NMTM Day 16

Today I had a lot of time to work on my NMTM Project.

I got the seat covered in suede and the jockeys glued on after a few moments of fitting and a tiny bit of trimming to make them fit well.

 I also glued on the cantle piece, after making a new one. I managed to mistake the cantle piece for the cantle support piece so I glued it in the wrong place and trimmed it so it was not possible to use the old piece. But when I got it all right I think it looks quite good.

 Next up was adding all the conchos. And there the next problem started. While attaching them on the saddle I managed to break of all 6 of the pins... No kidding, ALL SIX of them! So I had to resort to plan B.

Plan B was making holes for the tiny bit of pins that was left and gluing them in place. It worked quite well.

Here I have added 4 out of 6 conchos.

When all the conchos were in place I started adding the silver decorations.

Slowly but surely the plain saddle turned into a simple yet decorated saddle.

When adding the upper skirt I had to split it to make it fit properly. Unfortunately I wasn't thinking and I didn't split it in the middle... I'll do that next time. Anyway I covered the split with a silver piece from the framing of the silver decorations. And I think it looks okay.

I did have more silver plates that I could've added but I liked the current look where it is decorated yet not over the top.

Other side.

 So when I was happy with the saddle and considered it done. I started working on the breastcollar. It came together quite nicely and quicker than I thought.

It wasn't a very hard piece of tack to make but it was quite fun to see it come together so quickly and without a lot of fuss.

Then I started the bridle which also came together quite smoothly and quick. 

I then realized that I had managed to reach my goal. My NMTM project is officially finished 😄. And I have almost half a month left! So next up will be the stablemate saddle.

Better pictures of the finished piece will come in the next few days 😊