Coming Along

I've been working hard on a new sales piece, hence the radio silence!  I want to have it done before the last few weeks of class hit; at that point, I'll be worthless until class lets out.  All the scrambling around for finals and last minute papers and stuff, yuck. 

Once done, this sales piece will be auctioned on eBay.  It will probably be a three day auction and I'll announce the start date via the Yahoogroup, here on the blog, Facebook, and also on MH$P and the Model Horse Blab forum. 

The set fits the ever popular WeeJay and also Kelly Savage's recent release, the Babysitter.  It will include the saddle, bridle, two girths (one with a cut out for WeeJay's rod), two pads (fitted and square), a five point breastplate, regular breastplate, two pairs of galloping boots, one pair of open front boots, a pair of ankle boots, and a pair of bell boots.  The bell boots are BLUE! Such fun to be able to use some of the brighter colors that came with my sample set of Eco-Flo dyes. 

Of course, all of that information is worthless without pictures!

Facebook!

Some of you may have noticed the two new buttons on the right side of the blog; one for mailing list, and one for Facebook.  That's because I've found two problems with the blogging format.

One: I don't really have the time or content to post every day.  I'd love to be able to, it's just not where I'm at right now.

Two: The blog is somewhat limited in it's reach.  Not everyone checks blogs frequently; people might miss important announcements!

This is where Facebook and the mailing list (a Yahoogroup created in 2007 that I resurrected) come in.  If you want the important updates delivered right to your inbox, the Yahoogroup is there.  It's announcement only, too, so you won't be inundated with mail.  Sales pieces/commission slots will be announced on the blog, Facebook, AND via the Yahoogroup.

And to make sure this blog post is interesting...here's the latest finished piece! I snapped a rein in two when I was tacking it up for the final pictures on Saturday, but everything's fixed now.

Sharing is Caring

When my copy of The Babysitter arrived last month, I commented on how large she was and how close in scale that put her to WeeJay.  She was closer than I thought; the two of them can share tack, right down to the bridle and boots!  Because my tack is not adjustable (which makes it easier to put on), each set fits a pretty small range of horses.  In fact, it usually fits just one.

Sometimes the saddle can be passed around pretty easily, but bridles are often quite tricky.  Any time I find two or more horses that can share everything, I get pretty excited.  It means that a sales piece for ________ will also fit _________, which means that it appeals to a wider range of buyers which means that the chances of a sale just went up.

It also means that buyers can get more bang for their buck.  WeeJay is kind of limited to over fences classes, but The Babysitter could tackle a wide variety of events, english and western. With rising prices in the rest of our lives, economizing in the hobby becomes a necessity for most people.  Instead of a saddle for every horse, a set of tack that can go from the CM/AR classes to the OF ring is a great way to cut expenses if you plan to order new gear.

One of my favorite groups of horses to trade tack between is Working Girl/Breyer's WEG Driving Horse.  Working Girl, of course, is no longer in production and actually rather hard  to find second hand, but well worth it if you can.  Sarah Rose's minis hold their value extremely well.  Working Girl and Breyer's WEG Driving horse are both versatile, working models that can be used in a variety of settings.  Because of loose manes, most english flat classes will have to be in lower levels or schooling, but often times fewer moving parts means fewer things to mess up.  A correctly done entry, no matter the level, should always be competitive.

Quite a few of the G3/WEG (G4) models can swap saddles and sometimes bridles, but I have found that in most cases tack cannot be swapped around between generations.  There's a substantial size difference between the G2 (1998) and G3 (2006) molds, and within both generations there's a wide range of head sizes.  The G1s typically have very delicate, refined heads and that is their main problem when swapping tack.  A G2 saddle may fit, but unless you want to do a bridleless reining demonstration you're out of luck.

Resins, of course, are an entirely different ball game.  There's a wide variety of sizes and poses without Breyer and Stone's level of continuity in shape and scale.  Based on the handful I have in my collection, models from Horsing Around and Animal Artistry tend to stay fairly close in scale and are performance friendly. Animal Artistry models tend to run larger than most plastic models, while Horsing Around runs closer in scale to Breyer's G2 molds.

Unfortunately, I can't finish off this post with a comprehensive list of tack-sharing models. It's been a long time since I've had orders for G2 or G1 models, and most of my recent sales pieces have been for the WEG Driving Horse/Working Girl/Little Lonestar trio.  What I DO have is a Google Spreadsheet with measurements for bridles.  I've wanted to do an Equine Resin Directory-like database with tack making measurements for a long time, but it never really got off the ground and I don't have time to put it in a website form right now.  Tack makers and anyone else who needs it are welcome to use the information as reference.  I plan to add more models as I have the time to measure them, and if you happen to have measurements for a model feel free to email them to me! (check out the contact page for my email address)

Model Horse Measurements Spreadsheet

Good Reading

I'll be out of state for a wedding this weekend, and to keep up the momentum I've built (so many posts this week!) here's some interesting stuff I've come across recently.


Timaru Star II - Braided Headgear.  Fascinating article about Susan Bensema Young's braided bridles, halters, bosals, etc.  Well worth the read, very informative!

Saddle Critiques by Riversong Musings.  A wealth of information about the construction of western saddles.

Marilyn Fowler's Making of a Western Pleasure Saddle.  Another (Traditional scale!) artist's method, step by step.

The Elephant in the Room.  A fascinating thread that is, in many ways, a "state of the hobby" discussion.  The thread is from the POV of painters, but much of what they're saying applies to all aspects of the hobby.

How to Make A Simple Lightbox.  Excellent tutorial by Shoestring Stables.  She's got a wonderful eye for making quality stuff on a budget. 

Record Keeping

Keeping records of tack is something that not everyone does.  Some tack makers are so low volume that it just isn't necessary, or they don't expect to become high volume and have nothing set up.  I started out in the second category; I didn't keep records until 2009, and even then my attempts were sporadic and short lived.  It wasn't until 2010 that I started my current digital version.

Keeping a close record of previously made pieces isn't always imperative, but I find it very helpful.  I like knowing what I've made in the past, and if a customer needs a repair or replacement part, it's especially nice to know what kind of dye I used.  Not only is it great to keep the details of each order straight, records are also extremely helpful when dealing with deposits and time payments.

My first attempts at record keeping were aimed at finding a way to gather the pertinent information about an order in one place.  I cycled through an index card and binder system before settling on Microsoft Excel.  Excel and similar programs like Google's Spreadsheets are useful for a variety of reasons.  Information can be sorted via filters, easily changed, and tabs make it easy to keep track of different sections of your hobby endeavors.  It also made it much easier for me to be consistent with the information I took down, as well as keeping track of non-commissioned pieces.

Excel is part of Microsoft's Office Suit and does not come standard on Windows machines.  If you don't want to buy a program, there are alternatives like Google Spreadsheets and OpenOffice.org.  I have used Google Spreadsheets for other projects and really like it, but am hesitant to use it for tracking orders.  The great thing is that it can be accessed from any computer, and that's also my concern.  Spreadsheets can be marked as private, but I still worry about hackers.  The most sensitive information I keep in my spreadsheets are email addresses, but I don't want some unsavory person getting into any of the information I have on there.

The information I include in my spreadsheet has evolved over time and is still evolving.  I have tabs to keep track of current orders, finished pieces (which includes finished commissions, donations, sales pieces, and personal projects), and accounting.  Instead of just keeping the details of an order straight, I'm also tracking the numbers made, how many times a customer comes back, when certain things were finished, and even trends in dye and style.  Don't forget the accounting possibilities with Excel and other spreadsheet programs!

Here are two screen shots to give you an idea of how I have this set up.  Click on the photo to view larger. Some information has been removed or fabricated to protect the innocent.

The first screen shot is of my tack log.  I track finished pieces here whether they're sales, orders, donations, or personal pieces.  Items are added to this sheet after they are completed.  In the past I only tracked orders and donations, but when I closed my books it became more important to track all of my work.

The sheet is pretty self-explanatory.  Each item has the date of completion, what kind of transaction (donation, order, sales, or personal), the style or discipline (style was shorter), details about the order, price, buyer information, and notes which might be about the transaction as a whole, special information about the tack, etc.

Originally the "details" column included what mold(s) the set was fitted to and what dyes were used, but when I redid my Excel file at the beginning of the year I split those out so that I could track trends more easily.

This second screen shot is of my orders page.

As a rule, I track only time sensitive projects in the Current Projects tab, though I think I had planned to include personal projects and sales pieces at one point.  Instead, I keep tabs only on donations and commissions.  Most of this sheet is set up like the Tack Log sheet, so that when an order is finished I can copy and paste information from one sheet to another.  In the past I included information like buyer's address and the date the package arrived, but that information was difficult to place into Excel in standard form (addresses) or moot once the project was moved to the Tack Log tab (arrival date).


I hope this post is somewhat helpful; I always feel a little out of my depth when I write informational pieces for this blog.  Comments are welcome, as always, and so are topic suggestions!

And Away We Go!

I got the very last scheduled donation boxed up yesterday, and today it hits the post office.  Not a moment too soon, since The Show for the Cure is March 24! This is much, much closer than I am comfortable with, and it was a combination of poor planning and !@#$%^-stupid-boots! Boots can be time consuming under the best of circumstances, and then I had to remake one particular boot twice; once because the tabs were on the wrong side* and again because I dyed it too dark.  I also remade part of the five point breastplate to correct some fit issues and lengthened the crown piece of the bridle.

But it's done, thank goodness, and will ship today along with a few extra goodies.  Here are a couple of photos:

 Now that both donations are out of the studio, it's time to really dive into the next project: a cross country/jumper set for WeeJay!  I'll be doing more boots, of course, and another five point breastplate.  I finished the figure eight bridle while I waiting for various parts of that last !@#$ boot to dry (and watching Frasier).

Please excuse the poor studio photo - this was taken indoors at night with the flash.

Compare to the two bridles below, both finished in March of last year.

The reins are slimmer on this year's bridle because I've gotten more confident when lacing reins and the buckles now have tongues, but otherwise there's not much difference, is there?  I haven't decided if that's a good thing or a bad thing.  I hadn't cleaned up the edges on the 2011 bridles yet, if anyone wonders about the light edges on some straps.  I have to trim lace for strapgoods by hand and those edges are the result of dye not soaking all the way through.  From what I've read, this is a common complaint with Eco-Flo dyes.  It's not really a problem for me, though.  I dip my brush back in the dye and run it along the edges before sealing. 




*Equine legwear is always worn with fasteners (buckles, velcro, etc) on the outside, with loose ends pointed behind the horse to prevent injuries and help keep the protective gear from being torn off by another foot.  The boot in question was for the left rear leg; when the tabs were on the outside of the leg, they pointed forward.  It would be much easier for something to tear them off as the horse is moving forward, over a jump say, than if they were pointed towards the rear.

Itty Bitty Teeny Tiny Tack

Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away I made micro mini tack.  I quit in April of 2009 (blogs are so handy for recording these things!), but I recently had a request for a simple project: a halter and lead rope for Maggie Bennett's jumping mule.  It turned out pretty good!

It WAS really fiddly to work with.  The leather was thin and narrow, and it wasn't fun trying to get the hardware made.  I lost count of how many halter rings slipped off of my pliers, never to be found again.

I still have my plastic micro bodies and a few western saddles floating around from the micro mini days.  I've never gotten around to selling them, but I probably should; I'll never use them.

Just for fun, here are a few older pieces that I did in micro mini scale.

It Begins Again

I know I promised a post last...Thursday? You'll just have to forgive me, life got busy again!

 I used to think that I was a patient person.  I really did.  Then I made a five point breastplate last month and wrapped up five pairs of boots, one of which ended up being a double and has to be redone.  Strap goods and odd bits of miscellany tax my patience.  There comes a point when I just want the endless parade of buckles and keepers to be over.

And now I'm getting ready to start a figure eight bridle, a full set of leg protection, and another five point breastplate (and a saddle, of course).  It's all for WeeJay, though, and you'd be surprised by how much easier his slightly larger size makes things.

I'm sure part of it stems from the laborious preparation process.  Unfortunately, lace does not come in "miniscule"; most of the straps on my bridles are less than a millimeter wide and thinner than two sheets of copy paper. If I did by lace by the yard or spool, I'd still have to dye it, skive it, and split it by hand.  Might as well cut out the middle man.  I have also learned that I don't like waiting for dye to dry.  It's like watching a pot boil.

Then there's the actual construction.  I spent most of a morning and an entire afternoon finishing a bridle and four pairs of boots.  After the last boot, even my eyes were starting to cross.  I had to look it up - the last pair of boots I made was probably in June.  June! I'd forgotten how long they take.

The good news, though, is that the last donation is almost done and Sugar High Live's box went out March 2.  I took some photos of the Show for the Cure donation, which is when I discovered the messed up boot.  I also ended up reworking the five point breastplate (which didn't fit quite right) and the bridle (the crown piece was a little short).  What you don't see in the photo below are two pairs of galloping boots and a fitted "fleece" pad.

I Made It!

Expect a more coherent post tomorrow; for now, suffice it to say that I survived the huge paper and am grateful that I only have two more (of that magnitude) to do this semester.  I stressed myself out about it by waiting until the last minute, but it wasn't too bad.  I think.  The professor sent out an email yesterday saying that the papers he'd received at that point (I hadn't submitted mine yet) were all done incorrectly.  Panic, much? I think I did okay, but this was the first paper for the class so I have no idea how it's going to turn out.

Regardless, I sent it off tonight.  There's no getting it back, so I might as well relax, right? I'm in my pajamas before 9 p.m. and cleaning like a maniac.  Little things like, oh, laundry tend to get left behind when I throw myself into panicked-paper-writing-mode.

I finished up my Show for the Cure donation on Saturday, though, and was hoping to get pictures but it's been insanely windy the last couple of days.  I'm afraid that it would be nearly impossible to keep the model upright during a photoshoot.  Winds are supposed to die down, so if I can just avoid the forecasted rain...better yet, I should make a simple photo booth! Shoestring Stables just posted an awesome tutorial that looks perfect for mini aficionados on a budget (cough, me, cough).