Inter-changeable Sporran Tassels

[cavscout]

I have two Buzz kidder sporrans which I really like. They are a great price and the look is very versatile. The tassels are a simple leather fringe. Sometimes I'd like to be able to "change up" my sporran but don't want to do anything real flashy.

I'm currently putting together some horse hair tassels to coordinate with these sporrans, or any other I choose to put them on. I hope to have my prototypes done this week to post pics but I'll briefly describe them...

The tassels are designed to be for day wear. The horse hair will be brown or black. About 3-1/2" long. Instead of a silver cone or ball to cap the tassel I will use black or brown leather. The tassel will hang from either round braided leather or leather thongs. All you will have to do is slip the thong thru the hole in the sporran and crimp on the removable retainer.

This will allow you to swap leather tassels for horse hair or horse hair for leather or to put black tassels on your brown sporran and vice versa as well as virtually double your sporran selection at a minimal cost.

I'm still hashing out pricing but I expect it to be a better deal than shelling out the money for another sporran.

Is this a product anyone would be interested in? What would be your preferences in a product like this?

[David Dalglish]

Sounds like a good idea-Would like to see the pics

[cavscout]

Here's the first version of the tassels.

Modified Buzz Kidder-black
Modified Buzz kidder-brown

I'm playing with a leather bell as an alternate to the white/black decorative top.

I think it looks really good and the drumming noise I had with the leather tassels is virtualy gone. It's now more of a swishing noise

I think I'm going to try this on my dress sporran also. It's black rabbit so I'm not sure how that will look together (horse/hare ) but I'll try it and see.

[cavscout]

I played around with the dress sporran last night but these tassels have too much brown in them to look good with a jet black rabbit sporran. I'll have to spend some time makig the tassels pure black. I thill think it might look pretty good on a dress sporran especially if done with a nickle cone.

I'm kind of surprised this isn't getting much chatter. I'd have thought folks would be interested in jazzing up a sporran easily. Unless this just looks hideous and I don't realize it. Come on guys, hurt my feelings. If this looks bad, tell me.

[possingk]

I really like the idea, and the pictures look great, I just don't have a sporran it will work on.

[cavscout]

looking back at the picture from the ball you and your wife went to, looks like a standard leather sporran. Is that the same sporran? How do the tassels attach to it, out of curiosity. The only sporrans I have are the Buzz Kidders and a Dress sporran and they all attach the tassels thru holes and lock in place with a stud or a split ring. I was anticipating that most if not all sporrans used this method.

[possingk]

The sporran from the ball, is no longer in use, it was cheap and it was starting to mess up my kilts. I bought a Buzz Celtic Knot Day Sporran from Rocky about a month ago. I am going to Dublin Irish fest next week though, if I find a brown BK, I like I will find out more about the tassels, I really love the belt you made for me.

[cavscout]

Rocky can get that Brown BK for you. He may just have to order it though. And truthfully, he's probably the best price out there too.

I was tempted by the celtic knot sporran cause I really liked the smooth front instead of the ribbed but I didn't want the medallion. I still wish they'd make one very plain like that.

[efer]

I like what you did Cavscout.

Any thought about having the brown tassels on the black sporran and vis versa?

Just a thought

[cavscout]

That is an idea. The hair I've got right now is mostly black with some brown mixed in. I need to get my hands on some straight brown and straight black to really see how the look will work. As it is I think these tassels look better with the brown sporran because the Buzz Kidder leather is almost a chocolate brown. If it were a lighter brown the black mixed in with the brown hair would make it look more black.

I guess in a way these are pretty versatile as they look good on the black but they look better on the brown. I also want ot try white hair on the black leather and my black dress sporran. I'll have more hair on my work bench than on my head if I'm not careful.