Sneak Peek

Sneak peeks of the parade set being built.. lots done this past four days..

Parade tack

I have been working feverishly on my parade tack.  Almost nonstop for the last three or four days.. I want to get it to a point to where the big things like designing and "editing" are well behind me.. and I'm almost there.  On Friday I discovered that while I had THREE bottles of dark brown dye, I had NO black.  My parade set is going to be two toned so not having black was a "big deal".  Saturday I was able to make it to Tandy leather and Get some black dye so I'm all set.  I then accidentally dyed some of the pieces too lightly so those pieces had to be redone and redyed.

I really would like to take the time to make everything myself out of silver but I really need to fly in making this so I'm using some pre-made hummingbirds from fire mountain gems.  I'm trying to figure out how to get some color on them instead of just leaving them all silver.. but i do like the silver against the black and dark brown.  It's harder NOT to use real silver than to use found objects and tape for me.. lol!

Anyway, photos when this thing looks like it's supposed to.. and I have to figure out how to make a decent corona pad for it considering it's shape..

Parade set Sneek Peek

This is just working out an idea for the Serapes of the parade set.  I'm trying REALLY hard not to make this set as complicated as I normally would due to time constraints..  That is proving harder than I imagined.  Sue B-Y and I talk a lot about artistic license and about how we want to make things that showcase everything we can do -whether that is warranted or not...  So I'm trying really hard to NOT think of ways that I can make every little thing myself.  I'm trying to stick with Basic Shapes and things that I could maybe buy online pre-made.... but thats difficult too..

The silver tape proved trickier than I previously remember but that may be due to my xacto blade not being as sharp as it could be.  I do have some "maid O metal" but I like the thought of the "sticky" backed silver tape.

I try to keep in mind the "context" of what the climate was during the hey day of these saddles.  The 1930s art deco movement was about simplification of shapes and clean lines..so I'm trying to keep the lines of the leather sharp and geometric..

I have some work projects coming up this week that are very "scary" in that I'm not 100% comfortable with doing them and I've been so emotionally and mentally overwhelmed that I haven't had a lot of mental energy to prepare for them.  It's just hard to focus.  Anthony was out of town all last week and Rj is a smart, Energetic, non stop kind of 4 year old so by the time Anthony came home late yesterday I was completely worn out.  I still am... lol

June 4th will be the 1 year anniversary of my dad's passing.  I'm no where near over it.  My brain keeps chewing on the "impermanence" of life which keeps me sort of in a emotional place.  I am better than I was last year but I'm not 100% ok... I don't know if I ever will be and that is a bittersweet thought.  Good that he was such a wonderful part of my life but hard to chew through the loss. 

I keep trying to move forward though and I'm very much looking forward to model horse showing, furthering my tack making skills, and taking better photos at horse shows..

OH and I want to say Go "I"ll have another" in his Zenyatta like Win in the Preakness!  It's shaping up to look like he may be an actual contender for the Triple Crown.  Hopefully the Trainer will ship him to NY TODAY and start training on that belmont track... (crossing fingers..)

MOre Progress.. slowly but surely

Halter Slots have been spoken for!

THank you Everyone!  All of the slots have been spoken for!!

Heather

Two Slots for Custom Halters (Or a set of reins) Available

Hi Folks!

I've found myself a bit financially embarassed so I'm going to offer two slots
for either a halter or a set of reins. Meaning, two different folks get one
slot and they are "allowed" to order a custom halter or a custom set of reins.
I should be able to complete these items by September at the Latest. (I have a
busy summer ahead as well as the 1 year anniversary of my Dad's death coming up
so I'm giving myself plenty of leeway)

A set of Braided Romel reins is $200
A Silver and Woven Knot western show halter is $170
A silver arabian show halter is $80

There are other options of halters to order but those above are my most popular
items.

The only Stipulation is that you have to pay up front. I never ever do this to
folks but I really need some quick moola. (Some of the other things I had for
sale didn't sell)

For those folks that are somewhat new to my tack: It is Live Showable and
Museum Quality. People have successfully shown my tack at NAN to Championships
and Numerous top tens (in fact, my saddleseat bridles or sets have been NAN
champ or Reserve Champ for 3 or 4 years running) as well as Placing Highly at
the Breyerfest Show (which is exceptionally competitive)

I do not take orders, other than the occasional Slot (like now) that comes open.
The last time I took Orders of any kind was in 2009.

I am offering this to you guys and to my Desert night creations Facebook page
and blog.

I'm going to see how many people are interested and if it's more than two then
I'll hold a lottery so that everything is fair.

I accept paypal and money orders.

Real Fast In Progres Photos of the Reining Saddles

Clean Studio!

After a tremendous amount of futzing, Ive assembled some of the saddle.  Alas everything will have to be tweaked and I am very much not finshed with it.. these are very much in progress photos..

It occured to me tonight...

......that the makers of "life sized" saddles don't have a specific pattern when covering the saddle swells (shoulders).  They have a general pattern that they cut out of leather and then they fold and mold the piece to the saddle...  I was being too literal (one of my personality quirks) by having/wanting a nice and neat little pattern.

Parade Tack

I am admittedly very excited because I am working on a parade set.  It is being worked on inbetween waiting for tooling and dying to be dry on the reining set.  Tomorrow I should be ready to go with putting pieces back together again...

Female Ruby Throated Hummingbird- taken outside of my laundry room window

Anyway, My grand plan for a parade set most of my tackmaking career has been to make everything out of real silver and take years and years to finish it.  Considering how slow I am anyway, that didn't seem out of the realm of possibility to do.  My "revised" plan is to do one more quickly.. say in a few months..  My theme is one that is near and dear to my heart.. the hummingbird.  I've already found and ordered some charms for drops on the serape... and I've started on a saddle plan and started changing my saddle pattern.  I'm also going to use silver tape.. something that I haven't used in years but I would imagine that would lend itself towards covering the shoulders of a saddletree easier than real silver.

I'm imagining some kind of sheridian style tooling with a hummingbird motif as well as some hummingbirds on the serapes with some lovely colors.. (Inspired of course by Susan Young).

For years I've been collecting and making stuff for this "future" parade set.  I've painted a pistol bit with white on the handles to simulate pearl handles.   I've got every kind of parade reference one could possibly have including photos that I have personally taken of a possible Ted Flowers rig that was for sale at my local tack shop.  I have the photos that I took one year at breyerfest when Michelle McFarlane brought her stunning horses and tack to the Horsepark.   I have more High Noon Catalogs with parade tack in it than anyone that I personally know.. and I have the "Bohlin Book" and the book with Collectible saddles and and and and.. well really it was getting overwhelming so I had to take a step back and really think about what I wanted to do..  But now I have a clearer image in my head, including colors, and I'm very excited to get started.  

After the reining saddle is done of course..

I'm also proud to say that I've completely cleaned my studio.  Purged some stuff I was holding onto for sentimental reasons and found a bunch of stuff that I completely forgot that I owned..  I still have no idea where everything is but it looks good in there

Today, I feel better than I have in some time.  Wednesday was a "dark day" due to the meds left over in my system from Tuesday's migraine but the days got progressively better and today was a very good one.  I'm trying so hard to stay positive...  I hope that your Saturday was just as good :0)

Grateful

Bridle Won at Auction by Robin Smith.  Robin has been a supporter of mine almost since I started tack and I'm immensely grateful for her support.  Thank you Robin.

I have Caught the Performance bug. (My beautiful Matriarch painted by Carol Herself, with my beloved terry newberry saddle and my sheri wertz doll. Bridle by me)

My Bjalla Painted By Jennifer Danza, my Khan Painted by Steph Michaud, my Deseoso painted by Tracey Eilers and my Haute Aire painted by Chelsea Nichols.  All part of my beautiful Resin collection.

Haute Aire Painted by Chelsea Nichols

 

 

OJ The Thoroughbred

Shamus the TB

OJ and Jared Lain

Heather Jackson Lain's Longtime Friend, Lady.

Yesterday I went to Model Horses Anonymous 4 in Athens, TN held by Heather Jackson Lain.  It was a really wonderful day and I was lucky enough to do well in Western Trail and in the Resin Halter Division.  I also got a NAN card in Parade so this means I have to either make a bridle for my susan b-y set to fit my Matriarch or go all out and make a parade set...

I went to the show by myself but when I arrived, I found that I was surrounded by very kind, very supportive Friends.  I'm so grateful for everyone that has helped me with my tack along the way and I want to thank Jennifer Bui for the very nice things she said about the things I make.  Thank you to Liz Cassel for helping me run horses to the ring as well..  Thank you to Heather and Jared for holding this show and letting me take pictures of your beautiful Horses.

  This weekend made me happy and Grateful for all of the wonderful people in my life and for all of the great folks that I have met through this hobby :-)

I Now can't WAIT for NAN!

Radio Silence - Sorry!!

Been super busy and not able to get into the studio.. so no real update there other than having to redo the cinch on the saddle because the decoration on it wasn't centered.


I have two unpainted  and reasonably priced arabian resins for sale on the MH$P -  LErmond Ostentatious resin and a Gizelle by Stacey Tumlinson.  I really am in the need of cash. SO much so that I maybe willing to part with the black, blue and white braided bridle..


This coming weekend I will be in Athens TN at Model Horses Anonymous!

real fast!

The past week has been a Roller Coaster!  I am "on call" for work and that is always one heck of a ride.. getting alled in the middle of the night to fix issues on our servers.  Lots of Migraines and lack of sleep due to the stress but I only have one more week! LOL

Last weekend I went to a show where my Beasties showed very well!  No performance though.. I'm going to try my hand at performance at model Horses Anonymous near the end of april.

I bought a new terry Newberry Saddle and I LOVE IT!  I learn so much from just looking at his work.

Pictures soon!

Mecate Lottery Information!

Every year, I'm trying to make a concerted effort to do a giveaway for something for those on my yahoo group, facebook page and blog. I really appreciate your continued support and I'd like to show my appreciation.

If you checked out my blog today (http://desertnightcreations.blogspot.com), you saw that I have a photo of the mecate up.  It is brown with sort of a yellowish/warm taupe color mixed in.  THe knots on either end are turks head knots, double interwoven with gold and brown. It is very soft and I think really pretty.  It is Breyer traditional sized.

It Is 100% free if you win. FREE. And that includes shipping. YEs, that includes shipping outside the US as well.. (love my international customers too!!)

I will start taking names NOW and draw the winning name on Thursday, March 22nd, in the evening sometime before 9pm est.  To do the drawing, I put everyone's name on a spreadsheet and that assigns them a number.  Then I go to the random number generator page and ask it to draw a number.  So it is entirely unbiased.

TO ENTER LOTTERY:

Please put "Mecate Giveaway Lottery" in the subject of your email to enter and send it to tackmaker@desertnightcreations.com .

Please give me your name, phone number and address in the email.

If you are going to be out of town when the name is drawn and won't be back till after the drawing, then I need you to state that to me in case you win and I don't hear back from you.

You have 24 hours after your name is drawn to get back to me. If I don't hear from you within 24 hrs a runner up name will be drawn.

If you notoriously have problems getting email because your ISP is really tight on letting spam in, you can send to tackmaker@gmail.com which is my alternate email addy.

PLEASE BE SURE TO CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDERS - since my domain is small and it is a "v" domain it ends up in spam folders a lot.

THank you for all of your support throughout the year! I really, really appreciate you all!

Heather Moreton

Simple Mecate for Giveaway

1/6th scale Simple Bosal

Donation For Model Horse Mania

Donation Halter for Model Horse Mania

Donation for Model Horse Mania

Dyed Saddle Pieces for Chelsea Nichols

Braided Bridle Posted On Model Horse Sales Pages

Here is the URL for the Braided Bridle on the Model Horse Sales pages: http://www.modelhorsesalespages.com/view_details.asp?id=916821




THank you to everyone for your support! It means the world to me!