get the business off the ground, he continues his mundane job making stainless steel motorcycle parts. Motorcycles are the other constant in his life, having worked with them in some capacity—selling, building, or repairing—all his life. Now on his third BMW, he tells me that he will always have one. “There’s only one way I’ll give up my ’83 and that’s in trade for another. My dream bike would be the ’71 I used to have. It was so comfortable I could ride for days.”

A bike won’t get his tools back and forth on the two-and-a-half hour trip to faire, though, so he is buying a 1958 Chevy. During the off-season, he will re-do the interior with tooled leather and the exterior with a custom paint job. It should be a beautiful ride when he’s finished. In the meantime, he borrows a pickup for the trip.

Faire History

Like many, Butch’s first time at faire was in shorts and a tank top, wandering around, throwing a few axes and catching a few shows. The early 90’s saw him at Scarborough Renaissance Festival, Texas Renaissance Festival, and MiddleFaire Renaissance Festival, attending with his ex-wife but never in garb. He noticed how much leather was being worn and realized that most of the items he was seeing he could also make. About three years ago, he was asked to be in a friend’s wedding party, but there was a stipulation. He had to be in garb. He arrived in the long purple wizard’s garb and has garbed up ever since.

This year, he and another merchant (a company run by his ex-girlfriend and another women) decided to share a booth at Four Winds Renaissance Faire, giving Butch a chance to see if his products would go over well. A change in the site layout and merchant attendance opened up a booth and faire management offered them the use of both facilities. Though the site is at the end of the row and on the opposite side from all the other merchants, he says traffic has been outstanding. The general rule of thumb is that new merchants should not to expect to make a profit the first year, just get their foot in the door and hope to break even. He told me that sales have exceeded all his expectations and he will show a profit at the end of the season.

Because his wizard’s persona didn’t really fit with his role at this faire, Butch has been busy developing a persona for his leather artisan. He now has merchant’s garb and does demonstrations of his work, actually using the tools, making repairs as needed, or building new product. If the patrons seem to be in the spirit of faire as they ask questions, he’ll roll out the back-story he has developed—born on a ship sailing to the new world, orphaned and sent back to England to an orphanage, running away to be taken in by a master leather crafter, learning the trade, traveling to tourneys all over the country to build and sell his wares. It’s a good story but if the person asking does not seem in the spirit, he just responds to the question, telling about what he is doing and how he uses the tools, sharing what he has learned in 35 years of practicing the craft.

Many of the items sold at Twisted Gryphon Leather are one of kind pieces, produced specifically for individual customers. Whether putting a tooled logo on or working with a customer to design an item, his goal is to provide the best product for the best price. The customers have noticed, appreciating his workmanship and being open to his products. His most unusual request this year has been to design an axe for the Cossack re-enactment camp. He will use wet rawhide laces to attach the jawbone of a horse Twisted Gryphon Leather banner to a long piece of wood. As the rawhide dries, it will shrink and firmly attach the bone to the wood. Only wood breaking or the rawhide rotting away in 20 or so years should make it unusable. He’s especially proud of the hand-tooled sign that he is making for the shop. Still a work in progress, he plans to stretch it over a wood frame when it’s finished.

Current

He’s done well enough that he plans to apply for Scarborough Renaissance Festival next year. Because the two faires overlap, he is searching for an apprentice in the Dallas/Fort Worth area that wants to learn leather crafting. With an experienced apprentice, he will be able to cover both sites during the overlap period.

He’s been amazed at the good will and camaraderie between the merchants. With three booths selling leather, competition could have been stiff. Instead, all of them are very helpful, sending customers to each other when they can’t meet a request. “There’s not a lot of selfishness between the merchants, just a lot of respect and honor between them, always trying to help each other out. It’s an amazing thing. There are the partiers and those who are clean/sober and they all get along.”

He indentified himself as “not a kid person,” not disliking them but never having spent time with them. It surprised him, therefore, at how deep an impression one made on him Easter Sunday when a couple with a cute little boy were in his shop. The child was well-mannered and curious, pointing to items—never touching—and asking questions. When Butch would explain what something was for, the little boy would listen, ask questions if he had any, and then point to something else and ask about it. Butch was so impressed that he gave the child a keychain as they were leaving, saying that it made his whole faire to see the smile that lit up the little face.

Final Thoughts

Even at third largest in Texas, Four Winds is a small faire compared to the two big ones. Butch gets a completely different feel from it though. “There’s a nice turn out for this size faire, the full contact jousting is amazing, and there’s no high pressure vending. It’s a really laid back event; someplace you can just go and let the world slip by. I’d really recommend it to anyone.”