October 19-21 Fort Worth, Texas

 

If you werenπt there you sure missed a great International Show, from the large number of workshops and seminars to the large number of vendors. Everyone was kept busy with shuttle busses taking people to visit the Tandy Leather Factory, and Hide Crafters Headquarters, along with visits to the Al & Ann Stohlman Museum and Gallery. Oh yes, donπt forget the great exhibit of Robb Barrπs work in the guild display room; that in itself was worth the trip to Fort Worth.

Yes, the 2007 International Federation show is History. The Lone Star Leathercrafters Guild did themselves proud, this was a show stopper, It was so great that the owners are tearing down the Green Oaks Hotel, site of the show, ≥Enough said about the accommodations in that hotel≤. Guild President, Dave Smith, and Show Chairman, George Hurst along with the members of the Lone Star Leather Guild had everything so well planned, and things ran smoothly from check-in to the last good-bye hug.

Competition

Enough canπt be said about the way the Competition Committee under the direction of Dale Herman, Chairman of the Competition Committee, did their job which, to say the least, was a tremendous amount of work, as the record number of entries climbed to over 300 for the first time. This kept Bea Wayman and Nita Pickering busy the whole day Friday checking them in. Everyone on the Committee and Volunteers deserve a big hand for a job well done. The Judging job was a real challenge on Friday night with this large number entries. Head Judge, Chan Geer, along Bea Wayman as Head Scribe, and the Competition and Advancement Committee headed by Edd Lucas, along with a lot of dedicated people doing the judging, finished in record time.

 

The LONE STAR Leather Guild presented the following awards

 

OPEN DIVISION ≠ BEST of CATEGORIES ADVANCED DIVISION ≠ BEST of CATEGORIES

A:              Michiko Matsuda        IILG H:             Bonnie Dunnewind     CIL

B:               Timothy Kleffner       Lone Star I:              Michael Eubanks        Columbine

C:               Rory Marc Wood       Columbine J:              Rick Vine  IILG

D:              Michiko Matsuda        Columbine K:              Carol Gessell              IILG

E:               Ray Purdy                   Buffalo Trace L:            Carol Gessell              IILG

F:               Sachiko Toyoshima    Columbine M:             Dan DeWilde             St. Louis

 

 

MASTERS DIVISION ≠ BEST of CATEGORIES

Q:              Zoe Shu-Yi Hsu          New Zealand

R:               Jim Linnell                  Lone Star

S:               Ute Jaeckel                 Lone Star

T:               Armin Dobstetter        Lone Star

U:              Carl Ray Suvaco         Lone Star

W:             Vivian Ping-Hwa Chang New Zealand

 

BEST of SPECIAL ≥Z≤ DIVISION

       Fred Kilburn Buckeye

 

 

World Class Open

 

A special Category was added this year by the Host Guild Entitled ≥World Class Open Competition≤ The rules were, for the most part, a lack of rules. Entrants were not limited to International Guild members. Anyone in the world was eligible to enter two (2) items, and they did. Entries ranged from belts to saddles, and anything you can think of in between. The judging for the three top entrants was, to say the least, tough, after much discussion and head scratching, for they could only choose three entries out of over 30 as winners. The Judges choose Roz Kaohnπs entry for the $250 3^rd place prize, while newcomer Terry Hensonπs saddle entry won $500 for 2^nd Place. First Place Trophy, along with a check for $1000 went to Peter Main for his winged angel.

 

Lifetime Achievement Award

 

Fred Kilburn of the Buckeye Leather Guild of Central Ohio, along with Bill and Dottie Reis, Publishers of the Leather Crafter & Saddlers Journal, was awarded the ≥Lifetime Achievement Award≤. This much-revered award presented yearly by Edd Lucas of Lucas Engineering is presented at the International Federation Show to persons who have shared their expertise and life energies toward a driven desire to continue to pass forward their skill to others in the art of leathercraft. I canπt think of three people more deserving of this award than Fred, Bill and Dottie. Congratulations to all three of you.

 

Previous Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients Congratulate Fred

 

 

 

 

 

Hall of Fame Award

 

The Hall of Fame Award is the only award given by the International Federation of Leather Guilds, to individual members of an International Federation guild. This much-cherished award isnπt easy to achieve. The recipient must have been a member of an IFoLG guild for a period of not less than ten years, must have been nominated by an IFoLG Member Guild, meet a rigid criteria, and be approved by the IFoLG guild Presidents.

The Nominee must be someone who has in the past given freely of his/her time promoting the art of leathercraft, served as a Federation officer, headed a standing Federation committee, been instrumental in starting a new guild and bringing it into the Federation; served as a Head Judge, been Show Chairman, taught a workshop, done demonstrations, served as a delegate for his/her guild at the Board of Governors meeting at the International Show. The person should have worked to further the vision of the International Federation of Leather Guilds in many fields, without the thought of monetary gain for themselves.

As you can see this Award isnπt easy to achieve. And it was never meant to be. Itπs a ≥Hall of Fame≤ Award, bestowed by you the members of the International Federation.

This yearπs recipient more than meets these requirements.

 

 

 

The 2007 Hall of Fame Award was presented by Executive Director and Hall of Fame Member, Ernie Wayman to Edd Lucas of the Central Indiana Leathercrafters Guild.

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Committee

 

I have created a new committee for the International Federation, one that I feel is long overdue.

It will be called the ≥Chaplain Committee≤ I have asked Dave Smith, of the Lone Star Leather Guild to be Chairman and he has agreed. Along with Dave, Aimee Bligan of the Central Indiana Leather Guild will be Secretary, and Reverend Ava Gannon, will be a committee member.

The duties of this committee will be to send Sympathy cards to persons in the Member IFoLG Guilds who are in the hospital and to persons with a death in their immediate family, list persons with illness or deaths in the newsletter, conduct a short religious service sometime during the show, and give the invocations before the Banquet/awards dinner and the Sunday Board of Governors meeting.

Information for those you wish cards sent to, can be mailed to Dave at DSmith@applied.com or Aimee at habligan@hotmail.com

 

 

 

Guild Displays

 

There were 23 Member guild displays assembled on the show floor, a record number for any show in memory. We also had an applying guild set up a display, The South Central Leather Crafter Guild from Nashville, Tennessee; they were granted membership in the Federation at the Sunday Board of Governors Meeting.

Choosing the Best Guild Display was once again a big problem, with a number of guilds setting up some spectacular displays of their membersπ work. After all the votes were counted the Columbine Guild from Denver, Colorado walked away with the trophy.

 

 

 

Lost Guilds

 

All was not fun and games at this show. It is my sad duty to report the Federation lost the membership of 3 guilds this year. Through action taken by the Board of Governors, two guilds lost their membership for lack of guild displays and a failure to pay their guild dues for the past three (3) years. These guilds were the Nodaway Valley Leathercrafters and the Wisconsin Leather Guild. The other Guild, The Guild of the Red Cedar, withdrew because a lot of their members had moved, and they could not maintain their membership. Even so they had a display at this show. Itπs always sad when the IFoLG loses member guilds, and we can only hope these guilds will sometime in the future rejoin the Federation.

 

Next Year

 

Oh! By the way Fort Worth calls itself ≥A Cowtown≤, I for one didnπt see one cow near Fort Worth, and they changed the stockyards into a Convention and Shopping Center. Well, as you know, things change.

 

I am looking forward to seeing you next year in The ≥Buckeye≤ State of Ohio as the Buckeye Leathers Guild of Central Ohio present ≥The Magic of Leather≤ Sept 26^th 27^th & 28^th at the Marriott Airport Hotel in Columbus Ohio. Show Chairman Mark Strain tells me they are hot to go. So between now and then, that will give me a year to figure out what the heck a buckeye nut is good for.

 

And that is all I got to say about that!

Ernie Wayman Executive Director