Browband is a 12 plait, rest is 8 plait

[Opagon]

Camel colored Roo with Rawhide accents - Browband is a 12 plait, rest is 8 plait. Just wanted to try something a little different that what you usually see in a fully braided headstall. I still have some tweaking to do and a couple of small knots to add but for the most part I am happy with it.

I make a lot of what I call, Braid overlay headstalls and this is the one I finished up yesterday.

Thanks for looking,

Heather

[Opagon]

Had some conchos that I wanted to use up so I stuck one on the browband.

Let me know what you all think.

Heather

[skip]

Looks great do you cut your own lace? any coments on what helped you with learning the buttons to make them look nice or does that just come with practice?

Skip

[Opagon]

Hi Skip,

When I first started I bought precut lace, it allowed me lots of practice and kept less sharp objects around the little ones. The more practice you can find time for the better your knots will look.

Helpful hints: Always double check your spacing on your bases before starting your interweaves. You are looking for the space of one string. The size of the object you are tying your knot on is going to determine how many bights you will need before you can start the interweave. I keep a notebook on everything that I braid as a reference.

I use a peice of red oak for smoothing out my knots with a little pounding. I first use some leather conditioner that wont affect the color of my strings and use the heat from my hands to make sure everything is rubbed in even. Small knots like the spanish rings I use the butt of my fid to lightly pound and then I shape it up with the flat side of my fid.

A good base is important for a good looking knot. In the photo below you will see 2 headstalls 3/4 inches wide. The Knot with the Camel color Roo interweave has One Spanish ring as a base and the Knot with the Orange interweave has Two spanish rings as a base. They both have the same lengths of string but the 2 ring base ends up with a more square apperance.

Experiment and practice, write it down and then practice some more, thats how I do it.

Hope this helps,

Heather

[HorsehairBraider]

Hey, nice braiding! I like the concho added to the browband, nice touch. I bet the public goes nuts over stuff like that - anyone would love to have those on their horse. This is much nicer than what I see in the local tack store.