Yikes!! Moths in my Kilt Kloset!!

[artificer]

Jeff,
sorry to hear about the terrible battle you've been facing.

Living as I do on the edge of a HUGE and heavily wooded area, moths are a constant concern for us as well.

It sounds like you've got the little beasties on the run, but if I may give one word of caution; be careful when storing leather in plastic. Leather and fur won't breath properly and can develop mold when stored air-tight.

I'd recommend zippered pillowcases or small garment bags for the sporrans as well.

[ForresterModern]

Here are the pictures of the offending agents and the trojan horse, of sorts:





Toby MacGregor (of Dundee, Fife, aka sporranmaker on ebay) full mask dress sporran with chrome cantle bought a little over a year ago and actually never worn, only out of this box once for a couple pictures, then stored in the kilt closet in box since. This is where all the moths in the closet were originating from. When I tried to lift it out of the box fur was falling off in clumps and the face completely collapsed and the eyes fell out of it, while a dozen or more moths lept to the air while their brethren stayed put in even larger numbers. I just took a couple quick pics then tossed the whole package in the trash, with a bitter taste of disgust, both physical and emotional.

jeff

[ForresterModern]

Jeff,
sorry to hear about the terrible battle you've been facing.

Living as I do on the edge of a HUGE and heavily wooded area, moths are a constant concern for us as well.

It sounds like you've got the little beasties on the run, but if I may give one word of caution; be careful when storing leather in plastic. Leather and fur won't breath properly and can develop mold when stored air-tight.

I'd recommend zippered pillowcases or small garment bags for the sporrans as well.

Thanks Artificer for the advice. I will probably take a tiny finishing nail and punch a couple breathing holes in the sporran containers for this purpose, but like the order the containers have brought to the whole system. So far the ones I have kept in freezer baggies have faired fairly well.

j

[artificer]

Here are the pictures of the offending agents and the trojan horse, of sorts:


... I just took a couple quick pics then tossed the whole package in the trash, with a bitter taste of disgust, both physical and emotional.

jeff

You should have put a warning on this post, it's enough to make a guy cry first thing in the morning.

If your trash collection hasn't been round yet, you might consider salvaging the cantle for future use. A quick dip in scalding water would certainly kill any more "uninvited guests"

Thanks Artificer for the advice. I will probably take a tiny finishing nail and punch a couple breathing holes in the sporran containers for this purpose, but like the order the containers have brought to the whole system. So far the ones I have kept in freezer baggies have faired fairly well.

j

The only other word of warning I have is that plastic shouldn't sit in physical contact with leather or fur. Wrap your sporrans in cotton or blue tissue. The stuff that leaches out of plastic can do some VERY strange things to a dynamic, living surface like leather (discolour, getting brittle, etc).

ith:

[ForresterModern]

You should have put a warning on this post, it's enough to make a guy cry first thing in the morning.

If your trash collection hasn't been round yet, you might consider salvaging the cantle for future use. A quick dip in scalding water would certainly kill any more "uninvited guests"



The only other word of warning I have is that plastic shouldn't sit in physical contact with leather or fur. Wrap your sporrans in cotton or blue tissue. The stuff that leaches out of plastic can do some VERY strange things to a dynamic, living surface like leather (discolour, getting brittle, etc).

ith:

Artificer

I will line the plastic containers with some leftover tartan or tissue paper to salvage the remainder of my sporrans. Excellent thought and explanation.

I considered trying to either salvage the cantle or possibly even the other non-fur parts of the devoured sporran with thoughts of covering it with another skin, but decided my level of disgust, both emotional and physical, would not abate after doing so, and if I ever used any of that sporran again I would have re-lived bad memories every time I wore it. I do too much reliving of bad memories, so I bid the whole thing, box and all, good riddance. Garbage men came yesterday so it is now in the county landfill, if anybody wants to claim it.

Thanks again.

jeff

[Riverkilt]

Yikes! - threw it away!!?? There's probably more than a few who would have bought it from you as is to achieve that "grizzled Scotsman with the moth-eaten sporran look."

[ForresterModern]

Yikes! - threw it away!!?? There's probably more than a few who would have bought it from you as is to achieve that "grizzled Scotsman with the moth-eaten sporran look."

Believe me Ron this was not pretty, big tufts of hair falling out, crumbling face support with dust and granular material everywhere, lost eye, flattened head, discoloration, bare hide, popping seams, not to mention the multitude of moths, larvae, and presumably eggs laid everywhere on the thing and thoughout the box. I picked it up once for a couple inches and a couple seconds, and it was definitely not salvageable for even the heartiest of souls. Wife would have had a cow if I had treated it or stripped it and brought it or any part thereof back in the house. She was not even fond of it spending the night in the garage until I could get a good daylight look at it the next morning---made me put the whole thing in a sealed trash bag first.

j

[auld argonian]

...which makes one think that, since some of them are so large these days, a nice wooden cigar box might make a good sporran storage unit.

Hmmmm...I have a couple laying around here that were headed for cigar box ukulele destinies but I may have to re-purpose one or two...

Best

AA

[Dale Seago]

This thread inspired me to check on a full-mask silver fox sporran I haven't so much as looked at in 5 or 6 years. Perfectly fine, as is the old hand-knit blue bonnet from TartanWeb which was by it in the same drawer.

Been seeing moths out in my living room periodically (in cycles of several weeks) the last few months, generally on the walls or ceiling and sometimes fornicating; but my woolens all appear to be fine. One of the nice things about San Francisco is that it's a place where, in any season of the year, there will be days where you want to wear them, so they get used more or less continually rather than seasonally stored. Still, I now have a bunch of cedar balls, hangers, spray essence, etc. I plan to use liberally even though I am not a liberal but a small-l libertarian.

Never see the moths around the bedroom, which is where all the woolen kilts, jackets/waistcoats, jumpers (sweaters), sport coats, and business suits are. When they're not on the living room walls, they seem to like the vicinity of the (synthetic fiber) carpet, especially near my parrot's "house", seemingly more interested in her castoff feathers and dander than my sheep-hair.

Still, we hates them. We hates them forever, my preciousss. . .

I've set up a sort of self-sustaining little ecosystem in a "dustbuster" hand-vacuum machine I call my "MothBuster". Suck every moth I see into it and, now and then, an occasional spider who then no longer has to forage very far for food. When it gets full enough I empty it in the apartment complex's trash bin, at which point the spiders are still generally doing just fine on what I've been giving them.

[Dale Seago]

I've set up a sort of self-sustaining little ecosystem in a "dustbuster" hand-vacuum machine I call my "MothBuster". Suck every moth I see into it and, now and then, an occasional spider who then no longer has to forage very far for food. When it gets full enough I empty it in the apartment complex's trash bin, at which point the spiders are still generally doing just fine on what I've been giving them.

In case they haven't yet figured it out, I am a vengeful god.

Yeah, admittedly small-g, but the moths don't know that.