Finished Bridle

Finished Halter

Above are photos of the halter completely finished and ready to go! Good luck and thank you to all that enter the lottery! I draw the names tonight at 9pm est!

Last Call!

I am lottery-ing off the above halter to the folks on my yahoo group and to those that subscribe to my blog. It's a "Thank you" for being so patient and supportive of my big slow butt!

I thought I was finished with the mother hubbard bridle but of course I had to do ONE more knot on it and then I messed up the actual knot underneath so a part of the reins will have to be done over.

Also, I got a tip from a wonderfully talented woman (jacquie who was at the Artisian's Hall at Breyerfest next to Liesl Dalpe)that went from braiding life sized bridles to braiding model sized bridles. She told me to look into drop spinning and alpaca yarn for mecates! What a revelation! DUUHHH!

I've been overwhelmingly busy with photography and model horse stuff! I've been meaning to blog for over a week now and I just got to it today.

I don't know if I've mentioned it but I've set up an "e-commerce" site for my photography. http://abounaderphoto.smugmug.com

And I have a photography blog: http://abounaderphoto.blogspot.com

Munchkin is now sitting up and crawling and he is into EVERYTHING! This is actually a great sign and I'm so pleased with his curiosity.

I've also been dealing with a touch of post partum depression. I've never been good about going out of the house and over the last three months I've been much worse. I'm seeing a counselor though so I will be much better in the future. I day dream a lot about taking munchkin places and taking his picture there... Like taking him to the slugger museum or taking him to the park and taking his picture in front of well known Louisville Landmarks... Hopefully I can actually do that soon.. I think it would be adorable for his photo album.

THe halter that refused to "be"

I've been working on and off on a braided button/silver western show halter and I thought that I would be able to have it finished this week! Turns out that I had no idea how much more work it was going to take! There was some kind of chemical reaction on the noseplate and on one of the keepers and they both turned yellow. So I stripped off the coating, cleaned them up, sealed them and BAM it happened again! So this time I'm replacing them altogether. The noseplate isn't that big of a deal but to replace the keeper, I have to redo the whole buckle assembly! PAIN IN THE PATOOT!!! I'm committed though to having the thing done by monday! It feels great to be in the studio again!

I have entered some photos in the Capture Kentuckiana photo contest put on by the Courier Journhal which is our Local Paper! I'm having a ball uploading photos and rating other people's photos! Turns out that there is a Local "Photography Collective"!! WHO KNEW!?

You can see my photos here:

http://capturekentuckiana.com/people/abounaderphoto But unfortunately to vote for me you'll have to sign up on the website. (SORRY!) but I'd be very grateful if you did!

Sorry!

Sorry folks! I just posted a photography post to my miniatures blog.. My apologies!!!

Photo of Professional Trainer Rob Byers and ":after eight" in an Open three gaited class showing the laced snaffle rein.

Wahoooo!!! North American Model Horse Nationals News

Congratulations to Robin Hudson and "Night Maneuvers"! Yesterday in the Saddleseat Class at the North American Model Horse Nationals, Robin's entry took FIRST place and Champion for the Second time! I made the tack on the horse so I get to celebrate along with Robin

IT was mentioned to robin that the snaffle rein, on the bridle, shouldn't be braided because "they don't use braided reins in Open classes". This is untrue. I have several photographs of top trainers riding their horses with not only laced snaffle reins, but BOTH sets of reins laced. When you show in model horses, Make sure you Know your stuff and stick to your guns!

I was going to post a photo of Robin's Entry from 2006 and a Photo of Rob Byers on "After Eight" showing the laced reins but Blogger isn't cooperating with me today!

See you at the Kentucky Horspark on Friday and Saturday!

Miniature Braided Bridle Headstall Finished III

Miniature Braided Bridle HEadstall Finished II

Miniature Braided Bridle Headstall FINISHED!

Some Progress!

I managed to get the browband finished.. sort of.. I think I want one more set of brown knots in there on the side.. I've also started on the chin strap....

Still obsessed!

Yup, Still obsessed with photography! I'm happy to say that I think I'm getting better too! I had a photo shoot with a friend last friday and I think that I did pretty well. THe above picture is of "sugar" who is a Paso Fino Mare. Getting her ears up was a bit of a "Task" but as you can see, we managed! I had a great time! I want to do a lot more picture taking of horses when their owners will allow it :-) (I'm aware the above photo needs some work, I just haven't gotten that far yet... I'll be doing that today)

I don't just like taking photos of horses though. Yesterday I went out into the back yard and shot dragon flies. THOSE buggars are hard to capture. Thankfully they lite on weeds and twigs and I can actually get a good photo of em!

I was beginning to feel really guilty about getting so into photography until I realized that I do this every year. I guess one's brain always needs a break from something one does constantly. I think it's good for creative growth too. Another artist friend of mine, has been going through the same thing, just not with photography. I think that some years I paint models, or I take up drawing again (which REALLY helps me on my scale proportions) or when I'm feeling really lazy I play the old version of Ages of Empires

With that said, I am still working on the bridle for my mother hubbard set. Sometimes Mr Boy sleeps soundly and I can actually get a knot done. Sometimes, he doesn't which makes getting a knot done almost impossible. I am also still working slowly on the halter that I'll eventually have for sale.

I am also slowly dispersing my collection. Resins are just getting hard to collect in that one has to have them prepped (because it KILLS my hands to prep) and then painted by a great artist that is actually taking orders. I am very particular about how my horses have to look when they're painted and finding people of that caliber is just difficult, and not to mention expensive. Artists in our hobby tend to get overbooked and burned out quickly. Since I don't have a job, it makes collecting resins and getting them painted nearly impossible... I've decide I'll keep the unpainted critters that I really love and the painted ones that I really love and thats it.

Also, I won't be going to NAN. I found out that hubby has to go out of town the first part of that week so I don't have anyone to look after munchkin.. He'll be back by Thursday though so I'll be able to "do" some of breyerfest. I have a table at the swap meet so I'll definitely have things for sale there!

Well, "boy" is taking a nap so I have to go do some things around the house that I've been neglecting forever

Braided Bridle Still in Progress

Like Fire!

(the above photo is my kitty, sahara and is entitled "Afternoon Yoga")

Holy Cow has my brain embraced photography! I had no idea that I enjoyed it as much as I do. This new camera is opening all kinds of creative and mental doors!! I've been obsessed!! I've photographed everything from kitty faces to spiderwebs and everything inbetween! I've always said that one is only as good as their tools and cameras definitely show this to be true! And whooo boy I thought model horses were expensive! LOL!!

Speaking of which, I'm going to narrow down my collection during Breyerfest this year. Most of them are just sitting around collecting dust in the basement anyway and we need to remodel the basement so they have to go somewhere!

Don't worry, I'm definitely not giving up tack. I enjoy making miniatures waaayyyy too much and besides, if my dream comes true and I become a professional photographer, I'm still going to need a hobby :-)

I have been working diligently on the braided bridle inbetween my equine photography class. I have just the chinstrap and a more decorations on the browband to go before it's finished.

Tomorrow is Fathers day! It will be my husband's first fathers day and I hope it turns out to be special for him. :-)

Bigole' Update

I've been busier than a one legged man in a butt kicking contest!

Firstly - I am about 1/2 of the way through that Lottery Halter. I'm so glad that I didn't sell it before I made it! LOL! Mr. Boy is demanding a lot more of my time. He's growing exponetionally and his mind demands more stimulation. It's hard to take him into the studio and concentrate because he wants me to interact with him when I want to work.. ha! So my studio time, which was already trimmed down, is MUCH more trimmed down now. I am definitely going to finish that halter though and it will definitely be available as soon as I do. It's just taking more time than anticipated.

I am also venturing into photography. I know, you're saying "but Heather, you already take a Jillion photos at model horse shows and horse events!" - well you're right but now instead of just Documenting, I'm going to be trying to take GOOD print quality photos. Also, the truth is that I need the moola because I don't have a "normal" job right now and photos are easer to sell than tack because they take a lot less time. (and really, who doesn't LIKE taking pictures?) I am NOT giving up tack however.

This past Saturday, My friend Robin and Anna and I went to visit a Saddlebred farm in Simpsonville, KY. I got about 24 good shots from there of mares and foals. IF you're interested in seeing the photos and you end up liking any of them enough to want some sort of Product or print, let me know. I have a cafe press store now and I have print pricing up. If you want to know when I have more photos available from the shows and horsie places I go to, Let me know (tackmaker@desertnightcreations.com) and I'll start a list or a yahoo group or something. I have a new, 10.2 megapixel DSLR so the photos are better quality now. I'm also going to take a photography class on photographing the equine.

Horse gallery:http://photos.modelhorseshowphotos.com/main.php?g2_itemId=88310

cafe Press store: http://www.cafepress.com/dnccreations (please note I can only display a few things at a time on Cafe Press so if you want an image or product you don't see let me know. I'll get it up For you!)

I also like cats quite a bit, having two of my own (Don't worry, I like dogs too, I just don't own any). The good part is that they are very "graphic" in that black cats against any background makes for a cool picture most of the time. So I am also going to offer prints of the good pictures of my kitties and you can see them here: http://photos.modelhorseshowphotos.com/main.php?g2_itemId=107724 One picture that has been getting a lot of attention on betterphoto.com and flickr.com is this one: http://photos.modelhorseshowphotos.com/main.php?g2_itemId=108270

I'm also going to be taking pictures of "other things" and if you to the main site http://photos.modelhorseshowphotos.com you can see the other misc stuff that I've been honing my eye on.

Thats about it other than I WILL be at NAN and Breyerfest so PLEASE say hi to me. SO few people do and I Really do have time to say hi to everyone :-)