For Christmas this year, I got a new brown sporran. It's the first brown one I got and as a result, I felt a strong need for a brown belt to go with it. The problem for me, as a professional grad student, is the ability to pay for a really nice one, like from Oconee. Don't get me wrong - I'd buy one in a heartbeat if I felt that I could justify the cost. I'm just not able to at the moment.
So, drawing on my Scot's heritage for a boost in fruagality and creativity, I started looking for alternatives. First, I searched high and low for a normal belt that would be wide enough, and yet more affordable. No dice. The closest was pretty cheap ($13), but it just wasn't quite wide enough for me to be satisfied.
Then it hit me - last year, I made a new powder horn (I do a lot of early American muzzleloader stuff), and during the project I had to dye the end of the horn brown. Eureka! I'll just dye a belt. The next step then was the collect the necessary ingredients. Of course, I still had to find the right belt, but that became a non-issue, as you'll see. Below, see the list of necessary ingredients.
1) 2" leather utility belt from Home Depot, Lowes, or other hardware supply store. $10!!! Seriously, just get one of the leather belts used to hold the construction equipment pouches. The one I got was a two-pronged, un-dyed, plain tan leather with a basket-weave pattern stamped into it. It's listed to fit waists from 29" to 40-some odd" or more (I forget now). Nice and sturdy with chrome hardware.
2) A package of RIT dye ($2.50) from any hobby or craft store, or JoAnn fabrics for those of us in the U.S. I used "chocolate/cocoa brown" but there are others.
3) Some type of leather conditioner. I've got a couple tins of mink oil paste, but pretty much anything will work.
First, I had to make the thing fit me. Now, I'm a small guy, but their version of 29" is a joke. I actually had to add 4 more notches to make the belt fit securely with my kilt on. This means that likely, this project will work for anyone, including men of substance! I marked and drilled out the appropriate holes with a 1/4" drill bit. Then I cut off the excess length and rounded the end off with some scissors and a sanding block.
Next, I dyed the thing. I tried two methods. The first was to use wood stain. I've done it a long time ago (like 20 years ago), but it didn't turn out well. The belt just looked grayish tan. Kinda like it was gonna puke!
So, this is when I went and got the RIT dye. There are a few different methods of dyeing, and this one didn't go exactly according to plan, only in that the belt came out darker than I meant for it to. The cool thing about RIT is that you can mix amounts and come up with the right tint if you work at it long enough. I did not, but it's no big deal. In my case, I mixed the dye with boiling water, as directed, and let the belt sit in the dye bath for about 5 minutes. After it dried, it came out a nice dark-chocolate brown (as advertised). Nice color, just darker than I meant. If I do this again, I'll probably either mix the brown with some tan or even a little red to achieve a whiskey-brown color instead. I may also try to make a black one for casual wear.
The final step was to rub it down with the mink oil paste or other conditioner. This is necessary because the hot dye bath really dries out the leather. I just rubbed it in by hand and then burnished it really well on an old pair of jeans. This process actually help to lighten it up some. Now, as soon as you apply the conditioner, the leather actually gets darker, but the stuff has to soak in. By burnishing it, you heat up the conditioner, which helps it absorb faster, as well as wiping off some of the excess dye on the surface. The effect is a light, satiny shine that looks good.
That's it. The longest two parts to this are simply going to get all the stuff and waiting for the belt to dry after dyeing. Total cost - about $13, only for a better belt than the other $13 belt I saw. I didn't photograph the whole process, but it's pretty brainless. Here's a couple of shots of the finished product.
Like I said, the belt and sporran don't match completely, though they actually look close in the pics than in real life. Maybe it's just me....
So, there you are. A cheap, sturdy kilt belt until you can get a nicer one!
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