A Once (or in this case, Twice) in a Lifetime Brass Cantle Project!

[artificer]

A number of months back I was contacted by a potential commissioner after I'd made several comments about how amazing
Henry Battenburg's sporran was and how the opportunity to make something similar would be doubly amazing.



It seems that he had a VERY vintage leopardskin vest from the ~1920s from a long departed relative, and was interested in commissioning not
one, but two brass cantled sporrans.

In the end we changed the designs of the cantles, as the commissioner didn't want the pierced hearts that Henry had. We ended up with two
distinct designs, one with a combination of Cup-and-Ring designs, and one with a more simplified design, but incorporating the scalloped edge seen on some
very old sporrans (and recreated by the MoD on their 'Culloden' cantles)

Needless to say, cutting into a now irreplaceable material was a bit stressful.

We designed two different looks as well. For the bold cup and ring cantle we went with a center cut on the pelt and black trim. Tassels capped in brass balls.

For the more antique design we went with a side cut and lighter coloured leather to more closely mimic the overall look of Henry's piece.



One very difficult issue was the outer-face trim on the cantle, the commissioner wanted to replicate way the trim curve of Henry's sporran tightly fits the face of the cantle.
This necessitated a mid-construction change, as I'd originally allocated the 'spare' material to allow the cantle opening to the back panel. This unfortunately bloused out when
the bag was closed, so I ended up having to trim the back panel and insert a small 'V' shaped gusset to better fold into the back.

Two items of note:

This is a VERY antique pelt with proper provenance. I would never condone the use of a NEW pelt of a protected animal.
Additionally, the original garment was worn and coming apart, so repurposing was one of the few options left to preserve this amazing fur.

Secondly, Please do not contact me about the possibility of securing some of this material. It is not mine and I will not 'forward' your info to
the commissioner. While this pelt is legal due to it's age and documentation I wish in no way to generate/complicate any 'protected animal' issues.

As always, constructive commentary/critique is most welcome.

ith:

[Blupiper]

Those are two works of art and, in my opinion, a honest and honorable re-use of the original fur. Well done, sir.

JMB

[Carlo]

Only one word to say (it was to short because of the minimum 10 letter rule)

WOW!!

[SorenMacTavish]

These are both incredible works of art. And I tip my hat to you for your ethos on only using things with provenance and "upcycling" as it were. That has always been a hot topic issue with me as far as fur and hide sporrans go. But now I am getting off-topic. Anyhow, well done and absolutely breathtaking.

Edited to add: I love the scalloped edge by the way.

[BoldHighlander]

WUNDERBAR!!!

[Thomas H]

You do Crazy good work , well done , well done

[Liam]

Wow! is the only thing that comes to mind..

Slainte...Bill

[English Bloke]

My goodness me... They are a bit special!!

Top work Scott. You never cease to amaze.

[artificer]

Thanks lads!

Both the commissioner and I were somewhat reticent to post pix due to the relatively sensitive nature of the fur, but, once again, the rabble has some out as a class-act.

I can't even begin to explain how giddy-excited/terrified I was to cut into this pelt. I did mean to note that we ended up modelling the cantle on that of the current "Mackintosh".



which is a very old style with a wide-spread and somewhat shallow arc to the cantle, rather than the more commonly seen 'half-circle' arc that the MoD "Culloden" cantle reproduces.

ith:

[AKScott]

Nice work.