Thank ya, thank ya very much!

I was just getting ready to pack it in for the night, and look what I found...couldn't resist taking a picture :)

Classic saddle - not much to report

Time for bed, but I wanted to post a couple saddle pix.  I think its looking pretty spiffy.  I also got a cool new harness part!  Can't wait to try it out!

Classic Saddle -- few more updates

I had to snap a few pix from my cell phone before I left for work today.  Now, I haven't attached the flap but I have it placed just to see how it looks.  Lookin' pretty good!  I still need to do the contrasting stuffed knee roll, but you need to have the main shape down first.  I think we're a go!

Classic Huntseat Saddle -- 1st classic of any kind for me!

I'm just writing a quick note before I'm off to work.  This weekend, I started work on a 1:12 classic size huntseat set for the Eberl Haflinger pony.  For some reason, I've made saddles in all other scales except classic!  Why?  I don't know.  Couldn't easily find a classic saddle tree from my suppliers, so I decided to make my own so I could actually begin work right away.

So far so good, but you can't see too much progress :)  I just got some new paper-thin leather in from eBay, and it was perfect size for making the seat.  I need like 1/4oz to 1/2oz leather, and boy is that hard to find.  The main body color is called mahogany, though in the picture it looks pretty chocolate.  I'm using a spray dye which makes for a nice even finish.   
   
(I don't know where my photos went -- I think I deleted my folder they were in.  Doh!)

And I'm just using the photo below for size reference.  It's so much easier to have reference photos on the blog so I can view them on my mobile devices.  Beats having to always come back to the PC just to see a picture.

Patent fastener, option 1

I found some of the Apoxie clay, so I decided to try my pin + clay fastener.  It's just so-so.  It'll look better with paint, but I don't love it.  I started one in brass too, but I can't find my files packed away anywhere so I can round the edges! 

Anyone ever read the book "Indian in the Cupboard" when they were a kid?  I could use a magic cupboard like that!

Harness Collar Conundrum

You gotta love WiFi!  Normally, my phone takes forever to just upload one pic to Picasa over 3G, but over WiFi, it uploaded 8 lickity-split!

So, I've been just kind of working on this collar...more working on it during commercials while I watch TV :-P  I initially wanted to make it for the Totilas mold, though I want him to be customized to be more carriage horse-like.  I'm up in the air about it right now.  It's a decent collar, so I don't want to scrap it.  Here's what I have so far.

But, after I made the collar it just doesn't seem to look completely right on him.  Maybe it'll be better after a customizing.  I bought a GH Valentine & Heartbreaker set on eBay because I thought the mare would make a nice pair for Totilas (no, she does not as it turns out...she's way smaller), but the collar looks pretty good on her.  Her body type or position is just more harness friendly I guess.  I'm thinking of using 2 of her instead of Totilas, but the collar is now too big on her.  Maybe I need more than one harness set!  I don't know...since the collar is a lot of work to make, I think I'm going to continue with Totilas for now.  

Next, I need to make the buckle closure part for the top of the collar.  This is what has me stopped for the moment.  I want to make what's called a "patent fastener" instead of just your old buckle & strap type.

None of these pieces exist in the model horse hobby, so to use them I'm going to have to create them from scratch.  Kind of a daunting task when I am very unskilled with metal work.  I made one once out of needles and clay, and it turned out pretty decent.  But I'm out of the clay plus I want to make something that's totally metal instead of painted.  The paint rubs off when handled so I found out.  That's my patent fastener being held together with some leather scraps.  It moves & works like it's supposed to which is what I want.  I could just use this, but I was keeping that for my draft harness that I'm sort of, kind of working on.

Until next time my friends!

New harness beginnings

I've decided to start on a new harness, this time with a collar instead of breastplate. My sewing doesn't look so nice, but some will be covered by the hames and hopefully the rest just kind of blends in.  These are iPad shots...not all that crisp.  Hmm, oh well.  I don't have too much to say today!