What is the best material to use when making elbow-pads for bellows?
Any suggestions?
Robert
Anything that is both comfortable and durable. Leather pillows filled with some sort of padding (ie. cotton, foam etc…) work nicely. But you could do the same with a sturdy fabric. Some fasten doubled over cloth to the inside cheek and outside cheek. I suppose it is a matter of taste and personal comfort.
I made one from the the thin " foamcell matrass"“(used in outdoors under sleepingbags etc,
sorry not find the rigth word for it) perhaps you got it what i mean. Cheap and
Easy to cut in different shape, few pieces of” twosideglued" tape between " slices " and you can made pad as high as necessary.
Always have piece of it in my case.
btw I covered pipecase insides with same stuff too.
Closed-cell foam or kapok can be used. The cover can be of soft vinyl or leather. Its really your choice and whatever is available to you.
djm
The outdoor matress stuff works great, and its cheap. Or maybe a small piece of the living room carpet… You could allways cut a piece when you are visiting friends - if you take it from under the sofa or a chair they won’t notice… 
Will we see you in Copenhagen this weekend, at the Liam O’Flynn gig?
/Morten
Yes! I like this approach best!!
Cat’s are also longlasting material for elbowpads… .. if your reed doesn’t reach 3rd octave, just push harder ..cat does instead, .. but remember not to feed the cat before playing session…
Hehe. My fat cat wouldn’t even fit on the bellows. Usually she looks as she just have eaten the whole set…
This is a good topic. Nothing scream’s “klass” like the folded old sock I’ve been using as a bellows pad. 
I have also seen people use a piece of sheepskin with the wool turned to the outside. Not an option if you’re alergic to wool, though.
djm
I’ve been using a piece of closed-cell foam covered with polartec fleece–comfortable and hypo-allergenic
No E
… and I always thought that your cat ended up as a bag for your Scottish chamber pipes. At least the sound was close … 
Check out your local upholstery shop of wholesale foam company. I have used a really great 1" thick medium heavy grey foam in the past and it held up the entire time I had my Lambe set. Cut it to whatever shape you like, cover it in a nice material and attach it to the bellows with velcro… yay… no more bleeding elbows!
PD.
But isn’t the calloused and occasionally bloody elbow the mark of this particular fraternity? Like a facial scar for the Tubingen University fencing fraternities? 
Wooly Bully…
I’ve seen some sheepskin pads being used.
I used some velvet and synthetic stuffing material I grabbed at the craft shop for like 5 bucks. All it takes is a little sowing and…voila!
FYI: There are plenty fencing fraternities in Germany … so don’t only blame the ones from Tübingen!
Thanks for all advice
I bought a pillow for a chair for 20SEK = $3 US and fitted it inside the old padding-cover. Then I turned the elbow strap the other way so I don’t get any more sore arms from the strapbuckle.