Hand made kit

[Dranoweb]

So having lost this post twice now through power spikes - the excitement has gone out of writing a long post.

long story short - I am soon to be married to a lovely (American born) Irish lass (and excuse me while she beats me with a wooden spoon)

Out of respect and acknowledgment of my Scottish heritage, the choice has been made for me to attend in "traditional attire"

however when presented with my kit - I was appalled by everything but the 100% wool, black watch tartan.
I vowed to make as much as I could myself.

So far, I have the items depicted below, and some multiples to make.
criticisms/suggestions/historical notations welcome.
I'm not easy to offend to speak your mind.
PS- some images of the construction phase for interest.

Buckles design was heavily inspired by the bride's choices.
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Please note - the Sgian Dubh is unfinished, still needs to be tumbled - polished and receive fill.
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[sydnie7]

Those are both beautiful pieces! You mention "filling" the sgian handle -- with enamel, or ? It's a striking design.

Hope the buckle size doesn't interfere with top of sporran, the way you have them laid out looks as if they might hit when worn. But that may just be the photo arrangement and not true in use.

[Dranoweb]

The buckle is about 5 inches (125mm) across.
In the pictures it is shown against a very small kilt, namely the one to fit my nephew whom is 5 years old, as mine had not arrived at the time.

I'm around 6'6" and in testing, they were quite proportional, and didn't seem to interfere. The sporran it'self is not my work (as may be obvious to some) but was of a good quality. I had gone as far as catching, skinning and tanning some rabbit fur for the task, but that will go to other projects now.

Due to a mistake when casting, one of these buckles is left handed, and the other right (relating to the peg orientation)
I'm not sure which is "correct" but I have the original mold and can make another.

The Sgian Dubh will be filled with the same epoxy/graphite powder mix as the buckle for continuity. The pictures don't tend to do it justice - in the sunlight, it has a slight sparkle and has a nice sense of depth.

The mold halves were a bit misaligned, so I plan to try again, and I need to make three to outfit everyone.
I'm thinking of getting a little more ambitious with the knotwork design. I feel it's a bit too simple for my eye.

[BCAC]

The buckle is about 5 inches (125mm) across.
In the pictures it is shown against a very small kilt, namely the one to fit my nephew whom is 5 years old, as mine had not arrived at the time.

I'm around 6'6" and in testing, they were quite proportional, and didn't seem to interfere. The sporran it'self is not my work (as may be obvious to some) but was of a good quality. I had gone as far as catching, skinning and tanning some rabbit fur for the task, but that will go to other projects now.

Due to a mistake when casting, one of these buckles is left handed, and the other right (relating to the peg orientation)
I'm not sure which is "correct" but I have the original mold and can make another.

The Sgian Dubh will be filled with the same epoxy/graphite powder mix as the buckle for continuity. The pictures don't tend to do it justice - in the sunlight, it has a slight sparkle and has a nice sense of depth.

The mold halves were a bit misaligned, so I plan to try again, and I need to make three to outfit everyone.
I'm thinking of getting a little more ambitious with the knotwork design. I feel it's a bit too simple for my eye.

Excellent work! Well done. I think that the knotwork design is good as is.

[English Bloke]

Me too. Smashin'. leave the knotwork, less is more.

[TheOfficialBren]

Seriously, mate! Good-looking stuff!!

I love that buckle design!!!

[Dranoweb]

well nice to know the design is appreciated.

I did the knotwork in autocad to start with and fed it to adobe illustrator to give it some depth before I laser engraved the mold halves.

It started as a simple 4 strand weave the same way I make rope, then I tried to give it the endless look of traditional stuff, and failed on two strands.

the buckle design artwork was procured by my fiance, and she spend a great many hours creating the various masks needed to laser engrave the molds.

They took around 2.5 - 3 hours to cut at 0.025mm passes.

I wanted some detail.

Maybe I have high standards, but I never quite looked at celtic /scottish styles with the "less is more" mentality, but I have had a few comments about it in the last couple of days and I'm starting to understand.

[Dranoweb]

In response to TheOfficialBren - just looked at your profile - my fiance is part cherokee as well.

[Destin_scot]

Nice

I am assuming that this is pewter?

[Dranoweb]

Not pewter, white-metal.
recycled stuff from local coal presses.
mostly microid-x for the buckles, and silver-x (bit of lead for shine) for the sgian dubh