Sometime back I bought my son an inexpensive black sporran with two tassles. I'm sure most of the kilted parents on XMTS have seen them. They are not of the best quality but they certainly work fine for a boy's first sporran.
Now young Sinbad has mentioned to me on several occasions that he really likes my fur sporrans. This rainy afternoon I decided that using a method I suggested on the forum a while back and a couple of thrift store purchases I would try to make this sporran a little nicer.
(1) I took out the rivets holding the tassels in place and removed the tassels
(2) I made a pattern of the front of the sporran and cut it out of a thrift store find- a 25 cent rabbit fur mitten (from a box of single mittens)
(3) I trimmed the fur to fir the sporran front
(4) I glued it to the front with super glue
(5) I using a rotary leather punch and an x-acto knife I made two small slits and two holes in the fur front for the tassels and the new rivets that would hold them in place. I also took a minute to fix the tassels and shine them up a bit with mink oil before riveting them back into place.
(6) For a semi-dress sporran I thought a bit of metal decoration was needed for the front flap. It happened a few months back at the same thrift store I came across a lion head pin/pendant for a whopping 3 dollars. I picked it up knowing that a project would come up that could use it.
I made two more small holes with the leather punch and fixed the pin to the sporran. It was a tight fit and I had to bend the pin into place (which means it is pretty secure)
(7) Completed Sporran
My handsome boy sporting his new semi-dress sporran.
In conclusion I'm sure I could have done better with trimming and fitting the fur. This was the first time I had worked with fur (and boy is it messy!) but whatever imperfections may be in the end result were unimportant to my son. He gave me a huge hug and told me how much he liked it.
If it is good enough for Sinbad it is good enough for me!
It took about an hour of effort, a few tools, a little superglue, and a $3.25 in materials to make his sporran a little more appropriate for the scion of one of XMTS' tartan peacocks!
Cheers
Jamie
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