Two makeovers of makeover sporrans!

[OC Richard]

I had a c1950 EW5 cantle on a Coyote body, and a c1930 Celtic birds knotwork cantle on a seal body.

But the Celtic birds cantle always looked too big on the normal-sized seal body, and looked much better on the slightly oversized Coyote body.

So I swapped the Celtic bird knotwork cantle on to the lovely Coyote body which it looks great on, and put the EW5 cantle on a more rustic-looking Coyote body.

I decided to use the same russet leather for both. I have a lot of that stuff and besides it looks just right to my eye. It's been "weathered" as I always do.

I really like the results.



The liner on the EW5 cantle that I made might look a bit wide, but that's intentional, a small tip of the cap to the old Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders sporrans which had wide liners.

[User]

Those look incredible! Is that acrylic paint you're putting on top of the leather? Does that hold up well?

[ShaunMaxwell]

Beautiful!

[Troglodyte]

I had a c1950 EW5 cantle on a Coyote body, and a c1930 Celtic birds knotwork cantle on a seal body.

But the Celtic birds cantle always looked too big on the normal-sized seal body, and looked much better on the slightly oversized Coyote body.

So I swapped the Celtic bird knotwork cantle on to the lovely Coyote body which it looks great on, and put the EW5 cantle on a more rustic-looking Coyote body.

I decided to use the same russet leather for both. I have a lot of that stuff and besides it looks just right to my eye. It's been "weathered" as I always do.

I really like the results.



The liner on the EW5 cantle that I made might look a bit wide, but that's intentional, a small tip of the cap to the old Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders sporrans which had wide liners.

I really like the results, too..!

I have never tried paints on leather, but your results are encouraging. I have known others to use metallic car spray-paint to get a worn-off-guilding effect, with convincing results.

For an aged, patinated and well-handled effect, cold tea does well - wiping surface with a teabag has a similar effect on leather as sepia toning does with photographs. I have done tea-toned photos, too, as the staining remains after the moisture had dried.

[OC Richard]

Those look incredible! Is that acrylic paint you're putting on top of the leather? Does that hold up well?

Oh yes Liquitex is amazing stuff!

It adheres to almost anything and is very durable.

For "weathering" leather there are two ways to go, subtractive and additive.

The subtractive thing is to soak the leather in rubbing alcohol, then hit it with sandpaper (and files and bricks and anything to rough it up). The high areas end up with the colouring abraded off.

The additive thing, which is non-invasive, is to dry-brush lighter-coloured paint on the high areas. You have to do vinyl (faux leather) that way.

Both end up looking the same on camera, if done well.

Two pair of identical inexpensive vinyl costume boots. The left pair has been "weathered" with Liquitex. You can wear the boots for years and the paint doesn't come off.