...and though the holes were rather small....

**Mike_Oettle** · 13th July 15, 10:37 AM

Todd, if you register your T-6 design under your surname, you will make it possible for my daughter-in-law and her daughter (my son’s stepdaughter) to have a tartan they can claim to wear too!
How about it?
It is a very handsome design.
Great job on the leatherwork, too.
Regards,
Mike

**Profane James** · 13th July 15, 10:42 AM

Beautiful leatherwork...

**Todd Bradshaw** · 13th July 15, 02:46 PM

Mike, I think they could currently buy some of them through Scotweb, as a couple of my designs are listed.

http://www.scotweb.co.uk/tartan/Bradshaw/602061

The T-6 black version is there. The long lake tartan was never woven. When I went to order it, the teal colored yarn had been discontinued at Dalgliesh. That color pretty much set the tone we wanted for the whole thing, and I couldn't find a different blue or green that I liked as well. So, it was cancelled and I went back to the drawing board. The T-6 pattern was one of the new ones designed to replace it. We decided that we liked the T-6 better than any of the others and adopted it as our own "official" tartan, in several versions. The T-6 ancient version is the same, except it uses Dalgliesh Blue #100 instead of the grey #10 of the black version. The brighter, modern version will use different orange, red and blue yarns, but it will likely be a few months before we get a look at it.

**Todd Bradshaw** · 17th July 15, 02:57 PM

I decided that my chain sporran belt, though functional, was rather plain and featureless (as are most like it). The silver metal trim also didn't match the brass buckle and studs on the new belt. So, it was time to put a little energy into making a better one that looked like it matched the big belt. I had a small brass buckle, had leftover studs, found gold colored hooks for the ends and went looking for brass chain. No luck in anything I liked, but I did find all sorts of gold-colored chains made to hang around your neck in a variety of sizes, and 9mm seemed about right. I bought one that is some sort of gold plating on stainless steel, was reasonably cheap ($14) and was long enough to cut in two to yield the pieces I needed.

I eliminated the big triangular wire link that typically joins the chain to the leather. This kept me from needing to find or make a couple of the links in a gold color and more importantly, it takes a half-turn out of the junction, making the chain much less prone to twisting. The chain now wants to lie flat and stay aligned all by itself. Then it was just a matter of cutting some small strips of 4 oz. tooling leather and making them match the big belt with a similar two-layer construction and perforations. Considering that it's an accessory that often doesn't get much attention and which is done as simply and cheaply as possible, I'm quite happy with the result and it was worth the time and a few bucks to do it.

**Mike S** · 17th July 15, 03:26 PM

Superlative workmanship and design as always Todd!

**Todd Bradshaw** · 30th July 15, 01:15 PM

I was taking photos of a couple of other belts and sporrans that won't ever get used, to sell off now that the new bits are done, and figured I'd also get a couple good shots of the new stuff in context. I'm liking it. My only gripe is that between making the sporran and making the belts I switched dye colors a little bit and I also dyed a fresh batch of hand sewing thread that is darker. I'll let it fester for a while, and when it eventually bugs me enough, I'll make another sporran that's a perfect match. Being a perfectionist can be annoying at times, but at least you eventually end up with some nice stuff.