Last November I got a bit excited in the run-up to Christmas and somehow managed to sign myself up to do a scene for THREE different model horse advent calendars on Facebook. Eeek!
And that was alongside working full-time AND taking part in the Bridle Tree Barn Raising Challenge. Suffice to say that my house did not get cleaned much during December... And the full-size Christmas decorations didn't come out of the loft until the 23rd! I also sacrificed watching quite a few of the usual festive movies (apart from the mandatory Christmas eve Lord of the Rings extended edition marathon).
For the ‘Just Julips’ group I came up with a plan to do three of my ponies as a silly take on the three kings or wise men from the famous carol. Of course, this meant they all needed some suitably festive and regal attire.
Dot the piebald Pit Pony, Sandy the Welsh pony, and new lad Peter the Shetland all volunteered and helped out with choosing their colour schemes.
It took a while to figure out who would look best in which colour but I think it worked out well. The blue really complements Sandy’s golden palomino and Peter looks very dashing in the scarlet. Dot also suits the rich dark green but then a monochrome pony can get away with all colours.
Over the years I have accumulated approx. 5 billion types of ribbon.
The velvet scraps were ordered from eBay and I grabbed a roll of gold ribbon from hobby craft. After cutting out the rug shape, it was super easy to add the ribbon for the trim, as it did not fray at all. This made my day as it meant no faffing about with gluing edges or using fray-stop! The furry collar is made from a strip of white teddy fabric folded in half and simply glued on around the neck.
To make the surcingle I used some wide satin ribbon and popped a leather strap over the top, using a retractable pencil tip to punch some holes (though I was a bit too lazy to make the tongue buckles!)
Here's the final scene with the ponies all dressed up and 'bearing gifts they stole from the yard' that they have no intention of giving to anybody. Obviously, the pit pony was the ring leader...
The next scene on my festive to-do list was for the Magpie Collectors group page. As mentioned earlier, I also signed up for the Bridle Tree Barn Raising challenge this December, Technically I was constructing indoor barn stabling, but the back-drop for the stalls doubles up nicely as two walls of an indoor school. (Eventually, I plan to make some proper kickboard panels to sit against the walls when they are in 'arena' mode).
I knew I wanted to do some sort of festive gymkhana with my Magpie Welshies and this seemed like a good opportunity to take the new ‘arena’ backdrop for a spin, and pop up a few Christmas decs!
The fancy-dress costumes are all made from felt or craft foam glued or sewn together, plus a bit of faux fur for the reindeer ruff on Domino the little piebald. They aren’t spectacular but they do the job!
After neglecting my Magpies for many years it was great fun spending some time on them.
The last Advent Calendar entry on my to-do list was for the Carousel CTF Collectors group. I knew I wanted to do something with my Shadow models, but with loads still to do for Christmas and the Barn Raising challenge, I decided it would be best to sort out something quick and easy. And then I changed my mind at the last minute and did the exact opposite. WHYYYYY!
I've never made a driving harness before so clearly now was the ideal time to attempt it. To a tight deadline. Oh and to make life even more difficult I decided that the pony pulling the sleigh just had to be my new Shadow Christmas snow pony, who didn't actually arrive until a few days before the deadline!
Not gonna lie, I got very stressed out working on this (SOOO many buckles!) and had to do a very rushed job on the painting of the laser cut wood sleigh. In the mad rush I also completely ran out of time to construct shafts for the sleigh.
Here's a close-up of the harness and my oh so floofy and adorable shadow Snow Pony 'Snow Bells'. It's not as polished as I'd have liked and I need to spend a bit of time now adding keepers for straps. Everything is adjustable and thanks to that and the gorgeous chubby shape of Snow Bells this harness actually fits quite a few Julip ponies and even cobs too, with a bit of tweaking.
Once I'd set it all up with my new snowy backdrop I was really happy with the final scene. I added some snow in the incredibly confusing but fun Werble app but you'll have to imagine the sound of sleigh bells.
