I recently received my new sporran from David and Sten and I really enjoy wearing it. I made my own sporran belt from thick (1/8 inch or .32 cm) leather, my first dress leather creation. Thanks to the board members who mentioned Al Stohlman's "The Art of Hand Sewing Leather." Santa added that nifty book to my library today

I especially like the Midgaard serpent closure that Freelander offers. It's a nice pewter casting that catches my eye. Like the sporran, my kilt belt is brown. I've got brass hardware on my kilt belt, and the pewter closure didn't seem to go well with the nearby brass. So I've modified the Midgaard serpent to resemble an ivory carving that managed to survive some number of years before ending up on my sporran.

Here is the pewter casting after I modified the surface with some acrylic filler and roughened it with a fine wire brush so paint would stick a little better:



The next step was to apply two coats of zinc-chromate primer:



After the primer cured, I applied two coats of an ivory-colored acrylic enamel. Then I dipped the casting in some very dark wood stain and let that dry. I polished all the wood stain off the high surfaces, leaving the detail highlighted. Then I applied two coats of automotive grade clear acrylic enamel. After that cured, I scrubbed the casting with a toothbrush and some coarse buffing compound to remove all the gloss. Then I polished the high areas with some medium-grade rubbing compound to simulate what would be accomplished on a carving.



I imagine the result might be what an ivory or bone carving would look like with minimal restoration after being resurrected from a peat bog. Or maybe just the grime of everyday use. Anyway, the colors match the antlers on the drawstrings perfectly, so I'm quite happy with the colors. And it doesn't clash with my brass belt hardware anymore either



My box-pleat kilt from Matt Newsome should be here soon, and I'll post pictures of that with my sporran on an actual person (me!).

Abax