Starting some Romal Reins

A Work-in-Progress shot is turning into a blog post before my eyes.  Around the five-sentence mark in a FaceBook post is where the transition occurs.  How is it I have so much to say about a simple set of Romal Reins?  This pair is for a customer I am trying to reward for having bid on an earlier offering of the TSII's.  I know perfectly well emotion is a poor method of business management, yet I fall sway to it so often. 

I'm particularly pleased with the turnback button.  The connector button, on the other hand, is very nearly too big!  But it'll do.

Turnback is where the rein turns back on itself to form the end loop; a turnback button is pear-shaped, swelling larger on one end.  The swell is difficult to do in miniature braidwork, but can be achieved with careful core ties and a lot of fingertip squeezing.  Something else new with this set is the duplication thread, enlarging the white foundation.  (It looks white but is actually palest pink off-white, a color I want to call "pinkoff".)  I ran a parallel with my smallest thread, HQ (Hand Quilting), custom dyed rawhide-color just for this set.  (It was originally dyed for the connector buttons, at which it failed.)  I wanted to enhance the foundation without going so far as to double it; I wanted a subtle emphasis on the white to tone down the strength of the brown and rust, which appear very powerfully. 

As to the size of the connector, well, I was trying a new button and a new thread size, and somehow increased concentration often leads to outsize results.  So often I see this in models!!   So often I do it myself.  It's just hard to shrink things, to get the right proportions.  Compression generates heat.  This is a long philosophical discussion which I should not go into; we'll just say it takes time and skill to make a truly good-looking miniature.

As to why there's no slider on that connector, I'm trusting the huge size of the button, plus the small diameter of the future bit ring, to perform that function.  Just another sleight-of-eye trick from the tackmaker who's made dozens of these connectors.  There isn't any space to spare and I refuse extra work.


In other news:  future blog subjects might be Kathleen Bond and a night at Penn National.

The Roby Canyon Hackamore (finished)

There have been five previous posts about (or at least touching on) the Roby Canyon Hackamore.  Now finally it's FOR SALE!  (We're taking offers on MH$P; see the post's end for details.)  This set was begun during the last week of July and took more than 60 hours.  The bosal wound up being built twice, and a parallel short order also had to be made twice during this time.  So of the four months, July through October, only about 6 1/2 weeks were devoted to the Roby.  Still, it is the largest new and complete piece we are offering this year so far.  To date, 2018 has seen only two other hackamores (both mechanical, not bosal) and two other mecates made.  I tell you what, this is quite an opportunity!

I'm putting the post links here and then going on with more pictures.  (If you've read them all you are one of my favorite customers!!)
Starting the Roby Canyon Hackamore  talks about the original sighting and the descriptive paragraph I've been following in making this piece.  The post also details making the first bosal, which we wound up not using (it was too small).
Mecate confessions  only tangentially mentions the Roby (I was being distracted from it), but is a good reference for how the TSII makes these horsehair ropes.
Spinning Fate: designing mecates  covers designing the Roby mecate.  It was my first grey one.
Roby Canyon Hackamore Progress  shows the headgear well - the 2 bosals are here.  All is done except the hobbles.
Three Mecates Again.  The second of the 3 is the Roby's.  The "again" refers to the Three Mecate Artists post I published in 2014.

The Roby Hackamore is for large Trads, of which Kaalee is one.  On her the mecate is not so long.  This photo has been somewhat shopped; originally she was badly tilted forward.

 Here's a better close up.  I am trying to show the piece and its hobbles "in use."  For auction purposes HORSE NOT INCLUDED.  SADDLE NOT INCLUDED.  This saddle is the famous TSII #432, the Elk.

I was looking for a relatively plain saddle and a good light-colored saddle blanket to show off the hobbles with.  Here's Dry The Sea again:

Of course, all the keepers slide.
The original hobbles, as I remember them, had rawhide connector hangers with banded buttons, the interweaves being dark brown.  For this model version, I went a bit further, adding in the rust and offwhite colors to match the bosal.  Likewise, the original Roby hobble center ring was not two-colored (it was all dark brown).  But what the heck!  This is the TSII...
Here the hobbles are on Snowman/Perquiman.  It's not my fault he looks toed-in  :(   nor did I intentionally hide his off hind leg.  Correct positioning of working hobbles is comfortably above the fetlock.

Here is a shot where I went to a good deal of trouble to show Just The Tack people would be bidding on... on a horse.  Unfortunately it turned out looking a bit creepy...!

This is my favorite "laid out" shot.  It shows the connectors by themselves.

You could leave them off if you wanted, or use them for something else.  They exemplify the nuisance-y fiddly bits of tack that have to be made at the last minute to finish off a huge order you've been working on for months and can't stand anymore.  Honestly, it takes a GREAT deal of patience and careful work to fit and adjust them!!  And that applies to the whole hackamore.  Grab your pliers!!
Close ups:   Hobbles:

Bosal:

We will end with one of my my favorite portraits of Dry The Sea.

Bidding Details:
Email me with your bid before the deadline or use MH$P vendor's link to contact me.  Bids close at 8pm EDT Friday October 19.  Winning bidder is expected to pay postage of about $15.00 (this tack set will use a box).  There is a RESERVE of $285.00.  PayPal or a snail-mailed check is acceptable; check may be held for clearing if I don't know you.
Happy Bidding!