Leather In Scottish History

[Luke Hatley]

Luke,

I'm thinking gillies might be too much on top of the kilt belt, sporran/straps I'm already making. And, I'll use the belt and sporran stuff, not sure I'd wear gillies after this is over with..

But, I could take some upholstery leather and make some of these, perhaps:

Hopefully you will impress the Clan with embossed lines on the straps...But i beleive the Gillies will be the right way to go Iff'in you or they are wearing a Kilt.LOL....

missed you today.........

[druid]

Just read this post.

Bagpipes - the bag's made from sheepskin (okay, they do nice goretex ones now that you don't need to 'season') but the purists still like the original leather ones as they can muck about with treacle and stuff to keep them airtight. And the valve on the blowpipe was leather (platic and rubber now but I still use a leather one - just something else you can use offcuts for).

HEY HEY! I'm one of those "purists"! :D ...lol. I HATE the Goretex and my Pipe Major is forever on my tail about getting one. As a retired grade II Piper, I still use to this day, an L&M Elk Skin bag [large]. They just "feel better" because they have substance...not like the Hefty Hefty cinch sacks...uh...I mean...goretex. In fact, my L&M is 21 years old and in that time, my Pipe Major has replaced his Goretex bag FOUR TIMES....

...I also prefer my cane drone reeds to the plastic ones..although...for competition, you try to sound as "one" as much as possible...

All the different sorts of sporrans with various dead animals on the front (badger, deer, otter, seal, horsehair and so on - until CITES made some of that difficult).

Just a few random thoughts.

Gary

One thing I'm surprised I haven't seen in this thread is mention of the targe.

They were usually just just leather stretched over wood and secured with nails, but they often were very intricate with tooling.

I was in fact, going to post that ^^ ...lol.

Also, a coat of plates as armor:

and these Ghillies seem more historically correct than those posted:

[Nighthawk]

I was in fact, going to post that ^^ ...lol.

Well then, I thought I might just throw this into the mix...

I made this targe to go with my Renaissance festival costuming! It's not exactly historically accurate because of the color, but it certainly works:

Beanie baby wars!!

The leather I used on this was junk. It sat in a friend's basement for like 3 years. I spent several trying to soften and restore it. I oiled it, I cased it... and it still cracked when I unrolled it! Still it came out fairly nice for what I had to work with. So this is a thought on the historical side of things. Leather mugs were also common:

Here's a link to some good information on the history of leather drinking vessels, too. http://www.hidebound.co.uk/history.htm

[budd4766]

The speech went off quite well the other night. I made my own sporran, straps, and kilt belt:

I talked about that coat, (which is actually called a "jack"), being a leather or canvas coat with metal plates riveted in...they'd also hang chains from the bottom to help protect their legs from sword slashes. Armor, at least as we envision it from T.V., would have been a rare sight in ancient Scotland. The terrain and tactics of the highlanders required them to be more mobile...and plate armor just wouldn't cut it for them.

I talked about how the Scots were known for being frugal....and that any people who would come up with haggis, knew how to get the most out of the animals they slaughtered...

I took a piece of cowhide and did a demonstration of how they would make ghillies. The picture I posted previously is pretty historically accurate, as they wouldn't worry with tanning the hide they used for these "shoes", but would wrap it around their feet....fresh off the animal, and strap it on.

They'd wear these until they fell off, or they killed another animal. The highlanders weren't very worried about fashion as much as they were about functionality. Life for a highlander was so hard, only the clan chiefs could afford to worry about being pretty.

All in all, I think they were duly impressed. Got a lot of good comments afterward, so I was happy.

Thanks to all for the help!

Donnie

[Nighthawk]

The speech went off quite well the other night. I made my own sporran, straps, and kilt belt:

I talked about that coat, (which is actually called a "jack"), being a leather or canvas coat with metal plates riveted in...they'd also hang chains from the bottom to help protect their legs from sword slashes. Armor, at least as we envision it from T.V., would have been a rare sight in ancient Scotland. The terrain and tactics of the highlanders required them to be more mobile...and plate armor just wouldn't cut it for them.

I talked about how the Scots were known for being frugal....and that any people who would come up with haggis, knew how to get the most out of the animals they slaughtered...

I took a piece of cowhide and did a demonstration of how they would make ghillies. The picture I posted previously is pretty historically accurate, as they wouldn't worry with tanning the hide they used for these "shoes", but would wrap it around their feet....fresh off the animal, and strap it on.

They'd wear these until they fell off, or they killed another animal. The highlanders weren't very worried about fashion as much as they were about functionality. Life for a highlander was so hard, only the clan chiefs could afford to worry about being pretty.

All in all, I think they were duly impressed. Got a lot of good comments afterward, so I was happy.

Thanks to all for the help!

Donnie

Wow!! I love the color of the sporran!! Guess I came in on this a little late, though! Glad it went off well.

[budd4766]

Thanks! I stained the belt, sporran, and straps with Fiebings' Ox Blood. I thought that would go well with this kilt..

[Nighthawk]

Thanks! I stained the belt, sporran, and straps with Fiebings' Ox Blood. I thought that would go well with this kilt..

It's a good red! It does indeed suit the tartan well. I haven't used Ox Blood yet. How does it differ from the regular red?

[budd4766]

Well, don't be shocked when you put the first coat on...it'll be really pink...but as you ad more, it gets this really nice dark "blood" color... You can play with it a bit, for example, get it darker in the middle of a piece and lighter around the edges....like blood would do. I like it...

[Nighthawk]

Well, don't be shocked when you put the first coat on...it'll be really pink...but as you ad more, it gets this really nice dark "blood" color... You can play with it a bit, for example, get it darker in the middle of a piece and lighter around the edges....like blood would do. I like it...

I'm making a trip to Tandy to pick up a stamp and some latched today. I may have to get some and give it a try. Sounds like it would work well out of an airbrush- which I just got! I've been looking for an excuse to start playing with it...

[hoosier122]

http://www.onlygolfballs.com/msg10.htm

I'm sure there are other leather/Scotland/golf connections too.

[bead]

May I have your site?

I want to wholesale the leather,

thank you .

[tat2]

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=29558&st=0&p=185247&hl=sporran&fromsearch=1entry185247

[budd4766]

tat2, that's a sweet lookin' sporran! Love the idea of using the tartan swatch in the construction....looks great!