We have snow!

Today we had a snow day. Yay! This morning we got the email (three emails, actually) that we didn't have school. It would seem that the teachers are just as happy to get out of school. It was really nice, and I got to clean up the basement. I'll have pictures of both snow and basement (before and after) tomorrow.

Halters are coming along. Pictures tomorrow!

More Progress

And once more, it's born of procrastination. Joy. One of these days I'm going to crack down and just do my homework... but that day is not today. It might be tomorrow or Saturday though, because I have no certain plans to do anything and they might be good days for self-reform. Hah.

So. Yes. We have progress. Now that all the details of the first-place raffle halter are cleared up, some solid progress has been made on actually putting it together. Lady Phase might hate me forever after for getting glue even near her, but so what. (I can't stand Lady Phase, I dunno about you. She photographs badly for me...) Anyway.
The halter is black nylon with a bright blue nylon overlay on noseband and cheek-pieces. So far the noseband is finished, but I'm alternating writing this post and working on the halter. And homework. But the point is that by the end of this post it could well be finished. Okay, never mind. I have to finish my History.

I'm a little scattered this evening because it feels like a Friday and that's just not fair. So please bear with me and the brevity of this post... blargh.

Visible Progress by One Procrastinating Eva

Remarkable how much you can procrastinate when you don't put your mind to your work, eh? I've been doing that almost the entire time since I got home and I'm really not too pleased about it. At least I've made a little progress on halters.

I have not started with the first place raffle halter per se, but I have started experimenting with the style. I'd hate to send a first attempt at something to someone. That would not be pretty. So instead of making a black and green halter for a Stone ISH, I started making a black and red halter for a Breyer Strapless. I'll probably do the cheek-pieces and then drop it until my backlog is canceled.
Progress so far:

That's the noseband. I think it looks pretty snazzy--you?

I also found that Lady Phase's head is almost exactly the same as the ISH's, so I don't have to worry about going off measurements. Thank goodness!

Finally, halter talk.

I've been working a bit on the halters for the raffle. It's been sort of all over the place; so far I've progressed most on BeccaG's third-place halter.

It's in bright blue and for the ASB clock horse, which thankfully I have. I'm not thrilled to work with the blue because my thread is annoyingly a few shades too dark. Nonetheless, it's been sort of coming along with the use of glue instead of double-stitching. It saves a lot of time but so far I'm not certain I like the effect. Since I triple most of the straps, they're pretty thick (and stiff) with the sewing. Gluing is a bit worse, though. The glue kind of  cakes and makes everything a bit unsightly.
This calls for one of three possible changes. One, stop tripling the halters and make them a bit thinner (and perhaps a tad less realistic. Two, find the right color thread and keep sewing. And three, make the pieces meet in the middle and glue.
I'm leaning towards either the first or the third option right now because sewing is so time consuming and doesn't lend that much authenticity to the piece.

I have also "started" the first-place raffle halter--at least, ideas for it. Mary asked for a black and lime green one, which gave me an idea. Now, to preface this I'll say that I cannot stand halters whose cheekpieces are a different color than the noseband, etc. It just doesn't look right. Some like them... but not me. So I was thinking... maybe a halter with black as the main body with lime green highlights on the cheekpieces and noseband? I think I could pull it off and it would look cool.
The main issue with this halter is that it'll be used on a Stone ISH, and I don't have that mold. I wish I did, I really do... but I don't. (Probably for the good though, because apparently they, like everything else in this hobby, are like potato chips--can't have just one.)
If anyone knows of a Breyer mold with a comparable head, please leave a note in the comments. Alternately, you could post in this thread on Blab. I'd be much obliged.

Other than that, nothing much going on in the studio. Hopefully I'll be able to order some Rio Rondo hardware tonight because snipping up old (and crappy) halters won't do it forever. (Though it is wonderfully fun to snip up!)

On the model horse side--I hope to be adding a matte Valentine and Heartbreaker to my collection soon. Fingers crossed.

I feel bad.

One of the main parts of this blog is supposed to be TACK. Model horse tack (important distinction since I posted saddle pics last night). But I haven't made any recently. I can't bring myself to start sewing any halters. They're so darn irritating, since I have to sew so much. Not that I dislike sewing... but it takes forever. I have little bits of halter sitting around; a noseband here, a cheekpiece there. It's a bit discouraging, but I suppose that's probably because I should be sleeping more. Haha.

On my "backlog list" (oh no, I have no orders and yet still a backlog) I have four halters and two coolers. Three of the halters and one of the coolers are for the raffle. And one halter and cooler set is a donation for the Great Outdoors Live show sometime this spring. I guess I have a while to do that, but I'd like it finished soon.

And yet. Zero productivity.

I guess I'll go work on those raffle halters now.

Raffle Winners!

And now.. for the winners of the halter raffle.

The prizes are:

1st Prize: One Halter with Chain Lead and One Cooler

2nd Prize: One Halter with Chain Lead

3rd Prize: One Halter

And now for the winners.
 
1st Prize: Mary for her comment on Halter Raffle
2nd Prize: Imperia for her comment on Halter Raffle
3rd Prize: Becca G for her comment on Halter Raffle
 
Winners please contact me at tx.hunterjumper@gmail.com so we can talk about colors and sizing!
 
And if you didn't win: watch out for more raffles in the future! If you can't wait to get a halter (unlikely), they are available for order now. Each halter is $7 and includes a lead.
 
Night!

Well.

There have been a good number of raffle entries today and yesterday! Thank you to everyone who joined, is still joining, and especially to those people who have condescended to follow the blog. It is very much appreciated.

I realized that I forgot to say in the original raffle post when it will end. So, the raffle will end on the 17th of January. Then the winners and I can figure out who wants which colors, et cetera.

Last night after homework was done and mirror-cleaning for $.25/mirror was finished, I AGAIN did something I should never, ever do. MH$P is going to be the road to my doom, I just know it. But, though I did find a gorgeous CM on the ASB Clock Horse, I managed to restrain myself from bidding. It's a good thing because the $70 I would have spent on him can now go to some tack making supplies. Better that than a nice CM who I would likely never show, I suppose.

Today's post is short on both words and time, I'm afraid. But I will post a few pictures for your enjoyment.

The first and last were taken in Jackson, and the middle one was taken last weekend on the lake. Doesn't it just look like lace?

Oh! Speaking of lace... I got an X-Acto knife (be afraid! Just kidding, don't worry.) and practiced skiving some of the crappy craft-store lace I have right now. It's bad lace but I've discovered that when you're not doing it all the time skiving can be sorta fun. I'll probably change my tune when I start this in earnest, but that's just my take so far.

Halter Raffle

I'm copying Braymere. Yes. Hey, it's no surprise seeing as I have two subscribers. I figure it can't hurt, right?
But. Though the idea of a raffle to increase viewers is copied, there are going to be three winners who all get different prizes. Let's get to the "how do I enter" part first though.

To enter simply post a comment on any blog post I have made. I am notified when you do so, and I will put your name into a hat. You can obviously enter more than once if you want to post more than once. But if you get drawn more than once, you only get the first placement. Sorry.

Prizes are as follows.
1st Prize: One Halter with Chain Lead and One Cooler
2nd Prize: One Halter with Chain Lead
3rd Prize: One Halter

You can choose the colors if you win. Each halter is tripled, double-stitched GrosGrain with Rio Rondo hardware, blah blah blah. I've said this many times. The cooler is cotton fabric with bias tape edging. I wish I could assure you that the sewing is great on the edges, but I have to be honest: in the pic below, it's not a trick of the light. Hopefully that will be ironed out very soon though.

Halter (the raffle halters will NOT have fleece!):

 Cooler (you may choose the color):

 So. Post away!

Annddd here's our regular talk for the day. I keep going on MH$P (I have an ad up there, remember?! I can't help but look at it once in a while!) and looking up "Strapless." Oh. My. I should never do that while I'm trying to save. NEVER. It probably looks like I love to torture myself with gorgeous model horses. GAH. Out of the frying pan (applications) in to the fire (pretty model horses looking at me and saying "BUY ME"). Oh, self. Will I ever grow up? Answer... probably not. Drat.

Anyway. I've been making plans for the halter and cooler set I'm making to donate to "The Great Outdoors" live show in April. The halter should be leather because I'll hopefully have gotten some lace by then (if not, there's a problem). And the cooler will probably be either the same color as the one above OR hunter green with white edging. Decisions, decisions. Input is VERY much appreciated by any and all.

I think that finishes the post for today. Expect colors of the new halters by Friday-ish.