New Year, New Resolutions, and Changes

2010 is over, and since everyone is doing their year in review plus resolutions, I'll join in. This year has been one full of ups and downs for me.

I started college in the fall and there went most of my weekday evenings. I started seeing someone, and there went my weekends. I became more involved with the worship team at church, and there went Wednesday evenings. There was much less time for tack, and as a result commissions took far longer and were fewer between for the last six months of the year. I started a new job in October, though, that will help me even out my studying time so that I should be able to work on more commissions and in a more timely manner.

Every time I write a blog post, I promise to update it more frequently. I know that rarely happens, but I'll do my best this year! I'm aiming for one post a week, minimum.
I want to experiment with carving and dyeing more, and I'd like to make cast stirrups a regular addition to my english saddles.
I'd like to take a more active role in the hobby, too. I'm a member on two hobby forums, and one of my goals is to post more frequently on at least one of them.
The only live show that I could manage as a day trip is in May, and I'm tempted to attend again. It's a two-day show this time, though, with performance both days. It'll be a hard call, because of school and other time commitments. It'd be neat to get out and about, though, so we'll see.

I updated the website today as one of my New Years projects. The policies page has been updated, and the most important part is the introduction of required deposits before I start an order. $25 or 1/4 of the total cost, whichever is higher, will now be required to cover materials. I've started dyeing my own leather, buying higher quality materials and I plan to make cast or photo-etched stirrups and bits standard, which makes the deposit sort of necessary.

Prices were also raised for most of the tack I offer. This reflects the better materials I'm using, the added time for dyeing, and an improvement in my technique. Any orders placed in 2010 will use the previous pricing.

I hope everyone has a happy new year, and I can't wait to see what 2011 brings!