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??

Did You See So Much Videos??

Today I filmed, and uploaded, not one, but TWO videos to my YouTube channel.

The first was a bit of a tutorial on (part one) of how I prep a Stablemate for painting.



The second was a viewer request from my last vlog, where someone said that a video about the laser business would be neat.  So I threw that together too!



My goals for this year include a lot more videos, blog posts, and in general social media type stuff.  I certainly don't think I'll be able to do two videos a day, everyday (ha!), but I think today was a good start toward that goal.


PS: The title of this post is inspired by a quote from this Kid Snippets clip: Kid Snippets: "Salesman".  "Did you see so much money?!"  is a quote that Jeff and I use, or versions of it, quite a bit.  If you haven't heard of Kid Snippets, you should check out some of their videos.  The premise is: what would happen is kids wrote movies.  Kids act out scenes and then the adults lip sync and act out what they said.  They are hilarious.  Some of our favorites are: "Math Class", "Cooking Show", and "Hunting".

Super Informal Catchup Vlog

Yeah, I think all of my vlogs are "informal" - haha!  Anyhow, I decided to finally stop prepping stuff and do a nighttime video.  I'm hoping to do another one (in the daytime) in the next few days.

Also, this weekend is the Sakura (cherry blossom) Yabusame (traditional Japanese horseback archery) competition!  I will be taking a ton of video and pictures as usual and am hoping to do an actual vlog from there - if I can remember...  This whole video thing is still really new to me!

Without further ado, here's the latest video!  (the thumbnail is funny to me:  Look at Van Gogh!  Look at him!!)


I hope everyone is having a good start to the week!  :)

Blog Update and Vlog #2

First up and most important: Thank you SO much, everyone, for the great feedback on my first vlog.  That was absolutely terrifying for me to do (and share --- eek!).  I can't thank everyone enough for the support.  ((hugs)) all around!

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I promise I am not going to give up on this blog!  The current computer situation is:

For Christmas, Jeff bought me a new laptop.  Which was a total dud.  He spent hours on the phone with tech support and ended up returning it.  Then he bought me another one.  It worked great!  It was beautiful, powerful, the screen colors and resolution were Ahhhhmazing!

Notice how all of that is past tense?

Turned out my beautiful new laptop wasn't charging.  It didn't recognize it's own power cord.

Jeff spent more hours on the phone with (another brand's) tech support, before being told it would have to be sent off for repairs".

Sigh.

I'd gotten very much in the habit of doing pretty much everything on a laptop.  Even now, sitting at my old desktop computer feels strange to me.

During the day, Jeff is at work and I'm at home with Max, downstairs.  (He's still with us!  Doing well, but doesn't like to be alone and has a hard time going up and down the stairs)  In the evening, I'm either downstairs hanging out with them, or in the Studio making stuff. (!!)  There's not much desktop computer time in the current schedule.


So, that's the long story short on why my blog here has been seemingly neglected again.  I'm hoping to at least sit down here and get some posts scheduled, maybe this weekend. 

All that being said... here's something to hold you over.  (haha)

"Oops, I did it again"




As always, I'd love to hear any suggestions for future videos and also some feedback on a good length for videos.  Also, frequency?  I was thinking once a week for a vlog, but let me know what you guys think! 

I Did A Scary Thing! (First Vlog)

Jeff just had a couple of weeks off over the holidays and we watched a lot of stuff together.  I watched a few vlogs (video blogs) from some people he follows on YouTube.  They were neat to see.

I've been considering trying to do more videos and decided it might be fun to start a vlog of my own...? 

For this year I had decided I would try to worry less about trying to be a perfectionist and just DO things.

With that in mind, *gulp*, here is my first vlog! 

Eeeeee....



It was kind of fun, kind of...  I am SO not an "on camera" person, but I think I might try and do these on some sort of semi-regular basis.

I would love some ideas on what kind of videos you'd like to see!