thought I'd try my hand with rabbit fur

[druid]

Well as luck would have it, my sister brought over her childhood rabbit fur coat for any one of my two youngest daughters to wear. Neither of them wanted to wear it...lol. It's old but in nice shape...however real fur is not their thing...so I was thinking - rather than throw it out I'd cut off an arm and see how a sporran might look.

Here's the "before":
Outside:

Inside:


Almost done:




inside "hanger" reinforcement piece:


Inside shot:



I removed the gold liner and that revealed that the skins were sewn to a canvas backing/base cloth.

This is the shoulder of the coat arm and you can see that I simply tucked under the 'outer/top' part of the shoulder of the sleeve to make the bottom.

I made two flap covers of the same leather - about 12oz each and stitched them together around a short length of fur. These are sealed inside with ModPodge to make it stiff and glued together in the center of the flap.

My entire hand fits inside the pouch, to just above my wrist. With my hand all the way open, I can barely touch the left and right sides. It's about 8" wide at the top and almost 9" tall.

As you can see, I'm not quite done trimming the edge of it (the flap) and I will look around Celtic Fest this weekend for a nice god Triquetra or Celtic Cross jewelry piece to mount directly in the center. I may burnish the edges instead of wrapping them with other leather and resewing...or I may use matching waxed sinew to cross-whip stitch the edge...not sure what I want to do yet.

Any thoughts?

[Mipi]

Recycling is my goal, too. It's amaizing what can you do from "non-usable" things.

Keep on working!

[Kilted Rogue]

I have been waiting to see who would post a rabbit piece 1st. i like what you have done with the sleeve. I cant wait to see the finish project. I have a rabbit pelt in my shop thats just dying to be made in to a sporran.

Thanks

[Eric Peterson]

Hey, very strange but this morning I was thinking of a rabbit fur sporran as well. I was thinking of checking e-bay for pelts but ill bet the local good-will has some coats for sale. looks great! A large silver Celtic design and 3 rabbits feet with silver mounts and chain would look great. OK maybe the rabbit feet are over the top...nah

[druid]

Recycling is my goal, too. It's amaizing what can you do from "non-usable" things.

Keep on working!

Thanks. I couldn't bring myself to just 'throw it out' and thought about it for a while and then this popped into my head. It didn't take long to make it at all...just cut the pattern for the flap leather and sew it on.

I have been waiting to see who would post a rabbit piece 1st. i like what you have done with the sleeve. I cant wait to see the finish project. I have a rabbit pelt in my shop thats just dying to be made in to a sporran.

Thanks

It's a bit tricky to work with because the nature of the fur makes it "slide" around while you are working with it. Use safety pins or little spring clamps to hold the skins in place while you work on it...or small touches of glue. Use a curved glover's needle to make it easier to work with. I used waxed (imitation) sinew with the main line split into three separate strands and only used one of those strands to actually do the sewing. The waxed nature of this sinew tends to grab the guard hairs of the pelt and drag then through the hole as you draw the sinew so I might suggest an unwaxed nylon thread to make yours a bit easier.

Hey, very strange but this morning I was thinking of a rabbit fur sporran as well. I was thinking of checking e-bay for pelts but ill bet the local good-will has some coats for sale. looks great! A large silver Celtic design and 3 rabbits feet with silver mounts and chain would look great. OK maybe the rabbit feet are over the top...nah

Our Local Celtic Fest started around 1700 hrs friday eve and goes until Sunday night. I was down for a short time, looking for something to adorn the flap with and think I found it...

It's a silver pewter Triquetra necklace on the round leather thong cord. The pendant is about 1.5" at its longest length and suspended upside down by each half of the black cord. I'm fairly certain I can rig it to the flap in a most pleasing manner, suspended by that black cord. I want to look around a bit more on Sat and Sun just in case I can find something I like more.

As to the tassels, I thought about that too...perhaps I'll curl up some hair into tubes - or I have some whitetail antler that I can make "button"-looking things to hang in front.

I think with the rest of the coat, I'll try to make an original kind of Brogue/boot-like moc. I'm not even sure on how I want to attack that and don't even know if I put the hair on the inside or out. I have to research that a bit more but I'm fairly certain the hair goes on the inside..and then what weight leather to use for the soles....lol.

[Eric Peterson]

Cant wait to see the finished pictures.

[druid]

As promised, I got a decorative piece for the flap and installed it...

[DWFII]

As promised, I got a decorative piece for the flap and installed it...

Isn't that called a "triskellion?" Where did you get it, if you don't mind me asking?

[druid]

No...the Triskelion is this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triskelion
the Triquetra is this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triquetra

I boughtt this at a little shop at the Celtic Festival this weekend here - www.alittleirishtoo.com - they have some very nice items

Here are some more pics I just uploaded too:

and some pics from the festival...This was before I added the Triquetra to the sporran....

The family around the Kilted Spongebob dude:


Me and Jessica (19)


Elizabeth (12) - these are the 2 coming to OK DDay with me. This 12yr old is the one playing and the 19yr old will be camera girl...lol...


Victoria (9)


Vickie not liking the Haggis and mom pretty much agreeing with her:


Jess and her BF:


Trying to be gangster in her new hat:



Vickie being a goof:

[Kilted Rogue]

Thanks for the Rabbit Tips.

ill put them to good use..


(rabbit tips.. sound like an interesting culinary delight. Rabbit Tips with pearl onions and pea's..mmmm now i am getting hungery)