Lots of photos, as promised! LOL!!!
The first photo is a comparison of Kirsteen Haley's new Basketweave Tooling stamp and the Rio Rondo Stamp. (kirsteen's stamp is the first row)I love both of them! Kirsteen, I think, will have several other stamps available soon and I think that they'd be worth investing in. It's so very hard for our hobby to find tooling stamps small enough to be the correct scale and her's are a welcome addition! (I have long thought about a special set of small tooling stamps for a barbed wire stamp but as always, I have never had time to pursue it.) Kirsteen's Email addy is: quarterhorsedocbar@yahoo.com These are a limited supply! Get em while you can!
The second photo is of the Western Show halter that Susan Bensema Young bought from me and then had me "tart" up..heheheh I love that she said that.. I think that the addition of the extra crystals (her idea) is just perfect! I'll be doing that again.. I also want to note that if "you" ever buy something from me and want me to add some details or anything, I'm always happy to do so.
The Third and Fourth Photos are of the bridle that I've been diligently working on for wayyyy too long. However, I'm super pleased with the final product. The leather photographed much darker than it really is for some reason and I couldn't lighten it up enough with photoshop. The one thing that I had ti "improvise" about was the silver beads. I didn't want to skip silver on the reins or switch the beads to something else after making the headstall. so I decided that since some of the Hill Tribe Beads from Fire Mountain Gems are split in the back then it would be acceptable for me to split these beads. I hope that you agree... I think that the continuity and the flash of silver really add to the reins. The breastcollar is going to match the reins.. I haven't counted how many spanish ring knots that I've made on this set but I'd guestimate that it's 50+. (The plain white knots are spanish ring knots)
The last photo is a drawing of the start of the tooling for the saddle for Chelsea's saddle set. (The bridle above is the bridle for the set) I am feeling the inspiration of "sheridan tooling" made famous by Don King of Sheridan Wyoming. http://www.kingropes.com/thekings.htm I've also seen some folks in our hobby use this style of tooling on their saddles which makes me want to give it a shot. I am really going to try to "tool" it instead of just draw it on. I've had to buy some tandy "regular" tools and use a dremel to carve them down to a useable size. The set will also have some basketweave tooling on it to "fill" in in the middle of the individual piece.
I've been very very neglectful of my diet and my workouts here lately so I'm trying to get back on track with that. It's hard to stay motivated sometimes but I'm pushing myself really hard to stay focused.
I hope you enjoyed the photos! let me know what you think!
