Sleigh Bells - Tumblr Posts
I decided to make something festive this year. I found somewhere to get a whole bunch of sleigh bells, and I made a reindeer harness! For reindeer! Definitely!
These were photos I took while making it. It took 2 evenings, with a day to dry out in the middle. (I soaked the straps to form them around the rings and buckles so they’d sit really nicely.) I used some pretty thick and stiff 8-ounce vegetable-tanned leather, so the straps have a nice heft to them, even before adding a couple pounds of bells on.
The one thing that I’m a bit unhappy with was the pop rivets to attach the bells to the leather. They worked great, and they seem like they’ll be strong and long-lasting, but on a bunch of them they left a bit of a scratchy point pointing in towards your skin. That might end up being uncomfortable when wearing it, though I wasn’t really able to test that since I was finishing this up late at night and I didn’t want to bother my housemates with more noise than was strictly necessary.
In just a moment I’ll post up a couple shots of me wearing it. I got this done the night before flying out of town for Christmas, so no nice photos yet, just phone-camera selfies, but oh well.
Link to photos of it being worn.
I made this reindeer harness for Christmas! This thing is really loud!
I think this is probably the first big strap-based project I’ve done in leather. I’ve made a couple chainmail X harnesses a few years back, but my leather projects have mostly been masks. This was a really fun piece to make, though it turned out to be a bit more work than I’d anticipated.
I got this done the night before flying out to visit family for Christmas, so all I could get was phone camera selfies. I’ll see about getting some nicer photos of it in the new year. I’ll probably put it up for sale, too, since I won’t have much opportunity to wear it, and it really is fun enough that I think it should be enjoyed. In theory it would’ve been nice to make this in time to sell it to someone who could have fun with it for the holidays, but oh well. At least I got it done in time to post for you all. Merry Christmas.
Progress shots over here.
If you’re harnessing yourself up to Santa’s sleigh, you’d better be dressed the part!
Just in time for the holidays, I’m posting this sleigh bell X harness for sale. Etsy listing here!
I’ve added some strap-keeper loops since I took these photos, but haven’t had a chance to get updated shots of it. This is one of those pieces that’s hard to set up a photo shoot for.
Here’s that sleigh bell harness in action. I hope it gives a sense for just how loud this thing is. Wow. Maybe 30 bells was too many?
Nah.
Christmas is coming, and I want to make another sleigh bell harness. Are you a reindeer? Do you want to be? Drop me a note!
A copy of this one would be $300. I could do various other configurations too. It’d be super fun to get to make one of these along with the dragon tails that I’m opening for commissions on.
(This one was sold a couple months ago to someone with a reindeer fursuit, and that makes me so happy.)