EDM #019 - Handmade Tack

EDM #019 - Handmade Tack
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Poor Gisa! This is the worst drawing of a horse I've ever done!! I'm posting her anyway...to remind myself, it can only get better!! She's a wee thing, an inch at the withers, and the tiny Native Show halter I made is extra-tiny! The headstall is a four-strand braid and the throatlatch is three strands, braided into the four at the poll, of cotton embroidery floss. So is the lead rope.

My eyes are normal, middle-aged and not as good as they used to be for close work like this, so, yes, I used a magnifying lamp and reading glasses for the details. The braiding - I have an idea that people think I braid tiny, short lengths of floss. That would be daunting...even to me! No, I use about 14-18 inch lengths, folded in half, and braid about half of it. I tie a knot at the end of the braid, so I can lengthen it if I want, and can make lots of halters out of one four-strand braided piece. I didn't learn to do the four-strand flat braid this small...I started with crochet cotton, just a little meatier and I have gobs of it. I got good with that, nice and even, then went smaller. So, with learning a new braid and scaling it down and trials...this took about 6 months to make, off and on.

Native Arab Show Halter
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

I'm still tweaking it, though. The tiny "jewels" are Balger blending filament French knots and one is pulling out already (I gave it to Rianna on Tuesday last week), so some Super Glue Gel is in order for those and the tassle knots. Halter number two will take about a day, using the pre-braided floss.

Sleeping Kitty - Finished

Sleeping Kitty - Finished
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Rianna picked out a new kitty at Crown Center Saturday. Tinalina is an orange tabby who sleeps on her own fleece bed and her tummy goes up and down like she's breathing. She's stuffed! It was hard to really define the features of the toy with the pattern in the fur and shadows being very soft. Graphite in my hedgie.

EDM Challenge 101 Draw a Bar of Soap

EDM Challenge 101 Draw a Bar of Soap
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Sandalwood soap I received from my Secret Santa partner in the Henna Page gift swap. Smells great, but I don't want to use it up! Pencil in my hedgie...that's watercolor paper!

Here's a song I remember from Girl Scouts...

"Oh I wish I were a little bar of soap (bar of soap),
Oh I wish I were a
little bar of soap (bar of soap),
I'd go slippy, slippy slidey, over
everybody's hidey,
Oh I wish I were a little bar of soap (bar of
soap)!"