Tutorials & Tack Help

Tutorials & Tack Help

Anna Helt
Master Post

I've gathered a group of the tutorials and helpful tack making tips I've gathered over the years. I hope you find it useful!

How To

Featured
My Favorite Things: 2021 Gift Guide
My Favorite Things: 2021 Gift Guide

Tweezers and rulers and luer lock bottles, files and scissors and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings - these are a few of my favorite things!

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IMTM Guest Post: Making Bits for Model Horses by Katherine Bone of Barefoot Appaloosa Studios
IMTM Guest Post: Making Bits for Model Horses by Katherine Bone of Barefoot Appaloosa Studios

When the bit you need isn’t sold anywhere, what can you do? Read on in this guest post from Katherine Bone of Barefoot Appaloosa Studios to find out.

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International Model Tack Month: Bareback Pad Tutorial
International Model Tack Month: Bareback Pad Tutorial

There have been lots of IMTM changes in 2020; one of them is a goal to begin creating a library of easy to follow projects for participants. This is the first - a Traditional scale bareback pad. No leather required, but hobby buckles are recommended!

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Stablemate Scale Fringe
Stablemate Scale Fringe
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How To: Western Bridle with Rio Rondo Hardware
How To: Western Bridle with Rio Rondo Hardware

This is less of a tutorial and more of a walk-through. I’m not going to give you a list of materials, tools, or measurements or tell you what leather to use, but I will show you how to figure those things out for yourself as I walk you through my process for making a two-eared silver show bridle. There will be lots and lots of photos and (hopefully) helpful commentary, so buckle in!

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NMTM Essential Skills Series: Safety First
NMTM Essential Skills Series: Safety First

Safety first! The next post in the Essential Skills series deals with some common safety issues in tack making.

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NMTM Essential Skills Series: Dyeing Leather
NMTM Essential Skills Series: Dyeing Leather

Most tack makers have a similar progression: we begin with whatever we can scavenge and make, moving on to better materials as our skills outgrow cobbled together supplies. One of the natural parts of this progression is realizing that you cannot rely on found leather. There comes a point when you decide that you need to take the jump and buy natural leather. Unless you intend to only make light oil western pleasure saddles forever, you'll need some dye to go along with it.

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NMTM Essential Skills Series: Skiving, Part 2
NMTM Essential Skills Series: Skiving, Part 2

Yesterday I talked about my method for skiving larger pieces of leather. Today, courtesy of Carrie Sloan Meyer of C. Sloan Originals, we have a method for skiving lace.

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NMTM Essential Skills Series: Skiving, Part One
NMTM Essential Skills Series: Skiving, Part One

Skiving ("sky-ving", to skive) is the process of thinning a piece of leather. A lot of the leather available isn't thin enough for Stablemate scale tack, and in some cases isn't thin enough for Traditional scale tack, either.
 

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Micro Beads | Part Two
Micro Beads | Part Two

The biggest problem with these little guys is getting them to stick. I've found that it's less about the glue and more about the sealer after, but here's my process.

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Micro Beads | Part One
Micro Beads | Part One

They're frustratingly prone to static, which makes them difficult to work with at best, and at worst? A giant mess. Storing them in a plastic container is safest, since those have great lids that seal securely, but it exacerbates the static issue. Paper containers...

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How To: Western Stirrups
How To: Western Stirrups

 Western stirrups are tricky. They have to be in scale and sturdy, bonus points if they swing freely. I've tried several different methods, from super gluing a small piece of toothpick or leather to the sides as a roller (the bar that joins the two sides) and covering pieces of aluminium can with leather.

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How To...Carve Leather (Video!)


Here's a quick leather carving how to! This isn't the only way, and it probably isn't the best way, but it's what's worked well for me so far!

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How To...Cut Your Own Lace
How To...Cut Your Own Lace
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Tutorial: Galloping Boots
Tutorial: Galloping Boots
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Reviews

Featured
Reveler
Reveler

I was on the fence since he was a larger scale, but when Sarah Rose announced that Reveler would be her last resin edition I decided to go ahead and purchase.

Django!
Django!

Breyer has been doing some awesome stuff with the Stablemate line recently, including releasing a new mold as the final installment of the Stablemate Club! We recently saw a preview photo of the 2017 installment - a PRE stallion by Maggie Bennett (!!) - and we have the 2016 mold in hand!

Product Review: Carson AM-20 Desktop Magnifier
Product Review: Carson AM-20 Desktop Magnifier

Now that I'm working from home, I'm beginning to realize that some of my work habits have cumulative negative effects that I didn't really feel before. For instance: every time I carve a western saddle, I end up crouched over my desk like Quasimodo.

Mechanical Pencils
Mechanical Pencils

In my last post, I showed a picture of new stuff I'd picked up. Some of it was experimental, and now I that I've played with some of it I can start reporting on the various successes (or failures!).

Mini Hazel
The Babysitter's Here!
Look Who's Here!
Product Review: 1:32 Scale Stirrups
Product Review: 1:32 Scale Stirrups

When I started the new year one of my goals was to improve my tack as much as possible. One of the ways I planned to do that was to use cast or photo etched parts where those would be more realistic. I use various gauges of wire for nearly everything. 

Tips & Tricks

Featured
My Favorite Things: 2021 Gift Guide
My Favorite Things: 2021 Gift Guide

Tweezers and rulers and luer lock bottles, files and scissors and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings - these are a few of my favorite things!

IMTM Guest Post: Making Bits for Model Horses by Katherine Bone of Barefoot Appaloosa Studios
IMTM Guest Post: Making Bits for Model Horses by Katherine Bone of Barefoot Appaloosa Studios

When the bit you need isn’t sold anywhere, what can you do? Read on in this guest post from Katherine Bone of Barefoot Appaloosa Studios to find out.

How To: Western Bridle with Rio Rondo Hardware
How To: Western Bridle with Rio Rondo Hardware

This is less of a tutorial and more of a walk-through. I’m not going to give you a list of materials, tools, or measurements or tell you what leather to use, but I will show you how to figure those things out for yourself as I walk you through my process for making a two-eared silver show bridle. There will be lots and lots of photos and (hopefully) helpful commentary, so buckle in!

NMTM Essential Skills Series: Safety First
NMTM Essential Skills Series: Safety First

Safety first! The next post in the Essential Skills series deals with some common safety issues in tack making.

NMTM Essential Skills Series: Dyeing - the Postscript
NMTM Essential Skills Series: Dyeing - the Postscript

Yesterday's Essential Skills post covered dyeing, and there's SO MUCH to say about it. I almost included the following, but decided that a separate post was warranted. So here it is - the postscript.

Soldering
Soldering

I tried to teach myself how to solder several months ago, certain that it couldn't possibly be that hard. It's a handy skill to have. String cinches are almost impossible without it, and certain complicated bits and bobs become infinitely easier (and sturdier) when you can securely join two pieces of metal. I struggled mightily the last time I attempted it, but I needed a way to securely affix a glitter-sized piece of brass to a wire bit shank yesterday. I knew that soldering was the answer, and set about figuring things out.

Shipping from Home
Shipping from Home

It's not exactly a well known fact, but you can, in fact, ship most things without leaving the comfort of home. There are limits of course, but knowing how to navigate the USPS system and get the most out of it can streamline the shipping process! 

Start Here
Start Here

Most of the model horse hobby seems to be populated by do-ers and DIY-ers. Something in our wiring - the part that's connected to the love of little things - wants to MAKE stuff. We can only spend so much time looking at painted models, customizing blogs, and gorgeous tack before we want to try it ourselves. 

Innovating
Innovating

Making tiny tack is, like any art, a process of growth. Skill and understanding of your craft improves with every piece, though the fruit of this isn't always visible in the next saddle, or even the one after that.

Pro Tip: Replacing Dyes & Supplies
Pro Tip: Replacing Dyes & Supplies

I don't go through supplies very quickly; a half-hide of petite tooling calf has been known to last me 3-4 years (granted, during the dry hobby years of college). I still have some of the sample bottles from my very first dye order. Here's the problem: supplies have a shelf life.

Tools of the Trade
Tools of the Trade

I follow several model horse tack making pages on Facebook, and in one of them someone asked "What tools are needed for model horse tack?" Being the helpful person I am, I went and checked out my desk to see what was lying around and hadn't been put away between projects.

Mechanical Pencils
Mechanical Pencils

In my last post, I showed a picture of new stuff I'd picked up. Some of it was experimental, and now I that I've played with some of it I can start reporting on the various successes (or failures!).

Reference Photos: Unknown Western Saddle
Reference Photos: Unknown Western Saddle

No matter how much of a Google guru you are, it can be hard to find photos of certain things, like the way the swells are covered and how it's cut for the horn.

File Management
The Easy Way, Part II
The Easy Way, Part II

I haven't had the time to make a proper light tent, and my makeshift attempts have all failed miserably.  The light is too warm, too dark, the results too contrasty, the backgrounds horrible.

We Can Do It the Hard Way, Or the Easy Way
We Can Do It the Hard Way, Or the Easy Way

Fact: the midwest experiences hot, humid summers that start well before the official beginning on June 21. 
Fact: sticky wax has a tendency to smudge, smear, and otherwise become useless in hot, humid conditions. 

Record Keeping
Bridles - the Cliff Notes Version
Bridles - the Cliff Notes Version
Dye Samples
Tips, Tricks, and Various Bits of Information
Buckle Free Tack
Buckle Free Tack
Things I Can't Live Without, Part One
Things I Can't Live Without, Part One
New Shop!

New Shop!
My Year in Saddles: 2016

My Year in Saddles: 2016