Evolution of the Saddle Pad

There was a time when I literally made saddle pads out of paper towels.

This one is actually just cut from an old sock- classy!

As in, rip off a paper towel, cut into rectangular shape, slap it under a saddle and call it a day. Honestly, I don't even think they looked too bad. I mean, they could never get wet or be handled more than maybe twice, but they looked okay. It took me a good two years of experimenting to move on to another thin, textured fabric: aida cloth.

Intended for use in embroidery and cross stitching projects, aida cloth is a somewhat stiff, uniform weave fabric in a grid perfect for 1:32 scale quilting. Most of my 2014 saddles came with simple aida pads, which even at the time felt lazy, but pads were very much an afterthought for me and they got the job done. 

The open weave makes the fabric pretty transparent on its own, somewhat detracting from the quilted illusion. It eventually started to bug me that my pads were simply shapes cut from fancy fabric, and I stepped it up with cotton linings and hand-embroidered borders:

While this was definitely an improvement and looked much more intentional and loved than the previous version, the embroidery (while cute) seemed out of scale.

I've recently been bugged by how the stiffness of the aida makes the pad sit straight across from the withers to hips instead of conforming to the slope of the back. This is much less noticeable under a saddle than with the surcingle set above, but it does make the saddle sit a bit higher off the horse.

Today I should've been working on a five-point breastplate for my current eventing set, but instead I spent a good few hours playing around and making the next iteration of saddle pad:

One that's actually shaped like a saddle pad! I finally have a two-part pattern that allows for a much closer fit along the top line- that and a super neat new method of doing the trim (you can hardly tell in the pics, but there's a fine black border around the outer edges) make me a very happy tack maker. 

I would love to add the straps for the girth to be threaded through as well as a grab strap on the withers, but I'm stuck on finding a fabric/ribbon to mimic that nylon texture in this scale! Those are the kinds of details that make me happy but realistically hardly even show up after the set is all tacked up, so they're not a priority, but it would be adorable.

One of my past drawing teachers used to constantly tell us to give as much "love" to the background of our drawings as we did the foreground, pointing out many a piece with beautifully executed subjects and lazily scribbled shadows in the back. I feel like pads are easy to see as the "background" of the saddle, the less important piece, but when they're given a bit of love and attention, they can really bring that next level of sharpness to a set. 

(Writing this post was definitely not just further procrastination on that breastplate.)

Halter Time

I've been in a bit of a tack making funk. 

As in, it's summer, I have free time, I'm well stocked on supplies, and yet whenever I sit down to make tack I end up finding ways of not actually getting anything done.

So I've been making halters.

I don't even know how badly people out there want halters, but they're fun to make, don't take up too much time, and make me feel good for finishing something.

I broke out the leather paint for this one, which was a fun little experiment. It came together during a binge watch of That 70's Show, and I think some kind of groovy vibe came through. 

My smallest paint brush was too clumsy, so I opted for using the tip of a sewing needle to paint. I doubt I'll be repeating this process anytime soon, but I like the end result!

I usually use a slip buckle on halters that requires actual buckling to get on and off (as in the black halter at the top of this post), but with that method I always miss the realism of the buckle's tongue. At the same time, I'm not about to make anyone actually operate a tongue buckle at this scale, so I came up with a little cheat:

The buckled buckle just sticky waxes down! Any piece of Stablemate tack that doesn't require the threading of straps through buckles is a winner in my books.

(The painted halter is up for grabs on MH$P here!)

Studio Update: March 24

I feel like I've been so productive, and yet I'm struggling to find photo evidence.

Basically, I've been in a very cross country-type mood lately, judging by my current projects. There's this micro diorama, kind of a sequel to last year's version:

I have a massive reference folder of fences and obstacles from the London 2012 Olympics, and this guy has been near the top for years now.

It's still very much in the rough stages, and I have a whole 'nother post coming together about the process of this project, but it's been fun so far!

The other time-suck on my desk is also of the eventing variety, and also a project I've been itching to tackle for years now: this awesomely tacky Devoucoux saddle from a Braymere post a while back. 

The wrinkled skirt has since been replaced- sigh!

I bought myself some high-quality leather paints for a racing set a few years ago and haven't really had the chance to use them since. So far with this saddle I've been really pleased with the paint, and all the touching and handling involved in assembling it hasn't seemed to phase the painted pieces. I do have some anxiety about paint flaking off or chipping away, but *knock on wood* so far so good!

I'm off to make some very red panels!

The Thick of It

I don't know how many English sets I've made in my "career" so far. If I had to guess, I'd say somewhere between a good few and a bunch.

What made this week's set different than the past many, is the fact that it's made entirely from 3mm tooling cowhide. 

Here's a thickness comparison reference for you:

The cowhide is easily double the thickness of my normal leather, skiver, which still needs to be skived down quite a bit to be usable for mini scale tack. Using this super chunky stuff meant at least double the skiving time on every. Single. Piece.

Grace, you ask, if it takes forever to make usable, why use the thick leather in the first place?

Good question.

While there's nothing especially wrong with my skiver, I've been looking for a leather with a smaller grain for a long while now. 

Skiver saddle, sometime in 2015

Cowhide saddle, circa today

Besides the more discreet grain, this thicker leather also has a bit more body to it, which makes all the little tiny straps and whatnot feel slightly less fragile.

It's also much better at holding little details like stitch marks, and I like its overall well-oiled, quality kind of look.

The added prep work time means charging more for cowhide sets than skiver ones, which I don't love. My prices are slowly increasing over the years as the quality of my tack increases (I hope!), and I do my best to be fair to myself and my customers, but pricing is still super tricky for me. 

At this point, I really like the cowhide and I'm not sure if this is a full transition away from skiver or just a fun departure. I feel like the big skiver grain will bug me much more now that I have a better alternative...

I was really pleased with how these boots came out! The new leather definitely molds to the leg better and holds a nice shape.

And of course, what pad color could I possible choose on St. Patrick's Day but spring green?

For this set, I aimed for a good kind of starter English package to cover jumper, hunter, and your trail/games/other classes in the English division. I figured as I'm not currently taking commissions, it'd be convenient to offer a full package kind of deal instead of leaving someone wanting for boots or a breastplate or something. 

Having done a few basic/general purpose sets back to back, I'm really itching to try something a bit different next. I'm thinking some crazy eventing set or something?

Any other tackmakers out there, I'd be interested in any leather suggestions that might split the difference between the cowhide and skiver- thinner than cowhide with tighter grain than skiver?

(Update: this set is now up for grabs on MH$P here!)

Nutshelling

2016 has been extremely light on the hobby side of things so far. Basically, all I've done is...

...this basic English set I started before Christmas and sold in January. 

I have been busy in the studio, but my January and February were spent cramming on art school application projects...

...with the ponies neglected in the corner.

After spending so much time and energy on application projects, the last thing I wanted to do was spend more time in my basement studio on tack. But then I saw Anna of Dreamflite Design list some seconds of her wonderful western tree cast...

...so there is now a bunch of western-ish pieces strewn around the tack side of the work desk. 

Western saddles are always a challenge for me, and this one will require all new patterns, so I doubt I'll get it done anytime soon. Mostly because I've been struck by hobby inspiration once more, and I have a whole host of project ideas cooking!

I've entered this weird stage of being a hobbyist where I'm not even really a hobbyist? I don't really have a model collection (other than my bag of OF bodies for tack fitting), I don't have a high interest in pursuing showing at the moment, and I'm more than happy to just make things and sell them so others can put them to good use. It's an interesting limbo, but I'm quite content for the time being. 

A few things I'm excited about, in no particular order:

• Gorgeous mini artist resins, particularly Mini Hazel (must! acquire!)
• Breyer's new SM molds!
• The barn trend sweeping my blogisphere- I just love props, man. I'm currently aggressively fighting the temptation to make my own (it'll be so small! Hardly take up any room at all!)

The Tack of 2015

Another year, another tack recap post. Initially when I thought of making this post, I was hesitant because I was sure I only completed three to five sets this year- upon looking back through my photos, I realized that 2015 was a long year and a good amount of tack actually did get made.

Here it is, in chronological order-ish:

Not really tack, but I'm still counting it!

A set currently in progress in the studio.

While there weren't as many sets made in 2015 as there were in 2014, I like how my 2015 tack is a little more diverse than just English set after English set (although I do love me a good English set). Some really fun and different projects came my way this year.

A year ago today, I outlined a list of hobby resolutions for 2015, and looking at it now, I think I actually did pretty good!

Hobby Resolutions 2015

• Attend two live shows (at least!)

I ended up attending not two but three! There was the back-to-back weekend of Shamrocks & SheNANigans and Card Shark Live in March, and NW Expo in April. 

• Continue working through my list of waiting orders(secretly, I'm hoping I'll be able to start averaging one order a month, but I don't want to officially resolve to that, because who knows what 2015 has in store for me!)

I think the past version of myself who wrote these resolutions would not be surprised to hear that I did not live up to this one. Although commissions are fun and keep me busy, this year I really started to feel burnt out with them and became busy enough that I found myself having anxiety over taking too long on orders- enough that I decided to step away from them for a while. I've been a much happier tack maker since. 

• Make a full polo set

Nope. Maybe this year?

• Sketch more

I think I meant sketch more tack, to help flesh out design ideas and details. Aside from the "holey saddle," I don't think I ended up thinking to do this. And I'm okay with that. 

• Make a Traditional scale saddle

Nope again. The idea is much less exciting and appealing to me now, having tried my hand at Pebbles scale tack earlier this year and finding myself overwhelmed and unsatisfied with bigger scales. 

• Expand my mini halter show string (OF and CM)

I did end up purchasing a good few OF Stablemates at NW Expo.

• Limit/entirely cut out any Traditional model purchases

Not only did I not purchase any Traditionals this year, but I ended up selling 95% of my non-mini collection. After my shows in the spring it became clear to me that I really had no love for showing OF's, and that others would probably appreciate my storage-bin-confined collection more than I would. I'm still glad I made that call!

• Make a really unusual tack set (I'm thinking Lord of the Rings something?)

YES.

My micro scale ring wraith/Nazgul was easily the most fun, least stressful project of 2015. I'd love to do more micro scale things this year!

• Keep the blog updated

With no basis of comparison, I did more or less keep the blog updated. However, in 2014 I posted here almost 90 times, while 2015 had about half as many posts. Understandably, considering I was less active in the hobby for the summer and back half of the year. 

Looking forward to 2016, my only hobby resolution is to keep making things that make me happy. I'm open to being as involved or separate from the hobby as I feel is right throughout this year, and want to really focus on only creating things when my heart's in it and I'm inspired. I have no idea how this year will look for my hobby world- we'll see!

I hope you all had a very merry holiday season, a happy New Year, and have exciting things lined up for 2016!