specialcases

Nice work! I made down and dirty alpaca halter for my sister in law using just glue and rivets. skived, lapped and glued the "joints". No stitching hence the down and dirty. real quick build once I got the pattern worked out from a nylon one. The angle of the nose/chin band is imprtant on these little fellas adnmesed with my head for while.....I am used to horse halters. I used 3/4 strpa and hardware and they say they would prefer 5/16 next time. It is doing good service as a general use halter. I am working with here to design a fancier show halter, perhaps with off colour stitching which looks great on yours.

I stitch just as shown in the Stohlman book with the only exception being occassionally I will use the awl 10 holes ahead then put it on the bench rather pearce and stitch each time. Not convinced yet if it is any faster but occassionally is easier on my sometimes stiffer hands and fingers just to have the needles to deal with. I think I may get more consistant through angle due to being able to repeat in sequence and take advantage of muscle memory. I flattened one side of the awl handle for two reasons 1) it keeps it from rolling off the bench when set down and increasingly more importantly I use it as a tactile reference with my fingers to know how the blade is oriented relative to the stitiching line so the "daimond" is aligned as Al says it should be. I also place my index finger on the top face of the bladeto help ensure alignment and to help push back out. It makes thing way more consistant and I dont need to look at the awl to know the orientation. i made a pony that can slot into an old chair I reseated and used a tie down ratchet for the tension device and it works great. I included nice wide wings on the base which go under my thighs behnd my knees and i can us it on any seat as well. mostly now on my stool in front of the bench and usign the bench to stablise the pony forwards. when working at the weekend place I have a real horse built by my brother in law to a pattern a cobbled up from lots of images and historical plans plus the Stohlamn plan. I added teh "saddle" once i rode it fro a while.....they both work great and are a must for me. i am on a continuous improvement plan with technique and tricks and tools and am sucking up all that this forum can provide. Tips like the vinyl gloves on those tough peices to help grip the needles and a trick i saw on line on how to pearce the needle through the thread by laying the thread on the bench, flattening it a little section with a thumn nail then placing the needle tip on the flat and pulling the thread up the needle. brilliant help. Here is my pony and my horsey. invaluable both of them. Thanks for all the wisdom shared here. stop by sometime and check out how i have tried to use it! plinkercases.ca God Bless and thanks.