TSII #457. This amazing piece is none other than my second
attempt at the Clyde Goehring Mexican Silver Parade Saddle, this time done in
Argentium instead of sterling. This 104th parade set was made for
Eleanor Jones Harvey and delivered in the teeth of the pandemic in the fall
of 2020. Thirteen blog posts document its story. There is still a
deal of detail on this website's main home page about #457, known as Eleanor's
Goehring. |
TSII #456. This, the 103rd silver parade set of the TSII, bids
fair to be another Big Saddle. It was ordered by an eccentric Californian.
Work began 1609.25 and ended 1705.18, covering over 218 hours.
Even the bit has a Star Wars motif: It is BB8. The entire set was
silver-laced in Galaxy around the edges. The rebel medallions were all
handcut. This time I made the corona; that blanket was in fact my
first NaMoPaiMo project, done during 2018 when I was resistant to the idea of
painting a horse but wanted so much to join in on the community effort,...
The whole saddle was an attempt at a pun, which can be seen with the
near side depicting all-dark characters and portraits, culminating in Han Solo
on the serape emerging from stasis, tooled in black leather. |
TSII $455. This incredibly beautiful saddle, the "102nd," was custom
made for a custom horse, a picture of which the owner sent me. The
scale was for a small Trad and it was largely built off the Marwari mold.
It took me many days to work out the design. Work began 1508.11
and ended 1512.05, with 181.6 hours put in. The tooling design, although
this picture doesn't show it well, consists of swirly curly tentacles,
inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Even the handmade bit
exhibits curling tendrils. The blanket is by me. Originally
owned by Danielle Miller of New York. |
| TSII #454. Known as the "Gold Tipped," this lovely combination of silver and gold elements is the 101st silver parade saddle by the TSII. It was started 1410.17 and finished 1503.31. The original owner was Sandra Garner. By now the i-kandi tech was fairly standard and there isn't anything really unusual or different about this saddle, just a refined elegance of design in fitting the shapes together and determining the amount of gold. The Zippo Pine Bar mold with his huge rump gave room for a full set of hip drops. Again the corona blanket is a product of Melody Snow. |
TSII #450. Amador's Sunburst, inspired by the symbol used in the
movie Tangled, is my Big Saddle in every meaning of the phrase. This
99th parade saddle built by the TSII came after my diagnosis and successful
treatment in 2010; it was finished December 3rd of 2011. The hours
alone tell the tale: 224, more than twice as long as any previous silver
saddle. No other set had its color, unique serape shape, flame-shaped
drops on a Y breastcollar and rawhide-color-dyed thread braided edging.
No other saddle had its own tree hand-sculpted to this horse, a resincast
I like to call my Sarah's Sarah; he is sculpted by Sarah Rose but sold to
me by Sarah Minkiewicz. This is the photo I've used on business cards
and as a general icon for the entire tack shop. Truly, I don't think it
can be topped. The i-kandi technology came into its own with this one.
|
TSII #448. Based on a High Noon catalog saddle, this 98th silver
parade set was a donation piece for the 2008 North American
Nationals show. It was my 10th time of donating tack to this show. &bsp;
Begun 0804.21 and finished 0807.09, it used the i-kandi technology so recently
evolved to a truly splendid level of detail. There are small gold rounds
in the center of the corner plates, themselves ikandis - the first time gold
and silver ikandis were used on a TSII set - and this trick would be so
successful it would become standard in the future. For almost the first
time the saddle strings themselves were solidly silver covered, with liquid
silver ferrules. Each round floral concho on this saddle had its edges
handcut into petals. The original winner of the auction was Colette
Robertson with a record-breaking bid of $2000.00.
|
TSII #447. Eleanor's Hexagon, the "97th" silver parade
saddle turned out to be the end of earlier technologies and the start of a new
and far more satisfying method. From now on I would use this tech, called 'i-kandis'
for the tiny iron-on metallic studs used, an idea from M. Snow. This first
i-kandi saddle had every plate custom stamped by hand and fitted. The corona is a
Melody Snow / Unicorn Woman blanket. This saddle was completed in March of
2008, taking nearly 100 hours.
|
TSII #445. The "ninety-sixth" silver parade
saddle, Braided & Citrines, was built for Sarah Marshall. It was finished
on 0704.17. Those are real citrines in the silver conchos and even in the
face ornaments. This is the only TSII parade set to combine rawhide
braiding with semi-precious stones with a typical western tooling approach.
Note that even the drops have braided buttons on them. The bit
was handmade silver with citrines as well.
bit. |
TSII #444, the "ninety-fifth" parade set, is known as the Rose Medallion.
Its original owner was Angela Giddings. It was begun 0607.12 and finished
0609.11. No other saddle has had a rounded wave-shaped serape with no drops,
nor has one ever had the 'stained glass' effect of this beauty. The design
process went through 6 different iterations before it finally crystalized.
The tiny silver edging dots were done with Mylar lacing.
|
TSII #442. The "ninety-fourth" silver parade
saddle ever made by the TSII was built for Colette Robertson
as a special gift. Although the pictures don't show
it, there are some personal motifs on this set... including
the grapevine tooling pattern! Begun 0508.24, finished
0509.23. Shot in this case on a reclaimed strip mine
in central Pennsylvania -- the broken-up shale and scattered
vegetation looks suitably desert-like. Outstanding
features of this latest-and-greatest saddle include the gold
corner motifs, custom dye on all tooling, and
Medieval-inspired tooling pattern... plus that lovely
Unicorn Woman saddle blanket and handmade sterling silver
bit. |
TSII #441. This fantastic piece was born of
combining two that came before it, one with bonded-spot
technology and one with golden-figure motifs. It has a
new and improved method of the gold--- like all our
discoveries, painfully slow and laborious, but which gives
the look I was after. Again this set was inspired by a
book, Reynolds' The Art of the Western Saddle.
The adventures this set went through to get to its
owner by show day would fill a book. Let it be said
here that the value of true friends who step in above the
call of duty, has never been measured. Owned by Jenn
Merriam of Canada and finished 0503.25. The
"ninety-third." |
TSII #440. Words start to fail around this point. I never believed I could do this: top #422, and yet it happened. This saddle was inspired by a book, yes two books, and had a long lead time, which only partially explains its quick construction. The classic motif of bucking bronco and longhorn steer are here. The owner said it best when she remarked upon receiving it, "I'm inspired to stay in the hobby" even though she is leaving it after more than 30 years. Owned by K. Grieve and finished 0502.11. The "ninety-second." |
TSII #439. It seems that in this business your most recent is your greatest. Not always true, but in this case yes; it's been almost a year since the last parade saddle, and at last I have something I'm proud of. Based on Bohlin's Dick Dickson model but happily without those wrinkles! Firsts include the type of silver used (bonded aluminum), the lining with thin skiver (thank you Michelle), the silver braiding on the solid silver pommel, the double line of braiding on the cantle, a Melody Snow corona, and inspiration from a High Noon auction catalog. Owned by D. Snow and finished 0501.22. The "ninety-first." |
TSII #431. In accordance with the wave of tackmaking improvements going on, this set, called "West's Silver Eagle", has once again set a standard I will find difficult to follow. This saddle uses groudbreaking technologies with its handcut 'flames' and silver plated feather drops... not to mention those intriguing little eagle 'medallions', actually jewelry pieces, created by German artist Anya Brethauer. And, if that weren't enough, every one of those little round spots was formed, cut and filed by hand, using my latest tool, an Arc Punch (homemade). Owned by D. West and finished 0402.03. The "ninetieth." |
TSII #430. This extraordinary Mylar masterpiece was conceived and executed as a test: what can be done paradewise with only one material, Mylar tinsel? If the scale is right, quite a lot. After the efforts of #428, this was the first set I could look at---the LB scale is safer. Number 430 was started after #429, but delays in design finalizing for #429 placed it in front, and so it was finished earlier, 0311.04. A.Mueller owns this little cutie, decorated with sterling silver teardrops, handmade formed spots, sterling silver domes, and a customized Rio Rondo bit. |
TSII #429. One more example of how my numbering system may be off by one, but the quality of the tack is not off. This unique set, owned by G. Kirkpatrick, was commissioned on a weather theme---how appropriate! Rainbows and water, sunrise, clouds, lightning and (on the chest) a tornado are seen, while the blue beads suggest rain drops. The horse is a Little-Bit scale resincast by Tiffany Hoffman 2001; the individual is named Poco Gatti. This 89th Parade saddle was finished 0311.24. |
TSII #428. This set was finished September 3, 2003 ---a solid two years since the one before! Yes, it has taken me that long to figure out how to follow the act. This saddle is based on (the real-life) Bohlin's Stanwyck saddle and on the Brydon Bros. set shown in the book, Saddlemaker to the Stars. It uses the ideas of #423, Eleanor's braided, as well as the formed-spot saddle #422 (below); and yet it stands on its own. With this set comes the fulfillment of the ideas of formed spots, and the braided trim---first used on the face ornament with this saddle. Owned by A Bilon. |
TSII #428. Here is another, earlier view of #428. This shows the horse involved, and the green blanket. This saddle was issued with three different blankets, because I could not make up my mind!! As of this writing, my favorite is a tie between this green one, and the lightest-muslin one shown above on the rack. |
TSII #422. Finished September 15, 2001, the day of the service at the National Cathedral: a good saddle to start a new century with. Based on Louise Cottam's Bohlin set. Owned by C. Partee. "She won the Lottery." Time between Lottery and completion of order: 14 months, somewhat shorter than average. First-ever formed-spot set; continued thanks to Eleanor Harvey, Candy Evans and Christie Partee... and Edward Bohlin. |
TSII #421. This is Lowe's Little Bit Blue & Green, a true one-of-a-kind. As explained above, it may well be my only 'sandwich' saddle. Finished March 2001, it is the "eighty-fifth". This set benefitted greatly from the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show, where I re-discovered Rio Grande gems (and also Fire Mountain). These companies make silver jewelry findings and beads. Don't you think these teardrops are just perfect?? :) Expensive, but worth it. See our Lynx page for Rio Grande and Fire Mtn. |
TSII #418. Finished in October 2000, this saddle was the first to use the Mylar tinsel technique, called My-tie. It is also the first variation on #400 Rainbow Brilliance, my own parade set. Owned by A. Wisniewski. I have to say I'll not make a set for this model again; it was extremely difficult to accomodate the swollen, assymmetrical shoulders and staightup neck. |
#415. This is the Millennium Set, built to honor the turn of the century and to represent common ground between computers and art. It was sold at the NAN auction 2000 for what was then a record price, $1100.00. The "eighty-third" set uses resistors for drops, a watch battery for a bit, and has printed circuit boards and other computer parts on it. Many thanks to Angela Diekman and the NAN auction board. |
Here is "Seahorse," TSII Parade set #409, on 'Pilgrim.' Seahorse was finished at the end of July, 1999, and inspired by #401, "Koi & Water Lilies." It has the same watery theme and fish-scale motif. Don't the silver beads on the drops look like rising bubbles!? |
The breastcollar to "Seahorse", TSII saddle #409. For this set I wanted to portray as many kinds of seahorse as I could. The chest medallion was based on a Daniel Muller Carousel horse. This "eighty-second" Parade set is owned by J. Chismudy. |
TSII #408, "Featherscale" the "eighty-first". This was the first Parade set made after the Guide was written, and one of two made in 1999. Its design was based on "Ogival Angel" #319, and on a pub door I saw in Crystal City. Featherscale was the first to have extensive stamping on the silver tape. It was the first Parade set to have strung silver beads on the bridle. This saddle is shown on our Home page thumbnail on the horse 'Shadowcaster' (Art Deco). Finished 9906.11. |
TSII #406 (left) and #400(right). A
married couple: Minyalucca the Minuet wearing "Angel
Mask", #406 (the "eightieth"), built October 1997 and sold
to K. Anderson; and Xanadu the Amarna Arab wearing #400
"Rainbow Brilliance", my own set, finished 9710.01 (the
"seventy-ninth"). |