"Look mom, my butt fits!"

The last one for a few days, I promise, mostly because I have company coming in the next few days and I probably ought to tend to my house a little... :0D

The red dancing horse saddle is done (save the lining), and the girth, bridle and collar still need attention, but I should have them wrapped in another week or two, and I still owe you guys some pics of the other native set in progress, hopefully by the weekend I'll have those!

The main purpose of tonight's pictures is to illustrate how important fit is in the model saddle. I can't even begin to count the teensy weensy little seats I have seen on costume after costume, and it really makes me wonder what happens when the buyer gets a really cool doll for their set, only to find the seat is built for a person roughly little bit size!

That reason is why I keep my trusty doll "Ron" (who has a very strong resemblance to my little brother...hence the name, lol) handy, to test out my seats before they even begin to get covered in fabric (or suede as it is in this example), just a little added touch that I hope helps the buyer have more flexibility when showing my work...with the added bonus that it adds to the realism as well.

Oh, and please excuse Ron's lack of shirt, I am working on making an actual robe for him, like the guys at the Egyptian event wear to show their horses, wish me luck, I *hate* the sewing machine, almost as much as it hates me I'm sure!

I'll try to post pics this weekend of the other set in progress...if I get time!

Picture update...

Just a quickie to clear up any confusion on the saddle seat of the red costume! It is red, not red and white, though I will be trying a red and green two toned set soon, so stay tuned... :0)

I'm also sneaking in a *little* something, just to see how far I can take it...my eyes are hating me already!

Working working working!

I figure with spring trying to pop it's head out up here in Idaho, I had better get a few things started and hopefully done, so I have some new stuff for NAN, or I just might not have time, (or energy) and that would be bad.

So anyway, here's the latest set on my desk, it's a Red Dancing horse set, and it's much further along than this pic, taken a few days ago, it's turning out really nice, so nice I don't really want to part ways wth it, lol. The pieces are just kind of laid on each other in the pic, nothing had been glued as of yet! It will have a row of tiny tassels along the drape edge, and the collar will have a double row, and I think I will go ahead and do the tie down for this one too, as it adds a bit more realism, and three more buckles, but who's counting? ;0)

I am also still working on the hand embroidered native costume, as well as one more native style set, made with a mini rug though for sanity's sake. I'll try and get snaps of the rug based set in a few days! Off for bed, I'm wiped today for some reason!

More EDH pictures

This was a sneak peek a few weeks ago, just wanted to share the full picture album with you guys! I went a little further than normal for this set, I added a tie down to it, which is often seen in Dancing Horse exhibitions to keep them from tossing their heads too much (which they probably do because of all the dangly things in their nostrils, lol) And the result is pretty cool! It makes the buckle total hit 19, which is crazy, but worth it for that added adjustability!

Well, that's it for me. :0) I need to get to bed!

Back home, with some additional shiny things in my hands!

Wow, what a weekend! I am still pretty wiped out, as the bed I was in wasn't the most comfy, and not to mention late night tack changing to prepare for the next day...but all in all I am feeling good! I am so glad I had the chance to test out some of my new pieces, and I got some great tips from a very well respected and tough judge, it was fabulous! I have a few more shows I would like to get to this spring, and I am hoping and praying that NAN is in my future as well, I want to make my work's debut at NAN in person, I can't wait!

My overall win list:

Saturday (Judge Lauren Wood)

1st place Modern Arabian Costume-Khaotic-wearing the gold and black number

1st place Historical Arabian Costume-Mehdi-wearing the turquoise native set

2nd place Other Costume (apparently a rein popped off its wax, grrr.) -Khaotic in the green EDH

Champion of CM Other Performance-Khaotic

Reserve Champion of CM other Perf.-Mehdi

Overall Reserve Champion of CM Performance- Khaotic (he is painted by me as well)

Sunday: (judge Lauren Wood)

1st place Modern Arabian Costume-Maxximum Output wearing the gold and black costume

1st place Historical costume-Darkh Knight wearing the Turquoise Native set

1st place Other Costume-Darkh Knight wearing the green EDH costume

1st place other performance- Noisy Rio wearing the carousel costume

Champion of Other Performance: Darkh Knight

1st place Dressage-Pierino

Champion of English-Pierino

(the English classes were quite sparse, Lauren said she thought my entry was very nice and everything was done correctly, though she would have tucked the excess rein I left hanging to the right, so a good entry nonetheless! )

Overall OF Performance Champion-Darkh Knight

AR Minis(all painted by me) Judge Caroline Boydston

1st place TWH, MFT-Cougar's Pride-Mindy resin

Champion of Light breeds

Overall Reserve Champion of AR mini

1st place in Warmbloods-Ricochet-Dinky duke resin

2nd in American Ponies-Gimli-Flitwick resin

3rd place Paint horse-Apache Clouds-Cheveyo

3rd place Other Stock-Butternut-Doodlebug resin

4th place British pony-Silvermist-Netzky resin

5th place Arabian-Sadeek-Mini Nahar

AR Traditional and classic size: (painted by me too!)

2nd place Paint horse- Sierra Skies-Matriarch resin

So all in all a great list of results for my work, I am very proud. I am so pleased my Mindy did as well as she did, and under Caroline as a judge! She had me shaking so hard after the light breed champ pinning that I could hardly manipulate my tack, but I was able to compose myself and get the green Dancing Horse costume all put on properly, and it kicked butt! Woot!

I've included a few pictures of the show, I couldn't snap many because I was running around with tack changes and such, but I managed a few! Here is the rest of the album in case anyone is interested! http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n74/sagecreations/Las%20Vegas%20Live%202009/

Thanks for reading!

Hey Baby let's go to Vegas!

How ironic was it when that song came on yesterday, as I was finishing up the reins on the double bridle for my gold/black Arabian costume!

Well, like any other LVL year, I have been busy working my fingers to the bone. I have super glue and exacto injuries on nearly all of my fingers, (maybe I should super glue the cuts...it could be a sign, lol.) and my eyes and neck have been strained to the max, but I am so close! The gold and Black costume is DONE, and boy am I proud! It was my first ever attempt at a double bridle, and it is as detailed as anything I have ever made before, 5 tiny working buckles and a slip buckle for the throatlatch, it's so cool! The bit is from TWMHC/Allison Bennish on ebay, very cool stuff if you haven't ordered from them before! The rings swing just like on the real horse bits, which to me is so neat.

The green EDH will be done by tomorrow I hope, just the bridle standing in my way at this point, I'm a bit burned out on strap goods at the moment, but it will get done in time. I'll put some pics up of it when I have it finished.

I finally got around to painting the Matriarch who has been sitting on my shelf for two birthdays, she's turning out so much nicer than I hoped, I hope she does well this next week, she is a BLAST to paint! She is quite the demanding thing though, she said she needs a halter of her own, so she got one, it has 5 buckels for adjustment on it, and turned out quite lovely also, in my unbiased opinion! :0)

I also just wrapped up a customer commission for a simple cable style halter, the throatlatch is removable, and is done in super fine cable, just like the real deal!

Well, need to roll for now, my daughter just got hit on the head in a Pinata incident at the neighbor's house...off to tend to her! Hope to see some of you in Vegas next week!