Book Review: The Art of Saddle Making

 A few years ago I decided that I finally wanted to have a go at making an English saddle. Having searched online for several patterns I purchased a copy of 'The Art of Saddle Making' by Kelly Neve.

Price: £21.56

Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Model-Saddle-Making-Huntseat/dp/1980217564/

This little book is published by Amazon (which is good because it means you can buy it wherever you live) and contains a step by step guide to create your own Huntseat Saddle.

The guide is pretty easy to follow and really well laid out. It doesn't require a huge amount of complex supplies, you can probably put the saddle together from the tack making things you've already hoarded! 

It has full colour pictures throughout and even little mini rulers (just in case you don't own a ruler) and the instructions are detailed and really easy to follow. There are patterns at the back that you can photocopy and then use to create your saddle. My only criticism is probably that the patterns aren't 100% perfect, but it's a minor one, they are good enough to get you started and then you can start to create your own.

It also has a variety of different options and modifications, it helps you to fit your saddle to your actual model rather than just creating a generic piece and offers advice as to how to scale up and down the patterns. This means its great if you are working on a different sized horse!

I honestly found it really easy to follow, although I still need to work a bit on my saddles I was able to create one! Which is better than not creating one. A lot more practice needed but it isn't awful:

Overall rating: 4 unicorns out of five

Ten Stunning Circus Costumes to Inspire You

 I just love sparkles, and feathers, and colour, so it is no surprise that one of my favourite things to create is circus costumes!

But it is hard to feel sparkly in the long dark nights of January so here are ten stunning sparkly costumes to inspire you to create something beautiful this month.

1. This tiny lion pony!

2. Black and white simple design with feathers

3. This adorable pair of ponies decked out in bright red

4. These beautiful blue plumes and simple silver tack

5. How did we get all the way to five without pink? I'm not sure! Here's some pink :D

6. This stunning vintage pair with pink, blue and yellow feathers

7. More red plumes with matching yellow tack

8. This beautiful blue and silver tack set and stunning rider dress!

9. To finish we have two variations on the pegasus costume, this one has some gorgeous sparkles

10. And this one is modified so that it can be ridden in

I hope this has provided you with a bit of January inspiration, have you created a circus costume? If so do share it with me!

Seminar #8 - Make Along Arabian Halter!

What are you doing this Friday? I tell you what you are doing, you are making an Arabian halter!

Our next seminar is a fun make along, you can just watch or you can take part as we make a beautiful Arabian halter.

We will talk you through some of the basics of halter making and also show you how to make tassels which I know is something a lot of people struggle with. It will be a nice simple design but we'll also talk about how you can jazz it up a bit!

If you want to take part and make along with us you'll need the following:

Supplies

Ribbon
2x 6mm Jump Rings
1x 5mm Jump Ring
Hook
Chain
Embroidery Thread
Seed Beads

Tools

Glue
Scissors
Needlenose Pliers
Piece of Thin Card/Plastic
Beading Needle

Al Fahl is rather excited about this seminar!












Also I'm pleased to announce that following voting in July we will be running a valuing and identifying models seminar!

As the desire for more judging seminars was so obvious I have also added this as a voting option on the form. We will definitely run more but democracy wins and more people wanted valuing!

Washi Tape Browbands

Whilst pondering to myself how I could make a metallic browband I decided to have a go with some washi tape.

My first attempt wasn't that successful, I put it on after the browband was attached and tried to bend it around the edges, so it didn't look as smooth as it could have done:

So yesterday I decided to have a go with a sparkly washi tape and this time put it on before I attached the browband and trim it. And I think you'll agree, it look awesome!

So I repeated the technique on the pelham bridle I've been making today:

Now that I've discovered how easy it is to make things sparkly the possibilities are endless! Nothing will escape my sparkles :D

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!

Showmanship Halters

Long time followers of this blog will know that I have a particular obsession with making showmanship halters, usually in bright colourful leather with lots of added sparkle.

So it was only a matter of time before my new re-found love for tack making subsided into obsessive making of showmanship halters. 

Firstly it is very clear to me that I need to order more hobby supplies. I have a distinct lack of decorative plates and had to just order a load more coloured leather lace as I only have black, brown, natural, blue and pink left! 

But that hasn't stopped me from getting my sparkles out and creating a selection of new pieces. All of these are for sale on our website so if you want a bit of sparkle in your life why not add one to your collection?

First up is this lovely blue leather one. This has a working buckle and decorative plates. This was the last of my metal buckle keepers!

Second is a black leather one. This one has slip buckles (much easier to use but less fancy) and three decorative plates. It also has Swarovski crystals on the plates and halter. Photographs always make these look so plain but they are beautiful and sparkly!

Finally is the one that I completed today. This is a natural leather halter with decorative plates. On this halter the side plates have been placed on a leather backing which raises them slightly. This makes them stand out a lot more. It also has slip buckles (as I said no buckle keepers) and Swarovski crystals, I used a slightly different crystal on this one that has more of a pink tone. It sparkles beautifully in the light.

If you want to make your own showmanship halters they are great fun and really easy to do. You can buy leather lace from a variety of places but my favourite is Kangaroo leather lace, I get this from Australia. The plates I use come from Rio Rondo but a few places sell decorative plates. You can get sparkles from generic places such as eBay or other hobby shops. I recommend spending a bit more from proper Swarovski ones as nothing quite beats their sparkle!

Then you just make a standard leather halter and add on the decoration. If you get one of the Rio Rondo halter sets they also include things like buckles and halter slots that are all fancy and make the entire halter look completely OTT and awesome. Here is an example of one I made a couple of years ago that takes OTT sparkle to a whole new level:

Tack Making Again

OK so I'm not taking part in Tack Making Month because I didn't quite expect to be on lockdown and therefore did not prepare a project, supplies or application.

However, I am getting into the spirit by making my first pieces of tack in over a year. I decided, for funs, that I would work through my Tack Making Guide that has been sat, unopened, on my desk for many moons.

The beginning starts with halters, so I'm making halters following their patterns and designs rather than my own. It's quite fun following a tutorial and not just doing my own thing!

The first is a simple brown leather headcollar with gold hardware:

The second is natural leather and bigger than the last one. It has more buckles. It was meant to have a lead with a chain but I didn't realise that so it got the same lead as the other one!

I'm currently also working on a headcollar with sheepskin padding. Hoping to have that finished by today! Although I'm not sure it's really sheepskin weather anymore!

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.

Having a Go At Making Show Ribbons

So whilst on my tours of the internet I came across this Blog post by Braymere Custom Saddlery: http://braymere.blogspot.com/2012/08/how-to-make-show-ribbons.html

And I though "I could do that"

So of course I decided to attempt it, I mean how hard could it be?

OK so first step...ribbon. I can do that! I chose green, gold and red, mainly because those were the first three colours I took out of the pot!

So for the next step I need to cut a circle out of card, they used a pen top, but I have these handy stencils! I didn't have any white card so yellow it is...

Right time to cut cut cut! The next step was to cut 8 small pieces of ribbon and then three longer bits. So far so good!

Now it was time to stick. Now we have a bit of a problem. When all my stuff was stored over the summer all my glue basically dried up, so it is a complete nightmare to work with! It's all horrible and messy and stringy. I really need to get some more.

But we got there, here are eight stunning glued pieces.

I probably made them a bit too large, so mine won't look as tight and neat. But o well, worse things happen at sea.

Time to stick the first four down, look at my pretty flower thing!

Now for the other four, as you can see I couldn't just be simple and use the same colour so I used gold and red instead. It isn't as circular as it should be. But it doesn't look awful from the front!

Now to stick the three longer pieces on. I put the green in the middle and then the red and gold either side. Look how messy my glue is!

Finally it was onto the centre piece. The Blog post recommended decapitating horse sprinkles, I do not have horse sprinkles. So I raided my stickers draw and found these clear gems that were the perfect size. So I peeled one off and stuck it in the middle!

Finally I added the little paper hook and voila! We have a little rosette. I don't think it looks too awful for a first attempt. Tack making horse seems to like it anyway.

With the flash, urgh look at that glue! OK I'm going to go and order some glue now...

If you had a go at this tutorial let me know and share your attempts! I'm sure they are a lot better than mine! Although I'm already thinking about making thousands to give out as awards at my next live show...someone should probably stop me from doing that...

This blog post was written by Catriona Harris, owner of Chestnut Ridge and model horse fanatic.