Working Western set #2

Another set that has taken me a while to complete, it was delayed due to my other old orders. Sharon asked for a set similar to the first Working Western set I made in early 2011. I have done a different carving pattern, and used slightly different colours for the seat and pommel assembly. This also used a TWMHC tree as opposed to a Rio Rondo tree, so some modification of the patterns was required.

Sharon also loved the resin this saddle set is shown on, so I sent them both off to live with her on the other side of Australia. She let me know that this combo won Reserve Champion in performance at the recent Canberra live show.

I have a busy tack-making month coming up, in preparation for the second Ultimate Gold live show on the 9th of December. Mostly it is accessories, a few bridles and props. But I do have to make a LB scale western show set. I have made the tree so far which in some ways can be the trickiest part, is it dictates the final shape, size and proportions of the final saddle. I've also doodled a design for it and will try and see if I can fit in all the details I want! Should be interesting....

Pony Cuteness!

One of my recent orders has been for a snaffle bridle to fit the Breyer Classic scale Haflinger pony. I didn't have one of my own so decided to order one, as I knew it would be a bit dodgy doing this one from measurements. The cheapest way to get Breyers here in Australia is to buy them from the UK! It takes a week or so for them to arrive but then again the domestic post usually takes that long anyway. I also bought a Classic scale warmblood (the Selle Francais), and a Heartbreaker and Valentine set (or whatever they're called). I don't generally pay too much attention to Original Finish models unless I know I'll need the mould for tack fitting purposes! I do enjoy customising them so they will all become fodder for that. I like the resculpt part but not really the painting part so I'll get someone else to do that!

For the pony, my idea was to get rid of the huge mane and forelock to make her a bit more tack friendly. When she arrived, it's pretty clear she's not true classic scale. Much bigger in fact. I think she'd make a good small pony in Traditional scale. Anyway, just as I was about to start the bridle, I was mooching on MH$P as one does, and came across a gorgeous customised Haflinger by Frances Stevens. Just had to have her, as she was almost perfectly in the image of what I had intended for my original model. She had cute little braids, and a very pretty colour which any little girl would adore!

She arrived last week and I got the bridle finished at the weekend. She made the bridle fitting a lot easier! I made two browbands for the bridle, one to keep intact, and the other can be chopped up if the owner needs it to fit around the forelock on the original model.

 

I've given her the suitably cute name of Mayblossom

Finally, the Australian set!

I was very happy yesterday to finally put Caitlin's Australian set in the mail to her! Overall I was really happy with how this one turned out, and along the way have found some cool new supplies. The best discovery was bookbinding kangaroo leather from Packer Direct. They had a sale on and I purchased 4 skins, for $15 each. I would say each skin is about 5 sq.ft., so that was a pretty good deal. I ended up with skins in black, whiskey, brown and brandy. The black and brandy are really nice colours, the brown and whiskey not as nice. But it re-dyes very easily so all of it will be put to good use.

 

 

For this set I used the brandy coloured hide but went over it again with All-in-One Cherry Chocolate to get a deeper colour. The All-in-One also conditions and seals the leather and this particular leather went exceptionally soft and shiny. It also brought out the tooling really nicely. One thing I did learn is that it's much easier to apply the dye on a larger piece, then cut out the patterns. 

 

 

Most of the hardware on this set is cast. The bridle buckles are particular favourites of mine and are the swedge type buckles made by Sulser Saddlery sold through The World of Model Horse Collecting on ebay.

 

Caitlin requested a purple and lime green colour theme for the girth, as she has lots of accessories to match. I'm sure it will certainly stand out! The stirrup leathers are fully adjsuatble much in the same way as western fenders, with the buckle near the stirrup but concealed between the folded leather.

 

 

UG Live Show Pictures

I have a couple of blog posts to write up so I'll start with the first one I should have done 6 weeks ago!

I went to the Ultimate Gold Live Show in July, my first Australian live show. All in all it was pretty similar to shows in the UK, the only major difference being the Artist Resins being combined with Customs, and having one judge judge a whole division. I have too many resins and customs as it is, so having a combined section meant I had to really think about who to take. But it's a good excuse to sell some of my customs as they won't get shown as much and I do find their finishes a bit more delicate than resins, especially when it gets warm.

Anyway here are some pics, apologies for the wonkyness of them! Enjoy!

My Darcy resin, Morganesque, 6th in English Flatwork

Aurora, 2nd in Western Pleasure

Galen, joint 1st in Other Performance

Redwood Clever Cowboy, owned by Stacey Crowley, taking the Performance Championship

Redwood Princeton, also owned by Stacey, taking Reserve Performance honours 

My customised Briony resin won the Repaint/Rehair/Reposition class. I repositioned her head and neck and Faye Cohen did the rest

First for Sundance, painted by Amanda Greaves in her breed class. She also won the Mini Paint Pattern colour class too!

My spotty thoroughbred wins the sporthorse class, he was painted by Sherry Clayton

Followed by my Atom resin who is shown as a Equus Kinsky

My handsome Gomez resin won the Other Pure Breed class. He also got a 3rd in the grey class and 5th in the traditional repaint class.

Something Wicked won the Other Partbred class. He is a Cooper resin painted by Teresa Botkins

I introduced some of my Equorums to the Aussies. The OF classes were fairly quiet but I was very pleased with this first place in the Grey colour class

Another Equorum, Orion, won the draft breed class and spotted colour class

Stacey's Deputed Duke resin took out the Reserve Supreme

 And Robyn's Stone Warmblood EA Dazzlendaze took top honours at the show

Olympic fever!

Things have been very quiet on here, I do apologise!

But I have been somewhat distracted by the amazing pictures from the London Olympics. I've mainly been watching the equestrian events and these have been interspersed with athletics, tennis, rowing and hockey. I am a hockey player so feel I should be watching that! I have been blown away by the success of Great Britain in everything but especially the equestrian events. Golds in the team Show Jumping and Dressage are outstanding achievements for a nation that traditionally has never been classed as one of the big guns in these events. Moment of beaming pride now over!

The pic is of Zara Phillips (not taken by me!) knocking a pole during the 3-day-event. I just love the jump, hoping at some point to re-create it so I've added it to my long list of projects. 

Equorum set for sale

This is a bit of sneaky post before I get to the live show reports. Equorum models in the UK have just listed a lovely set for sale, including a customised Arab model complete with black leather side-saddle and double bridle made by yours truly. They are about 1:10 scale approximately and all the leather is hand cut. The tack is part of my Equorum range of tack which can also be ordered separately through the Equorum website.

Go to Equorum's website for more information

Coming up for air!

I have been really busy over the last few weeks. Last weekend I attended my first Live Show in Australia, the Ultimate Gold live show hosted by Stacey Crowley. So I will be writing a couple of posts dedicated to that. But before the show I managed to finish a couple of orders, including two sets of boots for Stacy Quick and Stacey's Morgan bridle.

Stacy's first set was exactly the same as some I had made previously for her. They were for her CM Newsworthy model to match her show jumping set. The second set were a set of four protective boots for a steeplechasing set up she is working on. To save her having to fiddle around with buckles or studs I experimented with magnets for these. The results can be seen below on my Atom resin. They feature stitched on striking pads as I've never had much belief in glue when it comes to striking pads. At least by hand stitching I know they're NOT going to come off! Overall I was pretty happy with the design of these boots and they'll suit cross-country too. I made a set in black leather as my donation to the Ultimate Gold live show and peeps there seemed pretty interested in the magnetic closures. They take seconds to take on and off and the straps have much less chance of breaking or tearing.

Next up was Stacey's bridle for her Darcy resins. I had sworn I had ordered the bit for the bridle months ago but couldn't find it anywhere, so quickly ordered a new one. Luckily it arrived the day before I left for the show so I was able to finish it off. It features a fancy blue browband and noseband with rolled black leather edging.

Finally I am starting to feel like I'm getting on top of my orders. I still have some that are long overdue like the Australian set, as well as concurrent Equorum tack orders, but the light is just peeking through at the end of the tunnel. My books will be closed until these orders are finished and will probably stay closed for a few more months as my stress load at working will be increasing!

In the next few posts I'll have some fun live show pics and results, everyone needs a break from tack once in a while!