Step Forward

Right before Breyerfest I decided to buy some new leather. It'd been a while since I'd last had some thin calf leather and after searching I'd finally found some. The seller is located and is called The Hide House. I highly recommend them. I have more than enough calf leather now and it's smooth and thin. I received the hide and it's been sitting since I'd bought it.

Until last weekend. I dyed a piece and had been slowly but surely cutting out pieces. 

I finished putting it together Monday night. I changed up how I do the knee rolls and am pleased with that adjustment.

It went together smoother than the last saddle but upon looking (and staring at it) I see some changes I need to make for the next one.  Sometimes you make things and can't pinpoint what looks off and then it hits you. My biggest issue for my current saddle pattern is the pommel,skirt, and twist section. The panels I just need to thicken some since before covering them they always look thicker than they really are. 

But still, I do like this saddle. It's an improvement over the last one. 

Wordless Wednesday

I took a lot of Breyerfest pictures. So here are more custom performance photos! Enjoy!

Breyerfest Live- Custom Performance

The last time I showed at Breyerfest was when I was still eligible for the Youth Show. But this was Tai's first Breyerfest and she wanted to brave the open show. So I was her plastic pony helper for some of the day. She showed her custom Totilas and another custom in performance for the majority of her performance entries.

I stayed the majority of the time at the performance ring because

well

yeah.

The entries were phenomenal to see. Performance is my favorite part of model horse shows and Breyerfest didn't disappoint.

But I did make it over to a few of the collector class entries. So cool!

Around 10:30 I left the show to go to The Hall of Champions. And to buy special runs! But I did return to continue watching

NoNANSense and A Good Vintage

One of the pre-Breyerfest events I went to was NoNANSense. The North American Model Horse Nationals didn't take place this year, so it was decided that a hobby fun day filled with demos would occur instead.
I haven't gotten to show at NAN yet, even though it took place in Harrisburg in 2012 (believe me I still ask myself why I didn't enter lol). So I really enjoyed participating in NoNANSense.

I didn't show, but that doesn't mean I didn't show up to see stuff!

There was a call for artists and I watched it and watched it and watched it. I'm so glad I made the leap to join up. Being an artist is a constant cycle of doubting your work and then loving it. I ignored the doubting to so I could be a part of the event.

A Good Vintage went on concurrently with NoNANsense. Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig hosted it. So before starting my demo I looked at the models.

They've held up very well through the years. Most of the models were created before I was born, so it was nice to see early customized models and see how the techniques and such have changed through the decades.

Everyone got tickets to vote for the best within their time period and demostrators were given a tile to vote for models too.

For my demo I decided to do name plate halters. The halters in an earlier post show what needed name plates.

People came and watched and asked questions. I finished most of the halters I'd brought with me.

I met phenomenal artists and caught up with others I haven't seen in a while. I also met fellow blogger Jennifer Buxton. Her blog has been my favorite model horse blog for years so I enjoyed meeting her in person. She also is on top of taking pictures of hobby people, which I managed to forget to get a picture of myself at my table! Thanks Jennifer.

Copyright Jennifer Buxton

NoNANSense and A Good Vintage were a success and it wasn't even officially Breyerfest yet!