I've been a fan of our own Tom Hay's (A_Hay!) hand made sporrans since the very first one made and posted pictures of. While I much admire the talent and creativeness of our members making the "Rob Roy" pouch style sporrans, I personally prefer the "modern" shaped sporrans. So, Tom's creations have always struck me.

I deliberated long and hard as to what I would want to have him tool into one should I ever be fortunate enough to get one. I dismissed my clan badge seeing as I wear many different tartans and didn't want this sporran restricted to the two in my family tartan I own. Well, fanciful folk lore often places the Hendersons in line with an ancient Pictish King. I'm also a fan of the Pictish art. So, that was a start. I decided on a Pictish boar for a couple of reasons. But, what it boils down to is he's a pretty tough looking critter and embodies several things for me.

So, I contacted Tom and he was enthusiastic to take on the project. And, I was thrilled to finally commission him to make me one. I'm some what of a minimalist in regards to design. So, there was never any question that I wanted the boar to be tooled into the leather with no color added other than what was applied to the rest of the leather. I had to make the choice whether or not I wanted to go with black or brown (for now.) That was much tougher. I finally settled on black because I only have a nylon SWK Nightstalker and a very cheap and falling apart economy sporran. I needed a "real" black day wear sporran. I'm more than pleased with the results of Tom's work. Have a look for yourselves.









This was (I assume... Tom correct me if I'm wrong) the piece he made the inital "run" on. However, I think he through it in to show me how sweet it looks on brown leather. I particularly like the use of the natural leather color and the brown dye.