The Addiction

Kristian BeverlyLeave a comment

During this weekend, Joann’s Fabrics was offering a 20% total purchase along with a 40% any regular priced item. Which meant that all local craft stores had the almighty 20% off the total purchase. With the wonderful coupons, I came home with these. A jewelry mallet, wire, a leather tooling set and sharp thing-ers (I think they are similar to awls).

The leather tooling set really made me excited. With some scraps I played around with the different tooling pieces. I see a western saddle in the future!

Hole Punching

Kristian Beverly2 Comments

The longer that I am a part of the hobby, the more I keep learning that if you want to produce nice things, you must have the right equipment to do so.
Up until today, whenever I would make holes for a piece of tack, I would use a push pin.

Source

The pros of using them was that I could find them virtually anywhere in my house. The con was that I wasn’t punching a hole. Instead I was just tearing a hole into the leather so the hole never stayed in place. Once I moved the leather *bam* it was like the hole was never there.
After school today I went to Office Max and bought a pair of technical/drafting pencils. Jennifer Buxton of Braymere Custom Saddlery had an awesome tutorial of how she made holes.

Following it, I took apart the pencils and am now ready to punch holes! I can’t wait to make something. Mostly so that I can use a hammer. :)

The Tack Box

Kristian Beverly4 Comments

At numerous shows, I have seen awesome tack boxes.
The ones I’ve loved were always similar to…
this

source

or this.
They always seemed to be out of my grasp. I couldn’t figure out how to make it. 
A couple of days ago it finally hit me. 
A regular box flipped on its side (yes, this is what held me up).
So I had a snow day today which meant I had a chance to try to make one. 
I decided to go small before going large.
This is the result.
It has four hooks for four bridles or halters. There’s space for two saddles, English or Western sized. Native American or Arab sized costumes will not fit. The bottom has space for saddle pads.  While it isn’t large by any means, it is a great start. And it was alot of fun to make.