It's been a very busy summer!!

Can you believe how fast summer has gone by, and August is already here? Well I sure can't! However, in between all the summer play time I have managed to get quite a bit of work done!

Pictured above is a newer halter that I made. It's part of a set of 12 that I'm planning on selling. So far 3 have been listed to MH$P, I have 9 more to finish and list. Something different, and fun anyway!

Just completed a few new presentation sets. These are pictured above. A pretty sage and dark green, and then a black and white combination! These were a comission order.

That's all for now! Will write more soon! ~Melissa :0)

Maroon Costume Finished Up!

Congradulations Pat! Your costume is ready! :0)

Are you done yet? Are you done yet? How about now? mmm and now?

386 tassles later....

Just added the tassles to the collar finally, so now I am done stringing them together in 3's. That does take awhile! Now to put on the finishing touches...bridle, reins, lining, stirrups, girth, throat lash, lead line, chain, cowries...etc... Hopefully I'll be done with this one this week!

More Progress on Maroon costume!

Just sewed all the tassles onto the back, vertical sides and bottom panel sides of one side of the costume. Still got the bottom panel tassles to string and sew on the otherside yet, and on the collar as well. Hopefully I'll be doing that today! I've got my reins, leadrope, throatlash, bridle etc...all braided and ready to be tied off. Once I get all the tassles sewn onto my saddle I will be adding maroon trim around the edges. I hope to finish this one up this week!

I've got 5 silver crystal chain halters in the works that will also hopefully be ready this week as well. I'll be posting photos of items as I finish them up, so stay tuned to see more!

Presentation sets & costume progress...

Been hard at work on another costume! Got a couple more in the works right behind this one. Several distractions over the past few weeks have put me further behind in my work than I want to be again, but that's life there isn't much I can do about things that happen unplanned! I guess I'm trying to work on not letting it get me down so much, seems there's always something stupid going on that manages to mess up my plans! I find it frustrating!:0)
This costume has a maroon base, and it will be a tripple tiered costume when it's finished, also one of the reaons that it's taking me a bit longer to complete!

386 tassles on this one total. The tassle are maroon, pink and ivory. It takes me approximately 5 minutes to assemble one string of 3 right now, but I'm getting a little faster at it. I have 97 strings to put together total. Using size #15 beading needles for the first time has helped me increase my speed and accuracy, however the needles seem to break a lot faster. I can't tell you what a relief it is to finally have needles on hand that are small enough for the beads that I use! I've found that these needles are impossible to find at either of my local craft stores and found these while shopping out of town. I now have a source online that I can order from in the future. But in the past when I had a bead color on hand that I wanted to use and the needle was too big for it to slide over, I would hand string the beads onto the threads! Ack! Can't picture doing that now, this is way easier! I definately think there is some level of craziness that comes along with the desire to create such small things! LOL!

I just finished up four brand new Arabian presentation sets today. These are a new style for me. They are native-inspired with a little added bling. Each set features real swarovski crystal decorations embedded into intricate silver findings to create a unique frame for each crystal, alernated with hand-sculpted, baked, and gloss cowrie decorations made to replicate the ones seen on real native sets. Tassles are hand-brushed for a silky effect and each comes out of a thin, long bugle bead for a nice lined-up appearance. Each nose chain has hand-sanded shark teeth decorations for the ultimate protection of the model horse's finish, and small diamond shaped findings with little gemstones attached to either side to add extra sparkle!

As you can see I also added a new horse to my collection: Renovatio a.k.a. "Reno" sculpted by the talented Debbi Lermond! Very excited about him! I have plans to have him painted a very light dapple gray with a long flowy white mane and tail out of mohair. Haven't seen a mohaired Reno yet, so it will be fun to give this a try, and yes, I will probably do the hair myself!

These sets are currently forsale for more information on purchasing you can contact me at: melissa@adivaarabians.com

In Loving Memory

In loving memory of my "Sassy". How you will be missed. They say man's best friend is a dog, well this woman's best friend was a cat. You were so beautiful with that soft shiny coat that had the feel of rabbit fur, and those shiny lime green eyes. You were just the right amount of pur mixed with a snottiness I just couldn't get past sometimes. But man did we play. I will never forget your sassy personality that made you so live up to your name, or that cute little smudge of gray on your lip, or how you would suprise me by wrapping yourself around my wrists and ankles to playfully bit and kick. I will always bear the scars on my wrists and ankles from the times you bit too hard--you definately left your mark on more than just my heart. So much spirit, and such a sense of humor reserved especially for me. Rest in peace my furry little friend. You will always be missed, and I will always love you.

For those waiting on work from me right now, know that I have encountered yet another delay in life. Something I knew was coming, but was unexpected for this week. My cat had to be put down this afternoon, and I am so lost and so devastated. I doubt this will put me too much farther behind because I welcome any kind of distraction from the incredible emptiness and sorrow that I feel. I am planning on going out of town this weekend to see some friends, and hopefully when I come home the hurt won't be as bad so I continue where I left off. I just feel like a person has died, and that's what my pretty little kitty meant to me as a friend, she was like a human, she was more actually. :0)

This is much easier!

Well I thought it was time to get a real blog so here I am, or at least one that's easier for me to use! The one I had originally set-up on my website is nice and all but harder for me to update and therefore I tend to avoid even using it as often as I could be. Hopefully I'll get more use out of this Blog set-up and then people that care to know, can and will know what's happening with me!

So, my most recent creation is this sage green and ruby red costume that I did for Tami Blankenship. She has it in hand and has told me she's very pleased with it and might even show it in April! So Congrats to Tami, and hope you enjoy!

I took a little vacation to Upper Michigan with my boyfriend to visit his family at the beginning of the month so that put me a little behind on things, but it was a well needed break for sure! We experienced a 42 degree rise in temperature just coming from northern Minnesota. It was 22 below zero when we left Minnesota and then 20 above when we made the 8 hour drive to Upper Michigan. We didn't wear coats the entire time we were there! And even though it wasn't by any means an oasis gettaway, it sure was nice to be able to spend some time outside. I get really tired of holing up all winter here at home, and that's mostly what I do. I hate the cold! :0)

So what's happening right now in my studio? I am currently working on a tripple tier (3 rows of tassles!)maroon, pink, and ivory costume for Pat McDonald. I have high hopes to wrap that up at the end of next week. Speaking of wrapping, that's exactly what I've been doing a lot this week so far, wrapping tassles. This one will have 386 tassles total. I got about 120 done today! Yep, I'm crazy, and I do have blisters forming on my fingertips...again! LOL!

I haven't found time to make many new sales pieces in that last few weeks due to being busy with my trip, but that's going to change soon. I got a very positive response to my new Swarovski Crystal Chain halter that I made toward the end of last month, so I plan to order supplies this week to make a decent sized batch of them to sell! Hopefully that group will be done and ready to be released by the first or second week of March. Hard to believe that's coming up already! So, that's about all that's happening with me right now! Stay tuned for more random information, and also progress pictures of Pat's new costume, as well as information on the release of this new batch from my new "Crystal Desert Signature Series" OooOOoh! LOL!