 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Home |
Archive |
Site Map |
Model Workshop |
Toy Box |
Goodies |
Madness |
Of The Bizarre |
Beans |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Home |
Archive |
Site Map |
Model Workshop |
Toy Box |
Goodies |
Madness |
Of The Bizarre |
Beans |
|
|
As I neared completion of Estra-La , The Warrior Maiden Cool Girl custom ; it was my intention to provide her with a warhorse . To this end I began hovering at eBay waiting for the appropriate Marx horse to come up and a set of Marx' " Fighting Knights " horse armor to hit the auction block as well . I achieved both goals within a two month time period , at which time my obsessive compulsive personality was able to catch up with me . No longer satisfied with a regular horse in plastic armor , now I HAD to have a WARHORSE in a leather saddle and harness , more Scythian in design than European . Sometimes being an artist can lead to headaches ! Mine began when I discovered that while there are a few resources for western style saddles in 1/6th scale , there are absolutely NONE for medieval style saddles ! There are Arab style sets available , which certainly could work , with some customization , but they are all either " Traditional " or " Classic " scales for Breyer ; this means they are ALL TOO SMALL !!! Needless to say , I had buttered my bread and now had to lie in it .   Novice Saddlemaker Question #1 : Where Do You Start?
This was an easy first question , having already discovered a great many links to miniature tack and saddlemaking websites . Whenever you commence down a path you've not tread before , it's a wise decision to follow the footsteps of others with the same goal, which is what I did . I looked , read and tried to figure out how these miniaturists accomplished what they did . Most do provide information on the techniques and tools used so learning the basics was not difficult . Once I had gotten a basic understanding of the art of small scale saddlemaking , my next task was to design a saddle , and this was perhaps the most difficult aspect of this work . I knew what I wanted as well as what I didn't , and having been a wargame miniature sculptor for many years I had plenty of reference material for medieval style horse accoutrement . I did not want to create an authentic medieval saddle , I wanted one that would compliment the armor design established with my Warrior Maiden , while still encompassing those elements of saddlery that I liked and felt would lend an " authentic " feel to the piece . Rather than design a saddle in the heavily armored European Knight theme , I wanted a lighter version , which is why I opted to go for a style more closely tied to those famed horsemen of the " Iron Age " the Scythians .  The saddle tree is the basic framework from which saddles are constructed , it consists of a frame which straddles the back of the horse and the pommel and cantle ( the front and back pieces ) . I definitely wanted that jousting style saddle seat with the broad and high pommel and cantle that kept the knight from being unseated during tournaments , and I constructed mine , oddly enough , from a " Barbie " chair that was made to resemble a shoe ( you figure THAT one out ! Hah! ) Originally constructed to fit on a Marx horse , I had to break it apart and rebuild it when I acquired my M& C Toys horse ( a much larger horse than the Marx " Thunderbolt " mold ) . Fortunately the Dragon " Blitz " model horse is along the same size and scale of M & C's , and being a far better sculpt and soon superceded the original "warhorse " no further tree modification was necessary . I used foam shoe inserts to form the saddle tree pads that cushion the tree's impact on the horse's back . I then drew a saddle pattern and began cutting leather . I've been cutting leather now , off and on for the past three months ! Unlike some of the more ornate parade or western saddles , I didn't want or need any tooling for this saddle , being that it was a fairly straightforward war saddle . I did , however , want a bit of tooling to the leather if just for the simple fact of adding a bit of texture to it . Tooling leather is another skill I had never attempted before , and it's surprisingly simple . You wet the leather and then cut or press in your detailing . For this saddle I just did edging , nothing fancy or difficult , using wood carving tools . It was so easy I'm eager to expand to more difficult projects in the future .  The saddle really began to look like a saddle after I had finished the seat , which has actually been the most involved aspect of the work on this saddle . The pommel and cantle were both covered in wet leather to set the shape in the hide once it was dry . I wanted Estra-La to be comfortable , since you never know how long you're going to be on the trail , which is why I decided on making the seat upholstered . I sewed the velvet over the cantle once I had removed the formed leather , and had cut down the original english saddle from " Blitz " to separate just the seat itself , which I then upholstered the velvet over . Once the velvet was in place I then glued the leather onto the pommel and cantle , and ran a braided cord around the edge to cover the raw edges of the leather ( this is what is known as a " cheat " ) . I then wet and shaped a separate piece for the pommel , rolling over the top edge and sewing it to secure the roll , this was done primarily to add a bit of more depth to the pommel as well as adding a bit more thickness to it so I could add an additional harness attachment for the warrior maiden's sword scabbard when she's riding for easy access .  Happy Accidents
While I was waiting for leather to dry , I decided to goof around with embossing metal , since I had purchased a sheet of aluminum at my last trip to the art supply warehouse . My embossing detail did not work on the aluminum ( it was to thick and my embossing pattern was too soft ) ... BUT . . . my attempt did form a shape that almost looked like a chamfron , the portion of barding that protects the horse's head . It was minimal , really just the size and shape of the horse's forehead but it gave me inspiration . I had been planning on providing the warhorse a leather chamfron very much in the style of the head wear from Scythian horse armor , but after I had bent and shaped this piece of aluminum with my fingers I decided I would try to trim it down and hammer it out to shape it to more of a European styled chamfron . I've still got a lot more shaping , smoothing and polishing to do to it , but it seems to be working .  While I had designed a pattern for the saddle , transferring concept to reality is never easy . How an idea looks on paper and how it actually works in practice can be quite different , that and sometimes you decide to make alterations to the design as the work progresses . Currently no single part of the saddle is " finished " , thus all the pieces are merely in a " fitting " mode , if I need to make adjustments I can pull everything apart . One of the benefits of merely placing the separate elements in place , you can get a pretty good idea of the soundness of your design , if everything works , your saddle will hold together due to a good fit . Discovering The Function Of Form  During my days as a sculptor , and as an illustrator I was always putting breeches on my horses , just because I thought they looked really cool . I had never known why they were used and truth be told I never really cared that much . As I have worked on this saddle , my research eventually lead me to understanding why breeches were used , thus my decision to include britchen on Estra's warhorse while certainly adding a neat looking bit of strapping detail also serves the important aspect of saddle stabilization whether she is charging down a hill , which is why her horse has breeches or if she is ascending a steep trail ( hence the breast strap ) ; they keep her saddle from sliding forward or backward . You learn something new everyday . As a side note , I had thought at first of doing merely a crupper ( same purpose , but a simple strap that loops around the base of the horse's tail ) , having learned that cruppers are less comfortable for the horse than a britchen , realized that Estra-La would probably favor a more humane solution to her needs where her horse was concerned since a good mount is perhaps one of her most crucial tools for survival in a harsh and unforgiving fantasy realm .  During those periods of time that I was waiting for leather to dry during construction of the saddle , I was back adding additional enhancements to Estra-La . Some of the smaller buckles purchased for the saddle job were used to replace the cording ties on her grieves in favor of better fitting belts , after all it's a real downer losing a sword fight when your opponent gains the upper hand by telling you that your grieves are untied . I also cut down my Monofuku longsword and scabbard to form a dagger for Estra . The dagger's pommel is cut from a 1/18 scale artillery shell that was then pinned to the handle . The leather straps from Cool Girl " Ice's " thigh high boots were used to add additional detail to the scabbard and to form the belt loop . Click Here to Supersize Estra-La's Warhorse  | Warhorse CloseUp | | Let's Paint ! | PaintinKini2 | Steve Zodiac Shockini Custom | Sword Making | Swordmaking1 | Swordmaking2 | WarhorsePreview | Simple Masks | EasyVelcro_fro | Cool Girl Wrist Conversion | samurai_saddle | DX Disaster | Fix It! Loose Ankles | Fun With Texture | Body Armor | OneSixthBlades | Body Armor2 | One Sixth Blades PT II | Otaku Repair 101 | | Mail-O-Rama | Geeb's How To | Head Sculpts Using Polymer Clay | Customizing The Batcycle | 1/6 scale diorama | terrain diorama | 1/6 Scale Boots | Re-Rooting Hair | BimBott | Read_A_Book | WorksInProgress | Aki Ross Repaint | Gun-Bashing | painting heads | | Return Home | Updates | The Archive | Gorby Site Map | Geeb-O-Rama's Model Workshop | Geeb's Toy Box | Geeb-O-Rama Goodies | Movie Madness | World Of The Bizarre | Cool Beans | |
||