Saturday, December 18, 2010

Eeeeee!

Look what I got in the mail last Friday!


It's my super gorgeous classic Western saddle by the brilliant and talented Erin Corbett!


Just look at all that gorgeous detailing. I regret not ordering a bridle to go with it - I thought I could make a nice bridle to go with it, but now I'm not so sure. The saddle even has adjustable fenders.


The saddle pad is 'army green' by Carrie Sloan Meyer, who kindly agreed to ship it to Erin who then made matching wear leathers for the set.

It's pictured on Felice, whose colouring is not so flattering to the saddle, but it was made for my orange pony Delta who, at the time of these photos, was still in transit back from LITW the previous weekend.


I do want to order another Erin saddle, hopefully next year sometime. I want a sparkle saddle, maybe with a coloured star cut out on the lower skirt. Pretty!

Fast forward a week.

Delta and co arrived back from LITW on Monday, so now I had no excuse not to make a bridle for the Erin saddle. I ummed and ahhed over a design, and really wanted to go with this bridle:



but since I only have two sizes of nail heads in stock, I can't yet work on this style. (I have some 3mm one son order but am still waiting for them to arrive.) I think the concho style on the cheekpieces would suit the saddle as the only silver on it is round conchos. I probably wouldn't put conchos on the browband like in the picture though.

So instead I decided to use some of the other nailheads that arrived recently - the tear drop style. I had seen this style used before but of course couldn't find the reference picture when I needed it, so had to experiment a little before I settled on a design I liked. This is what I ended up with:



I am REALLY thrilled with how this bridle has turned out. The tear drops turned out wonderfully and work well with TWMHC's 1.5mm nailheads. I did think about putting silver tips on the crown but felt that it would be too overwhelming. The saddle is understated in its silver and the bridle should be too.

I used different buckles on this bridle. I usually use the Rio Rondo etched Western buckles, but since I received some cast buckles in a recent purchase, I felt this would be a good time to try them. (I had bought a set of these buckles previously, but at the time I didn't know they had to be polished to bring out the detail.) The keepers are my silver lace, as is the browband (which possibly could be a little longer).

Here is the whole set on Delta, who it was originally made for.



I think she and Skye (above) may be fighting over who gets to she it at the next live show!

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