The Casting Adventures Begin Again

My Black Friday ribbon made me imagine some lunging equipment. I even found some rubber jump rings that would be perfect for side-rein donuts, and so I began to work a lunging cavesson.

 (Still missing keepers and throatlatch in this picture.) I made a nosepiece out of brass and engraved it to look jointed. It was okay, but I really wanted something better.

Even though I liked the construction (love that chin piece!), I just couldn't get over the nosepiece. So, I decided to try to make and cast a set of jointed nose pieces for the cavesson.

The last time I tried to cast something myself, (a classic scale cross-country mare) it resulted in an exploded mold, a ruined sculpture, and hundreds of hours of sculpting time wasted. This time, I decided to try with something a little bit... smaller. Seriously, these pieces are really tiny. The whole mold fits inside a bottle cap!

Right now, the mold is busy drying. Tomorrow, I get to see if this casting adventure will end more happily than the last one!

Black Friday

I've never shopped on Black Friday before, but the deals at the hobby store were too good to pass up this year, especially on ribbon!

Looks like there are many ribbon-ed browbands, and perhaps a surcingle, in my future!

Thanks

I am thankful for my wonderful family and friends, for this beautiful snow and good food, and for every moment I get to spend making art. I am also especially thankful for my handsome horse, Par.

 He is beautiful...

and he eats like a horse.

 He begs endlessly for mints...

 "helps" me find them in my bag...

and waits impatiently while I unwrap them.

 He is an utter goofball...

 and is often muddy from head to toe.

 He's been the most amazing and inspiring partner through the past several months. Thanks, Par, for getting me through bad days and good days, sunshine and heavy rain and snowstorms, and all of life's ups and downs.

Hopefully, we have many more silly, mint-motivated, muddy days ahead of us!

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! 

Getting Things Done

I'm going to put this standing martingale up for sale on MHSP later today.

 I will also be putting the saddle, girth, and pad up for sale together, not including the bridle or the martingale, so I dressed up my old Strapless for a shoot! The light was not very good today, but oh well. The saddle fits her as well as it does on GG Valentine. Yay!

 I am really happy with this martingale! I especially love the little rubber stopper. So tiny but so real! It looks and feels and stretches just like the full-sized version!

 I love the top-down view as well. So elegant! The buckle is half of a Rio Rondo square buckle with a handmade tongue, and the leather is brown calfskin. It is a nice thickness, not too thin and breakable but still flexible and in scale.

Yay for getting things done!

Saddle Rats

I've always been impressed by Braymere's saddle rats, but until today, I had no idea how difficult it is to get saddle photos with rats!

I thought my new rats, Pia and Tootie, would just eat a snack and sit there nicely for a picture. 

Ha! Tootie wouldn't even sit still long enough to put the saddle on, so the only clear pictures are of Pia.

 But Pia spent most of her time running off of the white background to hide in my desk clutter, and she wasn't interested in sitting quietly or eating a snack in front of the camera! 

 Silly rats!

The choya wood was much more cooperative!

Phew! Perhaps with time and practice, they will learn the skills of a seasoned saddle rat! 

I'm thinking that I will put this saddle up for sale on MHSP separately from the set I intended it to be a part of. Then, I will make another saddle to go with the set. The rest of the set still needs time, but I have bills to pay before the end of November! The rest of the set is a bit more modern than this saddle, anyways, so I can make a more modern saddle to match the bridle, breastplate, and all the rest!

New English Saddle Set In Progress

There's a new saddle set in the works! I'm really excited for this one. This is the first English saddle I've actually finished!

I especially love the little brass nameplate on the saddle. I made those tiny brass nails myself, and I'm really happy with how they turned out! The little bridle tag is super cute, too.

These aren't the best photos, since I lost my real camera's charging cable and had to use the little point-and-shoot (which is vehemently opposed to taking pictures of things this size). Oh well, I'll get some better ones soon.

You can see here the beginning of some standing wraps. Braymere's Lauren's List post was the inspiration here. They're trickier than they appear! Once all the fastener issues get sorted out, they'll get monograms and a post of their own, and then it's on to the shipping halter!

 But, of course, this set will be finished before I permit myself to start that shipping halter! I'm going to make this set some interchangeable breast collars, nosebands, boots, pads, and the like, so that it can be used for a variety of English classes. Hopefully, it will all be done before Thanksgiving!