just a P.S.

I think I may have a few folks coming over from twitter, so I'd like to mention that I've done racing sets in minature in the past. All of the miniature racing sets that I have made were sold through the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft.

The Croup

No, I'm not talking about a horse's hindquarters. I'm talking about the illness. Munchkin got the croup last week from daycare as I found out on monday when I picked him up. Friday I had take him to the Drs because he has barely slept through the night in the last three or four weeks. Turns out he was having some severe pain from teething and his gums were bleeding. Poor guy can't catch a break!

 

 

So most of this week has been spent sleeping, for all of us. We are better today and munchkin went back to daycare. This has only served to make me even farther behind on everything.

 

 

I couldn't possibly blog this week without mentioning the Kentucky Derby Festival! One of these years I'm going to make it to some of the events or more importantly, I'm going to find someone that will take me to the Derby itself in style! ( no more infield for me! LOL!!) This is such a wonderful and vibrant time here in Louisville! I LOVE derby Week.. LOVE IT!!

 

 

Ok, that said.......

 

 

Above is the Native Arabian Halter in Progress. I had to start over on the weaving because I flubbed up a piece of it on the other weaving that I had. I'm happy to say that all of the end tassels are on now and it's onto making the "doo dads" up the sides.

Wham! Wham! WHAM!

That is the sound of my head hitting my workspace. I've been banging my head against some ideas for the NAN auction Donation and I haven't gotten a lot done. I have ONE Halter done.. I thought I'd be farther along by now but life just hasn't worked out that way. We've just been terribly busy - and tired.

Knock wood, we've been healthy though!

Here are some sneak peeks of the halter that I have finished....

Finally Well!

My Whole Family is FINALLY well! thank goodness! I was able to work out every day this week so far which has been wonderful because it co-incided with the beautiful weather that we've been having here.. (allergies aside of course)

I have my first part of my North American Model Horse Nationals Donation finished! It's a silver arabian show halter with real, hand made silver conchos and a thin thin hand made silver plate across the nose. There will be a sneak peak of this on the www.namhsa.org website coming soon. :-)

Onto the next part of my donation where I will be making my own, hand made, real silver jump rings...hehehehe

Still sick!! Gack!

Unfortunately, my household is still sick! Even one of my kitties has an ailment and has to go to the vet this week, as soon as I'm feeling able. We've had the stomach flu, the regular flu, a virus and now I have completely lost my voice. (and yes, anthony is pretty happy! LOL!)

Munchkin now has a rash all over his little body from the amoxicillan that he's on.. We go back to the Drs wednesday for another checkup and hopefully they can give us some advice to give the little guy some relief!

I haven't really done anything noteworthy in the studio in the past week or so. The plates that I'm making for one of the NAN halters will be different than any of the other silver plates that I've done so far. I have a plan but it's been hard to execute it correctly. I think feeling kinda tired and sick has had something to do with that.

I've been very good about working out, even while I was sick but I think I'm going to lay off working out until I'm completely better. Working out helps with my shoulder issues (by getting the blood moving and therefore bringing down the inflammation of my shoulder) so I really can't wait until I can work out again. My shoulder has been killing me, and on top of the sinus headaches from the sinus infection, I've been in a lot of pain.

Anywho, enough whining. Above is the new bridle on my Whisper resin..

Quick Update

Last week and into this weekend and today, my family has been very sick. THe baby has a double ear infection and double pink eye that all came on very suddenly. (within 24 hours). He also had a temperature of 101F this morning. Last week my husband and I had a weird stomach flu, where we were nauseaus and lost our appetites... So it's been a trying time.

I have gotten SOME Stuff done in the studio, such as finishing up the romel reins and mentally moving forward with the halters for the NAN auction. I've got part of it designed in my head and I'll be working more dilligently on them in the coming weeks.

Above are pictures of the finished romel reins on the headstall they belong to.

Still chugging along...

I'm still chugging along on the Black romel reins I've been working on for some time now. They're about 3/4ths of the way done. Still have about 16 more knots and some other little things. Then it'll be onto a matching breastcollar and working some more on the NAN donation.

Munchkin started Daycare last week and that was very emotional. I also battled two colds this week... well three if you count Munchkin's. I've had one that came and went and then another one start that has left me exhausted. I've been going to bed at 7 or 8pm and the next thing I know, it's 4am.. So I've been really tired.

Hopefully this week will yeild some more time for me to start working on some of my own bits and buckles while munchkin is at daycare. I definitely need to do more silver etching..

Pictures will come tomorrow or the next day..

blah blah blah....

The horse statue above is an "Indian Silver" resin. He was sculpted by Deborah McDermott and he's so beautiful!! I love putting tack on him... He "Lives" in my studio with me, as opposed to some of the other horses that I have that "Live" in the basement. He needs to be "Prepped" or have his seams removed and any airholes filled and then painted. But I can't bear to let him out of my sight just yet..

On him is a "Show bosal" that I am working on to match the other tack that I'm making. I announced on my list yesterday that due to the current circumstances in my household, I'll need to sell that tack. I'll let everyone know when it's all finished and how I'm going to offer it. I may have to make two breastcollars, one for the regular headstall and one for the bosal.. hmm.. that means I need to order more beads! LOL

I have part of the mecate twisted and I am waiting for it to somewhat "lock" by hanging it with a weight on the bottom of it. (This is just a theory for now.. I don't know for sure that it'll work)And I'm waiting for having enough time in one sitting to finish twisting it with some other threads.

Let me remind everyone that all of this tack is 1/8th of life size scale. Not half size or even 1/6th but truely 1/8th. This means that tackmakers that work in this scale do everything that a "Life size" scale tackmaker does, only much much smaller.. It means that I really do have to learn to make turks head and spanish ring knots and then interweave them with thread and needle. SO in some ways it's harder to make than life size tack.

Of course if one makes life size tack, it has to be durable and actually work as well as being weighted correctly..

I couldn't imagine learning a 4 bight 19 part knot that goes on the nose of the bosal, but then Susan Bensema young HAS! and she does it in 1/8th scale.. Which makes me admire her even more.

As most everyone who knows me already knows, I am a strong advocate for my work and some others' work to be taken seriously by the art community and western collectibles community. For these communities to not just see us as making "Toys" because at this point, I wouldn't call what I make a toy anymore.

I'm definitely working towards that end which is one of the reasons it's so important to me to learn to make my own silver bits and buckles as well as truly learn how to make real, interwoven knots. The great thing about this is that there is a never ending learning curve..

Romel reins

Above are photos of the Romel Reins that I am working on. I had made a lot of spanish ring knots but they were only one pass. It made the reins look kind of ratty. So now I'm starting over on them and doing a spanish ring knot of two passes instead. I'm also making one less knot inbetween the silver and the turks head knot. I was making 3 but I decided that 2 looks neater on those busy reins. I have to make the knots during the day, with the double magnification lens on my visor because they're black and I can't see them otherwise

My knots are still not as neat and even as Sue Young's knots. I really need to learn how to make them a bit more even. I guess that will all come with time and experience.

Grateful

I'm so grateful and I feel very honored because of the price the bosal went for! $207! I printed out of the auction for my "Book" of photos of my tack. Thank you so very very much to everyone that bid, and Thank you to Vicky Norris who bought the Bosal. I can't wait to see her set up with it!

I am now working on a pair of romel reins to match my green tack. I am using black artificial rawhide. I'm crazy by the way, for picking a dark color. The darker the color, the harder the knots are to tie. I've done about 27 spanish ring knots and I haven't even finished one side yet. No pictures yet but as soon as I'm able, I'll post some!

As a side note, Anthony's parents sent in a photo that I had taken of munchkin into their local newspaper, in hopes that it would get printed. IT DID!! I'd like to publically thank them too for doing that. It was very sweet and I really appreciate it!

Red Bosal on ebay!

Here is the link to the ReD bosal on Ebay. Heather Lain has it at NO RESERVE so please bid away!

http://tinyurl.com/redbosalebay

or

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=140302032108

Finished reins and a Donation Halter!

THese are photos of the Reins finished. The headstall is my own headstall and it just there to show what the reins will look like on a headstall and how they connect. (The headstall is NOT included.)These reins are splits.

I did have a few people write and let me know that they really liked the reins so I am going to lottery them off to my Yahoo Group and if you're on the blog but not the yahoo group and want to be in the lottery, just email me (tackmaker@desertnightcreations.com)or comment and I'll make sure your name gets in the "hat". I'm going to sell these for $22 and I'll just start taking names today and run through wednesday.

These pictures are photos of a donation to Shelly Hogle's show. This is an older halter made by me and one that I showed successfully with. I have refurbished it and I personally would not hesitate to show with it. For more info you can contact Shelley here: khogle2@yahoo.com

I am almost finished with the headstall to the Bosal I'm working on that will match the headstall above. I still have to do another ear piece and then work on the mecate. Then it's onto the NAN auction stuff.

Reins sneak peek

The reins above will be for sale when they're finished. I've seen some reins for sale here recently (and yes, Susan's reins helped with the idea) and that gave me the idea to salvage these and sell them. They were on a bridle that I never used so I took the bridle apart to salvage hardware etc. I saw these reins and thought, "Well, if I spiffed them up, someone might want to buy them". I have no idea what to charge for them so they'll probably be relatively cheap. (and I mean less than $25) Please let me know if you think this is a good idea or if I'm "reaching".. HA!

Also, I hear from Heather Jackson Lain that the red bosal will be auctioned off and the proceeds will go towards her show which benefits the Throroughbred Charities.

Quick Picture

Here is a quick picture of the Headstall for the green tack. I really want to put my own bit and buckles on it, but those will have to wait : /

Still working on the Green tack

I don't have any new pictures to show but I have been working on my "Green" tack. I am also mentally working on making a bridle and breastcollar for my Terry Newberry saddle. I think I'll use it as a working saddle and make the bridle and breastcollar accordingly.

It's been slow going because Munchkin is older and is changing his nap habits. SOme days he takes three naps and some days he only takes one for 45 minutes. We also have a problem with him in that he won't sleep in his "Big" crib. He'll only sleep in the travel crib. If we put him in the "big" crib he really loses his mind and screams until he hyperventilates. I can't have that happening so I keep trying to put him in the "big" crib for short periods to get him to be ok with it. So far it hasn't worked.. LOL!! But I'm going to keep "pecking" away at it..

I also haven't found a job yet despite applying for a whole bunch of em..

I posted this to my Yahoo Group the other day:

Custom Orders for Small Pieces in the coming Months

I am seriously considering taking a couple of orders in the comingmonths for small things like halters and bridles(and yes, thatincludes double bridles) and maybe a bosal. I just have to work outmy schedule.

My very next project after the current projects on my plate will bethe items for the NAN auction. Then I should be free and clear to take orders from some folks with the understanding that it may take me a while to finish them. Any slots for custom work will be offered to the yahoo group first via lottery.

I am also going to maybe make a couple of sales pieces to auction off because I don't have a job and selling resins and OF model horses is slow right now. (as I'm sure everyone knows)

Thank you to everyone thats stayed on the list and supported me. I really really appreciate it which is why I offer things to the group before I offer stuff to the hobby at large. I hope everyone is enjoying mild weather like we are and that yourSaturday is relaxing!

Take care
Heather