Weird halter

I know I once made this, but I didn't photograph it until now. I simply forgot the whole tack piece... And yet less I remember how it should be used!

Yea, trust that the little horse expert is strong enough to hold a huge thoroughbred.

This is one of those moments when you know your invention is unbelievable, because you should have instructions of it's usage and fitting...

This thingy was a weird halter (or "halter") with chain noseband, tongue-buckled crownpiece, cheekpieces and... Weird rings. No throatlatch or anything else who could be normal parts of a halter, because this was meant to be used with pressure! Some kind of force halter.

I also had made a whole separate strap to attach bits, and also fitting bits belong to the set. I know I meant it originally that the bit strap can be attached to the halter to make them... to be some kind of multi-use halter/bridle, BUT of course I really don't remember how I set this first time.

Anyway, I photographed it now on the same horse who was the one I made the tack to fit.


I know that the chain is too long when set like in these second photos. I remember that something depended from the large ring, without it that setting could not have been possible... Well, I surely go to play with this a lot later, when I am OK with it, but right now I wanted to photograph how the thingy is meant to fit when it's simply set.

In those the chain goes from the front rings to the hind ones, having a place of throatlatch - and hooks meet there. So when you pull from the rope, it's throat what feels the biggest pressure; and scrag, too. Noseband just makes sure the whole thingy works, although I imagine the chain noseband to be yet worse force tool than just a strap to keep the halter in a halter's shape. 

Then I added the bits, and bit strap; I don't bother to call it bridles nor crownpiece/cheekpiece -mix, because, well, it's just a strap with two buckles.

Rope and reins seen in the photos do not belong to the same set; reins I got from other bridles and the rope was made just for photographs like that, to be a good, easily used rope.

I think the set looks nicer this way, with more straps and messy metal parts. It just shows what horse poeple (some who claim they are horse lovers, although I think they're just sport lovers) are ready to do to make themselves feel skilled and safe while their horse just is tied, forced to be a sport machine.

Todays I don't feel that I am a photographer, just look at these damn bad pics...

Yet closeup of the bits. I always want to see how people make bits, and I am interested to see how they work, no matter how cruel the tool is. Knowing that just makes sure we know how to make them in mini scale.

For some reason, almost no one of my weirdest bits work as I planned them to do...Mostly it comes from too long curbchain or the fact that Remu (that horse) just has too short mouth.

Really, never photograph anything small this way... Never.

I always take these "show" photos of my horses when I try to photograph their tack.

I photographed what the bits look when reins are pulled, and while not.Not a surprise that the effect seen isn't really how it should be, but hey, plastic mouth doesn't allow it to look realistic.

My newer doll (one of them) shows an arm there!

I apologize the possible mess and confusion in my blogtexts, bad photos and weird English. I haven't been comfortable with my texts lately, but I try to get rid of that; if I never dare to publish anything, I never know how readable they are. And what comes to photos, I often take 'quick' photos and less often, when I want to focus properly to my photographing, I take the better camera and soften it's flash and so on. But that good job takes often too much brains, and I do it only when I feek good enough to.

So, mostly I try to apologize the horrific photos I throw here.

10 things I could not have without model horse hobby

This idea just came to my mind. I wondered what I could post here (already!), and started to ponder all things I am and have, thanks to the model horse hobby.
I have this hobby mostly just alone (in this country), and that's OK because the physical, 3-dimensional form is what makes things perfect in model horses.

I listed 10 things I couldn't have without model horses. I also started to think what others have got or are after finding the hobby...?


My list:

At first, the oldest and best, I got interested about sculpting. My dream is being a professional sculptor. And this comes mostly from myself alone, as I just like small animal shaped items and matching equipment to use with them. I often design models in my head, but never I get them out there as I just haven't as much skill as I wish I had to sculpt horses.

I have more 'full sculpture' experience from shapeless animals, like rats and cats.

As second, I learned a lot of English language after I found the hobby. Any school doesn't teach as much as a perfect hobby (or a habit of life, as I like to say...). When you find something really interesting and want to know it, you read it like crazy, no matter did you already have skill with the language or not.

Third, I got interested of other miniatures too. Dollhouses and mini sized things are my thing of all. Sadly I have no resources for that still, so much... Like, I haven't a dollhouse in the common 1:12 scale (classic). And I once realised, that as I am as picky as I am, I couldn't have just one dollhouse but FEW. They all could be really different and unusual.
Todays I also enjoy making miniature art; real paintings in really small scale (hey, how a dollhouse painting, what's handmade, could not be a real painting? Same thing as if you make a full working halter in 1:9 scale). I enjoy it often even more as if I do same in large scale.

The Rat Room, two 1:9 scale rooms in my shelf. This is the upstairs part.

Fourth, after having too long inferiority complex, I tested to make some tack, and got hooked. This was at 2013, I think. Todays tackmaking is one thing I enjoy a lot and even know a bit about, although my tack isn't that great. (Heh, I must mention now, that one reason to read Braymere custom saddlery's blog is that it inspires and helps me a lot with tackmaking!)

Getting Breyers threw me to a whole new level, as I saw how bad my previous halters really are. This one got made just after I got the horses (Cortes and Sam).

Fifth, the dolls. DOLLS! Believe me, before model horse hobby I HATED dolls as a thing! Todays I am crazy at them, and just recently started to make them with my own hands. It's weird how a hobby can change a human... And if the dolls alone are a weird thing to me, I must mention that the way they are by me comes from another hobby thingy (animal faces instead of people). For me that is just my way to make dolls, as I same time avoid human faces. My own world what I draw and write had a role in this too; many of my doll ideas get inspired by my dear characters.

More dolls is coming, coming...

Sixth, I got one fake reason to... Well, collect unbelievably much trash around. Make a mess. That is what I use for my hobby, heh... Really. My idea is that all that stuff should get used someday (and I try to buy/get only things what I know I surely can use). My work table is a good way to see what I mean with this (mess), and I'm no longer going to take photos of my unfinished customs and/or dolls or tack when they sit among all the stuff there. It looks like there had been an explosion.

Seventh, other hobbyists - not because of people alone, but because we share a nice hobby and can talk about it. For me it is important to have same interests with people, and this is one of them. The Finnish model horse forum's previous version was first forum ever I have had a profile in.

Eighth, todays I see everything behind miniature glasses. Not a joke. I really don't know what those do who have no art and miniatures in their life. Or how? I see a roll of metal wire: for tackmaking, or for sculpture armature? Yes! Any kind of pliers: for destroying models before resculpting, and for tackmaking! Paintbrushes: what else I do them if not paint art and miniatures! Don't even ask... A bowl of small beads: for animal model's eyes of course! A carboard box where my Breyers and Safaris came home in: I made a photography studio for Schleichs from it!

Ninth, I could not have my army of thumb rats without being at first a model horse freak and at second a rat freak. To make thumb rats, I use silk clay, foam clay and glossy varnish (for eyes). Also acrylics and some other materials, like metal pieces, glue and viscose hair are a part of their making but not needed with every rat. Almost no one of these rats is perfect or what I planned them to be, but every one of them is still special and different! The scale is maybe 1:6, but I am fine with the fact that they are pets for my traditional scale dolls.

That 'green' rat is really turquoise. Camera settings just added the green.

Foam clay for body; it's a rex rat. Silk clay for skin and eyes. A black hooded male.

Tenth, what that could be... Well, I could not be myself without model horse 'hobby'. As said, it's a habit of life more than just a hobby. After I found model horse world, I started to think everything via it. Without model horses, I could have something stupid to collect as crazily as I collect models and buy stuff to make things with my own hands. I could not have thumb rats. I could not have working miniature tack for horses. I could not have so much knowledge about many things. I could not use my brains as much as I now do! Model horse hobby just fits my personality too well.

-

My list can be a bit poor, but all I mentioned is true. This hobby is a huge part of my life... If I imagine that our house could get a fire here, one thing I am scared to miss are my miniatures. Really. Of course pets come first of all, but after them, models.


Others (readers, you, whoever there is) can also make their own list like that if they want. Why not? 

Just list 5-10 (or more if that's not enough) things you have or are thanks to model horses, or what else had changed in your life. And do not only list things, but write something about them too. Matching photos also tell a lot and are just nice!

(Suomalaiset, jos kiinnostaa, listatkaa kans elämästänne 5-10 juttua, joita ei olisi tai joka olisi toisin ilman pienoismallihevosharrastusta. Joko suomeksi tai englanniksi.) 

And hey, if you want to write more than ten things what this hobby had caused to you, feel free to!

Fourth doll, a rat boy

Hmm, my homemade rider doll cat got already new stable friend. This time it is - oh, of course - a rat boy... A rex (curly haired) standard eared rat in black color, with a blaze and white chest (so-called 'irish' pattern).

(Already, I apologize the super bad qualitied photos. I continue again and again to use my 'landscape cam' for photographing miniatures although the SLR camera is really better for that.) 

The armature was made similarly as with Juoru (the cat), but I left the tape off and just added clay to the wire. The head got some wire wrapped around, as I want that I can move his head nicely enough, without danger of breaking the clay.

I always cover the strong armature with some thinner wire to make sure the clay and glue can stick better.

Longer shape to the head. The tail wire makes sure he can stand without help.

As clay I used foam clay, what, as silk clay, is just familiar thing to me from my thumb rats. And foam clay works quite well for dolls, as it's stronger and easier to keep in shape and even 'fade', when addin more clay to a place. For ears and nose I used silk clay, and I got surprised how well the nose got it's details! I thought it could just look like a piece of clay, but I got a clear rat nose, hmm. As a sculpting tool I used a barbecue stick what had been a paint tool too... Because... I run my own work room and I don't plan that much (and I have a huge pack of those sticks).

First clays added, then left to dry a bit.

Nose!

When the clay was dried, I glued some fabric-like leather thingy to his arms. It worked OK to me too, although I don't like the fact that the glue didn't stay so well still. If the arms flay themselves, I need to think something else for material later or then I really must buy fabric glue (I don't have). I tried to glue that arm material to his lower legs too, but it didn't stay - so if I show any photos, he looks very... thin...

Paws and tail got leather on, and I like them all, quite much. Haha. I'm a pessimistic perfectionist, so if I like things I make, it's weird.

Arms and tail leather glued.

Then I added more clay to him; in a shape of poor pelvis and some tummy. I want that my dolls have all body parts... Also his thights got more meat (I mean, he got a butt), that he's not so ridiculously skinny when he sits on a horse's back. And when that was yet not dry, I decided to paint the boy's markings: white blaze and an 'irish' pattern to the chest. Also eyes got glued and painted on. As I used acrylics, there was no much time to the varnishing - what's always the best part in all, because it means that the doll/model is finished!

He wants already to go ride?

I got another weirdness after having his eyes painted. They are really bright blue beads, and I didn't add too much dark blue paint there. The bead's own color is, so, almost visible from there, under the pupil too... And when I first photographed him with flash, the eyes did glow.

The rex rat boy's pupils got also placed realistically: rats look mostly up, so the pupils don't look ahead. Not even exactly similarly, mirrored, so it can look crazy if you see the pupils from the eye. They are small when using flash.

And that's what I like - no stressing from the eye that much when doing doll eyes.

Now I could tell his name: Räväkkä. It's Finnish and means boisterous. I especially wanted to include the letter Ä there, because I like to 'disclose' Finland and being Finnish (and to be honest, I love irritating non-Finns with difficult words). For horse people, to understand his name better, a horse filled with energy and fast movement is 'räväkkä'.

For nickname I decided Rämä, after 'rämäpää/rämäpäinen', meaning daredevil or swashbuckling.

He has no surmane yet, but is comes when it comes.

Well. Here he is.

As you see, I also cut pieces from his ears, so he has notches there. If he comes from a big litter and had a lot play fights there? Rats sometimes bite each other and cause injuries, accidentally or angrily.

Also, because of being in this country and as now is winter, I made a long vest (or just sleeveless jacket) for Rämä to wear. It's made from some really soft and warm fabric, and is kept on with a simple hook. To hide his wire neck I cut him a simple scarf, what's mostly just hidden inside the vest because it's ends can't lop realistically.

I also got already a stack of riding photos... With a horse called Sam. I like how Rämä works, that was what I meant to make him being. While photographing this situation I created here, I got a feeling that I try to make it look similar to some dark movies where people ride horses while being chased and scared (Sleepy Hollow!). Is Rämä some kind of riding robber or what the toe?! (No, he's a domestic rat pup, they are the cuddliest thing ever. I bet he is just kidding if he calls himself as a robber.)

For photos, Sam wore an old hackamore thingy made by me. Not adjusted as well as they should, but no things always go as they are meant to. So the bridles don't always fit neither.

Yet flesh to the legs, and trousers to wear, and then...

In fact, just Sam is räväkkä horse. Sport horses are.

I must retake this photo someday, when things are better.

One thing what surprised me after finishing Rämä, was the fact that he is really small. Yes, he is young, but not all pups are that small still. Asko, who I counted to be about 180 cm if he was 1:1 scale, looks really tall next to the rex brat. And don't let the photo fool you - in that Rämä looks of course shorter as he is because of his position, but I checked that when he stands straightly next to Asko, his head is to his shoulder only! Soooooo... When I next time find my ruler and calculator... I am going to count the exact height.

Rämä was moving something random, so it's his own fault that his right leg's toes don't show in the photo!

He is good soup with another young one at stable; Juoru, as said. Or what else does this show? Just throw away the generic thoughts about rat-eating pet cats. It does not happen. Neither when the rat and cat have humane bodies and are sized as people. (Need to say, I never forget the situation when our first rat Voldemort allowed a cat called Amigo to smell with him behind cage bars. After a second he made a quick move and the cat scared out of his pants. If the rat could have been scared, he couldn't have done that!)

Didn't I mention in Juoru's blogtext that he got a skirt because I can't make trousers? Should do similar cloth for Rämä too.

When I write this end of a text right now, I am waiting some newer dolls to dry their clays... But this time I finally made females. Female rats. Let's see later what I do with them.

The 1:12 scale cat dolls are still waiting to get sculpted, but I guess they come when I have settled from my cloud of dollmaking at all. Because, when I find something what works and what I have planned and struggled with for years, I get crazy with it and can't anything else than just make and make and make more the thing, like dolls right now. And traditional scale feels natural to make dolls to. 

Third doll!

Today it happened... I got a third rider doll in scale 1:9. But this is a bit different from the typical, because this is not a Breyer doll. I didn't buy it or custom it - I made it by myself!

I know, he's not that good, and I even didn't wait it to be good. I only wanted to see if I really can make a doll. I think I could; after making this one for test, I know a bit more how to do and what. It's possible, at least, that I do not later use any tape to base a sculpt.

His materials are simple: metal wire, tape and black silk clay. I taped the wire armature just because I had nothing clever for that, and I don't understand humane anatomy that well yet that I could just splat the clay pieces and make shapes... I also can't wait, I have never that magical thing called patience, so I decided to do that way. Also the silk clay is not similar to anything else what people really use, so that explains the messy look.

After leaving him dry some hours, I glued some fabric to his limbs and tail to give him moving paws but no too difficult sculptings. That also made it possible to position the tail how I like! After gluing the limbs, I added him pawpads and nose color with a dark brown acrylic paint; inner ears I painted with some skin color only because I didn't want them to be one and same everywhere. And as this is a test doll only, yet, I didn't care that much how well he is made.

For eyes I had beads, what I painted. It was horrific as always, because I wanted them to move, but after some finishing I decided to glue them to their place.

After that, he was ready for some test ride with Sam (Cigar mold). (The photos I took about that ride are so deadly horrific in quality that I don't want to torture anyone's retinas with them. Enjoy.)

The doll really has wires in limbs, so they move and do not stay in one position forever, but I just didn't photograph him with hands open. 

He's a black Finnish farm cat. And I called him Juoru (rumor), now, although I had thought a name Walter too... But as he is Finnish, and one of the rider rats (Breyer CM doll) has a middle name Walther, I decided not to call him that then.

Waiting for eyes to dry.

Yet waiting for eyes to dry... And possibly waiting for pawpads to get painted.

Not the most cat-like cat of me, but for a first doll it's almost OK.

He holds reins better than the Breyer CM dolls I have.

The cheek fur is meant to look similar to fluffy cat cheeks I see often at home.

Lauha has very fluffy, round cheeks todays.

As you see from the photos, I made him a scarf... Quickly and badly, but that's better than seeing his clay-less neck. I also do not like what his eyes look, because of the less well planned creating (meant to be moving, and then decided to glue), BUT I think that if I stay gluing eyes with the future dolls, then I have no problem with that anymore. One doll with ugly eyes is OK, if others are better.

I'm a cat person. That is why I made a cat. Another reason was my childhood, because I have yet my childhood toy horses here, and we always played (and drew) their handlers to be cats. Juoru was meant to be in 1:12 scale, but he got to be too tall and large at all, so he's traditional scale. Not bad still, one cat with rats is just nice for me. And now I know yet better that I CAN make a rider doll for my classics too. A cat doll. Because I have some nicer horses and tack to photograph.

And oh dääämn how long time ago I sculpted a cat! Nothing easy this time, I almost gave him a rat head... Thehe. Have planned to sculpt just normal cats from some clay (not silk clay) for a while now, but I haven't started. I should. Also customizing Schleich cats seems to be a nice idea.

Juoru is yet a bit unfinished, but as he is already that well and has face and working body, I am not going to hurry. He needs quickly something to hide his torso, and I wish he could also get more meat to there as he looks too anorectic to me yet (I don't want cats to be thin! They need muscle!). And to hide that lack of body, and my mistakes (...), I tried to make a stupid little red cloth for him BECAUSE I have no idea of how clothes are made... Blll. It didn't work, but well, now he wears it before getting anything clever, and because as a cat he 'has' a fur coat... And for the most important, he is at stables with my rider rats, who DO have clothes. Why one should not have, then? Cats do not belong alone to Finnish nature at wintertime although they have coat, the weather can be simply too cold. (It's illegal to leave your cat run freely!)

Anyway, get some photos of these three being together! Asko and Juoru seemingly have already good moment, they discuss about riding. Omar then feels that he is not welcomed to the talk and just rolls eyes and moves randomly his legs as he has yet energy to use, after too less riding.

From left: Omar, Asko, Juoru.

My dolls surely are not the most well made or the most beautiful at all, but I think they are still personalities and live their own life... Like seen in those photos: After testing his riding skills, I just wanted to put Juoru to sit to the photography studio's edge before coming here to my computer, but then I got an idea to set Asko and Omar there too. And I didn't bother to move Omar's eyes, so he didn't talk with the others then. Asko had his hands nicely positioned, and I had carefully moved Juoru's face that he could talk to the dumbo guy. For me the result looks just nice enough not to photograph.

Hmm, my work room is mostly cat-free area, and I keep the door closed. That's how my dolls can sit and lay everywhere they want, and I can leave my projects to the table that I can easily continue to them when the time is right. If the door could be always open... Then the 1:1 cats could love to roam there and taste everything - everything dangerous - and ruin my dolls, custom models, tack and so on. And just throw things down from the tables and shelves, aagh! I'm always scared that cats harm themselves.

But yea, that's it now! I have been in some model horse cloud recently, resculpted a lot, so I really have things to publish here too, but for first I should write them and and... Yee.