Horses of the Day, Week, Month = Restocked!

A while back - I checked, it was just shy of two years ago (!!) - I had shared a post here titled, "A Morning In The Studio".  In that post, I had talked about how part of my daily routine is to reveal the horse of the day, on a calendar that sits just inside the door to my studio room. 

I also talked about the "horse of the day" in this post.  

For the last two years now, I have purchased that daily calendar, plus a weekly planner (mentioned as an inspiration in this post), and also a monthly wall calendar - all from the same company.

I have a bit of an annual routine, in a couple of different parts.  

In December, I buy the set of three for the next year.

Then, generally in the spring, but also throughout the year, I sort through the pictures from the previous year and file them away as part of my massive reference library.  Interestingly, I've found multiple pictures of the same horses - including one Paint horse stallion that the photographer seems to be quite obsessed with, ha!

Over the last week, I've already started sorting through the pictures from this year and some from last year.

I've also made my annual purchase of next years collection:  

That dark grey on the cover of the weekly planner already has my attention, as does the exuberant black horse on the box of the daily calendar.  A black horse with a star, reminds me of my boy, Bo.  

I don't usually make New Years Resolutions or even necessarily make big plans.  The last several years have been so turbulent that it makes me hesitant.  (I do laugh when I see posts and memes online from people asking if someone is going to lunge the next year before we all get on.  Haha!)

2026 *is* the Year of the Horse and that has my attention.  Despite my attempts to be guarded, I am hopeful it will be good and...  I *do* have some plans...

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??

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!  

Enjoying the Possibilities

I have this thing that happens in my brain sometimes.  It feels like an explosion of ideas, good feelings, excitement, hope.  It's happened a few times today.

For a good chunk of the afternoon and evening, I was chipping away at the continuing efforts to get my studio set up just right.  Also getting set to make more things.  I’m currently sold out of leather halters (SO happy about that) and I have many custom horses waiting for me to return to them. 

Plus:

BreyerWest is coming.

I have big plans for that, of course I do. 

Today there was a lot of enjoying the possibilities going on as I unpack more supplies and work on a bit more organization, before I settle in to get some work done.

I thought I’d share a glimpse at some of the fun stuff I have to work with and to work on.  Look at all of the possibilities!  Chaotic as it may seem, this really is my happy place.  😊

   

The Shift

I've been slacking off on posting here for a little while now, but I've been busy behind the scenes.  I've been making some things and thinking, a lot.  When my blog goes quiet, it's almost always because I'm dealing with "stuff".  Mostly mental/emotional woes.  There's been a lot of that lately.  This post has been rattling around in my head all this month, but parts of it have gone on for years.  You might want to grab a beverage and a snack before we get started...


Anyone who has read my blog for a bit probably already knows that I've been struggling with... too much stuff.  That being: material things cluttering up my studio to the point where I actually do most of my work in the living room...  Ridiculous, yes.  Though partly that is because I enjoy binge watching on our big screen, I would like to be able to create more things in my, you know, creative space.

I'm also dealing with a lot of mental clutter as well.

For a while now, I've been thinking that a big cause behind both sources of clutter is that I just have too much to do.  Or rather, too much that I want to do.  For a looong time, I've joked that I'd have to live to be 300 to do all of the things that I wanted to do, as far as creative projects.  That may not even be an exaggeration.  That may not be enough time.

For the past few years, I've ranked my creative pursuits in my head:

1 - model horses (this is still a broad category, which includes: sculpting, painting, tack making, prop building, showing..  etc, etc...  I used to think that painting and sculpting ranked over tack and props, but I'm not sure on that - this could be a post all on it's own and may be in the future)

2 - paper crafts (hence my mountain of paper, card stock, a bajillion stamps, stickers, all sorts of gadgets and gizmos and paraphernalia)

3 - everything else is lumped in here (everything else is still a lot: tatting, jewelry, home decor, and the results of random Pinterest brainstorms, things I've found on the beaches here, and so on)


I've gone around and around and around with this, for years.  I was recently talking to Jeff about all of it, again.  I told him I felt like NaMoPaiMo was an eye-opening experience.  I felt far more joy painting Antar and seeing his presentation set through to completion, than I think I've ever felt doing anything in category two or three above - or anything really, unless it be training real horses.

His response was somewhat surprising, but maybe it shouldn't have been.  He said that if he had total control, he would pull everything out of my studio room and only put the horse stuff back in there, get rid of everything else.  He's suggested for a while now that I do just that.  I thought about it and said that I'm thinking that's what I should do too.

Easier said than done, of course.

I did start on the process, not in so drastic a way, simply because I'm quite sure he doesn't want the rest of the house buried in my craft stuff while the Great Sort (number 683) occurs.  Instead, I pulled out all of my rubber stamp collection, piled it on my desks that I'd cleared off for my klast minute painting marathon on Antar, and went all KonMari on the mountain of stamps.  I considered each stamp in the pile, one at a time: "Does this spark joy?"  Yes, move to keep pile.  No, move to go away pile.

While a clean sweep does sound appealing in its own way, I don't think it's entirely realistic.  I DO have stamps and "other" craft things that spark joy.  I would still like to be able to make a greeting card or three when the mood strikes me, but I don't need enough supplies to open my own store.

Next comes the "getting rid of".  I know that I should probably just bundle it all up, drop it off at the thrift store, or put it in the front yard with a "FREE" sign (or throw it away), and be done.  That's what the experts would say.  However, that's hard for me, because I can't look at things that have value and not try to get at least some value back out of them.  Maybe it comes from growing up poor.  Maybe it comes from the fact that I don't feel secure in my life right now.  Maybe it's because some of these things (like stamps from my Granny) have sentimental value (that's the worst when it comes to getting rid of anything, I know).  Maybe it's all of it.

I was thinking that I should set a hard and fast deadline for myself.  Say, give myself a week to try and sell whatever is in the go away pile.  After that, it all gets donated or given/thrown away.

There is a deadline of sorts coming up, with scary speed.  In just over a week, I leave to go on my visit back to the U.S.  I'm trying to decide if it would be nice to come back to a cleared out studio (in other words: should I bust my butt over this next week - with all the other trip pressures looming - or not) or if it would be easier to go through it when I get back, with a fresh mind - after I've been out of THE MESS for 6 weeks or so.

I don't know.

What I do know is that a shift needs to happen and I'm feeling fully on board with it now.  This is thanks to Jennifer Buxton's idea of NaMoPaiMo and the realizations I had as a result, on what makes me happy.


I didn't really have any pictures to illustrate this post, but I think this one is appropriate.  I shared it on my Facebook page yesterday.  These little tassels make me a lot happier than a pile of rubber stamps do.

Tiny Horse Holders

Ever since moving here to Japan last summer, I've known that earthquakes will be a problem.  As a result of that, most all of my model horses have been packed away this whole past year.

In the process of getting the studio organized over the past month or so, all of the horses had to come out.  Off and on over this past year I had tried to make some sort of holders for my herd of Stablemates - the ones I was most worried about suffering damage in a 'quake - but I wasn't able to come up with something that I liked and that I thought I could easily mass produce.

Under pressure to FINALLY get everything unpacked and make "home" for everything during the great organizing quest, I had to stop hemming and hawing and make holders for the tiny herd.  I wanted to come with with something fancy, made out of wood - and I still do - but I wrestled once again with how I wanted it to look, how it should go together, what materials to use, etc. etc. 

Suddenly, in a flash of brilliance, or desperation, I thought: why not use cardboard??  

That led us to this.

I didn't quite mean for this post to be a step-by-step tutorial, but I did go ahead and document most of the process that I used.  Maybe this will give someone else ideas on how to make their own tiny horse holders...

------------------------

At last, the dish pack box that was so carefully packed up over a year ago was opened.  Inside, a TON of Stablemates: OF, CM works in progress - along with some Safari horses, and random other tiny equines.

Eeeee!  It's so good to see them again.  Several of my GI Arab stallions here, including my beloved Solo (JCP SR rose grey).

Okay, on to the holders!

Tools used: scissors for any trimming needed, a ruler, pencil, scotch tape, and glue.

And of course: cardboard, lots of cardboard.  I used our laser to cut the pieces out.  It's wonderful to have the high tech awesomeness for my use, but I'm sure the cutting could also be done with scissors or a hobby knife (carefully!).

Here are the pieces that went into each holder.  From top to bottom: the bottom, back, front, and 17 dividers - giving me 16 stalls per holder.

Necessary: glue.  Optional equipment: supervisor cat.  She inspects my glue bottle, seems a bit skeptical.  I used regular old Elmer's glue.

Also optional: a candle or other desired creative ambiance, and a beverage of choice.

First step was to glue the back to the bottom.  This was probably the trickiest step, having to align the whole length of it just right, with nothing else as a guide or to hold onto.  In all of these steps, I didn't wait for the glue to dry, so that I could shift the pieces if I needed to.  I just let it get tacky to where it was holding, but still flexible.

Then I glued on the side pieces (just two of the dividers), using them to square up the back piece.

Out comes the ruler and pencil.

I actually marked the center of the bottom piece and placed the center divider first, but I didn't take a picture of that.

Here are all dividers on one side put in...

... and here they are all glued in.

I found that a gap of 1.25 inches between dividers will fit almost all stablemate molds, except for a few of the newer ones.  Those who needed wider stalls are the: G3 Andalusian (rearing) and G4 Reining.  The G1 Drafter was almost too chubby to fit, but they did go into the regular stalls just fine.

Additionally, my holders were too short for the G3 Mustang (running) and G4 Hanoverian (extended trot).  For all of them, I made one holder with a gap of about 2 inches in between dividers, to fit the wider molds and be able to put the longer molds in at an angle.  I don't have every single SM mold to test sizes, but nearly!

Moving on, here is the front piece put on.  I put the fronts in a bit of scotch tape "traction" until the glue died, or was mostly dry.  

Here is one finished custom made tiny horse holder!

Next up, specifically with the dreaded earthquakes in mind, I used some of this stuff:

I put two small wads of it on each end of the shelf, front and back.

Then I set the holder in place and pushed down on the floor of each end stall. They are stuck on the shelves very nicely and certainly won't be able to slide off!

Fast forward several days and many hours later, all of the shelves have holders and all of my little herd are unpacked!

Over halfway through the entire project, I thought about painting them so they would look...  less like cardboard.  As an experiment, I painted one front piece.  I think it looks nice and I'm considering going back and painting all of them.  Of course it would have been easier to paint them during the construction process, versus once they are stuck to the shelves, but oh well.  I can always use another project, right?  ....  Right?

Speaking of other projects, now that the tiny herd is secured, that leaves... the big'uns.  My quick and dirty fix after unpacking them was to strap tape across the front of their shelves.  They can still play dominoes right now, but at least they shouldn't be able to skydive off of the shelves in a quake.  Next up will be to fashion holders for them.