HorsehairBraider

Wow - our house got hit by lightning last week! It happened when we had just walked inside. There was a huge noise - like a large-caliber gun going off - and a huge very bright flash. We were not hurt, but my computer sure was... It also blew out the main breaker and damaged the rest of the breakers. The main was sort of welded together... Yikes! There was also a small piece of the siding blown off, the phone line was hit very hard, and the DSL modem was actually blown apart (they accused us of dropping it when we brought it back in!). We were lucky though. No one was hurt, the house did not catch on fire, and an amazing amount of stuff still works. My computer was plugged in to one of those huge battery surge protectors, but I guess there's only so much those things can take! I kept thinking, if only I had one of those little netbooks, I would have been able to work these last 10 days. As it is, I am using an old computer on its last legs, and my computer (which I only bought in November of 08!) is lying in little pieces on a tech's desk while he seeks to repair it. With luck I'll have it back in another week. So two questions - first, anyone else ever have a run-in with lightning? I'd be interested in your story if you don't mind sharing. Second, anyone else have a netbook and if so what kind do you suggest? I want one with a LONG battery life so I don't have to plug it in very often! I'm scared to plug stuff in now!

Cool! I've been doing it that way for years... if you braid hair, it just makes a lot more sense to do it that way as I discovered long ago. Now I can't do it any other way... nothing else makes sense anymore... You can always learn. Unless of course it's a person who knows "everything". If you know "everything", well, you can't learn *anything*.

I'm married to a vet but unfortunately he has to work this weekend... at the hospital in the ER.... We always celebrate when he gets home. His dad was a vet too, in WW11, a marine machine gunner. How these guys can do this I'll never know. I can only admire.

Well, for what it's worth (probably exactly what you're paying me!) here are my ideas. I like to get at least some of my stuff up to the eye level of the customer. So, I use a set of tables out front that are normal height, and right behind them a set of tables up about another foot, with stuff on the higher tables on stands, holders etc. That draws people in which is the whole point to me... I want them to SEE what I've got, that will sell them I think. I don't put out everything I have. I put out SOME. As things sell, I replenish with fresh items. Putting out everything I've got is what I call "putting two pounds of sh## into a one pound bag". If things are crowded they don't look good. I want it to look like these things are precious. Sometimes, I go out of the booth and move things around a little to freshen up the display. Accept from the start that people are going to move your stuff around... either that or be sure and put scotch in your coffee cup... otherwise it will drive you crazy. I have set up so that people can walk IN to the 10 X 10 space, but I have also had much success setting up so that the people stay on the front part of my display. (More space for me to set up a table for credit cards, fixing things etc.) Both can work well. When people can come in to the 10 X 10, they tend to stay out - it's too crowded in there with just one person with a spouse. But when it's just a front, 10' long, more people will "psychologically" fit. It depends here what you are selling... Most of my stuff would be considered "jewelry" and the one front part works well for that. Cover your tables. Make sure your table covers go right to the ground. That way, you can store unsightly boxes etc. under the tables without anyone seeing them. Tie your table together before you cover them. People are going to lean on them no matter what you do, which can jiggle them out of alignment. You might consider setting up a little under your canopy. That way, people can come look at your stuff out of the sun (or, I hope not, rain!!). If they are coming in for shade and end up buying something... well... Good luck at your show! I hope it goes well for you.

Nice, Mike! It's coming along. Looks like you got that knot on the handle end to close up real nice on top. What's your next project?

What a cool color... I love that color, silver bay. I've got one but it's pouring rain, when I have a chance I'll take a look and see if it will suit.

Always, always, always - anchor your ends. Because if you don't, they'll come back to haunt you. Especially if you braid horsehair. I sometimes go to extremes to anchor my ends, but I can tell you it pays off - you do NOT want an end to come loose in something you've sold to someone.

I've just been working... braiding of course, but you know, nothing special, just the stuff I always make, day in and day out. I'm about to start on a special project though, can't wait to see how that comes out. Also, we're putting one of the fields in hay. That was a great video! Wouldn't that be a fun thing to attend?!

My bracelets are all custom, and let me tell you, you can be really surprised by a wrist measurement. Of course most of my customers I never see, they just send in the order form. I've got nothing to go on, height or anything, because all I see is their handwriting filling out the order form! I always get a *wrist* measurement from them. I have to insist on *wrist*, some people measure a watch, another bracelet etc. and that does not give me an accurate measurement. People's wrists vary quite a lot. It seems to me that if I make up a bunch in the 7" range, about a thousand tiny-boned women with 5" wrists show up at the show and complain the bracelets are too big. Then I take them to the next show and it's a bunch of men with big wrists... I tell myself they make good samples! I add 1/2" to the length for ease. Mine adjust somewhat, but I still need to get them in the ballpark.

Nice tutorial, Troy. I especially enjoyed seeing the diagrams of the pineapple. I always like to learn new stuff, and although I knew of "perfect" pineapples, I had never seen that particular book and therefore these diagrams are new to me. It makes me want to braid more in leather! You can't tie the knot like that in horsehair, or at least not easily. But it would be a great method in rawhide or leather.

Get a Foredom. Foredom They make them for jewelers and dentists, and expect the person is going to actually use it day in and day out. You can get different hand pieces, motor, chucks and collets etc. The one I have has been going strong for about 12 years now. Best money I ever spent. Plus, you can easily get replacement parts, and they are easy to put on. (Well, I can do it, and I am no mechanic!) I've used mine for carving rocks, even. I talked to a fellow who is an equine dentist and he had been using a Dremel, and sure enough, they wore out in about a year's time. That would drive me crazy... If I'd had to buy a new Dremel every year for the past 12 years, well, they might be "cheap" but they are not worth it to me. I'd just as soon have something that will last.

@ cdthayer: You think you're small - my business is just *me*! And how do I handle this? Not sure if this will help any, but I'm willing to say: I have a "One of a Kind" page. People have to contact me either by phone or email to be sure what they want has not just been sold. This works well for me. When I go as a vendor to an actual show, I bring that OOAK stuff with me and it gets a lot of attention and actually helps to draw people in to the booth. Now, it's a pain to keep the photos fresh and keep photos deleted when stuff sells, but it's not that bad that I can't handle it. I'm about to do a whole new set of photos, actually. On to more general topics. Interesting, my website has been really successful. I wondered why, and this article helps explain. I have a niche product that is easy to ship... who knew... That was not exactly my goal when I set up the business, it just kind of worked out that way.

Nice job, as always! I like the way you do your poppers. A very nice touch.

This prepares leather for tooling. You get it wet in some way - some use plain water, some use a special formula (such as the one referred to above with baby shampoo in it) - and then, once it is thoroughly wet through and through, you let it start to dry until the surface just feels dry. Leather tools easier at that point. It takes practice to get it to the perfect texture for tooling... every now and then I get it right and the leather tools really well... I still have a great deal to learn...

I would say this is just a matter of practice. You are doing the braid correctly, so that's a good thing! From your scans, I can see the braid tension is a little uneven. Look at the length of the little "diamond" shapes in the braid... some are longer than others, and I can particularly see this in the bottom photo, in the lower one of the braids right below the cards. Of course the goal is to have them all the same size, but this is a matter of doing it enough that your hands get trained to use the same tension. My friend & neighbor used to do that show in TX - I guess she always did really well! From her description it's a really fun show.

I agree, a picture would be terrific, but yes - most braiding problems like this are simply a matter of practice. I don't know what material you made this of, but if it's made of cotton, nylon, etc (some sort of rope or twine, NOT leather or rawhide) here's a trick to make it behave, while you practice more so this does not happen: turn on your teakettle and when it is going well and lots of steam is coming out of the spout, hold your lanyard tightly over the steam. Stretch it between your two hands so it is straight while it is in the steam. Be careful not to burn yourself! It really is better to just braid straight, but this might save it so you can use it.

What a wonderful sight to see this morning - it looks great! Your sister is going to be thrilled. I braid for a living, and so I have to do stuff like that on a regular basis. What I wonder is, once you spend 6 weeks working on it, how can you bear to give it away?!

WOW.

Well, I've got an old McClelland, and it is not one of those... at least, it is nothing like mine. If it *is* an old Paso Fino saddle that would be really cool. But it seems to me it would not have a narrow tree for that breed... although they are small, the ones I have are very round and need a little wider tree. Can't wait to see what others say! It's a really neat old saddle.

Zack White has split tooling leather for me before and done a *fabulous* job. As I recall it only cost something like 50 cents a foot... well worth it. They told me it is easier to take something really heavy first for skiving. Sounds like a cool project!

A bit is a tool for communication. It also can help to do such things as: encourage a horse to carry his head higher; encourage a horse to carry his head lower; turn in a particular way, stop in a particular way etc. Some bits are milder than others, but they feel differently to the horse. If they are thinner they feel differently, if they are thicker, made out of a different metal etc. So you are trying to find a bit that communicates well between you and that particular horse, and it can depend on what you are trying to get him to do. A lot of it has to do with the horse and the horse's preference. Some horses are very nervous, and a bit with a roller can give them something to do besides fret. Some horses have a very low roof of mouth, so a bit that might look "mean" can be perfect for that horse - sort of like a lollipop. (I'm speaking of spoon bits here.) Another bit, that works well on one horse, can hurt the mouth of another, due to a different build in the mouth. Then you have to take into consideration the training (or lack thereof) in an individual horse, and the different amounts of sensitivity in different horses. Also, some people can handle certain bits really well - they have the right hands (sensitivity) to handle that bit. So it's not just the horse that has to have training - the rider must have good training too, and we say such a rider has "good hands". A rider with good hands and a good "feel" for the horse, can ride just about any horse in just about any bit - but there are still some that will work better, or worse, to make things easier, or harder.

Great points by UKRay - and in addition, didn't you actually train these people to some extent? It seems to me that makes it "your" product even more. If I should ever be able to find a helper (yeah, like *THAT'S* ever going to happen) I would have to spend a lot of time training them to do this job in the way my customers have come to expect. I would hope they came to the job with some initial talent or ability, but I expect things done a certain way and I know you do too. Maybe some people think of it as being picky... I think of it as doing things right. So not only do you own the company, the tools, and do the design work - you've invested time in training your crew. They wouldn't do things up to your standard if you did not bring them up short when something wasn't right... and that's an opportunity for them to learn, but that's also you teaching. I don't see any problem. No doubt, as others have pointed out, the guy who is giving you a hard time about this is simply jealous.

I've used Hitching Post Supply too and been very happy. By "in colours" do you mean dyed? Because of course horsehair already *does* come in colors - sorrel, black, grey etc. If you want to dye it, acid dyes should work well as they are formulated to work on protein fibers. (I know it sounds bad but the acid is acetic acid, or you can also use vinegar - it's not a horrible acid.) If you just get white you can dye it any color you like, and it might or might not be more cost-effecitve for you to do your own dyeing, just depends on your situation. I don't dye it myself. I just use the normal colors it comes in.

This is a good point and true for any venue. Let's say you're at an art show in your local community. Maybe you make $800.00 (which at least covers the booth fee). Do you then count the money you make 6 months later, a year later, from people who pick up your business card and then call you? A lot of this is just advertising, pure and simple. It gets your name out. Personally, I do not use eBaY.... but that does not mean it can't be very valuable to many businesses. You have to look at it, assess the risk and the potential. Maybe the one outweighs the other! It will be different in each case.

That's a great idea... I'd bid on that auction... Doubt I would win though!