
Anyhow, as I mentioned in my recent “Treasure!” post, I’ve been trying to flesh out some small little corners of my kit and persona, and one of those that I keep coming back to is that it would be nice to have a little in-universe money that I can keep with my kit at all times, since even a Ranger occasionally needs to pay for goods and services. I already had one fantastic copper Bree penny from Elleth, and four absolutely stunning copper Dwarven coins of Erebor from Gulli, but I wanted just a bit more jingle, if yoiu will, so I ordered seven coins from the Shire Post Mint to round out my collection.
But of course, that made me realize that I needed something to PUT them in! And yes, technically I already have several basic drawstring coin purses that I’ve used with various kits and costumes over the years, but because of who I am as a person, I decided I wasn’t actually satisfied with any of these. Mostly this is because they’re all just made from pre-finished, commercially available chrome-tan leather, and roughly sewn together with big, visible stitches on the outside - which I do actually kind of like, for the sake of texture, but it just doesn’t feel as Middle-earth authentic to my eye now as it might have like 5 years ago. I wanted to do something that looked real.
So, somewhat inspired by the beautiful little green leather purse Gulli sent my most recent Yuletide gift in, and slightly inspired by the little pouch Cimrandir made for his own Yuletide gift to me a couple years back, I decided to make a brand new one from what remained of the veg-tan goat skin I had left over from my ill-fated bota-bag reskinning project. I also thought it would be fun, since it’s technically veg-tan, to tool in a Tengwar “m” initial, for my persona name (also inspired by that pouch Cimrandir made me), and I thought turned out very nicely!
HOWEVER.
I should have known better than to trust this damned goatskin. It failed me when I tried to use it for the waterskin, and I should have known it would fail me again. I don’t know why, because I’ve always heard how durable goat skin usually is, but this stuff is awful. It tears like paper, and, well…
…This is what happened when I tried to turn the damned thing right-side-in. Sooooooooo back to the proverbial drawing board went I, and I realized I ALSO had some very nice, thin, calfskin which I had bought ages ago to cover a scabbard, but still had a little left over from that as well. This time I decided to tool the “m” design into a separate patch, and I also added a second patch with the same style of star I used previously on my quiver and belt:
As you can see above, I also opted to add two narrow strips of leather as reinforcements for the side seams, which I got from how Gulli did the little pouch he made me.
luckily, this stuff was WAY more resilient, and it went together beautifully! And here’s the final result:
I used Eco-Flo Gel Antique to stain the leather, and it came out with a really lovely, variegated color - quite similar looking to a natural walnut dye, IMO. One of these days I will break down and actually try walnut dye, but for the present, I’ve got to say I’m really happy with the finish on this! I finished it up with some Satin Shene and Aussie leather conditioner, and here’s the final result! (Seriously though, this calfskin is gorgeous, and it’s SOOOOO soft to the touch)! It’s VERY wee, but I think it will make a quite nice small purse for my modest supply of Middle-earth authentic currency! It should fit well inside my main belt pouch, and I feel adds some nice extra depth to my kit! (Also, I was at least able to salvage the drawstrings I had cut from the goatskin, which for some reason seem much more robust than what I had used for the actual body of the pouch).
Anyway, I know it’s just such a little thing, but I’m really happy with how it came out!