Firebird Leather

It is super revealing scrolling through all the catalogs from Pakistani drop shippers and seeing how many items people claimed to have made are just from them.

I know they also steal photos and copy work, but you can always tell.

Little guy up in the shop.

Am I not enough of a blasphemer for you all?

Like, is my heretic nature a joke to you? /s

I just got an email from a motorcycle "club" (let's be real, a lot of them are white supremacist gangs), asking for a charity donation for a christian organization.

Sir, this is a 🌈 BDSM store.

People are always telling me how much they love how my brain works (in reference to my work) but get real butthurt when that same brain doesnt tolerate their shit.

Look bro, you think this shit comes from the mind of someone sane with warm and fluffy feelings toward people?

Ya know, when the depression hits and my brain starts going through all the reasons I think Im terrible, I remember that at least im not such a pathetic piece of shit that I go around insulting and harassing random women on the internet.

And even with all that said, I do feel obligated to do my best to make time frames. Which means the coming months are going to suck.

I am super strict about the boundaries around my time and output because I know if I wasn't people would absolutely have me break every tendon in my hands and back, and have no life outside my workshop, if it meant they could get faster delivery.

So when people push me, or are rude, I've learned to just cancel their orders. I dont ever make exceptions to my rules because EVERY time I have, people take advantage.

The turn around times are there, and only an estimate, for a reason.

This work lands people in their doctors office and frequently in a surgery suite.

Ive learned when to stop pushing myself and I still create more product than any leatherworker I know

And people like to pretend theyre not asking for an exception when theyre like- No pressure, just wondering if I could get an update. Or, im just so excited and have an event i want this for, etc.

Just because the language youre using is "nice" doesnt mean youre actually being a nice person.

Sigh. On one hand, its a great problem to have. But when you wake up every day to email from people angry because they couldn't be bothered to read the turn around time and they dont understand why im not Amazon, its disheartening.

Had I known this was going to happen I would not have had so many made to order items in the Private Collection drop. Because now I am solidly booked out about 3 months with just those, on top of the custom order queue, and now her workload, which is essentially stocking the shop.

So, my employee has to take a significant chunk of time off due to the toll this work takes on the body. Which I get. Ive been doing this for almost 20 years. And while this is absolutely not her fault and I support her taking the time, it is the worst timing for me.

Do other cities get texts every few weeks about prison inmates escaping or being mistakenly released from custody initiating a manhunt every few weeks? Or that just New Orleans?

Im stuck doing jury duty, and my peeps, this experience is not giving me any faith in our justice system and it has nothing to do with the people on trial but the other jurors.

The number of people unable to comprehend and answer basic questions is frightening.

It will be interesting to see how they work that out. I think there is potential since theyre focusing more on SWs who have their own followings on things like OF, not just production porn. Unfortunately, its still not my demographic due to the price point theyre aiming at.

Do they even know how to use the item? Some of these, usually the cool looking ones that these people are after, do require skill and experience to use. Someone ignorantly flopping around with a rose flogger calling someone a bad girl isnt an image I want.

And as for porn, do you really think someone just using an item in a film is going to get me sales? First, the watcher is busy with something else. Second, how will they know where to get it? Remember, people dont read. Are the actors going to stop and do an ad segment on my item? Off putting.

Swingers at a swinger event aren't looking to drop the kind of $ on a flogger that lifestyle kinksters are. And I mean enough of them to sustain a vendor, of course there would be *some* but vendors have to make a certain amount of $ to make an event worth it.

I really dont know why people make the assumption that swingers and peeps watching porn are the correct demographic for high end kink.

Its not. And I feel like this should be obvious, but if it isnt, I present to you- every time any event has tried to merge the two.

There was a line in a movie (cant remember which) but someone asks one of characters who did something crazy successfully what the biggest lie they were ever told was.

They say It isnt that simple

Theyre asked to elaborate. They say, no, that's the lie. It really IS that simple.

I think its why there's that trite saying- Showing up is half the battle.

It's true, not because it means you're halfway there, but because most people can't even manage that much.

I think people dont understand how low the bar is for like...everything. Humans by and large aren't really great at independent thought, self discipline, or determination.

Most people will just let their situation be shit rather than do a single real thing to improve it.

Burgundy rose flogger. Its only available in the private Collection. This collection code has already gone out, so if you weren't already on the list, youre too late for this round. The collections drop twice a year. Sign up so youre ready to roll for the next one.

The Friday before a collection drop is just me building the webpage and the having to take calming breaths every time I look at my email so I dont just reply to every single person- JUST FUCKING READ, THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION IS 3 PIXELS AWAY FROM THE LINK YOU CLICKED

People love to tell others to "educate themselves" about something thay only have a 5 minute Google session understanding of, not realizing the person theyre talking to has extensive knowledge about the topic that far outpaces theirs...

I think I have found another way to be a menace to society. 😁

I dont have family to take care of me. The job I do takes a physical toll and eventually my hands will give out and I will have to quit.
The cost of living makes it impossible to save for a real retirement, and im more financially educated than most.
So what's their answer? Just die, I guess.

They've made it impossible to grow old in this country. Under their rules, even if i could continue running my business, which will die as the Christian purity wing continues to institute their sharia law, I would never be able to retire, and would have no medical coverage in old age.

Anyone else feel like they work their ass off to build something stable just to have it stolen by what's going on with current events?

Like, I did all of the things that the right fetishizes in regards to "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps".