Western Saddle Progress

If you follow my studio Facebook page or hobby account on Instagram, you'll have seen some of the new sales piece I've been working on. It's been a fun project - I'm refining skills, trying new techniques, and using new materials. 

 The plan is to auction this piece when it's finished, hopefully in a week or two. I haven't decided what venue to use, but know that eBay is unlikely. There will be plenty of notice via the newsletter and social media, so if you're interested don't worry! You’ll know when it’s coming.

 Here's a gallery of progress; I can't wait to finish this!

Workspace - kitchen table!

References gathered - mix of real saddles and Stablemate scale

Saddle tree

Covered tree, pattern started, and silver

Tooling pattern for lower skirt

Lower skirt tooling

Lower skirt tooling

Lower skirt detailing

Lower skirt detailing

Testing fit

Upper skirt tooling

Upper skirt tooling

Upper skirt detailing

Upper skirt detailing

Silver added

Decided to add silver studs, too

ALL the silver done

Testing fender - too big

Fender progress L to R: too big, tooling pattern taped down, tooled, pattern by itself

Jockey trial and error - first try on top, final on bottom

Tooling jockeys

My stirrup on top, original Rio Rondo Bitty Bijoux (too small for this set) on bottom

My stirrup vs original Rio Rondo Bitty Bijoux