Faster horses said:
Tam, did you make the horse? Just curious how you did that, it's
really neat regardless. You could sell them at your gallery!
Yes I made it. My Brother in law loaned me a book he had and challenged me. He figured after all the wagons I had built making a horse wouldn't be that hard so what could I do, I took him up on the challenge. I have to return his book now but was lucky enough to find the same book on Ebay so I got one coming in the mail.
Here are some pics in progress
40 some pieces were cut out (with the new scroll saw Big Muddy gave me for Christmas) and glued together in the different stages of the process.
Legs and under body were made up of 9 pieces. The first four pieces to the legs were drilled peg and glued onto the under belly then a second set of cut outs were glued to the inside of leg to make them stronger.
Head and neck were 5 pieces and upper body was another 9 pieces
Once all glued together A LOT of carving and sanding came into play.
The 2 rockets were each made up of 5 pieces with another 9 pieces running between to make the rocker system
There was three coats of stain put on with sanding between each coat
Then it was out to the barn to get some of grandpa's horse hair he had roached off of his horse. Which happen to be the one Mantracker rode while filming here. Once the hair was sewd together it was glued in. Then I started making the saddle and bridle out of leather scraps. The strups were tricky but finally decided to use electrical conduate straping wrapped in black electrical tape. If Colt grows out of them his dad can replace them with bigger ones, as he is a Master Electrician :wink:
Once it was built all that was left was the painting and finishing of the rockers. As I wanted him to be riding the open range I chose to paint sage brush, cactus, and being from Saskatchewan I painted the tiger lily as that is Sask Provincial flower and my favorite flower. I finished it with three coats of varnish and rub it down with a brown paper bag to give it that hand rubbed feel.
And this was my reward, a very happy little cowboy
I have plans to make another one or two or how ever many more Grandchildren we have and I would love to have a bigger one for my gallery, but I doubt I will be selling them as they are a lot of work for the money I could get for one. :shock: I did have one lady in Plentywood ask if I had a business card after she saw Colt's but when I told her it wasn't for sale she was disappointed.