Packaging Tips

So before Christmas I mailed out a lot of orders. Most got to their destination just fine. One pitch fork arrived broken. It was as I had always feared. Usually when I pack I put a piece of cardboard behind the pitch forks and rakes to keep them safe. Sometimes I make a prism to keep it safer but that relies on me having a lot of scrap cardboard around. Either way, this was the photo sent to me. :'(

Both the 1/8" dowel and the actual pla plastic were damaged. I put the replacement in an actual box (was not going to risk it for round two).

And then I went on amazon and got shipping boxes. So that none of my more fragile products (ie. the ones involving thin dowel rods) would go through that again.

The result is even better than expected. My next order to go out is some jump blocks in schleich scale with the accompanying dowel rod poles.

And now I have a nice protective box to keep them safe on their journey. (The best part is etsy doesn't even charge more for shipping because the boxes are still super small!)

Meet Soup and starting on HBK10

So we've been expecting this big boy all week and we finished our preadoption classes so he got to come home with us! He's souper cute even if he's a bit naughty. You can just see the devious look in his eyes...

Today he got some fun new toys, a nice long walk, and a bath ( not a huge fan of the bath) but he's napping it off. Yes, his real name is Soup.

I managed to work through my excitement to start on HBK10 which is theoretically a real western gaming saddle.

But it's not really much to look at now. I'm working on basic skills such as evenly cutting in ng out pieces with an exacto knive (versus the blasphemous way I've been doing it with scissors). The exacto knife gives a lot more control especially with curvy things, but it's way easier to slip and ruin the whole thing. Once everything is cut out, I'm going to start tooling (which I need lots of practice with).

Grand Reopening

We're jumping into 2020 with some great new products, namely these cool jump blocks!

Which come in lots of sizes and all the colors!

I've been working on improving my photo taking.

The pitch fork picture went from this:

To this:

Hopefully, my photo updates will continue on track since I definitely think the second picture is better for advertising. 

The project on my workbench right now (besides updating the shop and v.2 of the stall) is a donation piece for my not-so-local-anymore 4H tacksale. I'm also in the progress of getting business cards made because those would be super cool and also I'm kinda running a business at this point.

Anyway, I plan on putting together a entire schleich set with the horse included as a donation.

My next project is a saddle but that will be a bit later.

DIY Breyer Stall Part 3: Finishing and Some Extras

It took the beginning of a whole new year to finish this stall. I'm already planning the next one to make it smaller and better. (the size on this one was... a bit overkill...).


So I found tiny hinges. The screws were too long to go through the door so I glued it on.

I decided the door looked ugly so I added some trim.

Much better!


Then I put it on. It's a little off, I left too much of a gap, but if it wasn't obvious before, my carpentry skills are a little nonexistent.

I put in a eyelet so that I could hang a haybag.

Then I made a bucket hook like so. Take about 1.5 inches of wire.

Bend over both ends as shown.

Next fold it in half so that the hooks are parallel with each other.

Then bend out to form a hook ("s" shape) that won't stab things.

Finally, hang a bucket!

This stall is still a bit huge so maybe it's a luxury stall?

Happy New Year!

Wow, 2020, the beginning of a new decade. There are going to be some big moments this year. I'm committed to keeping up my shop, and trying to keep up this blog too.


Highlights of 2019

In June I finished my Stirrups design and they went live on etsy, they then got redesigned in November-ish because Yvonne has big feet.

I finished 5 saddles this year including my first english one.

My CAD designs went from nothing to... 11 (That are on etsy, I designed other random things too.)

1. English Stirrups 
   
2. Western Stirrups 
   
3. Pitch Forks  
   
4. Rakes  
   
5. Buckets  
   
6. Jump Cups  
   
7. Saddle Racks with a *Blanket Bar*  
   
8. Bridle Racks  
   
9. *Customizable* Bridle Racks  
   
10. Saddle Stands  
    
11. Feed Pans  
    

My stirrups and pitch forks became got a glowing review from Braymere. Which is very exciting.

For the New Year I've got some goals. I met most of mine from last year so I'm not doing too bad at this.

1. Blog more often! (What every blogger ever says). Ideally I want to keep to a 2 blog posts per month/ every other week schedule.
2. Make 5 new designs. That works out to roughly 1 every 2 months with some room to spare. Between my day job and my shop, design time is low.
3. Redo all photos because I need to up my game!
4. Keep a better inventory of popular items. I got slammed over thanksgiving with 20 orders, I definitely did not have enough stock to keep up with that...
5. Make a saddle. I want to improve that skill too. So I need some practice.