Sporran #14 WIP - Snakeskin Hunting Sporran

[artificer]

Thanks, all.

Beautiful job.
Being a Western gal, the snakeskin interests me very much.
Artificer, what was the pro's and con's to using the snake skin on this compared to something with hair?

Snakeskin is much like other skin leathers. This one had the scales on, some snake actually has the scales removed, as the coloured pattern is on the skin itself. This skin was VERY thin and flexible (nearly transparent) so I actually dyed the structural backing material the skin was glued to for a consistent colour tone.

About fur:
Fur can hide sloppy stitching (which is a pet peeve of mine) unless you're looking closely, but fur also presents some unique issues, like the directional nature of the hair growth.

Fur also gets EVERYWHERE. It's so easy to end up with a seam line FULL of stray hairs. It's not a big deal to clear up, just irritating, ESPECIALLY when using waxed thread. The hair and wax just love each other.

Being greatly concerned with proportions, my 'personal' big thing with fur is 'volume control'. Certain furs are just bushy. Unless someone wants a particularly HUGE sporran, you have to design the bag starting with the finished size you want it to appear (including the fluff of hair), and then work backward with the underlying structure to make sure you don't end up with a 14"w sporran