DIY full mask sporran?

[MacRob46]

I have not made a full face sporran. I have made a fur fronted-covered sporran. The first thing I did was choose the pattern. I made a bag that opens from the top with a flap. I then made a jig to shape the construction leather (saddle quality / heavier gauge) that I covered with the much thinner groundhog (marmot) pelt.
The rest of my bag consists of a leather back that is long enough to include the flap.

I could have added the animal's head to the flap and trimmed the backing leather flap to match the shape and size. I expect the thinner animal pelt would wear out quicker (or start losing hair) without the leather backing, due to constant opening and closing of the flap.

That is one design idea but not the only one. An animal head could be fixed to the front of the sporran and the bag opened from the back like many horse hair sporrans are designed. A hinge and latching system (non-ornate cantle) would easily be hidden within the shape of the sporran design. This may be better for the face of the animal because less handling will cause less wear of the fur.

These are just my thoughts and untested by me. I defer to those that have more experience with full faced sporrans and the construction of them. Good luck with the project and please, keep us interested folks abreast of your progress.

The only caution I would give you here is that if you are going to make a full mask sporran, please make it neatly, with the features provided on taxidermied pelts. IMHO nothing looks worse than the face of the animal with no eyes, no snout, etc. It just looks like roadkill to me! Since you have made sporrans with leather and fur, you probably have the requisite skills to do a full mask version. The only full mask that I own is a possum sporran, one of two the maker produced. The maker was a taxidermist so mine has the eyes, snout, whiskers, etc and really looks good...I can say that because I just bought it, didn't make it.

Good luck and forge ahead.