Earning Leathers and Hankies

In these days of "new leather" and "next guard", all of our traditions are being reevaluated. That's not a bad thing — all cultures change over time or else they become ossified. However, in the process of reevaluating I am sad to say that many of our young people don't understand the value of our heritage, what some call "Old Guard".

As a side note, let me say that the term "Old Guard" is almost meaningless except as a stereotype of what some people think things were like in the old days, but that's a subject for another chapter. Suffice it to say that there was no One True Way™ to do leather at any time since I entered the scene, and from what my first mentors taught me, not in their day either.

But be that as it may, we don't really have a better term for the set of traditions we have received from our forebears, so I'll use the term Old Guard until something better comes along. Although as I said the community was broad back then, as it remains today, in the days of the "Old Guard" there were some traditions that were commonly followed. One of those was the earning of leathers.

Unfortunately, you don't see it being followed very much anymore. I suspect the reason is primarily that people are too impatient to wait for a long period of time to get something they can go to their local leather shop and buy anytime they want. I think I understand this; it takes a lot of discipline and maturity to put off gratification of such desires, especially since our modern society teaches us to expect instant gratification of our every whim.

Having earned my own leathers, I've been there myself and I know from personal experience how hard it is. To explain why I think it's worthwhile, despite its difficulty, I would like to share a story about a piece of leather that I earned, one that means a lot to me.

The hardest thing for me to earn was a singletail. While I was in the training of another Master and learning the singletail from him, I was not allowed to own one. My mentor, a man both wise and skilled in his craft, left one of his for me to practice with — on a pillow of course. Only after nearly two years of work did I become proficient enough to be awarded the right to possess one of my very own. Of course I should make it clear that I could have accomplished it in much less time than that. My teacher didn't set a time limit for me, only a minimum standard of proficiency, and it was up to me to meet that standard at my own pace.

While I was working toward that goal, I was often frustrated, and sometimes I got discouraged, but I stuck it out and completed the program I was assigned. I felt I was ready for a good while before my mentor acknowledged my skills by letting me strike an actual person. He monitored me the first time, and after passing that final test, flying "solo" as it were, I finally was allowed to buy my own singletail.

I still have that first singletail today. It's seen a lot of action, and it's so well worn in it's almost unbelievable. It's incredibly soft and flexible, which by the way makes it much harder to throw! It's what is called a "fast" whip, meaning that the time interval between the throw of your hand to the crack of the popper is extremely short — so short that there's no time to adjust or direct the throw. It takes a lot of care to use.

From purely a logical perspective, I really should retire the poor thing. But to me that whip is not just a whip, because all the work that went into obtaining it has made it more precious to me than any other whip could possibly be. Another way to express it is that the whip feels very much like a part of me, because so much of me went into earning it.

A wise friend of mine, outside of the scene, defines sacrifice as giving up something of relatively little value now in exchange for something of greater value later on. I think earning leathers really makes sense when viewed as a sacrifice using this definition. Ten years from now, having waited awhile to have a leather vest will seem so, so trivial. But the vest you earn will have meaning to you for the rest of your life. Isn't that worth waiting for?

This is an experience I think everyone should have the opportunity to pursue. I strongly recommend that other Masters and their slaves consider continuing this wonderful tradition and passing it on to the next generation.

I usually award one major piece of leather, such as chaps or a vest, for each year of service. Any leather that you earn is yours to keep, even if you should leave my service.

Sometimes items can be earned through BDSM activities as well. I don't usually do this except for play items such as hoods. However, slaves are not permitted to own SM equipment, so technically the equipment remains my property, and shall be surrendered if at any time you are uncollared. This applies regardless of whether you were uncollared voluntarily or involuntarily, with cause or without cause.

Another tradition is for slaves to also earn the right to flag a certain hanky color. My slaves, for example, have each earned a red hanky from me. They got their red hankies after I fisted them successfully for the first time. My slaves are not permitted to wear a flag that I have not approved for them. If you think you are qualified to flag a certain flag, you are welcome to ask for permission.