Post by Galxey Sparrow on Oct 10, 2017 8:31:50 GMT
I have quite a few books from her and have tried the method detailed in her book of making saddle trees from super sculpty which was relatively successful and i only altered my approach slightly on my second attempt mainly just skipping a few steps here and there to speed up the process.
One thing I will mention is make sure when making trees from scratch to protect your model well , I like to make trees myself for odd shaped or unusual horses so tend to have to use the painted model to ensure a good fit. Once you have done your best to get the tree especially shoulders symmetrical without smooshing things don't worry if it's not perfect you can always come back and sand down any bits that aren't quite right when it's nice and hard.
I used thick gauge armature wire to create the horn for my tree which worked really well and I was even able to sand down the shape with some small needle files as the wire is quite soft being aluminum.
Ill see if I can find any pictures of when I was making the trees I'm sure I would have taken some
Also is this a whole book to itself regarding trees? I think I may only have some of the basics in another book by her about western saddles but I will have to have a look.
Post by Galxey Sparrow on Oct 10, 2017 8:36:33 GMT
Buying a few premade trees can help getting your head around how others are making them as well and I found them very useful to reference back to . When making your own tree always remember that they don't always line up with the patterns included in the book and I found on both occasions I would remake and adjust the pattern to suit the tree after it was completed
The tree is included in one of the saddle making books; I was just asking about it before I bought it. I have a couple of Rio Rondo trees in resin and I'm concerned I'll break them, so I'm on the lookout for alternatives. Thank you for the input! (And also the reminder to tailor any patterns to custom trees. )
Post by Galxey Sparrow on Oct 11, 2017 21:11:09 GMT
Ah That's good ^.^ yes making trees yourself allows for much more variety in size and allows a better fit to each model so I really like doing it although for items I am selling and have no specific horse to fit to I will normally save some time and go for a pre made tree. I've also always meant to look into making a nice draft horse tree and casting it myself to use but they seem to vary so much it's hard to nail down a shape that will fit for a few models at a time.
)