Sunday, December 5, 2010

Drawing myself deeper into "The Hobby," otherwise known as the fiscal deep end.

And on $8 a week, too. Not that I'm complaining about my allowance! It's one of the higher allowances out there, not to mention that I get one at all. No-- it's just that somehow or other I can't seem to 1) save it very well or 2) bring myself to sacrifice procrastination time in order to babysit. Imagine my dilemma.

Obviously (or not obviously, I don't think I mentioned it much on here), I can make model horse tack and sell it to others who have gone off the fiscal deep end with me. Unfortunately, until you dig deeper into The Hobby, you might be under the impression that my tack could sell for much more than it does. That impression is so egregiously incorrect that I might... well, I have no idea what I might do. The point is, my tack is very beginner-looking and will not sell for much--or at all, in fact. So as a source of income to keep some pocket-money firmly in my pocket at all times, that isn't great.

I could, I suppose, babysit. There are two things preventing me from that, though. Or maybe three. The first is that I don't want to give up my procrastination time. The second is that my procrastination time is also my barely viable source of income, and probably not a good thing to give up. The third and probably most valid is that I have a ridiculously busy schedule. I'm tutoring Esme on Mondays, riding on Tuesdays, doing homework while my parents go out on Wednesdays, procrastinating on Thursdays, and riding again on Fridays. And my weekends are generally packed, as well. Sometimes I ride, sometimes I sleep, sometimes we go to the lake. On Sundays I'm back for my Spanish discussion group (which sadly, deviates farther and farther from Spanish every time we meet). Then I have to do homework on Sunday evening--speaking of which, I should be doing right now. But it's not much, so if I spend 15 minutes or less on this I should be fine.

Since I talked about model horse tack, I might as well give a few updates. I've been working on (yet another!) pattern for blankets. This most recent has a lower-cut neckline and straighter sides, in order to sufficiently cover the horse's butt. So far it's worked very well. The only blankets I've made with it so far are two show scrim sheets, both in plaid. One is green and black, the other red and black, both with white trim. The sewing on the edging is... well... let's just not talk about it. You can see for yourself, I'm going to post photos. The thing I like is that I finally managed to incorporate a dart right above the tail so the blanket naturally curves around it. And I've put in a different mechanism for closing the blanket in the front which is so much better than having to sew on Velcro.

Here's the green blanket. I rather like it on this horse--thanks again to Zoe for him for my birthday.
And the dart.
The red blanket:

I love the mold this horse is on. It's so majestic and beautiful. I kind of want to have a conga of them, but I'm afraid it would be rather expensive.

Speaking of this mold, Breyer released the Diamond Jubilee model. It's on this mold (which you now know I love) but the color is, well, repulsive. There are two reasons I would buy the horse. One, it's on my favorite mold. Two, it holds the key to a competition which I would love to enter. It's a writing contest. Basically you buy the horse, write your favorite memory about Breyer horses, and send it in with the receipt. And the prize? Well, first prize is a factory custom from Breyer worth $1000.

Aannddd I was just looking over on Model Horse Blab and found out that the receipt has to be dated from before December 1st. Now I don't have to say any more, other than DARN IT!

Some other news. I've changed the name of the model horse tack thing from The Model Horse Tack Shop (yay, imagination!) to Queen's Gate Saddlery. I love it, except for the fact that I don't actually make saddles. But it sounds better than Queen's Gate Tack Shop, and I do hope to start making English saddles soon. Then I can get a stamp and stamp QGS on there. And if I do start making saddles, then maybe I'll be able to make some money off  of this.

Also, I started making leather longe lines now that I have crimp beads. The one pictured is made out of really thick leather lace, though, so when I order from Rio Rondo again I need to get some of that.



And now I really do have to go, so there'll be more next week.

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