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!

Getting Harness Crazy!

The harness commission I just completed did very well at it's first show.  It was at the 2013 Carolina Classic, and it took 2nd place out of maybe 8-ish in the harness division.  Yay for a NAN-Q!  The judge's only criticism was that the cart was too large for the horse -- hmm, there really is a limit to available model vehicles out there so I don't know what she was expecting!  According to my customer, this judge has been extremely critical in the past (knocking performance entries down because they have bases, etc) so if the only thing she had to say was that the carriage was too big, then that's ok.  The harness was nice ;)  I apologize in advance for the photo quality -- these are cell phone pictures & overexposed.  My digicam is either packed up or at work, so this is all I have for now!

I was in a bit of a panic because I was feeling so hurried on this set.  Normally, a couple months window is what I need, but this was done in like 2 weeks.  When I first began, I found that my supplies were running a bit thin (no bit, no conchos, none of the leather size that I need for the majority of the set...), and so I got nervous that I wouldn't have time to get it done prior to the show.

I had run into Hobby Lobby for something not related to model horses, and I was surprised to find really nice-looking leather lace in 3/32" of all things!  Just what I was out of!   I also saw a black dye that I decided to try...Tandy Eco-Flo.  I haven't used it before -- it was quite strange.  It was almost like the consistency of mashed up jello.  I don't if it was just old or if it was supposed to be like that, but it seemed to do a decent job on the set (blinkers & breastplate).  The Tandy dye swabs they supplied at Hobby Lobby were no good.  They left tons of fibers behind with the dye, so I don't suggest using them.

Anyway, I feel like maybe I already talked about this in the last post -- I'm moving on now...

I get a little energized about making more pieces when someone tells me my sets performed well for them.  I was poking around on Breyer's website today, and I found an interesting model I hadn't seen before -- Totilas.  That looks like an Eberl sculpture variation of Absinthe or something (I didn't read the product description -- probably tells me that if I would actually read!).  Anyway, next thing I know I bought 2!  I think he looks like a super cool performance horse and now I'm dreaming of a dressage entry + a CM'd version of him to be a carriage horse.  Or maybe both carriage horses (driven dressage??), I don't know.

This photo is property of www.breyerhorses.com


This photo is property of www.oakhillfarmdressage.com  
 I'm getting dreamy about my Lg. Traditional Draft Harness too.  I've decided that I'm going to actually try and cut a lot of my metal pieces from silver nickel stock.  I'm a reader of the Scale Model Horse Drawn Vehicle forum, and boy are those guys good at miniature metalsmithing.  For Christmas, I received a book on how to cast small rubber and metal parts, so there might be something useful there too.  I really don't know.  I have my master hame made out of wood right now, so I do have something to cast but I just don't know what I'm doing!  I tend to favor the pre-made parts from Rio Rondo or TWMHC -- she sells Sulser and Rancho de los Cabellitos products on eBay :)

Anyway, we shall see.  I'll post some progress, if there ever is any.  Hopefully I'll also continue with all 10 fingers still intact.

Question for anyone out there who may read this blog...
When showing a pair of horses in performance, do you actually only tag one of the 2 horses for the class, or are both part of the single entry?  I've only ever done entries with one horse, so I'm just curious what you all do when your entry includes multiple horses.  Also, is it wise to have 1 CM and 1 OF so that you can enter in both divisions if that were offered at the show?