Tack Tips--Preparing Lace

It's a sad fact of life--if you want to produce top quality tack, you will never be able to use leather lace straight off the spool. Even the highest quality kangaroo lace is going to need a considerable amount of prep work before it's ready for use. In fact, I suspect prepping leather is the single most time consuming part of nearly every project I tackle.I have developed my own three step process for preparing lace. Here's a quick look at my prep kit. That's a bottle of Gum Tragacanth, an X-Acto knife with a number eleven blade, 220 grit sandpaper and a cutting board.

The first step is skiving the leather. Skiving refers to the process of splitting leather lengthwise to reduce its thickness. Lay the lace flesh (bottom) side up on the cutting board. Hold the knife so it is nearly parallel to the lace and carefully cut away from your body. Most people prefer to skive with a very sharp blade, but I actually like my knife to be a bit duller than that. Similarly, I do best with the number eleven blade, but know of others who prefer a curved blade. There is no one right or wrong way. Don't be afraid to experiment to find what works best for you.Close up of the knife blade cutting through the leather. Skiving is definitely a learned skill. Most people will struggle with it early on. Thankfully it does get easier. However, there are still days when I just can't skive at all.

Here's a look at the flesh side of the lace after my first pass with the knife. It is a little ragged and uneven. At this point I'm not worried about that. My main goal is to have reduced the bulk to a similar degree throughout the length of the lace.

Step two is sanding. I hold the lace flesh side up with my left hand and sand down on it with my right. The sandpaper will even out the ragged sections and also continue to reduce the overall bulk.

When the lace has reached the desired thickness, it's time for step three. Stick your finger in the bottle of Gum Tragacanth and...

rub a generous amount onto the lace. The Gum Tragacanth will "knit" the flesh side back together so that it is smooth and easy to evaluate. Slide the lace through your fingers to check for uniformity and thickness. Expect to find some areas that need to be reprepped. I nearly always go back in with the sandpaper at least. Sometimes I start all over again with the knife. This is boring work, but it makes such a difference in the quality of your final product. It's worth taking the time to get everything just right.

Here's the before and after picture of the lace used in this tutorial. As you can see, the prepared lace is much thinner and has a better "drape"

Questions, comments, input? I know there are other ways to prepare lace, and although I'm comfortable with my own method, I'd love to hear about yours!

Not a horse

I love my children--I really do--but I think there's something wrong with them. They think this is a horse.OK, I suppose that it is vaguely horselike in a six-legged, anteater-headed sort of way... but still, It's not a horse. It just isn't.

And would someone please tell James that these are not horseshoes? Probably my kids know these things and they are just trying to drive me crazy.

Probably.

Horses In Living Color

I found the coolest new book at the library today. Horses in Living Color features over one hundred and seventy five clear, beautiful photographs that document a wide range of horse colors and markings. Although light on text, the names, breeds and colors of all the featured horses are listed in an index at the back of the book.

I absolutely love this book. There are so many amazing detail shots. Every finishwork artist in the model horse hobby should buy a copy. Need more convincing? Take a look at these pictures:

These legs belong to a zorse.

The whorl on an Appaloosa's neck.

Birdcatcher spots.

The white spot on the back of Barbaro's ankle.

Oh, this book makes me want to paint, and that's not something you here me say very often!

(And just so you know, if anyone was wondering what to get me for a last minute Christmas present... Well, this would be a perfect choice!)

Random dog story

If you were to visit my studio you might notice this poor mangled stirrup hanging from a thumbtack on the wall. It doesn't look like much, but it's one of my favorite things in the entire room.
That stirrup is all that's left of a Sue Rowe dressage saddle that belonged to my friend Trisha fifteen years ago. I wasn't a tackmaker then. I had never attended a live show and my entire collection was made up of original finish Breyers. Still, I was aware of the hobby. I had several hobbyist penpals and a subscription to The Hobby Horse News. I was intrigued by all the cool things I saw in that magazine--the customs, the resins and especially the tack. When my friend told me she'd bought a model sized dressage saddle I just had to see it in person. That might have been a problem since she lived in Colorado and I lived in Tennessee. However, Trish is a really good friend. She stuck the saddle in a box and mailed it to me.

And then my puppy ate it!

I felt so bad! Abbie wasn't a terribly chewy pup, but she completely destroyed Trisha's saddle. The stirrup and stirrup leather were the only parts that survived. The rest was just... gone.

Of course I bought her a new one. It cost forty dollars and I had it shipped directly to Trish. I really wanted to see that one in person, too, but I didn't trust myself to keep it safe. Luckily, Trish said the replacement was even nicer than the original.

Trisha's second Sue Rowe dressage saddle

So, all's well that ends well, but I still do not like being responsible for other people's treasures!

And the winners are...

Thank you so much to everyone who entered my 2009 Friends of My Blog raffle. Forty four readers posted one hundred and forty nine comments during the entry period. I loved reading all those comments and truly appreciate every single person who makes this blog a part of their day. You're all winners to me! Unfortunately, however, only five of you are actual raffle winners. Here's that list, small prize winners first:

Teresa Buzzell for her comment on "On not being perfect"

Karen Meekma for her comment on "Not much"

Erin Corbett for her comment on "Linda's saddle + raffle update"

Jumper13 for her comment on "Tack Tips--Dyeing Leather"

And the winner of the $50 Gift Certificate to Braymere Custom Saddlery is:

• Leah for her comment on "Linda's saddle + raffle update"

Congratulations to everyone and thanks again for all your comments. Winners, please email me privately at braymere@comcast.net to arrange delivery of your prizes.

Not enough time

I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed and frantic this week. The kids only have a few days left of school and there is just so much to do in that little bit of time. Aside from the usual tack and family stuff, I'm also trying to finish my Christmas shopping, bake cookies for my husband's work cookie exchange, design our family Christmas card, box up and mail a Secret Santa gift... And that's just today's list! All this running around hasn't left a lot of time or energy for blogging so today's post is going to be another one that's more pictures than words.

I have a habit of collecting reference pictures for really elaborate performance set-ups. Given the demands on my time, I realize I will probably never be able to create these scenes myself. For some reason, that doesn't bother me. Sometimes I think I enjoy the planning stages as much as the actual building stages.

Today's pictures are a perfect example of this. How cool would it be to build a pony ride like this?
Although this real life pony ride features six ponies, I think my model scale one would work just fine with four.
In addition to the ponies, I would need a hot walker of sorts and a fence. Probably I could build those myself given enough time. Or maybe I would find someone to do it for me.

I would definitely make the tack myself. I love that the ponies' names are on their saddle blankets. That's a detail I'd be sure to copy.

One thing I would not be able to make myself is the dolls, and this set-up would need a lot of them. There would be excited riders, bored handlers, proud camera toting parents, and those poor wistful kids on the outside looking in and wishing they were the one on the pony.

Here is a detail shot I would use to help me build the saddles. Note the seat belt attached to the cantle.

Close up of the seat belt.

I have two nice resin ponies that would work perfectly for this. That leaves me two more to go. Maybe one should be a nice chestnut tobiano...

Or perhaps an adorable, fuzzy sabino roan? The possibilities are endless!

Oh, If only I could say the same about my time! Speaking of which, I'd better stop my dreaming and get back to work...

Good mail day

Today I shipped out two boxes of tack...and received one box of supplies. That's a pretty good mail day!Of course a great mail day would have involved a much bigger box and a fancy new resin... Unfortunately it's been a while since I've had one of those!