Black Beauty vs. RCMP

I thought a comparison between the two recent black releases of the Classic Stock Horse Gelding (aka Liam) would be of interest.  Indoors they certainly look alike!  But there is more of a difference between Black Beauty and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police horse than just the number of socks.

Take them outside and the differences become much more obvious.  These shots were taken on an overcast day in the afternoon and then darkened with PhotoShop, because my camera overexposed them...  ggrrrr...  Their socks are still washed out.  But you get the idea.  Black Beauty is basically a grey black, while the RCMP pony is actually a very dark bay.

I don't have more than one RCMP to look at, so I'm unable to tell whether his star is supposed to be a Maple Leaf.  It would be entirely in character if it were!  However, if you study the Maple Leaf on his rump (below) ... you'll see this star is rather wide of that mark.

I went to BreyerFest this year intending to see the Royal Canadian Mounties perform.  I had seen them once before, at Penn National (thank you Didi!) and they were spectacular.  Unforgettable!  As it happened, however, during BreyerFest other issues came to be more important that night and the logistics defeated my plan.  When I spotted the RCMP pony next day, in person, and discovered he really was 'not just another black,' I had several reasons to buy.  Yes, the price was steep; but this money is doubtless going to support the RCMP.

I had difficulty sticking to what RCMP stood for;  I kept wanting to say "Rocky Mountain National Park."  For someone who grew up in Boulder CO, ... and who once wrote a  college paper on re-introducing the gray wolf to RMNP ... this was a natural thing to do.   I said Rocky once too often, and realized I'd named my horse.
The Black Beauty was named Stowaway earlier this year, when he sneaked out West with Palatlakaha and the other trip horses.

I mentioned I conga this mold.  It was sculpted by Sommer Prosser.

If logic and known history ruled, you'd think I'd get the palomino, the only current color missing.  (I consider super-rares, i.e. glossy Liam, bay, etc. as not possible.)  For reasons hard to explain, I don't want him.  Probably because I've so heavily invested in other palominos... not just my Stablemates but Parade horses... it seems like a balancing thing.  I appear to have a few irrationalities.

It is a fairly easy mold to conga, new (released in plastic in 2014) and with relatively few colors.  The hardest one to acquire is the Let's Celebrate candy-deco colourway (2014) (350 made).  Gato (buckskin) (2016, 1000) and the appaloosa (gotten at TSC, 2016) would be the next hardest.

Data from ID Your Breyer (thank you Janice!).

SPEAKING of IDYB, here's a handy reference list.  I got this idea when I realized, after much looking, that "Emerson starts with an 'S!' "  Feeling a terrible need, I came up with this.  Feel free to copy and use.

Brishen (Laredo) =  G  (Gypsy Vanner)
Bobby Jo =  W  (Working Cow Horse)
Cadell =  W  (Welsh Foal)
Carina =  P  (Performance Lippizaner Mare)
Carrick =  W  (Walking Thoroughbred)
Corazon (Fantasia Del C) =  A  (Andalusian Mare)
Duende =  S  (Spanish Stallion)
Dundee =  A  (Australian Stock Horse)
Emerson =  S  (Standing Thoroughbred)
Forever Saige =  M  (Mustang Mare)
Gozosa (Hermosa) =  A  (Andalusian Foal)
Harley D Zip =  L  (Loping Quarter Horse)
Idocus (Snowman) =  W  (Warmblood Stallion)
Liam (Classic scale) =  S  (Stock Horse Gelding)
Rejoice =  N  (National Show Horse)
Rhian =  W  (Welsh Mare)
Selene (Pim) =  L  (Lippizaner Foal)
True North =  C  (Cantering Warmblood
Weather Girl =  T  (Trotting Arabian Mare)
Wyatt =  G  (Gaming Stock Horse)
Yasmin =  S  (Shagya Arabian)

Happy Collecting!

A Driving Adventure

For me, the 1st Annual PA Model Meet Up was very nearly a clusterfail.  If not for a brilliant  navigator and long-haul friend, several hours of patience, and a bit of luck, I never would have found them at all.  Heaven knows what I would've done left to my own devices.  Cried a lot harder, I suppose -- as it was I cried a teeny bit.  I find disappointed hopes to be very bitter.  Fortunately for me, they are very rare as well.   When the whole day was finally over and we were back safe in our own driveway, my husband Geo said, "What did you call it?  A Clusterpickle?"  and I laughed so hard I knew I was recovered.  A family phrase was born.

The story began with a FB post on Region 9 Group.  A First Annual Model Meet Up, also called PA Model Meetup, was proposed in York, about 2 1/2 hours south.  It sounded wonderful:  an open-air backyard model show with vendor booths surrounding.  The timing was very good, a month after BreyerFest, when my interest was rebounding and I had plenty of horses to sell.  As for the weather, it was nothing less than perfect.  Geo wanted to go on an expedition, as we do most weekends, but not on such a long canoeing one as we'd been doing lately.  When I tentatively spoke of the Meet Up, he was enthusiastic.

Academy-Pomeroy Covered Bridge, near Carlyle, PA

"I'll read Herodotus in the shade while you're yapping, and about 3 we'll head back home with a long scenic drive up 94," he proposed.  "There's even a covered bridge!"  Long scenic drives are famous in my family and he pulls them off with great flair.  I prepared both lunch and dinner in advance; we would use the big cooler.  I packed the night before.  Two card tables, a chair, two serapes (one for tablecloth, one to sit on), ALL my sales horses -- the large monitor-case-ful leftover from BF and the 3 mint-in-box ones, plus the 30th-Anniv. Stablemates box,--- went in back.  I also took my current tack project in the Orange Tackle Box (I had barely made the headstall in time, so as to braid buttons during the day), my showkit (for emergency tack repairs), music CDs, and a show-off horse of my own.  It was this last I posted about on my own FaceBook.  Only the headstall-making prevented me from posting that I would be offering tack repair.  In hindsight, that was a blessing...

Back seat, photo taken at end of day, August 10

We took the Gazetteer, as we always do on road trips.  He took his GPS.  And I took my new laptop, something Geo warned me about ("Don't let anyone steal it!") but it's so new a toy it was still 'fresh,' and because I had dim ideas of it assisting some Guide sales.  I took my jump drive, my Guide disks (and Tutorial disks, and even the Best Of disks):  items which I've had hanging around for years, but which no one ever seems to want.  Old tech!!

I didn't want to show, but I did want to vend, so I'd sent in my $5 vendor's fee (July 30).  I printed out 3 pages.   Two were maps and 1 was the first page of the classlist, which had the address and contact information.   I went over with Geo how to get there.  Having entered "York Camp Security Park" in Google,  I discovered a lovely open field with a gravel parking lot.  The location seemed so perfect for the Meet Up that it never occurred to me that wasn't the place.

Photo taken of rear of car at end of day, Aug 10

I followed Meet Up news on Region 9's FaceBook page.  Since I wasn't entering the show, it didn't occur to me to visit the show's page.  It also never occurred to me that there was a second page beyond the show page:  a Group just for the Meet Up.  I noted who would be there that I knew, and even posted that my famous saddle, the Elk, would be there.  The stage was set.

We left around 8:30am:  oldsters must have their breakfasts.  My flawless navigator delivered us to where I said to go at 10:45.

And there was nobody there.

Not one table of ponies.  Not one car with a horsey bumper-sticker.  No signs directing us that the venue might have changed.  Just a couple of moms and their kids on the swings.

And just like that, I was in another universe, with all my perfect preparations and plans blown to smithereens... having to recover whilst in motion, balancing everything with a partner, hundreds of miles from home, without a smartphone.  We don't have them, although we do have cell phones.  For the first time I saw the address on my printout, 137 Eastern Boulevard.  Geo seized upon this evidence, and for the next 3 hours we tried to find it.

We drove all over York.  Discovering we were at 3600-something, logic dictated we head back west along Eastern Blvd.  We covered the whole of that Boulevard, all the way into town -- into such quarters as he (and me) would never feel comfy visiting.  Eastern Boulevard ended around 1700.  There was no lower block of it.  There was no phone number I could call.  I wondered if someone had got the date wrong.  At one point we went back to Camp Security -- and found a large birthday party in full swing!  A carful of pink balloons had been delivered!  I really wanted to congratulate my hostess on those balloons...

Finally in desperation we went back to the Turkey Hill gas station we had located when we'd first set this up -- it was the closest bathroom to Camp Security Park.  I went in hunting for a map.  I came out with a kind clerk's smartphone help, having located 137 Eastern Blvd precisely where we'd first looked.
Checkmate.

Taken from Google Maps

At last, after eating lunch in our car (it was around 11:30), one of us got the idea to find a McDonald's and use what we knew to be free WiFi, open up my laptop and look up the FaceBook group.  My husband hates Facebook, but it was clear we needed it.  Good thing I'd brought my new toy!  and that it was charged up!!  Alas, the Turkey Hill did not have WiFi...

It took a while to find a McDonald's; at that point he had given up and I very nearly had.  When we did, we were in for another shock.  The screen showed a FBk I had never seen before.  There were no pictures, only links along the left side.  It was eerie and very strange.  This part of my story I can only explain by comparing it to a nursing-home's computer: probably restricted-bandwidth packets.

The laptop was on his lap, since I was driving (I drove nearly all this day.  I'm a better driver, he's the better navigator.).  Acting on his own, he tried to get Google maps, and succeeded.  With this small encouragement, he then brilliantly asked Google for the "true name" of the show.

And there it was.  Two addresses instead of one:  What we'd been missing.  I wrote it on the map (6th photo, above).  Instantly he found the new location:  Rocky Ridge Park off Deininger Road.  It was north of State Highway 30, the exact same spot as Camp Security had been to the south -- almost as if the 2 locations had been flopped.  It was now about 1:30.  I had to decide whether to pursue my shattered wishes.  I chose to attempt.

Photo taken in my backyard, Sunday, the next day, August 11

Back through York we went.  It was easy to find Rocky Ridge Park but hellish to locate the Meet Up within the Park.  Inside the entrance were 3 driveways -- but no signs.  At random I chose the central and we drove to its end, what seemed a mile, then turned around and went back to the entrance, checking out at least one populated pavilion on the way.  (Bathrooms are necessary for oldsters.)  North driveway?  Nope.  South?  YES.  It was 1:55...

Photo taken in my backyard, Sunday the 11th

To honor the 3:00 departure I had one hour.  It was not worth while to set up tables and lay out ponies (although one person encouraged me, bless her heart).  Most of the folk I had come to see were gone; the show was in its last classes.  My burning question was when, and where, the change of venue had been posted.  Geo didn't trust himself to ask and went off on a hike.  There then occurred one of those magical transformations wherein a burning frustration is tempered into gentle inquisitiveness by personal contact.  The hostess defended graciously, honestly and openly:  The change had been posted in 4 places over the past week.  The fault, well and truly, was my own.

Photo taken in my backyard, Sunday 11th, next day

Business was conducted, networking occurred.  Admiration of new models happened.  Best of all, the old-timer network provided me with sympathetic friends.  Truly when one is recognized, all is made right, and things come back into balance.  Gradually I calmed down, and began to very much enjoy myself.  I was stunned at some of the Stones I was seeing.  How does rural central PA support such a number of Bunnies!?  Rainbow Zebras, CM Unicorn foals in Decorator colors.  I got to pick up a Benasque!  I found myself yearning after Stone's giant new Warmblood.  The show even had an announcer-at-large.  It all looked like a success.

Taken in my backyard, Sunday the 11th

Much later, Geo would ask me both what he could have done better (oh! the calibre of that man), and what I could generalize from all this.  There's no denying this was a huge kick in the pants for me to consider having a smartphone.  But constantly checking FaceBook is not how I choose to live my life...  I already have 4 phone accounts:  a landline, a dial-around long distance and 2 cell phones.  I was on the brink of phoning a model friend (apparently my own response being to fall back one level of technology) when he and Google saved the day.

Tiny clues it wasn't my fault:  Multiple FBk pages for the same event.  Lack of a redirecting sign at Camp Security.  Lack of signs at the entrance to Rocky Ridge Park.
Tiny clues I should have caught:  Inaugural events have a higher chance of changing something.  The event had two names.  FBk groups are so easy to create.  There wasn't more discussion about the Meet on Region 9.  The street number of 137 matched so badly with the other street numbers in the area (3600).  There was no acknowledgement of my $5 donation.

Taken in my back yard, Sunday 11th, the next day

From 3:15 to 8:30pm the two of us drove across the length and breadth of a beautiful land, passing orchards, pastures, farms and fields.  Thirty to 236 to 74 to 94 to 322 and home.  I saw gorgeous horses and stunning vistas, and whole counties of cherry, apple, peach and nectarine trees.  We went for a hike.  We found the state's longest covered bridge, beautifully restored, and here I had my picture taken:  At long last, as promised, the Elk saddle was on display!!!  The next morning, in a fit of determination, I set up my tables and serape and pulled out all my stuff and shot it in my own backyard.  And that is what you're looking at here.  Make an offer.

Next year Meet Up?  It was such a good idea.  Give me some time.

BreyerFest Stories

We will start with my Net Loot pic and see how far I get.  As 'net' implies, there is a Gross Loot (below); it shows additional pieces intended for sale.  I confess, it was a whopper of a BFest for me.  Financially successful yet emotionally a rollercoaster, this 28th time for me was marked not just by 9 horses, 16 SMs and a bunch of other stuff brought home, but by many stories -- more than most.  Sometimes I get a show like that.  I will try to share some of them in this post.

Here's the Gross Loot, grand total of what came home.  The centerpiece, Laura Rock Smith's carousel horse resincast Ziggy Stardust (also known as Alter Ego), was purchased on Sunday.  His timing alone is a story:  For the first time ever, room sales were happening on Sunday!  in the 600s no less!!  For the past few years I've been staying over on Sunday and driving home on Monday:  Indulging in my age, I needed that extra day to recover.  Tear-down does take time: packing up, carrying out, checking out and loading.  It's always been a transition day.  I opened my door Sunday morning (after the race) and had several serious shoppers!  Surprise!!  For the first time since my occupying the 600s, more people than me just couldn't bear to stop.

The phenomenon kept going Sunday evening, but this time I was the serious shopper.  When I walked into Laura's room for the second time and quietly took out large-denomination cash, she remarked I was caving.  Later my husband said I should've mentioned something along the lines of spelunking, mining or even Kentucky's famous Mammoth Cave.   For myself, what I should've said was, "Now I have finally caught the brass ring."  After 8 days of model horses, inexplicably and in the face of all reason, I fell in love with my true favorite breed.  I don't care how long it takes to paint him.  A fire that has slumbered for decades chose to awake.  What we actually said to each other was something along the lines of "I've always admired your work."

The Roman, the Oliver and most of the Stablemates are for sale.

You should see how different the RCMP pony is from the Black Beauty on that same mold.  Even their stars are different.  "Obivous future FB post opportunity..."

Quill, the only tent horse I really wanted, is wearing this year's BFest theme Jaapi (yoppy) halter.  I don't know how Jody keeps on creating winners, given Breyer's very-broad-brush themes!  After that purchase, I indulged and commissioned a halter for my little Ambolena, the golden Akhal Teke stretching filly, my NMPM pony.  Two professional tackmakers, myself and Jody Powers of Jaapi, designed her halter: two shades of green and black.  You can see it on the wooden base of Ziggy, just to the right of the pole.

This year I capitulated to my Stablemates mania.  I collect the palominos.  This is my answer to the insanity that is Stablemates, first introduced in 1975 (I was 15).  In the 80s I made a few English tack sets for this scale, but then my tackmaking interest dropped; today it lies fallow.  For BFest 2019, with a year's worth saved to spend, I thought I might be able to afford a few SMs.  (By the way I spent it all...)   For the first time, I made a picture of my SM collection and printed it out.  That way I'd know which ones I already had.  I wound up buying 6 more palominos.  The blanket on the rightmost was made by Bobbie Allen.  The 6 is not counting the 30th-Anniversary set Smart n Shiney, whom I also purchased.  He is one of the rare metallic palominos; I only have about 4 of them.

I carried this printout around:

Photo by Susan B Young 2019

In the end my palomino Stablemates were Exhibit A of what I've come to call "automatic purchases."  They also became Exhibit A of something I felt was out of control.  It is all very well to save up over the course of a year, plot which tent horses to get, commit to artwork (the blue tiles) and invest in tack.  Such pieces I have anticipated for months.  The SMs were last-minute and somehow felt very limitless, boundless...  bottomless.  A morass.  They contained the potential to completely consume a collector.  Cute as they are, they pushed me over the edge.  I am currently sick and tired of having to automatically collect anything.  I'm ashamed of my weakness.  (For normally I can boycott.)  For the foreseeable future I want no more SMs; and if you're wondering whether I'll ever make tack for them:  A serious Not Yet!!  Buyer's remorse?  You bet.

A quick little story.  This was told to me by Lori Daniels and took place during one of her judging workshops.  She had a young customer with a hovercraft mom.  With the mother finally shooed away, the kid still could not concentrate and commenced constantly crinkling an empty plastic water bottle.  Lori said, "And then this ARM came through the curtains and took away the bottle!"  It was very hard for Lori not to laugh.

Here is one of the last shots I took of the Akhal Teke Set No. 1, for sale during BreyerFest.  (It was picked up the next day.)  I had bought a Rocket as my second tent horse (I would have freaked out if he had been a paint; I was after a Teke) and was falling in love with him after having been disgusted with his color for weeks.  Sometimes this happens.  My own consistency worries me!  But having tried the Teke Set on him, I saw how much better it was on him than any other I had tried.  After the Children's Show on Saturday I was wandering the AllTech Arena.

I think we can safely say other colors of this sort of set will happen in the future!

Ealier in the year Karen Gerhardt had written about how she'd wanted to sculpt a flying horse for quite a long time but could never make it work.  Finally an idea came to her.  In bas-relief she captured the tumbling glory of a horse who found himself set free, romping for the sheer joy of it, discovering his powers high in the sky.  When I saw it I felt it would make a superb gift for a certain vet I knew, plus go well with Hillingar the Unicorn.  I ordered a couple in person, in Colorado, and then paid for them in Kentucky.  (One for me.)   This is kind of the ultimate flat pony for me...

 

I was selling out of my room when the Mouse Lady came by.
This was Sondra Householder.  I knew her through NaMoTackMo.  Upon seeing her wares I simply had to get some (yeah, more automatic purchases!).  This time I felt I was investing in a miniature tack shop.  There is really no other way to get in-scale fur.  The possibilities are endless!  This close-up only shows the shrew fur.  See above for the mouse fur.   Wild ideas include coats and cloaks for sleigh riders...

On the right is the lone saddle I bought this year, made by Kristian Beverly, who keeps getting better.  I didn't have as much time to shop as other years, I was so busy selling.  However this apparently did not stop me from spending my whole budget...

The story of the Dundee will have to wait until another post.

Koi & Water Lilies: TSII #401

Telling the entire story of one TSII Silver Parade Saddle may prove impossible.  They are all connected;  yet I shall try.  I'll start by looking at its construction -- notes and drawings from the Yellow Parade Scrapbook -- and move on to where it fits in the year it was born, 1997.  Then its subsequent history, or Provenance, will be presented.  Photographs in scrapbooks and shoeboxes are my main references -- photos reigned supreme for me back then -- and my own memory.  (Strangely there are almost no notes in the N.A. tackbench notebooks for this one.)  In the course of all this are a couple shots of this saddle on completely different horses, showing who it looks good on!  Like most great pieces of model tack, I believe it gets roughly 15 minutes of fame spread over its lifetime.  More of this piece's time just happens to be rolling round right now:  it gets to switch owners.  We can only hope that the new owner, and others beyond, will understand and appreciate a little more what they get.

FOR SALE AT BREYERFEST 2019:  One dream of a koi pond saddle, custom built to a horse the original owner sculpted, created by a master of the prism-tape scale-model silver parade set (a field she very nearly created, and certainly helped spread).  TSII #401 went on to win National Champion gold that year; it came back to the home tack shop 13 years later for a thorough refit.  The saddle was sold to Sue Peet circa 2013, an undisputed work of art within the hobby.  It is now on the market due to Sue's failing health.

Lots of current pictures are on the TSII FaceBook page.  This post has mostly historical pictures.  At the end there is one current shot.

TSII #401 was ordered by Susan Rudnicki (today Hurst) in April of 1996.  It was finished almost exactly a year later, having been started in February, and it was shipped April 24th, 1997.  (All my records back then were handwritten.)  The page in the Yellow Scrapbook for Koi & Water Lilies looks like this:

These design sheets are the first place to go when looking up a particular Parade Set.  This one tells us when work started ("begun 9702.26" in the upper left corner)[February 26, 1997], when it ended ("end 9704.23") and how long it took in hours ("52.2 hrs").  The double starting dates can be interpreted as a project that got started and had to stop for some reason,... a phenomenon with which we are all familiar!  Fifty-two hours is consistent with 19 days (from April 4 to 23).

I had never tried fish-scale stamping before.  I had never tried fish before; previous prism tape animals were horses, a peacock and a buffalo.   (Prism tape = holographic film)
The design sheet also tells me this is the 77th Silver Parade Saddle the TSII has ever built.  We are currently working on the 104th.  The count started in 1979 with TSII #06... that's another story.  :)

Somewhat unusually although not rare, there are several sheets of drawings tucked into the 1st page protector for Koi & Water Lilies.  The first one is on the back of the design sheet itself:

This page (above) contains actual patterns.  See the serape outlined in the lower right half.
This page (below) must've been near the beginning of the design stage.  I'm not even sure it is all my work.  Susan Hurst requested the fish; she had gotten into koi ponds in a big way for her own home.  She provided me with references in books and magazines about koi.

Here are more actual patterns.  As the TSII Parade Sets mounted in number and I evolved the 2 Scrapbooks, they became an additional place to stow the patterns used in making the tack.  For some reason (stubbornness?  pride?  laziness in regenerating?)  I kept patterns of absolutely everything I made.  The primary storage was in numbered envelopes, but many Silver Saddles generated heaps of drawings and ideas that would not fit and would not be used again.  But I didn't want to throw them out.

Susan sent me one of her resincasts, "Wall Street Trader," to make the Koi set with.  While this was expensive it also was not rare.  When you invest this much in a custom saddle you can afford it; and I cannot work to measurements -- there must be a body.  The level of detail of a TSII saddle at this point meant I really did need a body.

I believe it was Susan herself who sculpted this horse.
Another close up of the original #401:

 

In the interval between 1997 and 2010, this saddle was sometimes generously lent to other showers in the region.   I am including this shot, kindly permitted by Barb DiAnnabella - many thanks!  Note how the shorter back of this horse necessitates leaving off the hip drops -- but it still looks fantastic.

Bogucki's Dozen Roses under TSII #401, photo by B DiAnnabella

Where does this saddle fit in the general sweep of TSII history?  The 1990s saw the rise of Prism Tape Silver-taped sets.  Starting with Karen Gerhardt's #243 in 1989 (Wizard's Vale), slowly at first (one in 1990, five in 1991, one in 1992) and in step with some Western saddles featuring Prism Tape, this colorful material manifested in my tack as the ultimate expression of beauty.  It was the hottest technique I had yet found.  The jewel-like flash and lightscatter properties of the prism tape were irresistable.  Photos don't do them justice.  They must be seen in person.  From 1994 to the end of 1997, ten more were built, including my own Rainbow Brilliance (#400).  In 1997 alone, five Prism Tape Parade Sets were built, as well as six other Western saddles (some of them very colorful) and one Portuguese saddle, my first.  The first great wave of confidence following my marriage (1988) was at its height.

The saddle immediately before #401 was Rainbow Brilliance, which I kept for my own:

A bit of cheating here:  To preserve the number 400 for myself, I did not use it until I was ready to start Rainbow, which was some time after Koi.  I suspect Koi is the actual 400th saddle.  The saddle immediately following Koi was #402, Rainbow Comet, familiar to everyone who has bought the Guide -- (the bridle is on the back cover):

It was like me to show off this fabulous masterpiece in my book, without exactly telling how it was made!  I couldn't; I didn't know how.  Even to this day that would be a tough job.  After twenty years, silver tape has gained a competitor in my silver saddle business (another story...)  and prism tape has been upstaged by genuine precious stones.  But the design of these TSII Silver Parade saddles remains a high point of my artistic career.
Another saddle to come out of 1997 was Eleanor Harvey's Ripple Wave silver-border.  It was quite a year.

Xanadu by Bouras wearing #401

In 2010 Susan returned Koi & Water Lilies to me for retrofit.  As I've documented elsewhere, almost half (45%) of my silver tape sets have been returned for updating, repair and conservation of one sort or another.  Such lucky saddles.  Koi's stay took 18 days during March.  I pulled off the scallop borders and put on hot fixes, my latest technology.  I replaced (with much firmer fastening) some silver tape panels and put the old ones in the Scrapbook.  I replaced some of the prism tape.  The bridle was thoroughly updated and strengthened.

And I took the opportunity to make a much better Corona blanket, having gotten Melody Snow's book in the interim.
I documented the result with just one photo.

Rammas Ichor / Ramses by Carol Howard wearing TSII #401

That summer, Susan Hurst showed the saddle at NAN, having qualified it earlier.  It took 4th in Parade in CM/AR Perf on a Matriarch.  Yes, it fits Matriarch!   In addition, we have a picture of it on Victrix:

C Williams 'Victrix' finished by S Hurst.  Photo by S Hurst

Fast forward to nine years later, today.  In May of 2019 Sue Peet asked me to offer the set at BreyerFest.  Her health had reached the point of no return... and her dear husband Bill had passed away only weeks before.  Peet had collected some of my best pieces -- she had had the NAN Auction Braided Bridle & Breastcollar of 2009, my best bridle to that point.  I said yes.  The box arrived today.  The saddle sits on the horse Sue Peet had chosen to display it with:

You can find me in room 610 of the CHIN.   The lion's share will go to Sue Peet.
************************

 Update as of Thursday morn June 27th:  I should have known.  I'm choosing to auction this one too.  High bids will be posted here.  Closing Friday the 12th at 8pm EST.

Bidder 1:  $950.00
Bidder 2:  $1100.00

1907.12  Congratulations to C Robertson for her winning bid!

Akhal Teke 1 Finished

I am pleased beyond belief to present the completed prototype of my Akhal Teke set No. 1!!  Yesterday's photo session tried it on two other molds and many different colors, with surprising results.  Shahzada the Perlino was a clear winner in the beauty contest!

Until Emerson, I would have said Breyer's closest mold to the Akhal Teke was Lonesome Glory.  As it happens I have quite a few of them (tries to hide a smile) and while some are Appies, others are solid colors, much more fitting for the Teke breed.  The moment I tried this set on Shahzada, I learned that for all his length of leg and giant frame, Emerson / Palatlakaha has a small head and a skinny neck.  He also hasn't got much mane.
That made for some creative photo angles.

In the ensuing fun fuss of tacking up, I learned that tongue buckles had indeed been the right choice for this piece.  Their level of detail matched the overall, a great goal of mine; and their adjustability really helped.  Whether to put the straps on the mane or the throat turned out to depend on both mold and angle; I wound up trying both.  Lest you worry that Shahzada is having trouble breathing -- (I assure you he has just as much air inside as ever!) -- scroll down to where I tried a different orientation.

Here is Palatlakaha in his full glory with the finished breastcollar.  All praise is due Rio Rondo for their cunning little dangles.

I spent a lovely two evenings listening to movies whilst creating 52 stainless-steel rings for the leaf etc drops, stringing and hanging.  Only now did I realize I'd shorted myself sufficient leather on the off side for them.  How blind can I get!!  I had to glue on a whole side strip of more leather.  Long gone are the days when I refused to use glue...

As a break in the monotony (!) I used 2 little bars on each jewel-plate instead of more leaves.  The horse was big enough to justify the maximun leaf size, i.e. I left the end circles on.  I suppose the rings are a bit big, but any smaller and I wouldn't have been able to manipulate them.
Palatlakaha pretty much needs the straps to pass under the throat.

But the arched neck of the Lonesome Glory presents a challenge.  The mane was a real obstacle.  When I tried a new orientation of strap, I was pleasantly surprised:

Not only was the neckpiece less obviously hung up on the mane, there was more room for the horse to breathe!  always a plus.  The breastcollar being nearly too small was forgivable due to sheer beauty.
Birds-eye view again.

 This angle shows how dainty the tongue buckles are.  What is less obvious is that the poll buckle has to be opened to get the bridle off, AS WELL AS the throatlatch.  There's no disguising the time  it takes to switch this set from horse to horse.  Slow and steady is best.

Akhal Tekes famously come in black, and I happened to have a Charcoal Lonesome Glory (thank you Eleanor & Robin).  I thought the set would look fabulous on this horse.  Photography isn't quite the same thing as in person, though.  This is the best I can do:

Still looks pretty cool!

 By now I had figured out how to fit the set to the Lonesome Glory mane. The full scale references sometimes have both orientations at once:

photo by Tamara Gooch

Where to pass the strap appears to depend on the mold, how much silver you're dealing with and which side of the horse looks best.

Some reference photos I've been using:

photo by Heather Moreton; used by permission

Photo by Heather Moreton; used by permission

Photo by Heather Moreton; used by permission

Photo by Heather Moreton; used by permission

The temptations, vagaries and struggles I went through making the breastcollar could be captured in a single shot.  After 40 years in the model tack business I have quite a few jewels.  This one nearly undid me.  For a few moments, the incredible lure of a light-gathering cabochon had me considering tearing out all my hard-earned authentic 'carnelians' and sticking in little glass beauties:

Caught in this in-process pic (above) is a glass bead in the central concho.  The hole in the middle didn't help and couldn't be covered up.  I cut it out and started again, not without great yearnings.

I am insanely proud of this set, and secretly relieved I don't have time to auction it off until after return -- possibly not til BreyerFest.  I get to keep it for a while.  :)

A little math:
Nearly 70 hours (69.4) and almost 5 weeks (March 20 to April 21), finished on Easter.
24 jewels and their plates:  each plate handcut, holed, cleaned, stitchmarked, engraved and bezeled, then 'carnelians' painted in layers and glossed, often with microballs glued inside for forms.
8 other plates, with end tips handcut, engraved etc.
8 handmade tongue buckles, with sewn keepers.
327 handmade metal spots, each 1mm x 3mm, shaped and stamped then hot-glued.  This is counting those that were cut up to make the smaller spots for reins, throat and poll.
52 leaves and bars and their rings; each leaf filed for smoothness on both ends.

It was worth it to get this 'test' piece done, even though it all but destroys my chance of making a NaMoTackMo piece for myself.  I wanted to use up my mistakes.  I sensed it would take a long time and started early; I just didn't realize HOW long it would take!  Finishing AT1 has opened up a whole new field for me, and with it, possibilities long desired but mostly despaired of.  To the question of faceted light-gathering versus merely opaque colorful, my answer is now:  Some of both!
Here is a Test Sneak Peek to help you get the idea:

Yes, that is a genuine Ruby, Emerald and Sapphire.

The last shot is of Brasenose looking bemused, but finally proper, in his borrowed finery.  He is smaller than Emerson and it shows in the breastcollar.

At last I have what was so long dreamed of...  and a whole lot more inspiration to go with it.