How do you turn a mini whinnie into a necklace?

 Mini whinnie necklaces are one of the most fun things you can make with your model horses. Not only are they a creative way to use your minis but they also look gorgeous as well.

Turning a mini whinnie into a necklace is a relatively simple process, here is a quick step by step guide so that you can have a go.

Supplies Needed

🐴 Mini Whinnie Model Horse
🐴 Wire
🐴 Necklace Chain

Advanced option:

🐴 Sheep Eye Nail
🐴 Dremel with small drill bit
🐴 Glue

We are going to go through two methods in order to create your necklace. Either method works well, although the advanced option gives you a nicer finish.

Basic Method

The first thing you will need to do is ensure your mini whinnie is clear and, if you want, paint your model to a new colour.

We are going to be using this little mini whinnie here

Now get your necklace change and your wire. Feed your wire through the centre of the chain and wind it around itself.

Alternative option: If you want the horse to be loose on the chain add a small jump ring onto the chain and wrap your wire around this instead.

Cover the wrapping by adding a little bead, I've gone for this cute wooden one

Now get the ends of your wire and wrap them around your model. Secure them by using pliers to tie them in a knot under the model.

You now have a cute little model horse necklace!

Advanced Option

For the advanced option you will need either a dremel or a small hand drill. Use this to make a hole in the withers of your model.

Now fill this hole with superglue and insert a sheep eye nail into the hole. Leave it there to set.

Now you can add a jump ring through the sheep eye and feed your necklace chain through it.

This same method can be used to create all kinds of jewellery and ornaments, including earrings! Enjoy :D

My Favourite Tutorial

 As a miniature things addict I just wanted to take some time to share one of my favourite mini making tutorials with y'all.

Desktop Stables has, quite frankly, some of the most incredible hobby themed minis. Making miniature things is honestly so much fun, I love making my dolls little tiny books and catalogues and all kinds of fun things. When I did my Model Horse Shop I even made them a little mini version of the Chestnut Ridge catalogue! But learning how to properly scale things down and print them can actually be quite tricky, not everything works first time and sometimes the scale is just not quite right. That's why I absolutely love this tutorial, it helps you to learn how to scale things down.

Once you have learned the basic tools needed to scale real life items down to mini scale the world is quite frankly your oyster (or book). You can literally make anything you want to! That way you can spend all your time making your dolls tiny little copies of inappropriate things (like my mini copies of 50 Shades of Grey) that you can sneak into their live show scenes to see if anyone spots. I mean you could make normal things as well but why do normal when you can do ABNORMAL!

So if you too would like to have a go at making tiny things check out the tutorial here: https://desktopstables.com/2015/10/18/some-tips-for-making-printable-minis/

Enjoy!

(and don't forget to share what you make)

Seminar #4 - An Introduction to Airbrushing

I can't believe we are already on seminar number 4! I am going to have to add more to the calendar (and I know I still need to add a proper page to the website)!

Seminar number four is going to be an introduction to airbrushing. We are going to go through all the basics of airbrushing, take an airbrush apart to look at all the different parts, discuss cleaning, troubleshooting, paints and actually put some paint on a model horse!

If you've never airbrushed before and always wanted to try then this is a great video for you :) It is also really good if you do airbrush as you might pick up some tips and tricks or you might see how useless I can be at times! We'll take apart and clean my really horrible clogged airbrush so that will be fun!

The Important Info

Date: 8th May 2020

Time: 15:00 BST (UK Time)

Location: https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

You can have a go at the same time and follow along when we paint a model or you can just watch! Entirely up to you :)

An example of an airbrushed custom model horse.

Seminar #2 - Friday 24th April 2020 - Make Along!

Thank you to everyone who attended our seminar yesterday, it was great fun and I hope you all learned loads! I think we confused some non-model horse people who stumbled upon us but it was wonderful to share the love :D

Our next seminar will be: Friday 24th April

At: 11:00 BST

This seminar is going to be a bit different as it is going to be a 'make along'. The idea is that we will all sit down and I will go through the steps of making a simple headcollar and you guys can follow and make one to! It will be good fun for both experienced tack makers and novice ones alike.

But you will of course have to stock up on supplies first so I have put a list below of things you will need. If you can't get your supplies by Friday don't worry. Yesterday the phone and Facebook cooperated so you should be able to watch the video online afterwards and have a go. There will also be a step by step picture guide on our website.

Supplies Needed

Leather Lace/Ribbon x1m

1/8" Buckle x1

If you don't own any buckles you can make your own using thin wire - the same goes for the rest of the supplies!

6mm Jump Ring x4

Or 2x 6mm jump rings & 2x Halter Slot Rings

5mm Jump Ring x1

Tools Needed

Scissors

Glue

Needlenose Pliers

Sharp Craft Knife/Xacto Blade/Scalpel 

If you cannot get the things don't worry, just join in anyway for some fun or to ask questions or share your own tips. This is going to be an interesting experiment to see whether it works but it should be fun :)

It will be held on Facebook live here: https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels

I look forward to seeing you all there!

Facebook Live Seminars - Schedule!

Hello everyone :) So starting tomorrow we are going to be running some live seminars through Facebook live.

To view them you will need to be on our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

The full schedule is below. Seminars will run every Saturday. Hopefully I will also be able to save and upload the videos onto YouTube after but sometimes my phone is a bit funny about doing this. So no promises! I will add them to the pages story for 24 hours after though x

If you want to work along with the seminar I've added some supplies you will need. However, you don't have to and can just watch!

I will go live five minutes prior to start time to give people time to get settled.

Schedule

Saturday 18th April - 17:00 BST (UK Time)

Breed Allocation & Breed Card Creation

Supplies Needed: None!

Friday 24th April - 11:00 BST (UK Time)

Simple Tack Making - Make Your Own Headcollar!

Supplies Needed: Ribbon/Leather Lace; 4x 6mm Jump Rings OR 2x Halter Slot Rings & 2x 6mm Jump Rings; 1x 5mm Jump Ring; 1x 1/8" Buckle; Glue; Scissors; Sharp Knife/Scalpel/Xacto Knife

Friday 1st May - 13:00 BST (UK Time)

Cataloguing Your Models

Supplies Needed: Microsoft Excel or Similar

Friday 8th May - 15:00 BST (UK Time)

Airbrushing for Beginners

Supplies Needed: Airbrush; Compressor/Air Can; Paint; Water; Pipette; Prepped Model Horse; Airbrush Cleaner; Face Mask

Friday 15th May - 19:00 BST (UK Time)

Add Some Sparkle!

Supplies Needed: Crystals/Gems; Glue; Something to Sparkle (tack, model horse, doll, you)

Friday 22nd May - 17:00 BST (UK Time)

Preparing Your Horses for Showing

Supplies Needed: None! 

Video Tutorials

Whilst I was uploading our latest video tutorial I thought it would be a fun idea to do a Blog post with all the ones I could find on our YouTube channel compiled together.

I will add the latest one once it has uploaded (only a few more hours to go...).

You can find our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJJ5eX7A89wM7BMVdxo5Egw

Make sure to subscribe so you can hear my beautiful voice on a regular basis :p 

Right here we go, the tutorials!

Making Tassels

This video shows you how to make tassels for Arabian costumes and halters. It's a bit fiddly but once you have got the technique they make a great addition to your headcollars and you'll be addicted!

Tack Making Supplies

This video isn't so much a tutorial as much as a talk through the different tack making supplies you might want to own and what they are for. A great shopping list for all potential tack makers!

Grooming

This video talks you through how to groom your haired models. With particular relevance to the Bendy CTF shower!

Attending Your First Live Show

Thinking about attending a live show for the first time? Then check out this awesome video which talks you through what to expect from your first ever live show.

Skiving Leather Lace

This is a short video showing you how to skive leather lace. This is really important for model horse tack making as it thins the leather you are going to use allowing it to sit closer to the model and reducing bulk.

Template Listing - Listing Items on eBay

I just finished listing a load of items on eBay and thought I would do something I had been meaning to do for a while now. I already publish a guide to selling model horses on eBay which can be found here:

http://www.chestnutridge.co.uk/product/A_Beginners_Guide_to_eBay_GUIDE3

But I thought it might be quite a good idea to publish a template which people could simply copy and paste and write into it their description of their item. That way people could remember to include all relevant information. If there is anything you think I should add then let me know.

So here it is...

Template eBay Listing - Copywrite Chestnut Ridge


You are free to use this template as much as you like but please do give credit where credit is due and do not reproduce the template itself outside of the eBay selling context.


Items that are in green are descriptions of what should go into each area

Listing Title

e.g. Custom Breyer Andalusian

Important Information

e.g. Tack is for a MODEL HORSE

Scale

Finish

Mold Name

Manufacturer

Artist

Size

Colour

Face Markings

Leg Markings

Live Show Placings

Condition

About The Horse/Tack

Include a general description of the item including all requirements and in particular order times for hand made items. This should be as long and as detailed as possible.

Shipping Information

Include here your shipping times and policies

Postage Prices

List your postage prices for all countries and methods you offer

Policies/Information

Additional information such as "Buyer must pay within 3 days of auction finishing"

Please take a look at my other items

Please just ask to see any more pictures or for any more information

Thank you for looking