A Day At The Fair

Yesterday, I spent the day at the first day of the local County Fair.  The main event was the 4-H horse show.  A friend, and band member, had kids competing.  They invited me to check it out, so I did!  

Despite spending the whole day at a horse show, I only took a few pictures.  I was more focused on hanging out with friends and watching the events.  When I got there, Showmanship was going on,

A cute level of competition (I'm not at all versed in 4-H, this was the first event I'd been to) was "Cloverbud", where the youngest kids had a helper.  A couple of the kids in that division had ponies, the others had full size horses.  I loved this palomino:

There were a lot of beautiful horses, another one that caught my eye was this gorgeous buckskin tobiano:

Before going to the fair, I'd given Bo a light breakfast and then trimmed his front feet.  During lunch break, I decided to run home.  Bo met me at the fence and let me know he was not impressed with me leaving him light rations and then going to look at other horses (how did he know?? haha)

I gave him MOAR hay and went back to the fair.  

Trail and the games classes were after lunch.  Games were fun, some of the horses were SO hyped up and fast that you almost had to cringe watching them run the patterns, but the kids piloting them were great riders.  The only picture I took was of the buckskin tobiano above, when I realized I hadn't gotten a picture of that one yet.  They were one of the horses who wanted to GO!   

Brent stopped by the fairgrounds on his way home from work and just as our friends were packing up.  He had ridden his motorcycle and I had to take a picture, as I always do.  His bike is so cool!  

After saying goodbye to our friends, he and I wandered over to the buildings where the exhibits were.  I had spontaneously entered a couple of my older tatting projects the night before.  Last minute...  because I wasn't sure I wanted to enter anything.  I deliberated way harder than I should have, but that's how my brain works...  Also, there wasn't actually a class for tatting.  But when I finally got brave and went to the fair office, to show them what I wanted to enter, they found classes for me.   Turns out they used to have a class for tatting, but no one ever entered so they took it off the list...  10 years ago.  

Anyhow, we found my American flag first, with a blue ribbon.  Cool!

We walked around all the rest of the Open Class entries and I didn't see the Barbie wedding dress I'd also entered.  Then I spotted it, from across the room.  It was up on a shelf  on the wall, and...  oh wow!  

One of the reasons I'd had the night before for not wanting to enter was that I wouldn't be able to tell my Granny about it...  She's the one who taught me tatting (she passed away in 2020).  Brent said, maybe she'll still be able to see it.  Then he asked me what she would tell me to do if she was here.  I said she'd want me to enter.  I'm glad I did.  

The last stop we made was in the building where the 4-H exhibits were.  It was interesting to see the things that the kids had made.  (Our friends son made a bow and a wood cabinet!)

After that, we headed home.  It was a great day at the fair.  

The Cass County Fair runs through Sunday.  There are rides, food, and quite a few things going on.  Relevant to my interests, tonight there is an Open horse show - which is actually more of a gymkhana, the class list seems to be only games.  I've toyed around with the idea of hauling Bo over there.  Even if I don't enter (and I probably wouldn't, because both he and I are rusty and have both been hermiting a long time now) it might be fun to just hang out and ride around a bit.  Sometimes I do miss actually doing things with my horse... 

Then again, I realized this morning that I have less than a week and a half until I leave for Kentucky - which sent me into a mild panic.  I have SO much to do... 

BreyerFest is coming.  

Paint… Something

I haven’t painted in a little while.  Not since the rush for, and at, BreyerWest.  Been struggling a lot with imposter syndrome, again.  Feeling like I’m just, blocked.  I desperately want to paint, have a TON on horses to work on 

(that isn’t even nearly all of them), but I just haven’t been able to… 

Yesterday, particularly last night, it kind of came to a head as I was irritated, frustrated, not feeling well, and ended up going to bed early, crying myself to sleep a bit.  Brent was worried about me, he kept asking what was wrong, what could he do to help?  I kept saying, “I don’t even know what’s wrong.  Just love me?” 

But before bed, I had grabbed this little canvas I had got at the dollar store a bit ago and painted one stripe of a rainbow.  It felt good to put paint on… something.

When I cut out the base for the grass footing (in my last post) I used the rest of the space on that board to cut out a bunch of flower shapes.  I’ve found the shapes for DIY craft projects are very popular and I’d wanted to make some flowers for a little while.  

As sometimes happens, a couple of them didn’t pass my “quality control” checks, so I decided I’d try to paint them as examples for what other crafters can do with them.  

I’m back in the studio now, sitting at the painting desk.  I’m gonna put a little more paint on the canvas, the flowers, and then maybe a horse. 

Flatter Footing

I have this really cool piece of scale model footing that I really like using for stablemate pictures.  In particular, I use it to take pictures of stablemate blankets that are for sale.  

The problem with it, and something I fight with every single time I use it, is that it's very uneven.  It was sort of rolled/folded in a box when I bought it.  It's stiff enough that it retains some of the folds.  Because of the tufts of grass, I haven't wanted to try and press it to make it flatten out.  

Recently, I was struggling to make it work (and I just gave up during that particular photo session, the horses kept falling over) and I thought of a possible solution. 

Today I got to work on it!

First, I measured it (10" x 10") and then I used the laser to cut out a piece of MDF that size.  

Here's lumpy, bumpy piece as I've been trying to use it. 

I wasn't 100% sure how I was going to glue it to the base, but I decided to start with some tacky glue down the center.

I grabbed a small piece of cardboard, thinking I'd use it as a spreader, but I just ended up using my finger, haha.  

Glue spread out, I centered the piece of footing and carefully pressed in down along the middle.  I noticed I was slightly off center and tried to reposition it.  Nope.  It was instantly stuck.  Well, that's good!  

Then I decided to just work my way toward the edge, from the center, and glue it down in sections.  Here you can better see how uneven it was.

Each time I put on some tacky glue,

and spread it with my finger.

I cleaned off my finger then used my finger tips to press down and toward the outer edge, along the shorter grass paths.  I also pushed down in some of the tufted areas, for good measure, and then sort of fluffed the grass up again.  

One side mostly glued, I hadn't done the very edge here yet.  I think it's looking flatter.

All done!  That looks better...

Moment of truth!  I put it back in my photo area, turned on the lights, and plopped down a horse (the very one who kept falling over during the latest photo shoot that was cut short).  He stands!  

Make A Decision

A big problem for me is "decision paralysis".  I struggle with decisions, large and small. 

I have a lot of Stablemates...  a LOT.  For...  years now, I've wondered what to do about how quite a few in my OF collection just don't have much meaning for me.  I have considered selling those, several times now, but the idea of selling a bunch of OF Stablemates just seems tedious with a capital T.  It's hard enough for me to get around to selling off Traditional scale horses and all the things I make to sell! 

This "problem" had initially been pondered by me 10 years ago.  At that point, I had decided that any unwanted SMs I had were worth more to me as future custom projects than for the few dollars they might bring in sold as is.  Yet they stayed in the "OF collection".   

To the point where I am drowning in SMs, mostly taking up a bunch of the horse holders I've made.  I also have a bunch in a box, still packed from my two moves in the past two years, but I don't talk about them.  Ooops, I just did.    

Here's a random stack of holders in the studio:   

Then one shelf that the holders were initially made for:

And the other shelf, mostly full of holders:

So - and this may seem off topic, but stick with me - last year I bought a toaster oven at a thrift store, specifically for branching into making some things with polymer clay.  (top of the list are cowries and medallions for Arabian costumes and so on)   

Anyway, I was working on clearing out the garage a few days ago and there was the toaster oven, because I still hadn't found a place for it in the studio.  Instead of moving it to another place, not in the studio - or setting it on the floor in the studio, I thought about where I might actually want it IN the studio.  

Then I decided to finally do something about TOO MANY Stablemates!

I grabbed a small empty tote and filled it with OFs I don't want, at least until I'd made some room.  I went through all the holders, and shuffled tiny horses around, until I was able to move that first pile of holders (now empty) out of the way.  

Hey, look at that, there's a toaster oven in the studio now.  No, it won't stay here up when I use it.  This general area is where I think it will be, on this desk, after I finish clearing it off.  

The goal for the studio, and I'm mostly sorta there, is to have separate desks set up for different stages.  I have a tack desk and painting desk.  I want a dedicated sculpting desk and I think that will be where I put the toaster oven.  

Now... about that painting desk...

Next, I need to address this particular traffic jam...  ha!

Somehow, It's June - Studio Update!

Well, hello there! 

Yes...  it's been a while since I've dusted off Ye Olde Blog here, but let's not dwell on that.  

I have been BUSY in the studio and here are just a few things I've been working on.  

First up, this Arabian presentation set that is very nearly finished.  It will be a sales piece and I hope to have it available soon, maybe next week.

I've got several other presentation sets underway.  Some I had started years ago, others are much more recent.  One step that many of them were stuck at were the chain parts, such as the noseband and lead chain.  So I recently made a batch of those pieces.  Here they are underway.

I tend to make things in batches.  I find it easier, once I'm in the groove, and have the supplies and tools at hand, to make several things at once.  

Today I did it with some small pieces of leather lace scrap that I'd put aside with a post-it note saying they could be keepers or... something else (a secret for now).  I went with the something else.  The plan was to cut out a few to test the idea, but then I kept going until I cut up all of the scrap in this little pile.  

I'm SO happy with how those little things came out and I'm looking forward to making my planned project with them - and sharing it!  It's also cool that I have a solid use for little pieces of leather lace scrap now.

Recently, I finished another idea I'd had for a bit now.  My tack desk sits in a corner of my studio room and I wanted to make some strips of hooks on the two walls to hold supplies, projects in progress, and finished pieces. 

First, I took some measurements and then cut some strips of aspen wood with my laser.

I also used the laser to draw on where I wanted the hooks to go, which is a super easy way to make sure they're evenly spaced and straight.

To put the hooks on, I thought I might have to pre-drill the holes.  However, the aspen wood is soft (one reason it's handy to use for certain projects, and the hooks have sharp points on the screw end.  So, I was able to screw them in by hand fairly easily.    

Then, I put command strips on the backs of the strips and stuck a couple of them on the walls around my tack desk.

One went above my tool holder and, so far, it's holding mostly finished halters, on the right side.  (Shameless plug, these are currently available in my Etsy shop).  

The other, longer one, went on the left side, closer to where I sit.  Here, I've started hanging up sets of tassels (you can see the turquoise ones that are now on that presentation set I mentioned up above).  There are also a handful of braided ropes, for reins or leads, and a few pieces of leather lace to finish projects next on deck to be worked on.  

I'm already REALLY liking these hook strips.  

Over on my YouTube channel, I've done a few more unboxing videos.  Also, I've experimented with something brand new: video game streaming.  I've gone Live three times, so far, playing Minecraft, and then World of Warcraft.  It was a lot of fun, even if only a few people were watching- ha!  Plans are in place to do more of this, though I may create a separate channel for those shenanigans.  It's been a good test of equipment and software, as I'd like to branch into live streaming some studio things, too.

Most recently, just yesterday, I filmed a double unboxing video aaaand, the return of my vlog. 

So if you'd like to hear even more about what I've got going on, check it out!  Be warned, it's 33 minutes long.  As a YouTube watcher, I find I actually like watching longer videos, since I often watch while I'm working on things and I can just watch/listen along.  I'd like to do a combination of longer and shorter videos on my channel.  Ya know, something for everyone. 

If you have something you'd like me to blog, or vlog, or make a video, about, please let me know!   

For now, I'm going to wrap this up and get back to work.  

Oh, and I got a new respirator.  Ain't it a 'beaut??

It's Golden

A few days ago, I saw some posts on Facebook talking about how some people are upset about Taylor Swift and the coming Super Bowl.  I'm not going to get into all of that drama, it's just where this moment of my story begins.  I pretty much just rolled my eyes at the whole thing.  Then, made my own quick post about how I'm going to listen to Taylor Swift for the day.  I enjoy her music and it had been a while since she was the soundtrack for a day.  

As my day got going and I was listening to a bunch of her songs, one suddenly stopped me in my tracks.  I did what I usually do whenever this happens and listened to that song several times.  I was very familiar with the song, had heard it many times before, but I realized that it "hit different" now.  The song is called "Daylight" and in it she talks about what she thought love was (cruel, bad, black and white, burning red).  Then she finds a love that she realizes is golden, "like daylight".  Those lyrics are more relatable to me than I can express and they've been on my mind this week.  

That same day, I posted about my morning routine in the studio.  In that post, I talked about the "horse of the day" on the daily horse calendar that I switch over each day.

Well, when I saw yesterday's horse, I said, "ooo, a golden horse".  

Then I remembered it was also time to change over the monthly calendar on the wall.  When I saw the horse for February, I smiled and - thinking about both calendar horses - I said, "It's golden".  

I had decided that I'm going to paint my NaMoPaiMo horse chestnut.  My current favorite reference picture is a chestnut horse that has a very golden looking mane.  Not flaxen, but a lighter tone than the rest of his color.

Each of my NaMoPaiMo horses have a name (except one...) and they are given names usually based on an inspiration that happens during their creation.  Most of them are song titles.  I don't think any of them have been named ahead of time, before painting.  But I'm thinking this guy will have a name related to "Daylight".    

Daylight - Taylor Swift
(a selection of lyrics, basically the last half of the song)

I don't wanna look at anything else now that I saw you
(I can never look away)
I don't wanna think of anything else now that I thought of you
(Things will never be the same)
I've been sleeping so long in a twenty-year dark night
(Now I'm wide awake)
And now I see daylight (daylight)
I only see daylight (daylight)

I only see daylight, daylight, daylight, daylight
I only see daylight, daylight, daylight, daylight

And I can still see it all (In my mind)
All of you, all of me (Intertwined)
I once believed love would be (black and white)
But it's golden (Golden)
And I can still see it all (In my head)
Back and forth from New York (Sneaking in your bed)
I once believed love would be (Burning red)
But it's golden
Like daylight, like daylight
Like daylight, daylight

Like daylight
It's golden, like daylight
You gotta step into the daylight and let it go

Just let it go

Let it go

A Morning In The Studio

I keep thinking it would be fun to do a video where I do a "day in the life" type of thing, or even jst share my morning routine.  Video is still something I struggle with - though it's on my (crowded) short list of things to work on.  So how about a bit of a photo essay, instead?

After coffee, first things first, it's down the hallway to the studio.  This hallway has an "overflow" shelf of fabric, floss, projects, and some of my tatting things. 

Cracking open the door to the cave of wonders!

My routine for a little while has been this: after entering the studio, I turn on the light, and change the daily horse calendar.  

It's neat to see what the day's horse will be and it's usually inspiring (some of the pictures aren't great, but most are interesting).  Today's horse is fun!  

After checking out the horse(s) of the day, I generally reacquaint myself with how I left things the day before.

Right, this guy got a bath yesterday, in preparation to prime him.  

He is the Wycked Wynd resin, by Morgen Kilbourn.  I chose him to be my horse for this years NaMoPaiMo.  I'll be painting him chestnut.  Yesterday, after making the final selection, taking my entry selfie, he got a bath.  I also bathed another horse and planned to primer both of them last night.  Unfortunately, it seemed I got a bit of water in "Wynd", through the airhole, so he had to dry overnight.  

So, this morning's status was that he needed that coat of primer.

Over on the tack desk, I was working on two brown leather halters, sized on the Duende mold.
 

They are very close to being done.  I just have to attach the throatlatches on the other side, and put on the chin/under jaw pieces.  

I'm experimenting with a way of "speed building" halters and it seems to be working.  It's still not super fast, but I'm finding I can do multiples at once fairly easily.  I have a set of pieces to use as a guide when attaching hardware.  So I don't have to measure every single piece as I go, just do precise fitting toward the end - if that makes any sense.  

Last night, I also skived and prepped some lime green colored leather lace.  I plan to make a halter or two with this and also a lime green endurance set (halter bridle combo and breastplate or breast collar).

Another thing on today's plan is to start rearranging the chaos on the painting desk.  

I'd like to move my latop over there and make space for the workshop that starts Thursday evening. 

That is the Introduction to Oil Painting class held by Equine Art by Heather Bullach.  The color for the class is black, a favorite color of mine.  Some of yo may know that I took this class last year, too...  Yep, I got all of the supplies, tuned in for, I think, two of the Zoom sessions, but missed the rest.  I didn't ever actually start, because oils scare me, they still scared me and so...  yeah.  Take two!

This morning I took a quick glance at the painting chaos to see if those supplies are still handy.  Yep, there they are.  

The only thing not there are the brushes, which are in a drawer nearby.

I'm *still* scared of oils, but I'm going to go for it anyway.  

Okay, plan for the morning made, time to prime that horse!

This is my favorite primer.  I get it at O'Reilly Auto Parts.  It comes in several colors and I have all of them (black, dark grey, light grey, white, and this red).  Since Wynd will be a chestnut, I'm going with red primer.  

Out to the garage I went, after shaking the can for a few minutes....  And back in I came, because this can won't spray.    

I had a fuzzy memory of this happening before - probably with this can!  So I noted the problem on the can lid this time.  The nozzle might be fixable, or I might just take the can in for disposal, but at least I'll know now which can is the problem child.  

Moving on!  Brand new can of red primer deployed, shaken for a few minutes, back out into the garage with us.

After spraying, he spent a few minutes in the garage, then I moved him down to the basement to finish drying.  It's warmer than outside in the garage, but still cold.  

In the basement was the Dani model that I bathed and primed last night.  She will be my black oils horse.  She needs a tiny bit more prep, which I plan to do today.  

She most likely won't be perfectly prepped in time for the class, but that's fine.  I'm really trying to work on the idea of "progress, not perfection".  

After parking Wynd in the basement and bringing Dani up to the studio, I had breakfast, and did a couple of social media posts (I'm trying to get better about remembering to do that).

Instagram:

Facebook:

(And I'm also writing this blog post!)

I took a late morning break to go do my farm chores: feed Bo, let the chickens out, and check on everyone out there.  A friend stopped by briefly on her way to town.  She brought back a couple of egg cartons, a piece of blueberry bar she baked, and we had brief chat about the ups and downs of being a self employed maker.  She does incredible wood working and we have talked about doing some laser collaborations.

After I hit "publish" here, I need to box up an order from my Etsy shop and head to the post office.  I sold a classic scale western bridle!  

That's what went on this morning in the studio!