So Much Stuff

This week I defiantly went on a buying frenzy! All of the stuff came in the mail and wow I did not notice how much stuff I bought!

I got gum tragacanth to smooth down the edges of leather and give them a smooth appearance. When I opened the bottle I noticed that it smelled so good, like limes or something!

This giant pile of scrap leather also came. I know that it's "scraps" but since my saddles are smaller so scraps are more than enough!

I also got this black cotton broadcloth to sew riding outfits for my dolls. This material sewed really well and makes my jackets look so much more neat!

And last but not least this bottle of dark brown dye. I had been wanting to make brown saddles for a while now instead of just black. So this week I finally got a bottle. Once I finish this dressage saddle that i'm working on I am going to make a brown jumper saddle!

I was dying my leather lace black and my glove ripped and I got black all over my finger! It looked like I had really bad frostbite or something. I had a really fun time yelling

" My finger is turning black!"

I tried to wash it off with water, but of course it did not come off so I had to try and take it off with nail polish remover.

That sort of did the trick but my hands still have quite a lot of black on them!

Hair! Part Two

Guess what came in the mail... my hair! I bought my hair from the Doll Planet Hair on Etsy. I really liked how smooth is felt! I want to thank Anne from Field Of Dolls Studio, I followed her examples of dolls so check it out!

I bought a thing of hair, 8 needles, and a tool to take out the extra hair.

Here is my doll before rerooting.

Here is her after. I only rerooted the back of her head since I'm going to glue on her helmet anyways.

Here is her about to get boiled washed! I will make sure to show you guys the results soon!

Speaking of hair because of this pandemic I can't go to the hair cutter, so my mom decided to cut my hair for me. We already had hair scissors but we had to buy this funny looking bib- like thing to catch my hair. I told my mom to cut my hair about a inch but that turned into three inches. After almost an hour of sitting I was done. 

I like how my mom cut my hair in layers but we will never be as good as a professional haircutter! 😀

Breyer Dog saddle

The other day I was looking at my stuff and I noticed that I had lots of scraps. I didn't have enough to make a traditional scale saddle but I could make a traditional scale dog saddle! I mostly did this because I made a saddle for my dog not so long ago.

First I got my dog and traced the shape of a saddle on a piece of paper.

After I was satisfied it was time to get crafting!

First I traced out my saddle flaps using the guide lines of the saddle template that I had made. 

Then I traced it onto a strip of tooling leather. Be careful during this step that you trace it neatly!

Here is what my saddle flaps looks like without knee rolls.

To make knee rolls I trace the shape onto two tiny pieces of foam. This makes the knee rolls pop out!

And then I cover them with thin leather. Make sure to pull it smooth!

Now onto the saddle tree! I make my trees out of a soda can, and I now that a lot of other tack makers out there do as well.

I use my flat pliers and bend on the lines to form the tree shape.

After, I glue a circle of thin leather and glue it down.

Just like this!

Now I glue on the saddle skirts. Make sure to not add too much glue or else it might get squeezed out and make you saddle have glue all over it. (This happens to me A LOT!)

Big saddle vs. Little saddle!

Now not the panels I cut out the shape with felt and I cover it with more leather.

It should now look like a saddle the only thing missing is the girth!

since this size is so small I decided to just make a strait simple girth. Idid this by getting a piece of lace and wrapping it in leather.

I had to add these clips to glue on the buckles!

Here it the finished saddle without the girth ( It was drying.) I know that it's SUPER bulky but for my  first almost stablemate scale saddle I'm pretty proud of it! I also made this entire thing out of my scraps!

More and MORE Saddle Pads!

    Now i'm sure that you guys are all wondering why I didn't post on three days! well that's because I was busy making this one saddle pad!

I know that saddle pads look easy to make ( that's what I thought too) but they are HARD.

I had to make 10 different saddle pads until I was satisfied. The trick here is to glue on the border first, and then sew it on. This makes a even edge all around.

Dressage Saddle Pattern

    I have been wanting to make a dressage set for a while, so today I decided to try. First I got my all purpose english saddle pattern by Model Horse Tack School. You can buy the pattern here. Keriokie is a great website to get tack books and patterns!

This is my English saddle pattern by Keriokie.

First I got out my handy dandy light up tracing pad and I traced the saddle flaps except I made it a bit longer.

Then since I made the saddle flaps longer I had to do the same for everything else.

Once I came to the saddle tree I made the seat a bit longer because dressage saddles have a deeper seat.

Once I did that, I glued all of the pieces onto a piece of paper and then I scanned it so that I can keep it forever! I can't wait until I can start to make this saddle using my new pattern!

Hair! Part One

    I grew so sick of trying to manage the wild jumble of hair that I decided to just hack it off and add new hair.

I know that it might look weird now, but I hope that it will look better later. 

Surprisingly her hair is only going around the head once!

Headless doll!

I used these pliers that I used to pull out her hair and all of the glue.

I guess now I have to sew her another riding jacket!

Sold!

 My english riding set just sold for 67 dollars! I was so shocked that five people bidded on my saddle. Thank you so much Shadow2454!

    Here are some pictures of your set. ( I promise to try and send it out as soon as I can.)

This saddle probably took me over the span of a month. But about 5 hours to make the saddle itself and about 3 hours for the bridle. It took me so long because I had to trim the pads, wait for the buckles, lace and stirrups to come, and I had to make a girth. The hardest part of the bridle was all the buckles and  straps!