No trip to Victoria would be complete without a visit to the Wizard of BC’s lair, the famous Freedom Kilts store!
Arriving at Freedom Kilts
Steve behind the counter
Steve gave us the grand tour of the facility and we were introduced to his two talented kilt makers Erin and Margee.
While I would have loved to have purchased a new Hudson Bay tartan kilt from Steve this trip it wasn’t to be. Yet the keeper of the finances (i.e. my Flame-Haired Celtic Amazon Goddess) did say that a few accessories could and should be acquired at Steve’s shop.
Now the Wizard of BC doesn’t sell a huge amount of accessories but what he does sell he truly believes in as being quality items (L&M sporrans, Buzz Kidder sporrans, etc.) He doesn’t carry any item that he wouldn’t wear himself (with the possible exception of the “ghillie/highlaner shirts” and even then they were quality shirts, so if Steve ever wants to get in touch with his inner swashbuckler he is all set).
Steve often refers to xmarksthescot.com as “his clan” and when you go to Freedom Kilts it shows
Freedom Kilt proudly carries:
Freelander Sporrans made by XMTS’ own
Freelander Sporrano and
Sten Sporrano http://www.freelandersporrans.com/cms/index.php
Oconee Leather Works
http://www.oconeeleatherworks.com/ belts and sporrans made by XMTS’
cavscout
Fly Fishing kilt pins hand tied by XMTS'
pdcorlis
Stillwater Kilts Leather cargo sporrans
http://www.stillwaterkilts.com/ designed by XMTS’
Sciuropterus
Hose Toppers knitted by XMTS’
Big Mikey (The Knitwit himself)
Braided sporran straps made by X Marker Robert Pell (
Canuck) of R Kilts fame
http://www.rkilts.com/
On his counter he has business cards for USA Kilts, the Scottish Tartans Museum, Oconee Leatherworks, and a local piper right next to the Freedom Kilt cards.
On the back of each freedom Kilt business card is the declaration:
Proud sponsor of xmarksthescot.com “An on-line forum for kiltaholics”
It made me
very proud to be an X Marker standing there in Steve’s shop.
So I made a few purchases. I was delighted to see that Steve carries brown hose from Gaelic Themes so I picked up a pair as well as few additional XMTS clan badges. I had difficulty choosing between a matched Onconee belt and sporran strap set or a Lee River belt and R Kilt braided sporran strap (Steve personally owns and wears both).
In the end I went with the Lee River belt and the R Kilt braided sporran strap.
The whole ensemble including my new Gaelic Themes brown kilt hose
Inspired by our visit to the Royal BC Museum and Steve’s wonderful talk about the First Nation’s culture and the poles they create I also left the store with a silver First Nations Bear Kilt pin designed by local British Columbia artist Alfred Seaweed
Bear symbolizes Strength, Learned Humility, Motherhood, and Teaching
Our Wizard of BC really needs to get all these wonderful things up on his website, but I bet if anyone is interested they could contact him by PM or email and make inquiries.
Cheers
Jamie
Linear Mode
