First saddle of 2008

Since yesterday's post featured what I expect to be the year's last saddle, I thought today I'd show a picture of the year's first. I made this one back in January and it was a bit of an oops. I was aiming for pony size, and while it does fit the Stone pony, it was just a little bit bigger than the customer wanted. I ended up making her a new one and selling this to someone else. I've made a lot of saddles in the past four years, but it wasn't until 2007 that I started getting orders for saddles that weren't all brown or all black. I think I personally prefer the understated elegance of a one-color saddle, but these two tone variations are a lot of fun to make.

Various technical difficulties

It's official--December isn't a good month for Braymere Custom Saddlery. My kids' school used to be on a year round calendar. They were both on "A track" which meant they had the entire month of December off. Between the holidays and having them underfoot, I learned to not schedule any December tack orders. This year, however, the school changed over to a traditional calendar. I really thought I'd be able to keep working on tack right up until Christmas break. Wrong!

Despite my best intentions, I've really struggled to get anything done tackwise for the past two weeks. I have lots of excuses for my inability to work consistently--sick kids, delayed school starts due to snow, holiday shopping, trying to clean my house in anticipation of holiday visitors--but basically I think December's just too busy. I can't seem to find the time or space I need to sit down a work on anything in a focused manner.

I did manage to finish Tiffany's raffle saddle today. It took me almost twice the usual time to make, but I am satisfied with how it turned out. Two toned saddles can be tough. The contrasting colors make any asymmetries really noticeable. I had to redo the seat section twice before I was pleased with it.

Here's a picture of the free saddle on the free mule! I keep thinking of this one as "Tiffany's Mule Saddle" even though that's my mule not hers... I guess that's a sign that I should send the mule to Tiffany for paint!Tomorrow, I'll make the stirrup leathers and girth and that will more than likely be the last big order I finish in 2008. I haven't totalled up the numbers yet, but this was a good year for me. Thanks again to everyone who supported my little business--I could not do it without you!

Post-weekend show report

Tiffany Purdy sent these pictures from the GLC No Frills live show held this weekend in Illinois. This is her customized Newsworthy wearing perhaps the best saddle I've made to date. Only the saddle and girth are mine, the rest of the tack was all made by someone else.The final set-up--so cute! Tiffany's new Morgan in the Saddleseat class. I can't remember which two resins Tiff combined to make this pretty boy. I think he's got a Ms Charisma body, but I could be mistaken... Tiffany is such a creative customizer--she's not afraid to mix and match! Success! I like the way the ribbon and NAN card match the doll's outfit!

How to saddle a horse

I have two blogs. In addition to this one, I also have a photo blog which serves as my on-line photo album. Its entire content is pictures I've taken and pictures that have been taken of me over the last 39+ years. That blog is probably only interesting if you are related to me or know me personally. Mostly it's pictures of my family, my kids, my dogs and places I've been. There is a link to it in the Blog List on the right hand side of the screen, but really, it's not terribly interesting most of the time.

However, I'm not feeling inspired or creative today, so I'm just copying a posting I made on the photo blog a couple weeks ago. Apologies to everyone who's seen this before! All these pictures were taken in the summer of 1989 when I was working as a wrangler at the Don K Ranch guest ranch in the mountains outside of Pueblo, CO. I spent a couple summers working at guest ranches while I was in college and it was a really a great experience. I am always telling my 15 year old riding buddy that she should do the same when she's a bit older... Bet she's tired of hearing that, but those were the best summers, and I do think these pictures are funny.

So, here we go--This is a lesson in saddling a horse from the Don K Ranch class of '89. Each saddle should be carefully matched to the size of the horse.It's never too early to start saddling babies.Do not overtighten the cinch.
Sometimes it takes two people to saddle a horse properly.
Gina and Debbie are working hard to get Diablo's saddle just right.
Tada! A perfect fit!For those who care about these things, the horses in the pictures are Maestro (chestnut butt), Peanut Butter (red dun kiddy horse), Pee Wee (buckskin yearling filly who was saddled but not ridden--please do not send this photo to Fugly Horse of the Day!!), Sioux (possibly the stupidest horse ever) and Diablo (who could be counted on to colic if she was ridden two days in a row.)

Bits and pieces

Since starting my blog, I've done a much better job of photographing my newest tack pieces. However, I'm always in such a hurry and somethings still get missed. Happily, two of those missed pieces came back to me in the form of customer pictures this past week. I love this foal by Jaime Baker. Although you can't tell from the picture, he's got the cutest little Appy blanket and lovely, subtle primitive markings on his legs. He looks soft and pettable which always impresses me in something I know is made of hard plastic. If you would like to see more pictures of him, check out his eBay auction by clicking on this link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290280849534 . "Speshal" sells with his custom made BCS foal halter. I'll be making more halters for some of Jaime's upcoming sales horses, so be sure to keep an out for them in early 2009.

This "breakaway" style nylon halter was made for Kristie Strange in exchange for a real horse bit. So fun to trade model tack for the real thing! I haven't had a chance to try the bit out yet, but I'm optimistic that the horse I've been riding the most recently will like the French link mouth piece. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate and I'll find out tomorrow. Thanks Jaime and Kristie for the pictures!

Organization

Whenever I hear other model horse artists and tack makers refer to their studios, I'm always a wee bit jealous. I don't have a studio. Almost every tack item I've ever made was built on my dining room table. My family eats at that table, so I am constantly taking things out and putting them away. I would love to have a more permanent workspace, but that's not happening anytime soon so I've had to work at making my resources both portable and organized.

Like most tack makers, I have a large collection of small metal parts and pieces. Many come from hobby suppliers like Rio Rondo and the World of Model Horse Collecting. Others come from big chain hobby stores such as Hobby Lobby or Michaels and still others are one-off type things culled from independent bead shops or broken jewelry pieces. Keeping so many tiny pieces organized is a constant challenge. If you're not careful you end up with a mess like this.
Everything in the picture is gold toned, but that's the extent of the organization. There are buckles, beads, sequin pins, d-rings, lanyard clips and all manner of things jumbled up together. The container on the left is a weekly pill box easily found at any pharmacy. It's a nice size for storing tack pieces, but there are too many different things in there. The container on the right was bought at a bead shop. It's made of the type of clear, brittle plastic that I now avoid. Not surprisingly, this container no longer had a lid since the plastic hinges broke into pieces long ago.

I've had several recent orders with gold hardware and they've made it obvious to me that this system wasn't working. It's not efficient to continually pick though these little boxes in search of just the right jump ring or buckle. I hate wasting time like that, so this week I decided to spend a day organizing my stash. I started out by buying this box at Hobby Lobby. As you can see, it wasn't terribly expensive. However, I'm cheap and almost never pay full price. Hobby Lobby has weekly sales ads. They run on the back page of the entertainment section of the Sunday Denver Post and most weeks there's a 40% off coupon. Even when there isn't, plastic storage boxes go on sale pretty regularly. I usually buy them for a dollar a piece. I very much like this particular box. The plastic is resilient, there are enough spaces for a variety of findings and the boxes are made to stack neatly upon one another.

In the next picture, I've started sorting all my findings. Everything was such a mess that this took me a couple hours.

I've put Rio Rondo hardware (buckles, d-rings and slotted halter rings) in the big box and jumps rings (which I buy at local hobby stores) in the small one. In addition to making it easier to find things, this also helps immensely when it's time to restock my supplies. Next time I write a Rio Rondo order, I know I'll want to buy 3/32" d-rings and 1/8" and 3/16" square buckles. When jump rings go on sale at Hobby Lobby, I can check just one spot to see if I'm running low on any of the sizes I use. I like organizing things by the supply source. It just makes sense to me.

All finished! There are a few findings that defy easy classification so I've bagged them up and will store them separately. I don't love that, but it's ok. There are always going to be some things that are hard to fit into a system. The important thing is to organize the essentials--those pieces that you use and buy on a regular basis. I think I've managed to do that here.

I won't lie. This wasn't a fun project. There are so many things I'd rather do than sort out little bits of hardware. Still, I'm pleased with my day's work and I know I'll be glad I did this the next time I tackle an order that calls for gold toned hardware!

Snow day

It's twenty one degrees and snowing today. I should be working on Tiffany or Carol's saddles, but instead I've been curled up on the couch, reading a book, drinking chai tea and watching the snow come down. Sorry--I promise to get back to work tomorrow!

Here is a snowy day picture of one of my North Light models. He's the Norwegian Fjord mold and his name is Bjorgi. This picture is many years old and the bridle is not up to my current standards. It still looks nice on him, though.
The snow in the picture is real, but I've found that powdered sugar makes a really good snow substitute if you're wanting to set up a winter scene and the weather isn't cooperating!