A Blizzard?

Today was an interesting day. Falling snow greeted my sleepy eyes this morning, yet it was so warm that it melted the instant it touched the ground. Later, the flakes became huge - a few inches across - and still, it was too warm. About 11 it started sticking and blowing sideways (40 mph winds) while I was out running errands. Visibility was bad enough that I even scratched Walmart off my list, and by 1 pm, my tracks were covered and 4 inches of snow lay on the ground! Clearly, it wasn't deep enough for a good snowshoe around the lower parking lot, but alas! Finally we had a real snowfall! I doubt it will last through the night.

Tomorrow will be a tack pattern day. A few sets need to be to cut out and prepared. Blankets need to be made for another order, and a set of reins is half finished, so those will enter the final stage of construction.

I was very sad today to hear that Tandy Leather Factory will no longer carry the petite tooling calf! Oh for shame! Whatever shall we do?! Doom on us that carve and make miniature tack! (ok, I know, a little over the top dramatic)  *sigh* I'm going to make a special trip over there this week to select my last few hides. That should keep me in stock long enough to find another source, I hope!

Off to read the last 100 or so pages of The Three Musketeers. While it seems to have taken forever to read the 700 page volume, it has been a delight!

Off To Be Edited!

I came across this one while searching for a few more photos to drop into the Model Horse Performance Winter issue. I hope you get a chuckle out of it too. This is just what my dog Cody would be thinking. You pull me for a while and then we'll talk about this sled business.

For what it's worth, the magazine is complete. I have one ad to finish a few lines on, the Editor's note do drop in, and one last look over before sending it off to the printer. Wow. I have to say, this one was a bit more of a project than I first imagined it would be - lots of retyping, photo editing, and formatting went into this issue. Having my work life consume all the extra time hasn't helped. It is all worth it, though. This is full of helpful tips, and images. There are so many images, in fact, that it came to a whopping 25MB, and even dropping it into a zip file only took out 4 MB. The initial time estimate for shipping out is late next week.

This issue features: Emily McFadden as our artist spotlight, chariot racing, speed game ideas, tips, and patterns of all kinds including a harness race with a Russian twist, the first installment of Kimberly Ford-Hoffman's amazing harness tips series, and email etiquette.

Phew! Now that this issue's pretty much done, I can start the next one. Already there are articles in the works for Spanish and Portuguese tack as well as another harness tips article. There are more games to discuss.  With an emphasis on "other performance", what would you really like to see?

Decisions

I have the hardest time making up my mind about things. Tackmaking takes so much longer than it should, because of this. It's this phase of the process that often keeps me from starting, as I like to have a good picture of the overall piece before even beginning those first pattern tracings. Maybe in the future, I should just write all my favorite ideas on slips of paper, put them into a can, then build whatever I draw out. I could have another can just for colors, then bridles, designs, etc. Anyone else have this problem?

Today was a good magazine day.  After a late dinner, my fingers will be back at it again finishing the last few pages of text and photos. There was a bit of organizing today as well. The trees needed to build the next few saddles were buried out of site, so it took quite some time to find them. That's usually how organizing happens around here. "Ohhh, why is that container of beads over here? I've got all the beads in this drawer now. Leather in this container? Better move it to where the other pieces of that color are." And so on. I even found a punch that's been missing for some time.

Ohhh, if you're a tackmaker that has always wished Rio Rondo would make more of their basketweave tool, you just might be in luck! Their tool maker came out of retirement to build over 30 new miniature basketweave stamps. If they aren't already sold out, see if you can still snatch one up at $85 (or somewhere thereabouts). Www.riorondo.com
Well, off to make dinner...

One More Milestone

Wednesday was a big day for my little private school. We had our state visit to determine if we were worthy of the NWAC accreditation. Anyone who has participated on a team preparing for a site visit, especially the first visit, can probably identify with me in this. It's been a very stressful year, not just in gathering evidence, but of pouring over standards, building curriculum and collaborating with other teachers to identify and strengthen our weaknesses. And now we can all breathe a little easier, because we got our stamp of approval. There are a few small conditions to meet yet, paperwork things mostly (Washington credentials becoming Idaho credentials, a few office reporting details), but otherwise we did it! Now I can move on with my life.

The magazine has been my primary focus for a while, but these last few months especially, my time has been robbed by the accreditation process. Now I can officially "git 'er done". It sickens me to be so late with getting it out. But it is what it is.

There is one article to finish and drop in to the magazine, then it's on to a final look through before publishing. Almost there, folks!

Catching A Breather

A photo from I staged for the website the other day. Saddle is on hold, but there are plans to make a lavender one in a similar vein, with different designs.

I came home from work today and saw my NAN card collection all over my desk. I pulled them out this morning to check a few things and left them sort of haphazardly organized in piles. I've never really given much thought to them-- shoving them in random places (behind horses, in a filing cabinet, back of a drawer). But today I decided it might be easier to keep track of the ever growing piles of cards (huge achievement for me, but mostly of course thanks to Tiff's great ponies!).  This is what I came up with. It's easy and gives lots of room for change. I could also slip a cardstock piece in and create two pockets out of each sleeve. Some folks buy the special photo ones, which would work too. Since those weren't easily accessible in the few moments I had to spare for this spur of the moment task, I used these guys. This will become my new show planning folder with sleeves for documentation and lists of horses and their classes.

Well, back to work I guess! This time on making dinner and grading papers ;). Hoping to get to the magazine later, too.

Sunday Blues

Monday will be here in just a few hours. *sigh* While there are just as many hours in a weekend day as there are in the normal work week, it still seems to fly by so much faster. The to-do list is always longer than the hours needed. But between housecleaning, laundry, lesson plans, grading papers, finishing projects and working many hours on the Model Horse Performance magazine, I did find some time to "play".  That base was a huge accomplishment! It feels so good to see that project with a "finished" stamp. My writing desk is clean now. Actually, BOTH desks are fairly clean.  You can see the project area is more organized than before, although there's a hidden pile to the left containing who knows what. I saw several jockeys in the pile and some western trees too. So many projects to finish! Guess it's time for a new list. Aside from making the magazine my priority, there are some projects that are in the works or on the to-be-started pile.

Custom Blankets (should be finished Monday)
Lavender Love gaming set for an adult rider - sales piece
Nutmeg western saddle - KB Commission
Western Pleasure Side Saddle - KB Commission
Western Pleasure Saddle - stablemate scale - SM
Native Ladies' Set - KM
Oak Leaf Pleasure Set- TP
Western Pleasure Set - donation to benefit Blue Waters Youth Ranch

For myself (my list is long!): English sm tack, sm indian costume(s), western pleasure sm set, working western sm set, sm costumes, sm jump (if I get the english set done!), traditional pleasure set, trad working set - dk brown, brown parade set, black parade set, new arena wall, and that's about it ;).
  

Recycling Hand-Me-Downs

When I ponder about my history with the model horse hobby, there are a few individuals that stand out. I wonder if I would still be playing with plastic ponies today if that silly neighbor kid Britne hadn't happened along about the time I was hastily photographing a classic Arab stallion and mare at the top of our giant neighborhood dirt pile. I had hoped I would get away without anyone asking questions as it always felt wierd telling folks about my plastic pony obsessions.  I was in junior high or the early years of high school. Of course she was curious as to what I was doing, so I told her all about photo shows and what I knew of the hobby at that time, which wasn't much. She was quite a bit younger than me, maybe in 5th or 6th grade. But finally I had someone to talk Breyers and collecting with. Oh, and she had real horses too, a dream I felt I would never achieve. So, of course I stayed friends with her!

Then Brenda showed up in my college roller skating class (I hated traditional P.E.) and once we realized we were both into models, we couldn't stop talking! She introduced me to resins and the Hobby Horse News, and before long I was trading some older special run Breyers for a gold charm secretariat and pinto saddlebred weanling. Ahhh, those were the days! And she was the one that helped make my first live show possible.

The other person in more recent years that I attribute my continued desire to stay in this hobby and someone who has helped me to grow leaps and bound with my showing skills is Tiffany Purdy. Without her constant hand-me-downs and peace offerings (maybe because the Haggi-monster and my other crazy hairbrained projects have turned into nightmares, I think...), I don't know where I would be. I am indebted to her and grateful for dolls, leather, random props, and the coolest base ever (not to mention someone to bounce teaching ideas off of).  Today's post has to do with this fun base (complete with Illinois rocks) that has really taken a beating.

She used this base while out here for the Portland 2009 NAN and left it behind in Idaho, stating it was one less thing to pack, and that she had been chided long enough by her show-mates back home for using it too much. Apparently, in some parts of the country the unspoken rule is that you can't use the same base three shows in a row. These are people that attend shows every couple of weeks though. Must be rough! I think I get to 4 shows a year if I'm lucky ;)!



So you can see it's taken a beating and in severe need of some fixing up. The trees used to have holes drilled into the base that they fit into. Unfortunately, even with gobs of sticky wax, they don't stand up anymore. I was sorely disappointed the last time I showed with the base. I took all day to set up a perfect entry for the extreme cowboy race. The tree flopped over and it appeared that he was going to hit the tree. I was upset at first, but the judge was absolutely right! It really did look like it was a crash waiting to happen ;). So the first order of business today was to create some tree bases. This was Tiffany's original solution to the problem as I whined about my dilemna. I formed some sculpy bases, cooked them, and glued on some landscaping material.

Next, I removed the moss which at one time was the norm for bases. This will give the base a cleaner appearance and prevent the moss from sticking to the water feature.

Here's the stream. It's hard to see, but I added some sand to the top of the fish tank rocks. It still will need another container of water, though, but it's definitely taking shape!

You can see a little corner of the base. I didn't take pictures of the repair process, but I used some cardboard and balsa wood. It's still pretty delicate, but at least it will hold up for a while longer.  I painted the interior black, then added a soft fabric to the outside that has the appearance of distressed leather. 

The tree base. This base has an angle of about 30 degrees. I'm pleased with how it balances and the foliage came out perfect!  Scattered throughout the base are some round bush things. These are from a craft store. i'm debating as to whether to glue them down or just add them right before I show. I always add my wood this way so that it doesn't get munched during travel. 

This base will now need a case or box of it's own, that's for sure! I am really pleased with how it's turned out so far. At least it won't be a distraction to the poor judges anymore. Thanks again Tiff for a super amazing base, your "friend taxes" (which are due next month), and for just being a great friend!

To Brenda and Britne - thanks for keeping me going ;). Without you guys, I probably wouldn't be in the hobby today!