The Long-Awaited Etchie

After four years of being alternately etched and tossed in storage, at last, the poor body Trakehner has a new, and very handsome look as an Appaloosa Sport Horse.

Now he just needs the perfect name!

Nominated

I was nominated by Trail Blazer Farm for the Liebster Award. So thank you, Trail Blazer Farm! I don't have time for tagging other blogs, sadly, but I feel I should at least answer the nomination by answering the questions.

1. Who is your favorite horse, model or real?

Several years ago, there was a very special OTTB named Rain, who captured my heart. I miss him terribly.  

2. Where do you want to go, any world, any place, any time?

The reality where I have a permanent place to live, and a couple of horses.

 

3. Are you an only child or do have siblings?
I have one sibling and a lot of siblings.

4. If all of your models were real, which one would you want to ride, show, etc.?
Oh goodness...I'd need all of my dolls to be real too, to help me feed all those horses! Uh, hmm. I suppose if I had to pick just one horse to be my personal horse, it would probably be Rubicon. I would also love Rose, because she's so cuddly!

 

5. How did you get started in the hobby?

Model horses? I've had toy horses since I was a baby (if original My Little Ponies and She-Ra horses count) but Breyers, I didn't have until I was old enough to buy them myself, because my mom said they were too expensive and breakable. I was always sort of peripherally aware of them as these unreachable treasures.

 

6. Who was your first model? Rocky. I found him at a second-hand store.

 

7. What was your best model purchase? How do I determine best? 0o I love them alllll. They all have their own stories. The cheapest one I bought was Flik, for $1. He was a 3 legged body at a different second-hand store and I rescued him from being thrown in the dumpster.

 

8. What's the worst thing you've ever bought? Breyer-wise? Probably the Breyer Dressage Rider. She fell apart as I was trying to remove her from the packaging.

 

9. Favorite tv show? Star Trek Deep Space Nine.

 

10. What is your least favorite Breyer mold, horse, and color? Least favorite mold: Running Stallion. Least favorite horse: "Wing Commander" least favorite color: palomino

Old and New...ish.

I had the opportunity this past week to visit a local museum. There were saddles in the basement! There wasn't much lighting, and the only camera I had was my cellphone, but I tried to get what reference photos I could. This saddle was small, but it had a really deep seat. The stirrups were missing. It didn't have any info on it, but it did have a rifle case.

There was also a tree...

And several sidesaddles from the 1800s!

 

I may go back sometime and take my real camera.

The other thing that I did is visit an antique store. There was some tack there, too. Mostly stuff that was beyond hope of repair. I found a white mechanical hackamore that looked pretty gnarly, and a presentation halter with silver. But what I took home was a humble-looking dirty leather halter.

 Which turned into a nice, clean, fairly decent and barely-used-looking leather halter!

Overall, it was a pretty good day!

Moving Again

As of the end of June, I ended up making a very unexpected move several hundred miles south for health reasons. Everything is in boxes. I'm living in very temporary arrangements. Things are beyond chaotic. It might be a while before I am showing off new tack or custom models again. Hopefully not too long though!

In the meantime, here is the etchie work-in-progress Appaloosa Sport Horse that I was working on just prior to moving. 

Jurassic Manor

I'm having a sick day so why not play with some models and tack?

Well, I never said horse models.

The Best $4 I Ever Spent

I'm one of those weird people that goes into pet stores when I don't have pets. Or house improvement stores when I don't have a house (I have an apartment and it's against the rules to improve it). I am always looking for things that can be repurposed for miniatures.

I found something at Petco. Pet stores often have little cage ornaments and things that can be used for dollhouse embellishments, but often they are pretty expensive. I feel pretty lucky and happy to have found this for $4 and change!

It's just a bunch of sticks stuck together with wires. But it's amazingly versatile, and just the right size...

The wires not only keep the sticks together, they allow them to be curved...

It can take the weight of a Breyer horse! (or in this case, a Peter Stone)

It's a great bridge, and it could be a ramp, a raft, even a jump or a fence!

So many possibilities...my imagination is just going crazy imagining scenarios.

I don't live show, but if I did, this seems like it would be a great performance prop!

English Saddle

I've had a "bee in my bonnet" for a while now to try making another English saddle again. It's been several (years?) since I last tried, and I've gotten a lot more comfortable working with leather and looking at reference pictures. I found an old pattern that a friend of mine had sent me (no instructions though) and sat down with some old leather jacket scraps and skiver, and went to town.

Two days of puzzle assembly later, this is what I had made.

I made a ton of mistakes and it's far from perfect, but I learned a lot! I think I'm finally on the right track. That old scrap leather actually doesn't look too bad!

The Time-Eating Monster

 My personal life has turned into a whirlwind of a mess since February. The first half of March, I was busy with Comic Con, one of my other hobbies. My cosplay buddy had talked me into making a Black Widow outfit, and I also brought my Loki. I had an absolute blast, got to meet a couple of my scifi and film heroes and the woman I was named after. It was amazing!

Black Widow acquires the target

Loki no. You cannot have an army of KITTs.

After that, I ended up on another road trip for a family emergency, but on the way back, I found a little jewel. Who knew there was an action figure museum in a small town in Oklahoma?

I couldn't believe it. Someone with more toys than I have.

The GI JOE dioramas were my favorite.

There were even model horses. And an old Broom Tail! (I used to have a red one)

There was a section of the museum with toys for kids to play with. How could I resist that?

Ouch. They never build these doorways tall enough.

They see me rollin'

After I got back from that trip, I barely was able to catch a breath before some other bad news hit. I don't want to get into it here, but suffice it to say if things don't work out, I could be in some real trouble. So between that and my health issues acting up, I have pretty much had 0 creative muse. Still, I get really bored sitting around worrying. I have a need to be doing and learning even when I feel like crap.

So I learned to make chainmail

Some glamorous bracelets

 and I hung up the poster of Loki that I got at Comic Con

In hindsight, this was not the best poster placement.

Yesterday, I pulled my sewing machine out because it's been so long since I sewed last, that I forgot how much it and I don't get along. I did manage to make a couple of saddle blankets out of an old pillowcase.

The fruit of my frustration

...and then played with my chainmail.

Aviator is so annoyed with me

Eventually, I found something to do with the normal-sized blanket, and I think I'm pretty happy with it.

 

So that's basically what I have to show for the past two months. One saddle blanket. Not quite the amazing body of work I was expecting to be able to produce now that I'm moved in, but it's better than nothing, I suppose!