Tiger Lee and Mr Shee show up on the cover of the Miami New Times on June 11, 2018 about the Rum Renaissance Festival in Fort Lauderdale, where they be plundering samples of hundreds of rum from around the world with other rum aficionados.

Back in 2015 a construction crew, working on a new hotel in Alexandria, Virginia, uncovered the remains of a Revolutionary War era ship. It was buried in the mud of the Potomac River as part of the framework for the landfill process used to extend the waterfront.

Just recently, only one block down, another contraction crew uncover 3 more wooden ship used as land fill. The original ships were built in the 1740's and 50 years later, at the end of their usefulness, those ships were used to to create more real estate on the shoreline.

Many coastal cities, such as San Francisco, have used ships as landfill.  During the gold rush of 1849, many of the crews that brought passengers to the golden state decided to try their luck in the gold fields instead of sailing, so many ships were abandoned. Some were used as warehouses, saloons, and hotels before being sunk intentionally.  As an owner of a ship you could sink it, cover it with dirt and claim that land as yours. This sounds like something a land pirate would do, yarrr!

Pirates be the rock stars of their age, but event modern rock stars such as the Back Street Boys want to be pirates as well, arrrrgh!  So their costume designer contacted us fer their 6thBSB cruise from Miami to Grand Turk. They be a bit older than I remembered them, but they do look quiet dashing in arrr pirate garb.

Part 2 of Tiger trip to Asia. Nepal be one of the most holy places in the world.  There be a temple on every other block you walk by.  The temples can be small or huge with dozen of different gods and goddess.  The hand craft designs of each temple arr amazing. The richness of this world would make any pirate think he hit the motherload of riches.  However, Nepal is ranked as one of the poorest nations in the world.

I was told that you must be formally introduced by another Nepali to a business and slowly build a relationship to be able to do business with a Nepali company. They had traditions that must be observed. As a pirate, I don't really follow all the rules. I discovered a Women's Coop that employs 80 women who are victims of abuse, violence or poverty.  They are shunned by traditional society and must deal with dirty foreigners fer their livelihood.  Sounds perfect to me.  

They be dyeing beatufitully colored threads from Swiss-made dyes (because the Europeans they sell to have sensitive skin).  They had a number of hand loom in production.  I met a French girl who be apprenticing there to learn the secrets of the olde world, as everything is done by automatic machine in the new world. They were having a ceremony of peace and prosperity when I arrive, so they invited me into it. We discussed arrr first project together.

Walking about the streets of Kathmandu, I stumbled across a Fair Trade Store that represents 65 different tribes making local handy crafts. I made an appointment to meet with their productions staff.  They showed me their fabric stock, and production area of sewers, knitter, and felter. We discussed the design and production of pirate sashes woven of silk and nettle, a local fiber stronger than hemp. It will be a few months to get the sample for approval.

I have created a super short version of the talk I gave at the Treasure Seeker Exhibit a few days ago.  This video show how to wear a lot of weapons comfortably under one cloak.

Tampa Bay History Center just open the new Treasure Seekers Exhibit. They asked me to give a talk about Pirates and their Weapons for their Sangria and Stories series. 

Here be Tiger with some of the guest at the 1 hour talk about pirate weapons. Tiger dressed up and talked about blunderbuss, plug bayonets, flintlock pistols, boarding axes, and daggers. He covered how they were used and carried, as well as some of the myths.

They got to hold and examine each weapon and compare them to the antiques in the museum. If ye have been there, it be worth visiting, arrrrgh!

I visited the factory that makes some of our fine pirate garb, such as the Sea Wolf line. This is my second visit here and I checked over arrrr  women's crossdressing outfit which will be coming into the shop the next season. There are no children working in this factory, the worker are highly motivated and the area is clean and well organized.  We discussed some issues with getting the fabric dyers to accept small orders . We will try projecting a years supply of fabric and ordering it all at one time which is a large initial investment but will help solve the issues with shipping delays.

I then traveled to a small city about 2.5 hours from New Delhi. This be the factory that makes many of our metal items such as swords, buckles, etc.  You can see some of the new items we are working on: a jailers key, plug bayonets and a short cuttoe sword. Examining the forge and heavy duty laser cutter was impressive.  We also had to figure out some buckle issue with the new men's muskeeter boot.   Having dinner to cement a good relationship is always part of why I travel half way around the world.

I had a chance to visit one of the largest couture houses in India.  This is hand made, high end fashion for Bollywood actresses and Indian weddings.  I was able to see their entire operation from art design, hand embroidery, draping, sewing to shoe making.  I got to try my hand at actually doing some of the work.  Most of work in Indian sewing factories is done by men, while in many other countries it is mostly done by women.  

In between all my meetings, I did get in a little sight seeing. Here I am at  Humayuns Tomb, which be the inspiration for the Taj Mahal.  

I am also at the factory which make my wonderful corsets and bodices.  We have been doing business together for over 6 years. Currently we are revising the reversible panel corset to get a better shape based on customer feedback.  I am also looking at some new fabrics for future corsets.

Remember 200 years ago, the English ruled India through the East India Trading Company.  Much of the treasure pirate plunder come from India. So it makes sense for Pirate Fashions to have some of our products made here. All the items we have produced here are from our own designs and are made exclusively for us.  Next blog we will cover my trip to Kathmandu, Nepal n' what it means for Pirate Fashions.

Tiger takes voyages to acquire new treasures throughout the new n' old world. Most small boutiques don't have anything made fer them, they just buy existing products from different distributors.  Since we serve a small niche we don't have thousands of sources that main stream shops would have.

Tiger visits foreign countries to find companies to create special pirate products for Pirate Fashions.  We find if ye use websites such as Aliexpress, you get middle men pretending to be manufacturers, which results in higher prices (because they have to take their cut) n' inconsistent result because they might use a different factory with each order of the same item.  It is harder to travel half way around the world n' meet face to face to go over exactly what you want instead of clicking a few buttons on a computer screen. Tiger looks fer long term relationships with companies that want to produce quality products instead of the cheapest products.

Tiger went to India three years ago to meet with the owners of 2 factories that he has been using for a few years already n' to explore 3 new factories.  Pirate Fashions has since stopped doing business with one of those factories and is in the process of phasing out another one.  Tiger went back to the 3 current factories to go over new products, fix problems with existing products n' discuss how we can improve certain processes such as shipping cost, reduction in production times n' customs issues.  Many times it takes an entire year or longer to bring a new product idea to  the shelf fer ye to buy.

Next month we will go over what happened on Tiger's voyage to New Delhi, Kathmandu and Istanbul. 

In October I took a OLLI-USF course called: "The Making of a Museum Exhibit: Treasure Seekers: Conquistadors, Pirates n' Shipwrecks". At the Tampa Bay History Center, the class got a behind the scenes glimpse into the creation, construction and promotion of the museums newest $11 million expansion schedule to open in mid-Feburary 2018.

The center's leadership walk us through the basics of exhibit design, artifact acquisition, display and hosted a private tour of the new gallery in the middle of construction of the 8500 foot expansion will feature Conquistadors, Pirates and Shipwrecks as well as the new Touchton Map Library..  

It will be a wonderful place fer those interested in pirates, sea navigation and local history. It will feature a 17th century bronze ship's bell, a 17th century bronze astrolabe, and a 18th century 6 pounder cannon recovered from a Barbary coast pirate ship shipwrecked in the Mediterranean.  The pirate sloop is being built by the team from Creative Arts, who we worked with on their History Channel Museum Men TV series two year back.

Gasparilla be the 3rd largest parade in the US n' occurred 104 times.     This be a guild on how to dress fer Tampa Bays largest event, Gasparilla.

Two way to dress for Gasparilla. Street Pirate or Pirate Lite vs Authentic Real Pirate. If ye be out in the crowd and be limited in funds, go for the Street Pirate look of a hot pirate t-shirt with a red sash n’ bandana fer guys or a Molly Roger tanktop and hip scarf. This be great way to show yar pirate spirit while being comfortable.

 If ye be part of a krewe or want to impress, then go with the authentic real pirate looks. It consist of three basic parts: long waistcoat with a pirate shirt n’ knee breeches. Pirate coat be option as they are hot and expensive. Add accessories is what make the outfit look real. Start with matching sash, bandana, socks, then a go to the leather stuff such as belt, pouch, boots and baldric. A hat and jewelry will finish off the outfit.

The women’s outfit also consist of three basic parts: blouse, skirt and corset. The corset be the most important, so start their first. You have two ways to go with the bottoms. One be proper or formal looks consist of a long petticoat with a overskirt draped up. The second way be modern look consist of one short skirt. The difference between a lady pirate and a common wench outfit wise, be that a lady pirate wears a pirate hat and weapons.

Guild to weapons at Gasparilla be only plastic toy weapons if ye be on the street in the crowd. If ye be part of a Gasparilla krewe or on a boat or private property you can wear metal weapons, but can not pull them out.