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??

BreyerWest - I'll be there!

I've been cooking up this announcement for a little while.  


The original plan was a trip to the U.S. to visit family and friends (and Bo!!) in April.  Jeff mentioned that I might want to go a week earlier to have more time to visit.

I had already looked at the NAMHSA Live Show schedule, ya know, just to see if there might be any shows in any places I might be, in the time frame I might be there.  Much like I did when I ended up visiting Arkansas and discovering there was a live show (Mid-Ark) right there, right when I'd be there.  (yay!!)

The stars didn't seem like they would align this time.  However, I did see that BreyerWest was in Oregon, in late March.  Well, I'd be flying into Seattle, from Japan.  Hmmm.. close, but not enough.  Ah well.

Then came the idea of leaving earlier for the trip.  Hmmm..  How about if I leave a bit earlier still and...  maybe, you know... go to BreyerWest...?

So, I am!!

I've spent the last few weeks juggling dates, hotels, planes, trains, and automobiles (no, really) and as of last night, the last puzzle piece is in place and, it's official.

I'm going to BreyerWest!



Side note: I'll have some goodies to peruse in the room sales and Friday night Swap meet at the host hotel, here's one of the things I'm working on:

I Did It

The cry of triumph on the NaMoPaiMo Facebook group when one finishes their model is: "I did it!"  


It took me all the way up until the last day, but..  I did it!  I worked off and on at his prep work all month and painted him on..  the last day.

I'm happy, and relieved, to present Antar ("hero, strong one, warrior").  He is an "Anubis" resin, sculpted by Sheri Rhodes and painted by me.

The other thing I accomplished is a presentation set for him.  This is, officially, the very first completed piece of Arabian tack that I've done.  

I'd like to eventually do write up on here about Antar's creation; I took a bunch of pictures during the 12 hour painting session yesterday.  However, I couldn't wait to share him on here.

Quick Post: Trip Recovery Project

We made it home early yesterday morning from our whirlwind trip to Sapporo.  I was initially ambitious for our first day back.  I thought I'd go through all the pictures, start up some trip posts on here, maybe even start prepping Anubis for NaMoPaiMo...

Instead, this is what I accomplished.

Teeny tiny braided rope and tassels for another Stablemate Arabian costume.

I did get the pictures uploaded, hopefully I'll have a trip post (and some NaMoPaiMo progress?) to share tomorrow.

I Done Did It

Yesterday, day two or three of the month, I'm not sure how to track it since I am a day ahead of the U.S., I finally started on Anubis, my model for NaMoPaiMo.

I decided that the first order of business was to go ahead a do the reverse nose job I had been considering.  (build up the bridge of his nose)

Since joining the herd, he has been living here, in the box he arrived in.

With his lady friend.

This was the safest place I could think of for him to stay, here in earthquake land.

However, it's time to come out and get fixed up!

In the middle of the mess that also, er, needs to be fixed up.

I did decide to at least clear a bigger space on the desk.

Okay, back to work.

First, I decided that some "before" pictures were in order.

In the middle of this, my supervisor arrived and demanded to know what I was doing,

Moving on with the impromptu photo shoot, sans cat.

Okay, he's bee documented.  "Now what?" he seems to be saying.

'Now what' is I discovered that the reason he seems "tippy" is, this.

So even without the possibility of altering his face, it looks like some apoxy work would have been in order anyway.

After a good once over, we were off to the kitchen, for a bath.

Then back to the studio, I got out some pictures from my ridiculous reference collection.  I decided not to follow any certain picture individually, but wanted to get an idea in my head of a profile with a slight "dish" to it.

Enough preparing, time to really get to work.

I always like to give apoxy/epoxy something to grip, so I did some cross hatching with my exacto knife.

Then I mixed a small ball of apoxy (very well!) and got underway.

No pictures of the actual sculpting process, but here's what I ended up with.

Hmm...  I struggled to judge the results, but the contrast in color made that hard.

Despite mixing a "small" amount of apoxy, I ended up having enough for his hooves too.  But I had to work fast.  Again, no pictures of that, but I did my cross hatching on the bottom of each hoof, then made four small disks of apoxy, putting then on the bottom of his hooves and sort of pushing him into them - in an attempt to make the base of all four hooves even and straight. I stood him on wax paper for all of this.

Now there was  nothing left to do, but wait for his face ad feet to dry before I can evaluate the results.

I didn't want to leave him standing up (earthquakes) but couldn't lay him down while his hooves are drying.  So this is what I came up with: a temporary stall of sorts.

The whole process took much less time than I had thought.  I'd figured I'd spend the afternoon working on him, but when the apoxy is drying there wasn't much I could do.  I didn't want to mess up the bottoms of his hooves by messing around with him.

I was all set up in the studio and nothing to work on...?  Ha!  Silly me.

I decided to work on the Stablemate Arabian costume that I started a bit ago.  Progress on it came to a halt when I'd realized I couldn't go much further without a saddle tree.  Well, I blew that excuse out of the water recently, when I made not one, but several SM Arabian saddle trees!

This first costume is intended for the G1 Arab Stallion, so I covered one of those saddles with fabric.

Then I finished work on the panels, edging them with braided floss.

I set them up to be pressed and found myself waiting on something else to dry.

Encouraged by a bit of progress - and with several other saddles now available - I spent a big of time digging through my new fabric collection (something I started collecting when I decided that I wanted to finally start making costumes) looking for patterns suitable for SM scale. I came up with pieces for 6-8 more SM scale Arabian costumes.

I ended the day by putting a couple of quick coats of white acrylic on Anubis's face, to try and better see where he ended up.

I think he's looking good!

I have some work to do on the edges on the near side, and ALL the rest of his prep to do - plus sanding down the excess on his hooves and building one of them up a bit more.  I had hoped to have him prepped or nearly so before we leave on our trip tomorrow, but I don't think that's going to happen.

Overall, I'm quite happy with yesterday's (small)  progress!

No Excuses

I'm good at making excuses.

There.  I said it.

I have SO many projects and things I want to do, but it seems I'm much better at preparing than doing.  Then come the excuses.

I have an Arabian costume started for Stablemate scale.  It's been "started" for a bit now and I've been feeling like I want to work on it lately.  One thing holding me up is that I don't have a saddle tree made for that scale.  I'm at the stage where I can't go much further without one.  So that was my excuse every time the creative bug has said, "hey, you should work on that".

I don't think I can make THAT particular excuse anymore.

Here's what I made last night:

I am SO happy with how they turned out!

A Current Project

Here's a peak at one of the small projects I'm working on.  It is something I've wanted to try for a while: use stitching to make panels for an Arabian costume.  I have envisioned some fancy hand embroidery with different types of stitching - like I've seen some other costume makers do.  However, for now my only embroidery experience is of the cross-stitch variety.

So, I present an in progress Arabian costume panel on the highest count fabric I've worked with to date (22ct adia):

It has taken me many, many hours to get to this point and unfortunately it isn't big enough.  That's not really a problem, since the pattern is easy to repeat and modify.  In the beginning I just sort of eyeballed how much of this pattern I thought I'd need.

Today I started adding on more of the pattern all around, to make it fit the panel size.

Then I'll have to do another one to match this, plus the larger rear panel.

I have quite a collection of fabric gathered now for costume making.  Many of them I do plan to at least do some accent stitching on.  I also have some fabric for the fancier hand embroidery, and the library here has a couple of wonderful books on embroidery stitching.  So I hope to eventually make that fancy hand embroidered costume I dream of in the future, but for now I'm liking the looks of this one.