ANOTHER Stablemate saddle!

Yup, the tackmaking bug has once again bitten me! XD I rustled this one up in considerably less time than the other one and this time went a bit mad and made a martingale and new bridle too...







The light had gone again so you'll have to put up with yet more terrible artificially lit photos I'm afraid.





I forgot to check if it would fit today but I'm hoping that one of the tack sets will work on the G3 jumping horse so I can do a proper SJ or XC setup for the MHL Live in a fortnight's time. :D

Stablemate Scale Saddle!

When Anna Kirby of Dreamflite Design mentioned that she was going to do another saddle tutorial, I was one of many people to show a lot of interest in it. I already owned one of her saddles, (made several years ago) and was utterly gobsmacked at how detailed it was. Not only did it have real WORKING buckles but everything looked exactly as it should.

Here it is being modelled by 'EA Turkish Brandy'



Anyway, the idea of a tutorial that would allow me to make something similar really appealed to me so you can imagine how chuffed I was when I was asked to be one of the guinea pigs and try out the 'beta version' before it was published for everyone. I got the guide emailed to me last night and used it this afternoon whilst watching two of my favourite series of Blackadder. I didn't have any leather thin enough to cover the back panels but I rather like the contrast the lighter leather has against the black so it's staying like this for now.

There are a few spots of glue and things that need touched up and apologies for the crappy photos - by the time I'd finished it, the light had gone so I was forced to use artifical lighting which I absolutely loathe.













Now that I had a saddle, I thought I may as well do a bridle to match. I and the glue had some arguments, the buckles are too big and the reins too short but it definitely beats my first attempt at 1/32nd scale bridling and vaguely looks the part so I'm happy! XD



I didn't have any sticky wax so the bit is held in place by a bit of 'Pritt Stik' glue stick! XD



I'll hopefully be entering this horse and tack combo in a performance class at the MHL live in a couple of weeks and under UK rules, I'd need a rider, so...





He's a repainted and slightly resculpted Britains motorcylist I found in the 2nd hand drawer at my local model shop years ago. I always knew he'd come in handy!



The saddle rose up on the back here which I didn't notice until now so rest assured, it does sit on there properly!



I'll probably make him a body protector and Brandy a breastcollar or something to go with it...



So yeah, an afternoon well spent I reckon! MASSIVE thanks to Anna for making such a fantastic tutorial and something tells me it won't be the last time I make use of it! :D

I've still got LOADS of bodies to paint up for the show (for my showstring and sales table alike) and haven't even started working out who I'm taking and putting in each class but this is technically productive action...right? :P

Draco Malfoy Portrait...

I've been in a bit of a slump with Post-Potter depression recently. I've seen Deathly Hallows Part 2 twice already and I still can't believe that it's all over. Pathetic some might say but I grew up with the books playing a huge part in my life so it really is the end of an era.

Anyway, on a lighter note...everything I need to say is in the description... ;D

http://elreniagreenleaf.deviantart.com/art/Malfoy-s-Mission-251558616?q=gallery%3Aelreniagreenleaf&qo=0

But yeah, SO ridiculously happy with this one. :D :D :D

Custom Julip and new tack!

This has been a VERY long time coming, apologies! I got him well over a month ago but haven't managed to take any decent photos until recently! ::)
Anyway, I went to the Royal Highland Show with another Julip collector who, on the bus back to the station gave me a very generous gift, a Cob Stallion who was in need of a little help after her hamster had err...taken a liking to him. :o





The pesky rodent had nibbled away at his face and hindquarters!





If I remember correctly he had been a 'second' on the spares page as he had a few mould flaws too but I didn't mind at all - I like a challenge! To begin with I just assumed this was to be a restoration job for her but it wasn't until I got home that I realised I was to keep him! O_O

I wanted to keep as much of the original finish as I could to begin with but as it was so speckly and awkward to match I decided a full repaint was in order...



This one shows his colour most accurately I think.



You can still see the nibbled latex at his eye in this one but his forelock obscures it now that he's finished so it isn't too offputting. I used Games Workshop paints if anyone's wondering. :)



I gave him some heavy feathering (which I may have to redo as I overdid it on the glue front and it keeps cracking) and a nice thick blonde mane and tail.







He also has a headcollar...



...a bridle...



..and a saddle, which was actually intended for Simba but Fred seems to have decided to nick it.


I reckon he's going to be one of those seriously laidback cobs who does what he's asked but begrudgingly, and if he can get away with just standing around somewhere and sleeping, he will. XD





As for the name, well, I've seen Deathly Hallows pt 2 twice already and he's orange so it just kinda had to happen. :P

Tackwise, I've been busy!

As already seen being modelled by Fred, Simba has a nice shiny new GP saddle - my best yet I reckon! The headcollar's new too - I don't have any decent photos of it sadly but it has little 'silver' name plates with his name scored onto it and a rolled throatlatch courtesy of one of Jennifer Buxton's excellent tutorials!



(the stirrup leathers have been trimmed since these were taken. ;)



Pirate also has a new saddle - the black panels are actually made from textured neoprene from an old school pencilcase! XD I used Jennifer Buxton's buckle free method for adjustable leathers which I think I'll end up adopting for most of my tack from now on as it is just SO much easier to deal with!
I actually hated this saddle for a ridiculous amount of time. The panels wouldn't fit properly, the tree was wonky and I couldn't find the right colour of leather for the seat but now that it's actually finished I really couldn't be happier - especially as it goes with his bridle. :)







...and Freya finally has a bridle of her very own. The headpiece went horrifically wrong and will be redone at some point but I'm really pleased with the raised noseband. I used yet another of Jennifer's tutorials and it was a lot easier to do than I thought!-here-






I'll need to resurrect the big tack list at some point as I've made rather a lot of stuff since I originally posted it!

The EA Equestrian Tack Room

After months of procrastinating and 'I'll get round to it later'-ing, my tack room is finally complete!
I still need to make a saddle for Pirate and sort out tack for some of the non riding school horses but yeah, here it is! I used a doll's house roombox which can technically be lit as all the wiring's done - I just need to find a transformer and a pluggy thing I think and that little lamp will light up nicely.









Each horse has their own saddle rack (made from Magnum ice cream sticks cut in half) with a little name tag at the top so they get put back in the right places after lessons. I wanted to put some hooks underneath for the bridles but it would have ended up far too cluttered so you'll just have to imagine a couple of rows of bridles hanging on the wall you can't see! XD
I thought the headcollars could go on the ends of the racks though to add a bit of interest.





Maisie's deer stalking saddle isn't used very often so is stored up high to keep it out of the way.



There's a rack for drying saddlecloths and numnahs on, a massive grooming kit, two boxes full of spare headcollars and leadropes, spare browbands and straps in the corner and of course, a box to stand on if you can't reach the top saddles. XD





The little bottle of saddle soap is one of my favourite accessories and it didn't cost me a penny! It's just a lid from an old blue pen with a label from a tack catalogue glued on. The green 'trug' is another nifty little cheat - I bought a packet of silicone cupcake cases from a supermarket for a couple of pounds and with handles cut out of the sides doesn't it look good?



Some more products:



The 'Gallop' and 'Alvahorse' brand bottles are cheap doll's house wine bottles trimmed to size with painted on lids, the white bottle next to them was originally a wooden milk bottle from a job lot of miniatures and the teatree shampoo is a superglue lid trimmed to size. The Hibiscrub container was an oil canister thing I bought from a doll's house fair and I'm not sure where the blue spray thing came from but I think it's from the Grand Champions range or something similar. The clear bottle on the second shelf was actually part of a medicinal eyedrop thing that I salvaged and cleaned out. (waste not! :P) The two little black tubs next to it are probably my favourites - nothing more than those little stoppers you get at the bottom of ballpoint pens to stop the ink tube coming out! The things on the right are the tops of the wine bottles but I thought they looked like interesting little bottles in themselves.



Wonky shelves come as standard! XD The noticeboard is just a rectangle of felt with some cocktail stick edging.



The supplement bottle on the left and rug cleaner on the right are doll's house milk bottles, the taller packet on the left, between them was from a Barbie Vet playset that I had as a kid - I kept it on as I just knew it would come in handy one day! The hoof oil containers are Bostik glue lids and the Waterstop stuff is another wine bottle. The humane twitch sitting on the left is nothing more than a bit of wire bent into shape and then painted. :)

Organisation is paramount at EAE; with so many people on the yard at once it's so easy for things to get mixed up, hence all the labels.







The ponies' tack is helpfully closer to the ground as more often than not, their riders are too!



Anyway, that's it - any questions/comments etc go to the usual place and are very much appreciated! :D