Shedding season, part two

I guess I should have waited another day before I said March was going out like a lamb. Today, we woke to a clogged drain and water all over the basement floor. It's minor, especially compared to the Great Flood of 2022, but still, I could have done without this.

So instead of going to the barn this morning, I'm waiting on the plumber. 

No one likes waiting, and water issues make me anxious. I decided I needed a small project to keep me busy. After looking at yesterday's barn photos, I landed on this: Karen's SleekEZ grooming tool.

The body of tool is made from a leftover scrap of basswood that I shaped with an X-acto knife and sandpaper.

The blade was sourced from a box of aluminum foil.

It's easy to pull it right off the box, although, of course, it's better to do this after the box is empty (sorry, future self).

As is, it's much too wide, but that's an easy fix with tin snips.

Using my pictures of the SleekEZ as a guide, I carefully cut a small slit along one end of the tool with the X-acto knife. Once it was started, I used the toothy side of the blade to make it a little deeper and wider.

I dry fit the blade, decided it needed to be narrower, trimmed it with the snips, dry fit it again and then glued it in place.

At this point, it could have been done, but I wanted a logo.

I found the logo online and used photo editing software to create several different color versions and sizes. After printing, I chose the best one, cut it out and glued it in place.

I used pastels to even out the color differences and weather the tool a bit. When I was satisfied, I sealed it with ModPodge. 

Ta da! One tiny grooming tool!

Then, since the plumber still isn't here, I made a pair of shedding blades. The one with the brown handles was first, and I don't like it at all. It's proportions aren't right, and the overall look is clunky. The red one is also not perfect, but it's solidly good enough.

March is shedding season, and now my dolls have the tools they need to get their horses ready for summer!

In this day and age, you can find perfect, 3D printed versions of all your tiny stable needs. I love that, but also, I think there's value in making some things from scratch. This was a good project for me this morning, and I am pleased with the results.

P.S. The plumber just called. They're on their way!