Fur sporran design pointers please - BEWARE pelt pictures inside

**AKScott** · 22nd January 20, 10:13 PM

No offense intended. If you don't like fur products that is fine, just push your back button rather than scrolling down. The picture in this first post is a cow hide sporran I made about ten years ago with my Clan Scott green tank and a red velvet vest I wore for Xmas Eve 2019. FWIW I did not end up putting the hat pin into the vest, I used a grey shirt with grey hose and red flashes and seem to have toned all that red down pretty well. Light blue tie I think.

Unfortunately I tried to resize the image in my phone before I recalled I already have an imgur account...

**AKScott** · 22nd January 20, 10:15 PM

I am trying to use Alaska stuff, local things, when making DIY kilt stuff.

These are a couple shots of the musk ox horn I have. It was "found" not "harvested", and pretty weathered.

When the horn is sliced off the end the marbled look like the one slab is what you get. My one very expensive horn would have been just barely big enough to make a marbled looking cantle, only the horn is so weathered the finished piece I can get out of the horn I have would be too small.

I think I can slice the horn in half lengthwise and get two cantles out of it, with sort of an artsy asymmetrical vibe, but the grain would be quite boring.

I have been watching for CITES exempt fossilized walrus tusk in big enough pieces for a formal sporran for years. Not a sporran with a pocket, just an ornamental panel with an ornamental cantle at the top. I saw one piece of fossil tusk big enough and they wanted more than my monthly truck payment for it.

So I am kind of stuck for cantle materials.

I did slice the tip off for a sgain handle, and sanded and sanded and sanded and it still has a bunch of cracks in the surface. I will probably sand it one more time before I try filling the cracks with a wax.

**AKScott** · 22nd January 20, 10:30 PM

This one is a bear hide I found very very inexpensive. I don't know the story. The hide was well handled at the tannery and the intact hair is just fine. Someone started clipping the hair off it, in patches. There is one piece right over the shoulders I think I can get a sporran out of. The steel rule is 12", the red fiberglass level is 24".

I can't decide if an overenthusiastic four year old decided Daddy's bear was feeling hot or if there was a messy divorce underway, but I got the whole pelt for about 80% off what it would have been with all the hair on it.

I got, nothing for a cantle. What is a good size and shape for a formal bear hide sporran?

**AKScott** · 22nd January 20, 10:34 PM

And then here is the grand poobah. Usually the dark patch over the lumbar spine of a wolverine is assymetrical. I have looked at hundreds and hundreds of wolverine pelts. I have seen two with a symmetrical shield shape over the lumbar spine and bought the second one since the first was long gone. I would like to run the bear hide through my local fur sewer as our first joint sporran project and end up with something like this in wolverine in time for Xmas Eve 2020.

But I think it is just too darn big.

The wolverine was tube skinned and expertly tanned. It has all four feet, no missing claws, full mask, blah, blah, blah, it is a triumph. The way I have it arranged in the picture the hind feet are up inside the case with the tail and the symmetrical shield as the highlights.

I am looking for ideas. I could possibly cut the tail off and hang it from the cantle in front of the shield shape...

**bodhran4me** · 22nd January 20, 11:22 PM

There is a fellow on facebook that traps and tans his own pelts for sporrans. He is of native/scot descent .. He also sells on ebay and/or etsy if I recall correctly. His name is Aodahn(?) Crawford. His pelt sporrans are quite long, not unlike the wolverine you display here.

I am rather fond of leather cantles on fur bags which could be in keeping with your use of local materials.

**AKScott** · 23rd January 20, 10:49 AM

I think I found him online as the crafty crawford.

**ShaunMaxwell** · 23rd January 20, 01:33 PM

Have you considered making the cantle from leather?

I'm the proud owner of Scott Huber's (Artificer Customer Sporrans) prototype fur sporran for which he created a hammered leather cantle. Perhaps you could do something along these lines?

Cheers,

SM

**bodhran4me** · 27th January 20, 12:57 AM

Originally Posted by AKScott

I think I found him online as the crafty crawford.

That is the guy!

**AKScott** · 28th January 20, 12:59 AM

Originally Posted by ShaunMaxwell

Have you considered making the cantle from leather?

I'm the proud owner of Scott Huber's (Artificer Customer Sporrans) prototype fur sporran for which he created a hammered leather cantle. Perhaps you could do something along these lines?

Cheers,

SM

I think I either remember that sporran from back in the day or saw it on Artificer's web page. Are the sides leather of fur?

**ShaunMaxwell** · 28th January 20, 05:02 AM

Originally Posted by AKScott

I think I either remember that sporran from back in the day or saw it on Artificer's web page. Are the sides leather of fur?

No, just the front. None of my fur or full mask sporrans have fur on the gusset. I think that’s because the makers deemed that they’d be a bit too furry if they did. A fur front panel with a leather gusset keeps the lines of the sporran sleeker.

For example, here are a couple of views of my Arrificer-made bobcat sporran, which illustrate the point:

Hope that helps.

Looking forward to seeing what comes up with!

Cheers,

SM