It could have been worse..... I suppose

Well, I've unpacked and inspected all the resins and customs, and the news isn't too good unfortunately.

In total I've got one broken tail....

3 broken ears, 2 broken legs......

and major stickiness issues with some of the customs.

The stickiness isn't too surprising given how long they've been cooped up in a hot shipping container, so it wasn't a huge surprise. But I've been trying to figure out why some go sticky and some don't. This classic warmblood has had issues in the past when wrapped in sheet foam, I knew bubblewrap wouldn't be good news so tried paper. It stuck to him, so once the sealant hardens up again I'll have a go at gently removing the paper.

I think I can fix the tail and the legs (one on a small Daire resin and the other on a mini), and have a go at the ears.

Other damage is beyond my competency. On the customs, where the sealant has softened in the heat they have been very vulnerable, and some have a few rubs and dents here and there.

Having unpacked all of the non-minis, I was actually a little overwhelmed by the numbers of them and this has confirmed with me that I need to thin down a bit! I'll be listing resins and customs for sale on my website, here, and MH$P.

Overall the experience has made me feel the need to cut back - I'd rather change around my collection more often so some guys who've been with me for 5+ years will be looking for new homes. If you see anything that interests you in the above photo then let me know. There are some I won't sell (Gomez, Atom, Darcy, Hazel, grey Valor, Memphis Belle, American Graffitti), but the others I will consider offers.

One more sleep!!!

This week is a very exciting one!

That's because tomorrow, our stuff arrives!

It's been 4 months now since it was all packed up in Cornwall, then it sat there for 8 weeks whilst our sponsoring company faffed around and delayed payment. It includes everything from our house in the UK: furniture, clothes, kitchen stuff, books, music, you name it. And of course my models. There is a whole room waiting for them!

We have shipped our things internationally three times before. The last time was the most successful in terms of damage to resins. I think I had just one ear break. Before that it's always been multiple breaks. So I'm hoping my packing has improved and I won't have any. Time will tell.

Happy New Year!

Well, I had a lovely Christmas and New Year here despite the heat. 40C degrees a few days prior to Christmas really did not get me in the festive mood! And last night at about 6pm we had a rather nasty storm here and it was the closest I've come to being struck by lightning! We were outside readying the BBQ and watching the galah's having a shower on a nearby power line pole about 50ft away from us. Next thing - Crack! Bang! Sparks everywhere! The pole was hit! The birds all disappeared and did not return for the rest of the evening! We did actually check to see if any had been killed and were lying on the ground, amazingly none were.

I've been pretty mopey this morning as per usual, New Year is an anti-climax and nothing really amazing happens. I'm still waiting for all my stuff to get here, the ship is due into Fremantle on the 9th of January but we've heard that the workers at the port have been on strike. So maybe we'll get our stuff by the end of January, who knows... I just hope they don't get snarled up in customs any longer than necessary.

I have had three new equines join me here over

the last few months. One is this super-cute Equorum shetland in mouse dun. He has a double mane which lies on both sides of his neck, in very soft mohair/silk mix.

Next is this lurvly Leggs resin sculpted by Liesl Dalpe. She's been painted by Deb Brown of the UK, who is a really consistent and reliable painter. I love the chilled out expression on this mare and Deb has created this gorgeous caramel colour with a dainty blanket.

And last but not least is a further addition to my Savage collection! This is the Babysitter, sculpted as a young Thoroughbred mare but I think she could be a couple of different breeds. Again Deb Brown painted her as a rich chestnut which is slightly washed out by the flash in this picture.

One or two more will be arriving soon, particularly a couple of LB scaled resins - I'm becoming more and more attracted to this scale and am keen to start seeing how my tack making skills are at this scale - haven't made anything small for a while!

Aussie Saddle

Highly appropriately one of the last saddles I made before travelling down under was an Australian Stock Saddle. I had made one once before but that one had a swinging fender and a horn, so was more western in appearance. I had used a modified western tree for that one, with cut down swells. This one looks more like an english saddle but with the addition of the thigh pads called poleys. You can see a picture of it in progress in a previous post.

So with a new tree must come a new pattern. This one was pretty tricky given the skirts are combined with the flap. So the cut-out for the stirrup bars must be in the right place and the flap must fit over the poleys with no creases or rucks. Took a bit of time to get it right. I then added the stitchmarks, the slot for the overgirth and some decorative tooling at the bottom of the flaps. I love little subtle details like the tooling that really brings it alive. I say tooling, I should say carving, as I don't tend to use stamps unless I think they're properly in scale.

The panels were interesting to make. I used felt as most aussie saddles have a serge panel (or a western-style sheepskin panel). They were a little tricky to get symmetrical but seems to have worked. An aussie saddle sits quite high above a horse's back compared to english saddles, espcially when new and then they can settle by a couple of inches when used regularly. That way the serge moulds itself to the horses back. This way, you didn't have to be so precise when ordering a new saddle. Given the distances involved in bush travel you can see why someone would want a saddle to fit right straight out the box.

Back to my saddle. I got the colour wrong. I only kind of realised it once I had attached the flaps, but it just wasn't red enough. So this saddle is a prototype, I'll probably keep it for myself. The next one will be in the right colour!

Delays...

Irmgard from Germany sent me this lovely picture of the set featured in the last post (I know I know, I promised an Australian set - you'll have to wait again for that one!).

We have had bad news regarding our shipping. It is still at the depot near Truro, accruing storage fees. All because the company paying for it has messed around and has failed to realise what an enormous headache this is for us. Even when it all gets on a boat, that takes 6 weeks and then it has to clear customs in Perth. If it makes it to Perth before Christmas, you can garantee it will be held up due to the Christmas break. So our new house is looking a little empty and will do for some time. What a pain. Well, at least we have some fantastic friends here who are all planning a big Christmas celebration. We'll be having breakfast at Graham's, starters at Julia's, main course at Bill and Em's, pudding at ours and then borrowing Jen's pool in the afternoon. So all I have to worry about is dessert, which is good considering my lack of good utensils!

Can't believe I'm talking about Christmas already!

From the other side of the world...

Well, we've been in Kalgoorlie, western Australia for 11 days now. I started work last Tuesday which hasn't given me much time to sort general life stuff out so things will take a while to settle down. We are currently in temporary accommodation in a fully serviced unit for 4 weeks, until we find a place to rent. Which is not easy. The rental market is very tight here so I have to be on the ball investigating each property that comes onto the market. Thanks to Andy's new interest in motorbikes and a Suzuki in the crate on its way, we need to find somewhere with a secure garage or shed which adds another dimension to the search. Actually it probably would be fairly easy if it weren't for that. The biggest demand seems to be for family homes and I don't want anything too big as I invariably end up making a mess - the bigger the house the bigger the mess!

At the weekend I did manage to finish a tack order, believe it or not. I had pre-cut and dyed the parts for a classic scale bridle to go with the brown saddle from the last post. So since nothing here happens on a Sunday I was able to get on with that and finish it. The whole set will be jetting off to Germany at the weekend. It is pictured above on my Equorum Norman Cob, known as Rowanoak. Poor Rowanoak missed the boat and had to be packed in my very full suitcase. Good job she's slightly bendy and not a resin! For those of you that are interested she has a customised neck and alpaca mane and tail, which is beautifully soft.

I didn't get a chance to finish the Australian set. More on that in the next post.

The last two sets...

Before I leave for Australia, I need to finish these two sets. One is a classic scale general purpose set in dark brown, the other is, highly appropriately, an Australian set!

So far for both sets I have made the trees and covered the seats. Next the leather pieces will be cut, dyed and then the rest of the saddles can be assembled. Since coming up with my new tree technique I have had to re-design my patterns, so this stage has taken a little longer than I hoped it would. But the tree has to be right! If the tree is wrong, the saddle won't look good no matter what you do. I'm really pleased with both tree designs, and also very happy that my new technique transfers well to classic (1:12) scale.

Sorry about the photos, they are particularly rubbish today!

The Australian saddle is a bit of a hybrid. Many features are the same as an English saddle, like the base tree (although much deeper), and stirrup bars. But then many features are Western. For this particular saddle the customer wants to use a western cinch, so I'll be making what is known as a Bate's rig which uses dee rings like a western saddle. An additional over-girth can also be used and the rigging straps use Tackaberry buckles. The buckle has a hook on its base which the cinch goes on - allowing for very quick cinching and uncinching. I'll try and figure out how to make these buckles when the time comes to make the girth....