Working On A New Hunter Sporran

[druid]

Just a project I've been working on between ice storms and shifts in the Prison...

Templates I made:

What I have so far:

^^ The face is still wet from stamping and will go back to natural color when dry. ^^

All materials are from Tandy Leather except for the Tartan, which are remnants from when Barb made my Kilt. It sits under the Boss and is centered under the Triquetra.

The sporran face and back are 12-14oz cow hide, the gusset is ~4oz goat. The colors are 'British Tan" and common black.

The face color of the Sporran is going to match the Triquetra [british Tan], the Cantle is going to be black and carved to match the design [imprint] face of the Sporran.

I still have some smoothing to do on the Triquetra edges [where it's cut out] and I didn't get a pic of the gusset...but the gusset is a wide one, at 3" wide and is black.

Edited February 5, 2011 by druid

[druid]

Dyed the front face and tooled/dyed the Cantle

[scottishshoemaker]

looking good!

[druid]

thanks. Got 2 new pics. The pieces are just "set together" to show what it basically looks like. Still have lots to do before it's finished:

[druid]

and 3 more:

[druid]

Inside

Gusset

Front

Back [belt hanger]

All that's left to do is put the snap on and seal it with the semi gloss coating.

[druid]

I had the occasion to wear it today. Sadly, it was for a fellow Officer's funeral.

My Class A uniform for Honor Guard, en-route to play at graveside:

[Rhichmond]

Very nice work. I always wanted to make a sporran of this kind too but I still cant find a source for the metal-piece of the sporran. Sorry for my bad english gut I dont know the right name fot it. Please can someone tell me where to get them ?

[druid]

The "metal piece" at the top, to which you are referring, is called a "Sporran Cantle"....or as we call them...simply "Cantle."

You can buy them here: http://lythgoesporrans.webs.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=8922979

Well...I made a new one that's more appropriate to the uniform -

I used the same process as the one above...with the exception that the leather is bound in Black nylon. The gusset is also black nylon.

Edited February 28, 2012 by druid

[wolfeyes]

Great looking Sporrans and many thanks for the link to the cantles. I do have a question about the cantles. How do you attach them to the leather?

[Sylvia]

Condolences on the loss of a colleague.

I just love a man that wears a Kilt! I've always said "Plaid is my favorite color"

I think you've done a fabulous job, but did you take measures to keep the tartan on the sporran from fraying with wear?

And i gotta know.... what clan is that tartan?

I had the occasion to wear it today. Sadly, it was for a fellow Officer's funeral.

My Class A uniform for Honor Guard, en-route to play at graveside:

[druid]

@wolf.

Thanks, you're welcome and "pretty easily"....lol. The Cantles have 3 threaded posts on the back side....one in center and one each, left and right sides. Those threaded posts have "acorn-top" nuts that thread onto the ends. You simply punch holes in the leather in line for those posts....push them through and add the nut to the back side. That holds it in place. On mine, I had to make leather "washers" to go behind the nuts because the posts are fairly long and the added thickness of leather took up that space. That prevents the Cantle from rattling or wobbling.

@Sylvia.

Thank you. His loss was a sad day for all of us.

...and many people [especially women ] do, thank you and yes.

I used liquid thread locker on the back side of the tartan patch to keep it from fraying. I then cemented that to a thin piece of goatskin so it would lay [and stay] flat.

The Clan Tartan I am wearing is called Young Modern. There's another Tartan that was made and it's called Young Weathered. I don't particularly like that color scheme though. Any "Weathered" Tartan is designed with Historical color styles in mind. A weathered pattern is normally colored with dyes that resemble plant and animal stains from the time period. At one point in History, Clan Young was Septed by Clan Douglas and remained conjoined until 1989 ...where the Young applied for [and was granted] separation/autonomy from Douglas . Since there were no surviving Tartans for Young to replicate, new ones had to be created and registered in Scotland. You can see them here: http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1280&bih=909&tbm=isch&tbnid=2_tHdqduFiYsxM:&imgrefurl=http://www.lochcarron.com/reiver/young.html&docid=tInxYI2W0ekYlM&imgurl=http://www.lochcarron.com/reiver/tartan/W-Z/you_w.jpg&w=450&h=344&ei=k4lQT5KNKPK00QGa9P3CDQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=801&vpy=141&dur=112&hovh=196&hovw=257&tx=122&ty=61&sig=104892940911539290646&page=1&tbnh=120&tbnw=157&start=0&ndsp=38&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0

...as that is where Barb Tewksbury bought the material to make my Kilt [barb, the co-author of the book, "The Art of Kilt Making"]. My Kilt was hand made by her...and there were no US stores/stock of the material. She had to order it right from Scotland...and it was expensive LOL.

My Kilt is a box-pleat design, using about 4.5 yards of 16oz wool. That's approximately half the material needed for a knife-pleated Kilt. It's plenty heavy for Pennsylvania Winters and just light enough not to be TOO-too hot in the summer....but still cost me $800 for the Kilt and 3 Ladies' sashes.

An example of the sashes....my Family and I [Wife and 3 daughters]:

[druid]

Great looking Sporrans and many thanks for the link to the cantles. I do have a question about the cantles. How do you attach them to the leather?

Post #6 shows you the inside of the front plate. You can clearly see those "acorn nuts" I was talking about.

[wolfeyes]

Post #6 shows you the inside of the front plate. You can clearly see those "acorn nuts" I was talking about.

I see those now. Thanks for the information. May have to order one or two of those.

[Dmitri]

Well done. My wife keeps asking me to start sporrans as there are a few members of her pipeband including herself who would love new ones as most are wearing the straight black generic ones(as am I). Reading this, my condolences to the family and friends of your fallen officer. As a fellow blue up here in Canada one loss weakens us all.

It is good to see your department allows you to waer your kilt with your uniform. Are department allows us as well and to those who do it means alot to us. We do have a Tartan that is specific to us...but it is some fugly...So my clan tartan is way more desirable....lol

Once again, excellent work and one day I may find the time and energy to take on sporrans.

Also it is good to see another SCAer...........we are everywhere.......lol

[druid]

Well done. My wife keeps asking me to start sporrans as there are a few members of her pipeband including herself who would love new ones as most are wearing the straight black generic ones(as am I). Reading this, my condolences to the family and friends of your fallen officer. As a fellow blue up here in Canada one loss weakens us all.

It is good to see your department allows you to waer your kilt with your uniform. Are department allows us as well and to those who do it means alot to us. We do have a Tartan that is specific to us...but it is some fugly...So my clan tartan is way more desirable....lol

Once again, excellent work and one day I may find the time and energy to take on sporrans.

Also it is good to see another SCAer...........we are everywhere.......lol

Thank you.

The Department Sporran took me about 11 hours over 2 days to build....but that was from absolute scratch. If you are going to make a volley of sporrans, I would suggest making rigid templates out of plastic. You really only need one plate to represent the front and the back, as the only difference between them is the snap tab...and then one template for the gusset.

The basic materials needed are:

X-Acto knife with SHARP blades and cutting mat or block.

Fabric pencil.

Crazy Glue.

The front and back plate leather I was from Tandy, it's their heavy 12-14oz steer sides. I used this for both Sporrans.

Gusset Material. All leather, I used goat skin. Cloth as my department Sporran, use whatever you desire. I used the nylon that covers the face.

Heavy nylon thread. If using a machine, make SURE your needles are SHARP. Use a diamond hone on the tip. Otherwise, a hand or Speedy-stitcher works well. Also keep it sharp.

Dyes of your choice [for leather Sporrans].

EcoFlo satin sheen [for leather Sporrans].

Hole punch for Cantle mounting.

Snap set [2 pieces for male, 2 pieces for female] and setter for closure.

Cantle.

If making Sporrans for her band, if there's a band logo or patch, consider doing what I did for my Department Sporran. That process was :

Trace the plate on the BACK side of the nylon [fabric pencil]. Add 2" to the tracing so that you can curl it around the edge to the inside of the plate [front and back plate]. Cut them out.

Center your patch or logo on the FRONT of the cloth material. I used a drop of Crazy Glue to hold it in place while I sewed the patch in place.

Temporarily set the cloth onto the front plate and install the Cantle over top. This allows you to center the logo in relation to the Cantle. Use a drop or 2 of Crazy Glue to hold the cloth to the leather plate. When glue sets, remove the Cantle.

Turn the project face down and fold the edge of the cloth over the leather and glue down. Use the glue SPARINGLY. You will need to facet the cloth [snip to make trapezoid shaped cuts] so that it lays flat on the back of the leather. When the edge is finished, make sure the logo is still centered. If so, add your lining and run the edge [about 1/8" or 3/16" in from the edge] through the machine and sew down. This stitch is hidden when adding the gusset.

Install the gusset onto the front plate. Start in the center of the bottom and move toward the top on one side and repeat for the other side. The stitch line should be 1/4" to 3/8" in from the edge. Fold the gusset over the edge and to the back of the plate. [second picture, post #6].

Cover the back plate in the same manner as the front plate.

Make a chain hanger from scrap leather; center and sew onto the back plate. Mount it about 3" down from the top.

Use a cotton cloth to line the inside of the leather plates. The cloth only needs to cover the natural face of the leather and the overlap from the front material.

Sew the gusset onto the back plate.

Add the Cantle and set the snap onto the back plate and tab.

Edited March 9, 2012 by druid