Horse Hair

[JimB]

Thank you Julie!
This is just what I have been looking for.

How do you think this would look on a piper's sporran?
http://www.hideandfur.com/inventory/36250094.html

[Chas]

Jim, if you are after a horsehair sporran, why not just buy one.

Real horsehair

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ORIGINAL-HORSE...item2ea710f965 - £59.99 + shipping

or artificial

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LONG-ARTIFICIA...item2ea710f7e0 - £29.99 + shipping

If you buy just the horsehair, you still have to make the sporran to put it on. I have been searching the internet for months and I can't find a cantle for less than £29.99 and here is one with the rest of the sporran attached for free!

If nothing else, you will have a sporran that you can de-construct to find out how to do it before you waste a lot of horsehair.

Regards

Chas

[LadyGriffin]

Chas, if you read the description of the horse hair sporran it says:

Stock Code: SP250

Name: Long Artificial Hair Sporran


Then it describes the sporran as black cowhide leather and original horse hair?
Which is it? Artificial or Real?

I do not trust it.


Julie

[Chas]

Chas, if you read the description of the horse hair sporran it says:
Stock Code: SP250
Name: Long Artificial Hair Sporran

Then it describes the sporran as black cowhide leather and original horse hair?
Which is it? Artificial or Real?
I do not trust it.

Julie

Hi Julie,

Personally, I think it is a typo. They also sell artificial hair sporrans, which look quite different. The picture is definitely real hair. I own 3 horse hair sporrans and the white is at best an off white. An artificial horsehair sporran is WHITE, gleaming, shining white.

The bag of a horse hair sporran is not made of horse hide. In general they are made of cowhide although, I have heard of early (now antique) sporrans being made of pigskin (probably wild boar). The horsehair (not hide) is stitched to a panel, which in turn is stitched to the front of the sporran. This way no horses are injured in the making of the sporran - the hair is just harvested on a regular basis.

If Jim has got his heart set on making his own sporran from scratch - great. I am a believer in DIY and only wish that I had more craft skills. My only thoughts were these: after obtaining the horsehair, he would still have to make a bag to mount it on and he would have to source a cantle from somewhere. If he bought either of the Pakistani sporrans, he would have a pattern to work from, a cantle and would know how much horsehair he would want.

A last few thoughts.

This vendor has supplied in the past and currently supplies many of the "Scotish" retailers (not Gold Brothers).
There have never been enough horses in Scotland to supply all the horsehair needed for the army, leave alone any civilian use, so the horsehair has always come from overseas.
This vendor has just made the tabbard for the incoming Garter King of Arms of the College of Arms in London.
If you pay by PayPal, you can get your money back if the product is not as advertised (artificial rather than real).
I have been a customer of theirs for about five years and am completely satisfied.

Regards

Chas

[Donnie]

Try this place! I get almost all my supplies here.
http://www.zackwhite.com/home.php?cat=579
We want to see the finished sporran!

[LadyGriffin]

[QUOTE=Chas;825689]Hi Julie,

Personally, I think it is a typo. They also sell artificial hair sporrans, which look quite different. The picture is definitely real hair. I own 3 horse hair sporrans and the white is at best an off white. An artificial horsehair sporran is WHITE, gleaming, shining white.
***

I thought it might be, but just wanted to point it out just in case.
I have made a long horse hair sporran from scratch, using the cantle from one of the cheap artifical ones. I latch-hooked the horse hair onto a canvas panel and stitched that to a cowhide panel, simular to what you have described. It took a LOOOONG time to do it so the hair was full enough.

Julie

[1malt]

Not to sound insensitive but if you have livestock in your area your gunna have deadstock, it just figures.

I was in the horse business for quite a few years, lets face it they DIE!

My suggestion would be to locate a deadstock company and pay a visit with a knife or shears and have at it. Don't be squeemish and they won't kick.

Good luck

Ken

[MacLowlife]

Thanks LadyGriffin for explaining the latch-hooking part. Do you have an idea of what weight of hair you ended up using? ( Was it a pound, a half pound, or what?) Would you still use that approach? I had thought maybe some kind of clamp, or series of clamps, or staples or long stitches of thin wire. I also thought, if you have 28-30 inch hair, you might attach it in the middle and fold it over. Does anyone else have ideas about attaching the hair?

[LadyGriffin]

I think it was a pound, and I purchased the longest they had. I used about 8 hairs at a time, and went at it. I believe used a canvas mesh that they use for latch hooking or slightly smaller. I posted pictures on x-marks a few years ago. I think the squares were about 1/4 inch.
I know had some left over afterwards. I purchased the smallest weight in black for the tassels.

After that, I found a whole horse tail online, but I would never go that route again. It is MUCH easier to get it all cleaned, combed and the same length! Spend the extra $ and get it that way! Other than being a bit creepy having a horse tail hanging in my sewing room, The hairs are uneven, thicker and thinner and not consistent in color.

Julie

[Bugbear]

You know, I just remembered that a bunch of people over at one of the ceramic studios do a lot of horse hair glazing; burning horse hair into red hot ceramic sculptures.

I might ask them where they get the horse hair; though there is an abundance of horses out here.