Only peripherally kilt related leather work...

**Hopper250** · 29th July 13, 02:17 PM

Originally Posted by HippieLee

My office-mate is now wondering why I'm L'ng my AO. I may end up with ash-trays for all my family before I get a sporran I like - fortunately, I am fond of a cigar every now and again with my scotch so my son and I will need ash trays too...

Speaking of scotch, check out this mirror I found in an antiques store earlier this month - I plan to build a bar around it:
Attachment 12973

I probably should stick to one project at a time but it will be a little while before I can start the bar anyway ...heck, I might get good enough at leather to incorporate some into the bar...

That looks really nice. Some tooled dark leather strips, nice scroll work or a couple of large squares done in knots look really nice against light wood. All under laquer of course.

**unixken** · 29th July 13, 02:23 PM

Sweet mirror! I love it!

**HippieLee** · 29th July 13, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by Hopper250

That looks really nice. Some tooled dark leather strips, nice scroll work or a couple of large squares done in knots look really nice against light wood. All under laquer of course.

Ahhh, you're already filling my head with ideas!

**HippieLee** · 29th July 13, 03:15 PM

Originally Posted by unixken

Sweet mirror! I love it!

In all the years of my wife dragging me to antique shops (we just celebrated our 27th anniversary friday) this was the first time I ever saw something I had to have - we found it near Indianapolis the Saturday night before we were to fly home...it's about 30+ inches across so I couldn't put it in a suitcase or check it at the airport and the antique store had no relationship with any shippers so they wouldn't ship it. We went back to the hotel that night and I was getting sadder and sadder thinking there was just no way to get it home...I searched online for shipping stores but couldn't find any open on Sunday and we had to be on a plane for home at 3:30pm...but my wife wouldn't settle for "no"...she got up in the middle of the night and looked some more and found a Fed-Ex pack and ship 3 MILES from the antique store that opened at noon so she woke me up in the morning and said let's get to the antiques store and get that thing! I can't imagine how a running business wouldn't have a relationship with a shipper especially when they were that close! but we went and bought it and took it to FedEx and they packed it up shipped it home and we got it 3 days later. The frame didn't survive the trip but that's OK as I planned to replace that anyway (it was cracked before we ever bought it) - or not use a frame at all if I built the mirror into the bar back - the mirror is in fine shape just waiting for me to build around it.

**AZ kilted** · 8th August 13, 08:15 AM

Good luck with the bar, Hippie! The mirror is going to look amazing.
I'm about to embark on my first sporran, too. It's going to be the soft leather Rob Roy type. I chose this style because Tandy is in Tucson which is an hour and a half drive for me. With gas at $3.47 a gallon, that adds too much to the cost of the leather.
I found my leather at Goodwill! They have a lot of leather jackets just hanging around! And, they're half priced every now and then. The most I've paid is $10.00 for a biker jacket which should yield at least two sporrans. So far I have bought and dismantled four; two black, one tan pigskin - for lining if I need it, another heavier tan, and a really dark green one. My plan is to put a contrasting color under a stencil done on the main color of the flap. I'm working on my patterns now.
Wish me luck!

**HippieLee** · 13th August 13, 03:15 PM

Originally Posted by AZ kilted

Good luck with the bar, Hippie! The mirror is going to look amazing.
I'm about to embark on my first sporran, too. It's going to be the soft leather Rob Roy type. I chose this style because Tandy is in Tucson which is an hour and a half drive for me. With gas at $3.47 a gallon, that adds too much to the cost of the leather.
I found my leather at Goodwill! They have a lot of leather jackets just hanging around! And, they're half priced every now and then. The most I've paid is $10.00 for a biker jacket which should yield at least two sporrans. So far I have bought and dismantled four; two black, one tan pigskin - for lining if I need it, another heavier tan, and a really dark green one. My plan is to put a contrasting color under a stencil done on the main color of the flap. I'm working on my patterns now.
Wish me luck!

Best of luck to you! I've heard that Goodwill and second hand shops are a great source for leather...I like the idea of cut-outs on top of a different color...I was thinking of doing something similar with the Buchanan crest....and I was wondering what makes good sporran linings...I've seen pig-skin and it's nice and soft but I was also thinking of just using the Buchanan tartan - I'm just not sure if fabric/wool is good for lining a sporran (and it's one I plan to use to actually carry things in)

**AZ kilted** · 14th August 13, 07:39 AM

Oooohhh! I think lined in your Buchanan tartan would be awesome! I was going to use pig skin, but only because I picked up a jacket in pigskin. Now you've got me thinking! I had to re-do my patterns because they were too small, but I'm about ready to start the build.
Good luck and I look forward to seeing your results.