Sunday, May 29, 2022

Miniature Barrel Saddle Finished!













Done! Official Pictures! I looked at my notes and this set was started at least a year and a half ago! Finally got done! It has mix and match so one could use all of the pieces or just some of the pieces to make a great performance setup! This set features: Hand painted sunflowers on real leather (with paint made specifically for leather), Hand tooled sunflowers; Real handmade miniature knotwork in yellow and green, working tongue buckles, Hand made bit, hand made silver accents, real braided tiedown and hundreds of details! The owner tells me that she really likes it and I can't wait to hand it over to her!











 

Thursday, April 21, 2022

Have you heard!? I'm giving away a Halter!

 










As a Thank you for the support that YOU guys give to me; I am GIVING AWAY This Halter via Lottery! This is a Sunflower Bronc Nose halter that Fits the larger trad sized (1:9)horses best! There are buckles on the crown piece and the noseband is adjustable as well. There are 6 real, braided and interwoven turks head knots for decoration. The lead is black and white which may make it versatile for some of your other halters. All buckles work so it should fit a variety of models. (The beautiful Halter stand shown is not included. It was made by the Talented Robin Hudson)


• The winner will Need to send me a photo of it on your favorite model horse when you receive it and I will post it on my Instagram and Facebook accounts with your name and your instagram or facebook page 🙂.


• Halter is presented AS IS- please do not ask me to resize it or to change a color etc.. It is a FREE halter.


• Please Read ENTIRE Post to see how to enter!


• Lottery is open worldwide. You Have until Friday, April 29th 2022 at 8pm Eastern Time to enter. One Entry Per person.


• To enter, send an EMAIL to tackmaker@gmail.com with “SUNFLOWER HALTER LOTTERY” in the subject line. In the body of the email I need your best email contact (email you can check often) and physical shipping address.

• When I pull the name for the lottery, I will assign a number to your email and then I’ll use a random number generator to choose a number for the winner. I will then email the winner and you will then have 48 Hours to contact me. If I do not hear from you in 48 hours the halter will go to the next person I pull.

• Shipping in the Lower 48 States in The United States will be included. Shipping to everywhere else in the world will be your responsibility. Mail Right now, across the world, is incredibly slow. Please be patient. It can take weeks to months to get to you.

• I will NOT share any of your information with anyone. I will not spam you with emails that do not pertain to the Halter Lottery. After the lottery is over, I will delete all of the entry emails for privacy reasons.


Thank you for your support over the years!

Friday, April 01, 2022

Knot tying and Braiding in Miniature

 


























This post was inspired by the International Model Month Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/internationalmodeltackmonth


As I get older, I get that outlook on life of "I don't want what I can do to die". It would be a shame to lose all wisdom gained in making miniatures.


Making miniatures is part engineering and part Art.  Things can be interpreted in a way where you may have not seen this thing or that thing in real life but by putting your documentation all together MIGHT result in this artistic thing you make. ( I do this liberally in my work.. lol)


These are the Books, Materials and Needles that I use for braiding.  I have several learning disabilities (dyscalculia, auditory processing disorder, A.D.D. )so I only learn by visualizing and then doing.  After I learn how to do a knot I can go back and read the formulas. I have a math Savant partner who can explain "Math type" things to me in a way that I can understand them.


Braiding takes time. That's all there is to it. It's practice. It's not just making a knot, it's also how to handle the knot as you're braiding; "Where did that bight go?";  when to "lock" it into place to make sure it doesn't roam; what materials to use to finish a knot so that it stays FOREVER; how loose to braid it initially for an interweave, how much and when to tighten it down... etc.


Sometimes when I'm having a hard time learning a knot in small scale, I would do it in a larger scale and learn it first that way.  You'll have to choose your own way. Each time you "Shrink" a knot and use a different material (real leather vs thread for instance) you are essentially braiding a different knot.


I also have harder time with darker base knot colors and then interweaving it with a lighter color. (Danielle Hart is great at this!)


I originally had a bias in doing knots in that I only liked to use colors that would be found naturally in the old Californio or Spanish way of braiding. These were white, red, black and off white. As time has gone on however, I've changed my mind.


Some knots I've learned, took me a week. Some took me a month. The herringbone interweave I learned when I was pregnant so that took forever!


I might not have even cared about learning to braid had it not been for the aching jealousy I had for Susan Bensema Young's beautiful braidwork.  She is also a great and patient teacher and now a good friend and miniatures mentor. She is VERY approachable so you newer tackmakers should do yourself a favor and write her sometime.


List of Books and what I learned from each.  Remember that I'm a book collector too so.. These are all investments for me and they are like old friends. Some of these things are redundant to each other but this is just how I learn. I took parts from one and smashed them with parts from another in order to learn fully.


** SUPPORT SMALL BUSINESSES FIRST!*


-"Susan Bensema Young's Guide to Making Model Horse Tack."  (I have the older version and the newer version and I reference both!)I use this still for my 4 strand, 6 strand and even 8 strand braiding. The price for it is 100% worth it and if you're serious about miniature making this should be a must have. (There are hundreds of other things in there too but I'm focusing on braiding here)  There is a section on  making a miniature bosals, the spanish ring knot and how to tie a Mecate. Really you can just stop with this book- but again I'm a book collector so..  

https://www.timarustarii.com/tmg.htm (This link will open a new window and take you to Sue's page)


-"Encyclopedia of Rawhide and Leather Braiding"- Bruce Grant ISBN 0-87033-161-2

Readily available everywhere. Quite an old book. This has literally everything in it but I couldn't always follow his diagrams at first.  I learned the ring covering for buckles and the 4 bight 5 part knot and the 6 bight 7 part knot raised from the 4 bight 5 part knot.  My copy is quite torn up and ear marked.


You can get this on ebay for like $20.00  https://tinyurl.com/48ju6sdy   (This link will redirect you to ebay)


-"The Art of Braiding, Basics - Third Revised Edition" - Gail Hought  ( I have the older Gail Hought books before the revisions.  I'm sure though that the newer ones are even better.)

https://www.hought.com/brbooks-3rd-rev-basics.html (This link will open a new window and take you to Gail Hought's website)

I learned how to interweave smaller knots from this book and the 3 pass spanish ring knot.  There is also the Long Pineapple button and the Gaucho interweave.


I learned to interweave from Gail Hought.  Gail Hought's Books are so collectible and I have like 5 and I wish I could have them ALL!  You can learn to make REAL horse tack from her books. They are not written for miniatures but I adapted them.

- I learned to Interweave and Make a real bosal from this book "The Art of Braiding, Bosal 1 - Revised": https://www.hought.com/bosalnbpromo.html  (This link will open a new window and take you to Gail Hought's website)


-You can also check on youtube if you learn visually.  The "paracord" and "Sailing" communities are huge and they are always posting videos on you tube. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Knot+Tying (this will open a new window and take you to you tube)


Materials


I have a TON of things to use for braiding. I just kept buying stuff - different colors, different threads different artificial rawhides. This is my weaving, sewing, knot tying collection.



(I'm leaving this to Stacy Faraci when I die.. LOL)


-Tandy's artificial rawhide has gone through SEVERAL iterations over the years.  The old is that darker actual Rawhide looking type and the Newer is that yellower one .(Not to be confused with that Screaming yellow one)  My favorite right now  for 1:9th scale is the darker brown one on the blue mandrel.  It is very fine and easy to split out. (I am actually missing a spool for that first photo.. no idea where I put it.. lol)


-This is Tandy's Artifical Sinew:  https://tandyleather.com/products/artificial-sinew-natural-270-yds


-I've also bought the big spools with brighter colors from "Land of Odds" but it doesn't look like they have them anymore: https://landofodds.com/sinew-artificial/


-For Thread. I use size 80 thread.  It's tatting thread that is normally used for making Lace.  Because  of that, it wants to tangle easier as you're working with it but you can't beat the range of colors.  DMC FLOSS is too weak to stand up to braiding and interweaving so I don't suggest it.

https://hhtatting.com/?s=Size+80&post_type=product


-I've also bought from this store on ebay - prices are reasonable and they have exactly the colors I want.


https://www.ebay.com/str/eccentriccollectiblesandhobbies


Needles


I have MANY needles but the best for making knots initially are the Duller Tapestry needles.  Using these type makes it easier to not pierce fibers as you're making the knots.  I only use sharp needles when I'm finishing a knot or an interweave.


Let me know if you've tried making knots- "large" size or in miniature - In the comments below!




Sunday, March 27, 2022

Where to even start and The Miniature Barrel Racing Saddle

 












So much has happened since 2015.  There have been a lot of changes in my life. Some I initiated and some I didn't.  As a lady of "A certain age" a lot of my life, thinking and general existence has completely been upended.
I've had to work hard to come back to a stable place but that stability is tenuous. 
So I will start with the last couple of months of miniatures making.
I have chugged away at my Sunflower Barrel Racing set. (above) I've finally become happy with it and it has an owner who just LOVES sunflowers!  I'm excited to be working on this for her! 
I have also managed to learn a new knot.  Well actually learn a new 'knotting process" from Tom Hall.  It used to be that I only knew the shorter, wider knots but I'm thrilled to have learned to now do a "long" knot.  I'm dying to do some Romel reins with these knots but it'll have to wait.  This is a 19 part 4 Bight "casa" knot.  I eventually ended up doing about 23 or 25 part 4 bight knot for the tiedown for the Sunflower Barrel Saddle that I've been working on.  Below are some photos of what I was trying to Accomplish.






Finished photos will come later of course :)