Little by Little (pun intended!

Above are some in progress pictures of my NAN donation headstall which is a collaboration between me and Susan Bensema Young. I'm not sure if I've adequately expressed my gratitude about being asked by Sue to collaborate on a tack piece - let alone one as high profile as the NAN auction. To my knowledge, Sue has never done this before and to be the one chosen for such an honor is amazing.

The headstall above is made from thread. Sue sent me the colors to use and I went out and bought the same color from the same manufacturer to ensure that the headstall and reins will closely match.

I have an idea about how the headstall will be finished up and if you're "connected" to me on facebook you could see my quick drawing of the idea I had. I didn't want to repeat what I have done before and what everyone else has done already. So my headstall will have a dash of some previously made bridles that will definitely be my "style" but will also somewhat follow along the lines of tradition... I'm not sure if any of that blather matters to anyone but it makes sense in the context of the fantasy of miniatures. I don't know what any "real" sized horse tack braiders think of my "wildly" colored braided miniature bridles but hopefully they don't think I'm too far off of the mark.

As always I'm moving really slowly.. life lately has been difficult and I've been tired an achey but making tack brings me a lot of joy so I stubbornly refuse to give it up!

Thanks, as always for reading my blather...

Yay! More progress!!

The first photo above shows one of the bit shanks being very close to finished. I started putting the "bit piece" on the second one but it turned out shorter than the first so I pulled it off. I'll have to give that another shot tonight. The first picture also shows the bare bones beginning of the cheek pieces.

The second picture shows a cheek piece in progress with the loop and the decorative knot over the top already on. It also shows the crown piece in progress. It is somewhat a relief that I don't have to do reins for this but I also have some anxiety about it being good enough to showcase susan's work.. Cross your fingers for me!!

This is the second incarnation of the NAN headstall. The first one, below, was waayy waayyy too big and In taking it to the craft store to get matching thread, I lost one of the cheek pieces. Thats fine because I had intended to start over anyway.

Then on friday I spent most of my studio time at night building the cheek pieces only to lose the very work I had worked so hard on. It is "somewhere" inside the house somewhere but I have no idea where. (This is one of the hazards of making tiny, tiny things..)Hubby even spent time looking for it after I went to bed and he couldn'd find it either. ( I guess I looked rather pitiful when I told him I had just lost everything I was working all night on.. LOL!) Thankfully I was smart enough to pay close and careful attention of where I put the cheek pieces the second time around..

Stay tuned as I hit this headstall "full on".. gotta deadline to reach!

Even the best laid plans....

After happily and proudly posting my progress in the last blog blather, I decided to remeasure the cheek pieces of the bridle. They are miles too long. I don't know how or why I managed to do that but now I have to entirely start over from scratch. I may go the more traditional route now and go with some solid cheek pieces and just a "Zebra Throatlatch".. and I may add in some black. Not sure.. I'll have to pow wow with Susan on that one when she gets back from her trip.

Oh well.. off to the craft store for more thread!

Progress!

Albeit slow progress... The first photo above is the Breastcollar I've been working on for Alicia Vogel. It's 3/4ths of the way finished. It's just missing it's cool silver center piece. The only actual beads on the breastcollar are the silver "Disco"beads. The red knots are actually spanish ring knots and the blue and white knots are interwoven turks head knots.

The second picture shows my North American Model Horse Nationals Auction Donation in progress. I broke one of the bit shanks from messing with it too much (metal Fatigue) The precious "Dremel Time" that my husband was nice enough to work out with me today was spent making another bit shank. I still need to add "Faux" bit pieces to them as well but that is just a matter of time.

The blue and white braid pattern is a bit of a departure from the Traditional and "usual" headstall look. This bridle is something that Susan and I are putting together based on our experience braiding and researching bridles I figured that it would be nice to change it up a bit. There will be some solid braided pieces to give the eye a "rest" so that it's not so jarring. This is only the second time I've ever built a headstall entirely out of tatting thread. Normally I use artifical rawhide as a base and do the buttons using the thread. I was really worried that I had made a mistake at first but I've managed to somehow, and so far, to get the thread to work. Now my only problem is that I'm running out of the blue that Susan sent me so I'll have to go to Joann's Fabric to hunt up some more. Thankfully Susan was smart enough to choose a color that shouldn't be hard to find. (not surprising, that Sue is a smart cookie!)

My challenges over the past couple of weeks have been that I've been really really tired, and that my Husband has contracted Strep Throat this past week. I don't think that I have strep throat, I think that I just get up too early and I don't sleep deeply enough. I'm going to try harder to get to bed on time for the next few weeks so that I'll have enough energy to work in the studio and get everything I need to get done.. Done!

Hubby is on the mend now though after a trip to the drs and some anitbiotics. We're watching our son very closely to see if he has it. He's been extra tired today but that could be from getting up too early. We're hoping against hope that he side steps the strep throat because my husband has been very very ill.

I hope that you all are having a great spring and I'll blather at you again soon!

Oh Dear! Been too long!

I've been so remiss at posting! I'm so sorry! This week is Derby week, and I was able to go to the track (churchill downs) this year on a company function. It was wonderful to be there during Derby week. Above is me - with my "derby" hat. IT's a bit small as derby hats go but I was just dipping my toe in the water so to speak. Next year, hopefully I'll be able to go to the track again and I'll make sure to get a more ostentatious hat! I have pictures from the Track that I need to tweak and then post somewhere. I wasn't sure what the accommodations would be once I got to the track so I decided not to bring my digital SLR. I brought the point and shoot instead. I wish now that I had brought the "big" camera but that'll have to wait until I visit the track again. (soon hopefully!)

Progress in the studio has been painfully slow. I've not felt my best this entire month. I've been utterly exhausted by 8pm every night, which is when I finally get studio time. I then go to bed at 9pm to get up by 5am and start my day again. I am thisclose to finishing alicia vogel's breastcollar that matches her bridle and then it's finally onto the joint NAN donation with Susan Bensema Young...

More updates as soon as I can!! Happy Derby Day!!!

Braided and Leather Bridle

Hi there!

The Braided and leather Bridle below (after the breastcollar post) is now available at this link:

http://www.modelhorsesalespages.com/sales/view_details.asp?id=775569

Alicia Vogel's Breastcollar in progress

This breastcollar matches a western pleasure bridle that I made for Alicia Vogel last year. She has been exceedingly patient with me while waiting for this to get finished.. I'm only about 1/3rd of the way into it.. lots more to go!

The D rings have been half hitched. The turks head knots are six bight, seven part turks head knots that have been interwoven with a herringbone interweave. The silver beads are real silver. The red knots are spanish ring knots of two passes. Lots more to do!! Then onto the nan donation! I need more energy and time!~ WIsh walmart sold THAT in a bottle!

By the way there IS a Desert Night Creations Group on Facebook. Just Search for Desert Night Creations and then join!

Where does the time go!?

Time seems to fly so fast now! I guess thats what having a munchkin in your life can do. So much time devoted to his sweet soul that just slips by un-noticed. Thankfully, for now, he's been relatively healthy which has been easier on us. He did have a "bug" of some sort last week but nothing really to speak of since. He's also learning new words which makes mommy and daddy realize that we need to watch what we say ;-) - and what we do. He picks up things so fast! I'm hoping soon that he'll be old enough to play more on his own so that I can get some more studio time and more time to clean up the house on a regular basis.

The above Bridle is for Heather Jackson-Lain's show, "Model Horse ANonymous III". Unfortunately I couldn't get my entry together in time so I'm not going this year. I definitely want to go next year and hopefully I'll be in a financial position to do so! You'll need to contact Heather for how and when it'll be sold.

I've wanted to do a braided snaffle bridle for some time, but there isn't a lot of precedence for braided bridles to have snaffles. Most use a fancy curb bit with a silvery overlay and romel (vaquero) reins. I thought that this bridle would be a nice "practice" bridle for my NAN donation which will be a braided headstall with a hand made silver snaffle bit. I also got to "play" with the black unwaxed dental floss that I found. That stuff is pricey! You'd think that something that you bought to use and then throw away would be cheaper! It stays straighter though than the artificial rawhide with the wax removed and I really like the detail it ads to the end of the reins. I can see two toned tassels using it in the future.. ;-) The headstall of the bridle above has basket weave on it and real silver on the tips of the crownpiece. I was forced to skive the leather really thin because the keepers are real woven knots and didn't leave a lot of "clearance" room. I did seal both the top and the underside of the silver tips though so that the leather would kind of "fuse" to it. So far so good!

It's almost Kentucky Derby time again! I've been paying more attention to the derby contenders this year because for a short while, Barbaro's full brother, Lentenor, was in the running. He isn't quite showing the maturity needed for the mad dash that is the Kentucky Derby. Hopefully he can look at some of the later triple crown races or maybe even the breeders cup!

Happy Spring and I hope that you're not flooded or sneezing too much!

one down!

Several to go! I wanted this to be a nice long, artsy, rambl-y post but as always, I'm out of time! These are finished photos of morgen K.'s trade bridle :-)

Snow Day

The first picture above is a photo of the stairs off of my deck in my back yard. IT's quite snow covered and Louisville, KY is in quite the panic! We don't normally get a lot of snow during the winter so all of the snow we've had over the last few weeks has really taxed the city. So today RJ's daycare is closed, as is most of the city. Luckily I have a job where I can work from home on occasions like this and thats what I'm up to today.

Firstly an update for everyone that is wondering - I am completely, utterly, hopelessly behind in tack orders. Like Months behind now. I can't take on anything new at all. I'm completely booked until at least next year. I'm moving slower than molasses in the January.

I've been really tired and totally swamped time wise. My weekends are jam packed with family things and my weekdays are jam packed with work and family and trying to find a way to keep off the baby weight I lost over the summer. I get MAYBE an hour in the studio a day... MAYBE.. With that kind of time trickle, I am maxed out on what I can do. Hopefully when RJ is older and can play more by himself and less supervised I'll be able to step up production a bit.

Secondly, the second picture above is of Morgen K's bridle. As you can see I've got the headstall partially finished. Just need some ear pieces and a lot more silver and a chin strap.. I think that the knots are turning out well and I'm pleased with the design. I didn't think that I could do two color knots on a "regular" headstall. I thought that they'd be too bulky but they're not! This opens up all kinds of possibilities for the future..

I hope that you're less snowed in than I am!!

High Noon Western Americana Auction - Session 1 - High Noon Western Americana - Phoenix Arizona

This is a link to the online auction catalog for High Noon's Annual Western Americana Auction. Included this year are some of the things from the Roy Rogers Museum that closed on December 13th, 2009. ENJOY!!!

High Noon Western Americana Auction - Session 1 - High Noon Western Americana - Phoenix Arizona

Quick Announcement re NAN Donation

This year, I really find myself behind the 8-ball so to speak. This happened because last October I got a job. I didn't think that I was going to be able to find another job until this year so I took a few trades for tack. I did this thinking that I was going to have at least 3 hours in the studio every DAY. My time frame was to do one trade order a month...

My first month went smashingly so I was confident I could do it again!

The second month, not so much... the third month I found my job and my studio time dwindled to almost no time at all. I'm now down to maybe an hour a day in the studio during the week and if I'm lucky I get two hours a day on the weekend. That is definitely completely different than having three hours a day!!

So While I wanted to donate to the NAN auction and to Heather Jackson-Lain's model horse Anonymous III show, I didn't know what I could come up with in time.

Then comes an offer from my friend and Mentor, SUsan Bensema Young. Why not combine talents since we're both behind the 8 ball? Yes, that's right, this year's NAN donation will be a collaboration between Susan and Me! I'm so excited not to mention so over the moon flattered!!! Stay tuned to see what we come up with.. I believe it'll be something that folks talk about for some time to come ;-)

New Pictures of past works with the new camera!

Above are detailed images from my green western show bosal and hanger and from the blue braided bridle. I hope you like! I love the details that my new camera gets!

Pictures Pictures

Morgen Kilbourne's Reins for her WP bridle

Real Silver Snaffle in progress

And yay for my new camera! more resolution for the details on little things!

Breakthrough!

Much to my surprise today, my husband allowed me to spend about 3 hours in the studio by parenting our son without me! It was a glorious time! I spent the first hour dilligently working on the bridle for Morgen Kilbourne and after my son got up from his nap I was able to get in some dremel time. I thought I was ready to start on alicia vogel's breast collar 'Middle" but alas all of the work that i had done to try to get everything even on a piece of paper has been lost. My studio is an absolute mess and among the the stacks of paper are my ideas - but lost because i have no idea which stack and my furious looking yielded nothing : /

Therefore I went to another idea that I had put down on "silver" already. That is a silver western snaffle to build a bridle upon. I'm Hoping that I can use this for my nan donation - hoping that I can have it done in time... Today was an excellent start..

Every time I work in silver I learn more: how hot it gets when I dremel it into a shape I need (and how that sucker will bend when hot!); how shiny it becomes if it's buffed with red jewelers rouge; How it stretches - Which gives me "issues" because the nature of it is to stretch and be bendy when hammered. Even the slightest tear from etching can turn into a big nightmare when I'm hammering. I'm sure that "real" sized silver workers love that silver bends and forms so easily. They have the right kind of tools and probably some education on how to handle such a wonderful metal. I don't have those things but I move forward and try anyway. I use dremel bits; my Sears 1lb $1 hammer and some 2mm foam sheet to bang away on. (with my marble tooling stone underneath) The hard part is not forming the circle. Thats easily done with a "circle"stencil and dremel bits. (ok, not easy but easy compared to everything else involved) The hard part is shaping into what I want and making it "3-d" with the tools I have.

IF course a few years ago I couldn't even work with silver and make it "do" anything I wanted it to do so I've come a long way. Tonight will probably be spent on the "googles", looking for info on how "regular" sized pieces are formed and made..

Photos when the little bits look more presentable..

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!