Two posts in one day, after well over a month since my last post? Prepare for a long one! So I guess I got knocked off the blogger bandwagon again. Or I'm still trying to get back on track? I'm not sure, call it what you want. Maybe I need to start thinking of things more like an ebb and flow than on or off track. I still have a sinking feeling things are going to get much worse before they get much better. Oh well. Ebb and flow, right? Anyway, on to model ponies. The reason I haven't posted in so long is because I've been super BUSY. Luckily, most of it has been model related. Or at least horse related. I attended the Berks 4-H Horse Council Model Show (and got ready for it for the 2-3 weeks prior), I attended a Gun Bingo event in Maryland, made 3 sets of champion and reserve champion colored halters as prizes for the 2nd show I attended, Happy Valley Fun Show, I attended 3 nights of the Pennsylvania National Horse Show in Harrisburg as a spectator (although it is on my bucket list to show in that arena!), my family had our annual Leaf Day fall celebration, I made some more progress on my Professional's Choice girths (the 4th is almost ready to ship out), I bought entirely too many new models....the list goes on. And so does being busy, as I type I'm doing laundry, making 4 batches of cookies for a work trip, and getting things ready to make dinner. The work trip is a conference in Ocean City Maryland, so hopefully I will have an Off Topic Tuesday for you tomorrow!
Here is what's been going on within the studio and out since the end of September (all of these photos are quick snaps with my phone, so many are blurry, sorry!):
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| One of the first things I had to do to get ready for the Berks show was to make show stands! I went with the pot lid holders from Ikea, got some flexible tubing to put over the posts, and made these fleecey sleeves to go over the tubing. Our sewing machine doesn't reverse, so all of these had to be hand tied so they didn't unravel. I was very very happy with the end result though! |
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| I successfully added rein stops to these reins that go to my hunt tack set. They slide, look nice, and I didn't get any glue on the reins, so they should be removable without a trace :) |
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| I successfully made a running martingale to further convert that hunt tack set to a jumper set. I was REALLY happy with how this turned out, and proud of one of my first pieces of leather tack. Previous leather pieces have just been halters. You can see how it got the perfect shape in the next photo. |
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| I am 100% obsessed with how this horse looks in this tack! It fits him perfectly, and he just looks so handsome and striking. He was entered in English performance at both the Berks and Happy Valley shows, and took first in both as a jumpers entry. With my own running martingale! *aspiring tack maker squee* You can see the full setup further down. The boots are by Christina Brown and the rest of the tack is by Jana Skybova. |
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| This is a photo from work. We are looking at putting a slatted concrete livestock crossing across this creek so that the farmer can get his animals and equipment back and forth. |
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| This was show prep for the Berks show. The rails ended up being an epic fail, the paint bled under the tape and I threw them away. I forgot to sand them anyway, so they looked pretty rough. My first rails that I taped and painted turned out well, so I know I can do them, I just have to try again. I painted the pots to make my first flower pot decorations, which you can see further down. |
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| Also show prep for the Berks Show! I usually tack all my horses beforehand and wrap the stirrups in paper towels if they're metal. So far it's worked out well, and been much less stressful at the show, since I'm still a showing newbie. Eventually, I'll get quicker at tacking and be able to do so at the show. This is a dressage set by Christina Brown on an Ichabod Crane model. He looked good in it, and you can see his results below! |
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| Those flower pots I made. These were my first ones and I was happy with the results! Now I want to make *all the flower pots* |
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| Tacking up before the show! This guy fit this tack very well! I forget who made the saddle, I'll have to look it up and edit this post, but I got it for a very reasonable price. The pad and boots are by Rachel Fail, and the amazing reins are by Rachel Mitchell of Trails End Studio. |
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| Half of my table setup at the Berks show. These stands that I made worked amazingly. They were a pain to make, but I'm so glad I did. |
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| The "working" half of my Berks table. |
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| My Third Times a Charm model winning the American Saddlebred Class in OF Halter at the Berks show. And one of my first NAN Cards!! super exciting! |
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| My Turning Harts pole bending setup who.... |
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| ...went on to win the CM/AR Performance Western Games class! Another of my first NAN cards :) |
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| My Third Times a Charm model went on to win Reserve Champion Light Breeds in OF Halter. This is doubly exciting, because, as embarrassing as it is to admit, that is the first and only trophy I've ever won. In anything. So happy :) |
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| My dressage entry won first in OF Performance Dressage. Another of my first NAN cards :) |
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| The entry that I'm perhaps the most proud of, partially because I LOVE this horse in this tack, but also because I made the martingale, the fall colored flower pots, and because CM/AR hunter/jumper is always so competitive. I've entered hunter/jumper classes more than any other performance class, and never placed real well, so this was very exciting! Another of my first NAN cards :) |
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| His other side |
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| A (blurry) photo from the Pennsylvania National Horse Show in Harrisburg. I've always loved coming to this show, and at this point, its very nostalgic for me. Every year I have to go at least once! |
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| Gun Bingo! we didn't win a thing, but it was fun anyway. Dinner was included with our ticket, and they had amazing cream of crab soup, and we ended up sitting next to a nice group of people. |
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| A progress photo of one of the champion colored prize halters for the Happy Valley Fun Show. These took me a while to make, but I'm really glad I did. They turned out well, were well received at the show, and I think its a good way to get some of my tack out there. |
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| They were sized on Victrix, but ended up fitting alot of different models. So far they fit 7 different models! You can see just a little bit of the writing on the nose, which says Happy Valley Fun Show. |
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| Reserve Champion color. Fitting another model well! The writing came out much better on the yellow than the red |
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| I'm glad this idea worked out :) |
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| The full set. In bad lighting, with my bad phone camera |
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| My table set up at Happy Valley Fun Show! This was my first round table, so that was a little bit of an adjustment. I didn't take quite as many to this show as I did to Berks. Overall, I won 6 champion or reserve champion :) |
Kristian Beverly, of
Five Paws Studio, won 3 of the prize halters, and they fit her three models well too! Thanks for the photo op Kristian! One of these halters went to Susan Bensema Young, of
Timaru Star II, and I don't know who got the other 2.
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| Kristian's dundee in his prize halter |
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| Kristian's three models wearing their halters |
That's all the photos I have for right now. The results of these shows, and the fun I've had with the model hobby the past couple months has given me some extra oompf to really get things moving in the studio again, so hopefully I'll have some sales announcements for you soon :) Until next time.....
