The Bilgemunky Logo is a trademark of Bilgemunky Enterprises, LLC

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Pyrate Leatheworx
www.pyrate.org

The time had come.

Too many times I’ve attended pirate events, had a fantastic time, and then come home to grumpy emails from readers saying, “I didn’t know you were at [Pirate Festival]! I was there too – I’d have bought you a rum!” Now, I’m not the sort to walk up to everyone and say, “Greetings, I am Bilgemunky – perhaps you’ve heard of me.” (Actually, I’d gladly do this, except for the fear of them saying, “No – now please leave me alone.”) But I’m also not the type to pass up the opportunity for readers to buy me rum. What to do?

The answer, of course, was a new hat. But not just any hat – I needed a proper hat that declared to the world, “I am Bilgemunky, hear me roar (and if so inclined, buy me rum.)”

At the time of this writing there are only two hatcrafters that I would deem worthy of making such a hat – and I just happened to be drinking with the crew of one of them when I first had the idea (drinking rum I had purchased myself, I might add.) I mentioned my interest in such a hat, and we mapped out a rough sketch together. And a short, crikey-knows how many months later, a box arrived at my doorstep.

The hat is, in a word, glorious. Pyrate Leatherworx had captured the dream I sketched out, and turned it into a hat of unimaginable beauty. My request had been for a black, front-fold hat with feathers projecting at an angle from the center, and stradled by the Bilgemunky logo. And this they did in full – the logo was a perfect rendering (always a concern, as I’d have trouble if the logo looked at all “off”), and the feathers were a billowing cascade that could make any pirate look conceited and self-important. Pyrate Leatherworx threw in the additional touch of a white band around the trim, and the entire hat is lightly beaten and aged so as to look in great shape, but not too new.

The hat looked great, and it fit great. But did it work? I found out at PyrateCon, where indeed, more than one fellow pirate saw the Bilgemunky Logo atop my head and then ordered me up a rum. It was a wonderful, wonderful thing.

Of course, should you order a custom hat from Pyrate Leatherworx, I can’t promise it will have the same powers of attracting free rum. But I am certain you’ll get a glorious, unique pirate hat. And if you have a custom logo added, it will be artfully and accurately rendered, and thus allowing you to declare to the world your piratey identity (or failing that, simply declaring that you have a really nifty hat.)