Friday!

No, I promise, I'm not going to sing that horrible song.  It's more like...running through fields of daisies with "Chariots of Fire" playing mysteriously in the background.  That's the kind of giddy feeling this particular Friday gives me.  Why? Because I have one test left to take this week and then I'm free until Monday!  I have a little bridle to do and then hopefully I'll be able to get most, if not all, of my Show for the Cure donation done. 

Last semester I balanced 3 classes (9 credit hours) and a 20hr/week part time job in addition to responsibilities at church.  I eventually fell into a comfortable routine, but there wasn't much time for creative endeavors and I finished the semester mentally drained.  My unique financial situation forced me to take just two classes this semester, and I was really frustrated at first.  Maybe I need this break, though.  I was bordering on burnt out last semester and it took half of my break to get myself back on track. 

While taking just 6 credit hours puts me behind my goal, I have time to breathe.  I really goofed around this week, and I still have nearly all of my homework done plus have had time to draw and read a little bit.  This could be a really productive semester!

I don't have tack pictures (yet!), so here's a quick look at what I've been sketching.  People are NOT my strong point, so I'm really trying to focus on getting them right.

Not Much to Say (A Quick Update)

I'm having the usual trouble transitioning from break into the new semester.  Everything feels a little panicky and wobbly the first few weeks as I reorient myself with class and deadlines.  It'll sort itself out, though, and I might be able to blog more often once I hit my stride.  Until then, I'm trying to line up a couple of guest bloggers. 

Show for the Cure is coming up way, way too soon and I haven't even started on my donation yet.  I have at least decided what to do, and I'll have to make room on a weekend to get it taken care of whether I've hit my stride or not.  Hopefully I'll have the presence of mind to take progress photos for blog fodder!

I did get behind on emails the last couple of days, but I'll get caught up this evening.  I know there are a couple of requests for free copies in my inbox, so if you emailed me on the 17th and didn't receive one don't worry.  I'm getting to you! 

Speaking of the saddle guide, free copies are officially 'sold out.'  The guide is still available for $10/copy (PDF form).  If anyone is interested in a hard copy of sorts, I can do some number crunching and see about offering copies on disc.

Here are some screen shots of the guide itself, for those that missed out on the free release.

 

  

"I Miss My Camera" and Other Break-Is-Almost-Over Regrets

Class starts back up on Tuesday.  I thoroughly enjoy learning and college, but it IS a lot of work and stress.  I'm looking forward to starting the semester, but I'm looking forward to it being over even more.  With the end of my relative freedom drawing nearer, I find myself looking back over it with mixed emotions. 
I had a little over a month off between the fall semester and the upcoming spring semester.  I had such high hopes for break - the books I was going to read, the tack I was going to make, the things I was going to photograph and draw.  I had even planned to finish up my little muley girl.

Needless to say, not much of that happened.  I slept, a lot.  I read some books, but not the ones I had planned.  War and Peace still sits on my shelf, unfinished.  I took some pictures, but mostly of saddles and family events.  Not bad, but not what I had hoped for.  I think I sketched for a little while one night, but nothing productive happened.  I didn't touch my little Boo-girl hardly at all.  She's still unfinished.

I place the blame for my lack-luster break in three areas: an especially stressful finals period, an especially stressful holiday season, and the mother of all head colds, which is just now beginning to release it's death grip after at least three weeks of misery.  I didn't have much productive time in the studio until after the new year.  BUT, once I recovered from PTFD (post traumatic finals disorder) and the holidays, I got quite a bit done.

• I finished the saddle tutorial.
• I made four sales pieces between January 1 and 13, all of which have sold and shipped.
• I started prototyping an Australian Stock saddle and am now on the second draft. Still some tweaking to do, but I think the third time will be the charm.
• I got all of my textbooks and things ordered and am now set for the next semester.  Lord, please help it to go quickly.
• I went out this morning and spent 45 minutes taking pictures at a state wildlife reserve.  No wildlife to speak of, but out in the middle of dirt roads with no other people.  It was nice, but I realized just how much I miss my camera and the absence of other people.

Today was probably the last really productive day in the studio until May 14. Tomorrow I need to get all of my studio stuff cleaned up (or at least bring the mess down to manageable proportions) and get 2011's book keeping squared away.  I sort of gave up on it when the fall semester started, so I'm a little nervous.  There's a lot of stuff I haven't entered.  I need to actually start 2012, but the year is young enough that it shouldn't be a problem.  The website has been very neglected as well, and I'd like to get the galleries updated before class starts again.

As mentioned - I took some pictures this morning.  Somewhere around 260 of them, and that's just because it was cold.  Out of those 260, only 20 or so were worth editing.  Here are a few of my favorites.

And a photo of the latest Australian Stock saddle revision.

Prototyping

With the help of Karen Grigson of Bluebird Studio, I've begun prototyping an Australian Stock saddle pattern.  She's been extremely kind and provided detailed photos and an explanation of how things go together on Model Horse Blab (it's in a paid section of the forum - apologies if you 're not a member!).

I'm still prototyping the pattern, and after one finished saddle I can already see some areas that I need to change.  The waist of my seat isn't nearly narrow or long enough, and I'm going to recess the knee blocks next time.  I was also ready to do myself bodily harm when trying to make D rings at 11 pm last night.  Memo to self: Buy new wire cutters.  I should have used 28 gauge wire, but my wire cutters won't handle it.  They're too old and pitted.

Bridles - the Cliff Notes Version

Lots of people ask questions about my bridles.  I'm wrapping one up today for an english set that's really close to done (and will be on MH$P soon...maybe tomorrow).  I snapped some photos during creation, but this post is an overview of technique, not a tutorial or guide.

I didn't think about doing this until I was almost halfway done with the bridle, but you can see the cavesson in the back and the headstall in the front.  The caveson has been buckled, all straps glued down, and has all of the keepers (except for the one under the noseband) done.  At this point, short of being cut off, you're not going to remove it.  The headstall has the cheekpieces done, but the throatlatch is loose.  I haven't trimmed down the short end or added the buckle yet.

Here, I've placed the headstall over the caveson and glued across the crown.  That twisty bit of wire is a buckle that fell apart, whoops!  Some things are easier done OFF the horse, and today buckling the throatlatch was one of them. Fortunately I was able to salvage this piece, but sometimes a busted buckle means starting over on the crown and associated straps.

Now the browband is attached, glued to the headstall on both sides.  A small cut is made just above the top edge of the browband so that the bridle can be removed.  I trimmed some of the excess browband down and tucked it around the headstall, gluing it down.  Once the bridle was off, I replaced the broken buckle, fastened the throatlatch, and added any remaining keepers. 

And here it is all done! I threw a protective coating of sealer (Tandy's Satin Sheen) on it and put it on Little Lonestar so that it would dry properly.  Sometimes the weight of the bit and other pieces causes the leather to twist as it dries.  I just wanted to make sure it would fit, too. There's a little tiny piece of the browband that wrapped around the headstall that needs to be trimmed up just below his ear, but that's an easy fix.

So there you go! That's the Cliff-Notes version of how I make bridles.

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I'm sending out copies of the saddle guide in waves; if you emailed me and haven't received your copy yet, I just haven't reached your batch. 

Well, Phooey.

Update II: I'm all caught up sending guides out to those who requested! A quick email letting me know you got it would be much appreciated, and if you emailed me before 7:30pm Central Standard Time and haven't received your copy yet, please let me know!
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Update! I got it all sorted out and copies are being sent.
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I started to send the guide out and am having emails bounce.  The file is too big! Curses.  Please hold while I figure out how to resolve this.

Thanks!

English Saddle Instruction Guide

I have one more photo to retake tomorrow, and the guide is officially done!  I corrected some spelling, grammar, and format issues this evening.  Shown above is a screen-cap of the cover page.

The guide will sell as a PDF for $10 a copy, but as a thank you to my blog readers, anyone who emails me and requests a copy between today and January 17th will get a copy for free! 

The guide includes...

• 17 pages of information, instruction, and reference material.
• 71 full-color pictures and illustrations
• A list of suppliers and helpful links
• Photos of REAL saddles for reference
• Pattern for saddle parts, sized for the G3 Warmblood
• Some tips and tricks to make the process easier

I can be reached at akirby@dreamflitedesign.com! If you have a blog of your own, you are welcome to post about this and share this blog post with your friends.

Wordless...Tuesday?

Sorry all, it's press day and I have to be at work soon.  It'll be a mostly wordless Tuesday.  I have some last minute, nit-picky editing on the tutorial to do this evening.  I'll post release details on it tonight or tomorrow afternoon.  The following photo is something that Shoestring Stable made with the tutorial.  She did an amazing job. So amazing that I just bolded, italicized, and underlined amazing.

And I wrapped up the pony set yesterday.  I took photos this morning, but I don't think I'll have time to get it up on MH$P before I leave for work.

I want a braided version of this pony, without the freakishly thick but rather realistic forelock.  It's a pain.

My Year in Saddles (Wordless Wednesday)

January

February

February 2

March

April

May

June

July - No saddles, because I had no studio!

August

September

October

November

December - or close enough.

On to 2012! (January)

Heads Up - What's On the Workbench

At the beginning of break, I didn't get a lot done.  I was too busy catching up on sleep and enjoying the absence of deadlines, tests, and papers.  By the time I had recovered from the past semester, the holidays hit.  Christmas in my family brings a wonderful sort of chaos that leaves you completely drained by the time our three straight days of festivities are over.  I spent last week working on the english saddle how-to, and I think I finished it yesterday.  I can't believe it's finally done!  I can't believe it so much that I'm going to sit on it for just a little while and make absolutely sure that I have all of the kinks worked out.

Now that the holidays and english saddle booklet are done, I've gotten some really constructive tack time in.  Here's what's on the work bench right now.

The english set in the back will have it's "official" pictures taken tomorrow afternoon and then will head to MH$P.  The saddle on the pony is done, but needs a girth and bridle.  I have a pair of rainbow reins in progress for it.  I'm thinking I'll do a crupper and breastplate to complete the cute pony look.  Maybe a couple of red bows for someone to sticky wax on the tail. 

That "thing" in the foreground is a western saddle that has me stumped.  I started it a few weeks ago, intending to make a parade saddle out of it.  The saddle decided that it didn't want to be a parade saddle, so we're going western pleasure.  I sort of lost...motivation on it, though.  The silver is giving me fits.  The carving I like, but I think I underestimated the level of difficulty my proposed silver pattern would pose.  Depending on how it turns out, it might be my donation to Show for the Cure Live, which is March 24.  That's....way too soon!

It's dark out and the light in my studio is no good for photos, but this might give you an idea of what it looks like...

Those are supposed to be feathers, not leaves, haha.  Of course, it looks better in person.  It sounds like a cop-out, but when the detail is blown up this much it can look really coarse.  Each of those little squares is a 1/4 inch square in real life. 


Class starts back up on January 17th.  I'm determined to finish school without any debt, and the new car means that I have to cut back on classes this semester.  It's a bummer, but it'll be worth it long term.  I'll be a part time student next semester, and I'm picking up an extra hour a day at work to fill in the time that a third class would take.  I think I'll have more time for tack, too, which will be an added bonus! I don't foresee commission books reopening any time soon, but if my classes end up being really light that could all change.

I have a year-in-review post planned for tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Slaving Away

Happy New Year!

I spent my day writing, taking pictures, writing again, waiting for dye to dry, writing, taking more pictures, and working on a few little things in between.  Oh, and fighting a hideous sinus something-or-other.  It's kicking my butt but good. 

I should have the rest of the tutorial finished by tomorrow, so stayed tuned for release details.

In the next week or so I'll be putting some brand new items up on MH$P as they are completed.  It's all english this time around, which is a welcome break from western saddles.  Updating the website galleries and getting my Excel spreadsheets in order for 2012 are also on the agenda.  I'm contemplating reworking the blog design (again!) so bear with me if you happen to stumble across something a little funny looking!  I've told myself that I can't rework the website, but I need something new and pretty somewhere, so the blog will have to suffice.

My desk is feeling the sudden burst of activity and taking it rather hard...

Clean up will be on tomorrow's agenda, methinks.