Inspiration

I have recently discovered the Joy of Netflix Streaming. That statement is an understatement. Every night I watch yet another "artsy" film that inspires me and reconnects me to my passion for art. Today, I watched "Wasteland" about Vik Muniz's project to help the poor of Brazil who work in the landfills and collect recyclables for very little money. Activism through art..

The other film I watched today was beyond the fold. A PBS documentary about Origami. It was only an hour long but I would've watched hours and hours of it. Above is the work of Eric Joisel, a french Origami Master who passed away in 2010 unfortunately. The above Characters are ONE PIECE OF FOLDED PAPER EACH. I'll wait for you to get up off of the floor.............................................................. Yeah, I'm pretty shocked too. And inspired. Like you wouldn't believe. All I can think is, Nothing is impossible. Nothing. You just have to find a way, and whatever lives in your head can be realized.

I know, deep stuff for a Saturday evening. My apologies for having an existential crisis but I've had to re-evaluate a whole lot in my life over the last 7 months. Now what to do with this Knowledge? Dunno yet.. Brain is still working out a plan...

On Monday, as previously mentioned, My mentor and Friend, Susan Bensema Young will be at my house. I love our Pow Wows and I look forward to them every year. The thing about when Susan visits is this - she doesn't mince words with me. She is not dazzled by "pretty". She is only dazzled by "good". And when I receive her approval on a piece.. I know that it's really good. And she keeps my ego in check.. which sometimes it needs.

I'll also be visiting with Erin Corbett. This is the first time that I've ever allowed.. er.. had someone over during my own time with Susan. I hope we all get along well :0)

My own work has been less focused.. or maybe as focused as my netflix watching.. lol! I keep wanting to work on my braided bridle instead of the saddle I should be working on.. I think I'm going to finish this part of the headstall and then put it down.. I think.. lol!

I am going to be schlepping around the Holiday Inn North.. er.. Clarion? Dunno what it's called now.. so if you see me stop me and say "hey"...

still chugging along..

Last weekend I got more done in the studio than I have in a while. IT's been therapeutic to get in the studio and lose myself again. I've been more than doubting my talents lately and lets not even mention my skills at work.

My weekdays are packed almost every hour with things to get finished. We're still taking care of mom at her house until her move to my sister's house in a few weeks.

I can't go in Dad's room. I cry when I go into their garage. It's packed with things that are specific to a "dad" and it smells like his cigarettes and car wax and oil.. things that remind me of dad. I see his car, empty and it makes me cry. I like to think that I was grateful for his presence when he was with us but now I realize I took him for granted more than I realized.

That he influenced me more than I ever knew and that I will miss him for the rest of my time on earth. These things won't go away. I doubt at this point that the grief will ever go away completely. Hopefully I can eventually morph the pain into something positive in my life.

I find myself achy more than I have been in a long time and I am most definitely more tired. I've had almost daily headaches - something I haven't experienced in years. I assume that this is some kind of side effect of grief that I'll just have to chug through.

Tomorrow marks just 3 weeks since we lost him..

Thank you to every single soul that left a comment on my blog, emailed me privately or said something on my facebook page. The fact that I'm really not alone in all of this is very helpful to me. I've always found that "community" is a comfort to me - like it was with Dad :0) So thank you from the deepest part of my heart and soul for sharing your stories with me and for any comforting words that you all sent... It means more than I can express (although I'm trying!)

I've decided to finish the reins that were a little too short that matched the aqua and black western pleasure bridle for Chelsea N. They will go to a friend that sent me a gift long ago that I haven't re payed and who also lost her dad earlier this year.

I want to do more silverwork and more braided bridles. I've started another braided bridle because My Muse (wiley thing she is) insisted.

I've also started on the fenders for Chelsea's western pleasure saddle and I have the clearest vision of it now. I'm excited to finish it if I could just find the energy and time!!

I read an article a while ago about how to keep oneself motivated as an artist. One of it's main points was this "Surround yourself with Believers. Believers in you and in your work". I am going to try to do this the monday before Breyerfest when a couple of truly talented tackmakers will visit my humble home and spend time with me. I'm so looking forward to this!! I'm going to take many photos so that I don't soon forget it..

Last but not in anyway least: Thank you to everyone that showed with my Tack at the 2011 NAN. (I hate that I couldn't send a piece for the raffle even though I was asked. I just couldn't see my way past the pain to do anything useful despite my best intentions) I know of at least one Top Ten with a partially braided bridle and I would LOVE IT If anyone else that showed with my tack and placed with it would drop me a line. :-) (and photos.. I love photos!!)

We lost Dad..

Yesterday, June 4, 2011 my dad's consciousness ceased to be. It was pretty much the worst day of my life, although today doesn't seem a whole lot better. It seems unfathomable that just two months ago, he was with us, albeit sick. I have no idea how to go forth and heal from this so I'm taking it hour by hour for now. I pretty much cry most of the time right now.

My dad was what everyone would want their dad to be. He was supportive, loving and really an all around great guy. He helped raise his grandsons (my nephews) and he was well on his way to a great relationship with my son. He was the caretaker to my mother who has Progressive Multiple Sclerosis and has had it for the past 20 years. She is unable to walk and use the right side of her body, he was her whole world. He helped others learn how to drive through AARP; He volunteered at the Veterans Administration Hospital here locally; helped my cousin through a very bad time; helped his friend Bob who has multiple health issues and doesn't have a car.

Dad loved cars the way I love horses. I've learned a lot about vintage American Muscle Cars and Drag Racing from him. I used to Accompany him to the NHRA Spring Nationals every year and the Annual Auburn, IN car Auction.

I'm comforted in a small way by the fact that I spent 12 hours by his bedside this past Thursday and Friday and that I made a special effort to visit him every day while he was in the nursing home. I think I only missed two days: Kentucky Derby Day and the Day that my son had ear surgery. Hopefully he understands..

I miss him already...

If you still have your parents in your life, then please go hug em..

Small update

This is a small update. I've barely been in the studio at all. Seems as though grief is a creativity killer for me. I did manage a half an hour today to finish the tooling on the bottom skirt of the saddle. I think that after it has been dyed and the antiquing paste added that it'll look super spiffy.

Deep, Deep, Thanks for the support in the comments from the last post about my dad. The support is always appreciated and it's never a bother to me to get emails like that...

Dad is still with us but it is still being framed as "borrowed time". I visited him today in the nursing home (as I do every day) but today I couldn't stop crying so I had to leave after a short time. One of the bright spots in all of this is my 3 year old son. He gave his grandpa lots of hugs and tells grandpa that he (grandpa) needs to get better so that they can play again.

My sister has also been an amazing saint during all of this and we are a lot closer than we've ever been. (8 years between us)

new pictures of tooling and some bad news

Firstly, the tooling on the saddle is coming along very slowly because I really don't have a lot of spare time at all anymore. I am pleased with how it's turning out. I know it looks like a mess but after the piece is dyed and has the basketweave on it, it'll look a lot better.

I no longer have a lot of time because my Father is very ill. He has been diagnosed with liver cancer and is currently in the hospital due to critically high calcium levels in his blood. He has also been in tremendous pain. I am actually grateful that they admitted him so that they could work on both of those isseus as well as run tests to determine a course of treatment. I'm hoping to know tomorrow where we (my family) go from here. As many of you know, my mother has Multiple Sclerosis and my father has been her caretaker for about 20 years. So now everything changes for everyone... and I do mean everything.. It's an extremely scary and sad time but we're powering though it..

more soon...

REAL FAST

Latest in progress shot of tooling on the saddle that I'm working on. It's actually a lot farther than this now but I've been too busy to take more photos... My studio time is down to an hour or so on the weekends.. never enough time or energy in a day!

The Muse Has come back.... kinda

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!

Grab your favorite beverage.......

Cause I intend for this one to be a long one!

Ok.. As always I'm crazy behind although I have to admit that I've never been THIS far behind before. I have rarely gotten into the studio here lately because I'm just too dang tired at 8pm at night. (I get up at 5am every weekday) I'm going to try to push through that however and spend more time in the studio.

Above are photos of the same bridle that I've been working on FOREVER. I'm almost done now though. One of the reasons why it's going so slow is that I was almost done on the first set when I realized they were too short. I got my reiner from Sarah Rose and remeasured the reins and thats how I figured that out. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with the shorter set of reins yet though. Seems a shame to just throw them away.

The matching saddle to this set will have my first ever actual "Sheridan" style tooling on it. I have been inspired by real saddles as well as the work of Kirsteen Hayley. It will be medium brown and also feature some basketweave. I have an idea of how it'll look in my head.. just have to translate it to actual leather. I also have to redraw my saddle pattern (again.. as usual) because I'm going to be trying out a new saddle tree. I'm going to strive, with this saddle, to make it more realistic than the ones that I've made before. I can foresee more trips to the tack shop..

The western show halter with the Brown Knots and the amber swarovskis sold to Susan Bensema Young. You can imagine how thrilled I am that it will be going into her collection! If you have been going to her site lately, you've noticed the Verizon Pop-up that states that she will need to change her web provider. She is aware of this and is working on a solution, so please don't think that her wonderful website will be going away!!

Speaking of which, I need to update mine badly... it's very out of date by a couple of years.. I'm open to suggestions onto programs with which to do that. My current site is all basic html..

I have taken up yoga and seriously, this has been a great thing for me. I really really enjoy it. The last few minutes of the class where we learn to relax and attempt to clear our minds is a revelation for me. I'm not very good at clearing my mind but I relax more fully each class. It is also excellent for that pesky shoulder of mine. This is kind of like physical therapy in that my arms and shoulder and back get stretched out on a regular basis. I have also plateaued in my walking and weight loss so this is a nice boost to that. (admittedly though I have a major sugar addiction that I'm trying, unsuccessfully, to overcome)


I've backed down the mileage that I've been walking from 4.3 miles every day to 4 or 3.7 miles 3 or 4 days a week. I know that doesn't seem like much but it has helped me be not so exhausted when I'm done.

RJ is three now and a total bundle of energy! He's also learning to read and spell out words and can count well past 30.. This has mostly been because of his own desire and my husbands tutoring. I'm thrilled that he's learned HOW to learn and enjoys it.. I hope that it lasts! ( It took me 30 years to learn that!)

Ok! thats it for now... more soon :o)

Real fast

Quick photos of a bridle in progress.. I seriously love these colors.. there will be a full braided bridle with the colors here eventually..

Miniature Halter For sale

The halter below is for sale for $170ppd. I know that right now isn't a great time to sell anything so I can do half down and the rest due within $30 days. Let me know if you're interested!

Finished Halter!

Here are photos of the latest finished miniature western show halter.. more later when I have time!

Friends

Above are photos of my most recent model horse purchase. It is the Set that Susan Bensema Young made for my close friend, Anna Tackett.

Anna's life has changed , and she is no longer active in the model horse hobby. I find this to be very unfortunate because through the model horse hobby we became friends. She was my "Live show" buddy for many many years and it is in fact because of her that I started Showing at all.

We are still close friends though, and she even got a job recently in the same building as me! (I'm on the second floor and she is on the third). It's incredible that I get to see and go to lunch with one of my best friends as often as I'd like!

Years ago, Anna comissioned this set from Susan. We knew, when susan was done, that the set would be spectacular. We had no idea how beautiful it would really be.. Above is the set that Anna received and I've coveted it and learned from it ever since. Anna showed the set to many local show wins and to a couple of top ten and championships at the North American Model Horse Nationals.

Whenever I needed inspiration or a kick in the butt, I would look at photos of it.

This year Anna wrote me and said she was selling the set and gave me "dibbs". She was kind enough to allow me to make payments on it over a couple of months and in November, I paid it off. It's been with me in my studio, waiting for me to take photos of it. I can barely keep my hands off it but I'm so happy it's mine!

A few saturdays ago, I talked with Susan about the set. She said that if anna had to sell it, she was very happy it was going to me because it would be appreciated. It definitely is. Above are some big photos of it so that I can share this wonderful masterpiece.

Enjoy :-)

Right Quick!

A couple of months ago, my computer hard drive completely tanked. The bad news is that all of my email, email address books and all of RJ's pictures are inaccessible for now. The good news is that I now know to back up my hard drive and we bought a One Terrabyte external drive to house everything. I'm hoping that the photos and message stores are not lost, they're just on the horked hard drive. Hopefully I'll be able to slave that hard drive onto another PC and access it at least long enough to move it to the Big external hard drive.

This means a lot of messages were lost (I had messages saved from 2001 - no lie) and a lot of email addresses were lost. IF you read this and I had promised you a donation of some sort please email me again at tackmaker@desertnightcreations.com.

I AM hoping to do a Donation again for the North American Model Horse Nationals this year (if they'll have me)and I will be donating something cool to Model Horses Anonymous live.

And yes, "computers" is what I do for a living and Yes, I feel like a moron for not backing up my drive. Lesson learned :-)

I have been working away in the studio, bit by bit and I will have new pictures up soon. I'm 3/4ths of the way finished with the halter that will be for sale. I also bought a brand new piece of tack for my Miniature Tack Collection from my Dear Friend Anna Tacket. It is a Susan Bensema Young Set and I have taken pictures of it that I will share here :-)

RJ's 3rd Birthday party is next weekend! And he officially turns 3 on December 11. I Can't believe he's already that old. He is also fiercely independant (wonder where he gets that from).. very much the "I can do it myself" kind of little guy. I'm pretty proud of him!

Well, thats it for now, more soon, HAPPY SATURDAY!

centimeter by centimeter

Some quick photos!

The first photo is of an in progress western show halter with braided turks head knots. I decided to do it in a really basic color so that it would match any setup.

THe bridle belongs to Chelsea Nichols in trade for some paintwork.. There will eventually be a breastcollar and saddle to match! I'm lovin that black and turquoise!

The next two photos are of AMAZINGLY fine hand woven ropes by Emma Harrison... they were a gift and are very treasured :0)