I spent a bit of time in France in 2009 learning from a professional leatherworker/saddlemaker in Saumur. Jean Luc Parisot is a great craftsman and a generous friend who works for the French military furnishing a variety of leather goods for their horse program. He does work for the world famous Cadre Noir in Saumur […]
Function and Art…a seamless combination
The challenge for making a back cinch that will not tend to separate over time and hard use is to figure out how to lay down some stitching in the center of the cinch. Here I have done that while weaving it into the floral decoration. I borrowed this idea from the wriggle lines that […]
A Good Day in the Saddle
19 October 2012 We rode, Dad and I to the top of the world today. We were looking for elk, perhaps a wolf, and maybe a little peace of mind. We made our way through timbered draws, sagebrush slopes and rock ridges. It is familiar country for it is summer range for the cattle Dad […]
The Cowboy’s Office
This is a notebook cover that sold at this year’s ‘Cowboy Crossings’ exhibit at the National Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City. The decoration on the cover is a design that shows a ram’s horns entangled in vinework, but the ram is dead and what has issued from its skull is new life. Easter lilies are […]
Carved and Rolled Edge on a Cantle Binding
On my top grades of floral carving, I include things like a carved cantle binding. This one also has a rolled edge at the stitch line as well. A very clean job on a rolled edge will be something that most folks won’t be able to identify, yet it is one of the things that […]
Focus Like a Laser.
Here’s a procedure that I’ve incorporated in my saddle building: an inexpensive laser that has a cross beam that allows me to be very precise when installing my riggings. It is absolutely critical that the rigging be symmetrical, otherwise the saddle will want to ‘rack’ on the back of the horse especially in gaits faster […]
The Timetable and the Timeless
From the novel based on his life experiences, “Shantaram” by Gregory David Roberts: “But its most sublime beauty, it seemed to me, was found in the cathedral interiors. There, the limitations of function met the ambitions of art, as the timetable and the timeless commanded equal respect.” Roberts was describing his observations of the Victoria […]
Thoughts for Today
Reflecting on the many conversations with such great craftsmen/artists this past week in Oklahoma City at the annual Cowboy Crossings exhibit and sale, I was reminded of a quote that is credited to James Michener: “The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his […]
Big Fender
This is a 23 inch fender that is 10 1/4″ wide. I use a wider pattern for tall customers so that the fender width looks balanced against the longer length. Most of my customers these days are folks that I don’t have the luxury of meeting face to face to write the order. I rely […]
Therapy
This is a common view of my shop. There is some music on the Bose, a couple dogs for company, morning sun streaming in, and a fender to flower carve in front of me. Life is pretty good when you’re blessed with work that is also your therapy. The saddle I am working on here […]