were you still going to the TCAA saddle making seminar
liam

Hey Liam,

I am still going to the TCAA seminar; I was just flipping around on Expedia this morning trying to book a flight and hotel to Oklahoma City. Why do you ask?

Darc

i told steve mecum that you were going and didnt want you to make a fool out of me.

I'll do my best not to make a fool out of you... I have a hard enough time trying not to make a fool out of myself. My plan is to sit there with my mouth shut and learn as much as I can from Steve and Dale; I figure that plan should keep me safe.

Do you know Steve very well? His saddles are as good as they come, but I'm a big fan of his carving style. I like patterns with an open background and Steve is one of the few people around who do it well.

Darc

i know him pretty well i guess. him and his wife rode this forest permit for several years and they still like to come up and help any time they can. they are really salt of the earth kind of people. just remember, if you mention me to him(just to see if i'm lyin)that my name is Ash not Liam. i think you will find him really easy to talk to and very well presented, so you should get alot out of the seminar no matter what you go to learn.
liam...er Ash

hey darc, how did the seminar go? did you stay for the sale? tell us about it.
liam

Hey Ash, and everyone...

For anyone who isn't familiar with the TCAA (Traditional Cowboy Arts Association http://www.tcowboyarts.org/ ), it's an organization of extraordinary craftsmen who are at the top of their respective crafts of saddlemaking, silversmithing, rawhide braiding, and bit and spur making. Every year these craftsmen put their best foot forward and build a one of a kind piece of gear which goes on display and sale at the National Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City. On the opening night the sale takes place and all the gear sells at unbelievable prices... $30,000.00 saddles, $20,000.00 braided work...etc.. I recently had the chance to go to the museum and watch and learn as one of the founding members, Dale Harwood, built a saddle over four days. For anyone who doesn't know anything about me, I've been building saddles for about six years and been around this forum for about a year putting my two cents in the odd time. For me, this was the opportunity of a lifetime to go see gear of this quality and more importantly to learn from one of the best saddlemakers of our time. Below is a little recap of my trip!

The Seminar was really great. I have never seen anyone work at anything as efficiently as Dale Harwood; To watch him build a quality saddle in four days was simply unbelievable. There were about 18 others in the class besides myself with everyone having a different degree of experience with saddlemaking; Some people had only made a few saddles while others had spent 15 years or more making saddles.

Dale did the majority of the work on the saddle and Steve Mecum (another TCAA member) provided some insight into what Dale was doing as well as explained how he did some things differently than Dale. Steve did get the honor of sewing the cantle binding which, for anyone interested in saddlemaking, is one of the most time consuming and tedious jobs of the whole process and if done poorly can make the whole saddle look terrible. Some of the other TCAA members stopped by during the four days to watch as well and I think even some of them were suprised at how efficiently Dale works.

You could tell that most people in the class had areas of saddlemaking that posed problems for them because every now and then we'd all move in close to see exactly how Dale would do something. Most of these areas are minor and wouldn't generally be noticed on the saddle, but I think we all felt like we were learning some of the trade secrets that were lost when apprenticing disappeared.

Dale finished the saddle on the morning of the fourth day and then Steve spent about an hour answering some questions and giving his point of view on different aspects of Saddlemaking. After Steve finished we took a break for lunch and were then allowed to have a sneak preview of the exhibit before it was opened to the public. I took a few photos and have posted them below for anyone who might be interested.

The first photo is of the saddle that Dale made during the workshop. I may be mistaken, but I believe it was presented to either Don Bellamy or Don Reeves for all the work that they put into the exhibition. The second photo is one that Chuck Stormes made (my personal favorite); it's a lady's saddle built on a slickfork tree. The next saddle was built by Steve Mecum and is a combination floral/basket stamp on a wade tree. The next saddle was made by Rick Bean, the detail on it was simply amazing. This guy has some serious artistic ability and I'd have to post a hundred pictures of this saddle to show all the detail in it. The cantle back had something I don't think has ever been done on a saddle before. The three buttons stick out a little better than a quarter of an inch. At first glance you'd assume they had to be attached to the cantle back. Rick actually carved some wood blocks and attached them to the cantle back of the tree... he than pushed the leather over them to create the three dimensional look. Anyone who has ever worked with skirting leather would almost assume this to be impossible because to do this you would need to use the stretchy leather that comes from the belly of a hide. That in itself is not impossible, but belly leather does not carve very well at the best of times and if carved usually has a mushy look to it. Obviously from the detail on the cantle, Rick has overcome this problem. The second photo gives a bit of perspective of all the carving in this saddle, but it's one of them things that just has to be seen to truly be appreciated.

The next saddle was made by Bill Maloy who also fabricated all the silver on the saddle. The last saddle was made by Cary Schwarz and had the biggest horn cap seen this side of Mexico...a whopping 6"s. Cary was one of three people speaking in the lecture hall and put together an amazing bit on the history of floral carving that went back to the 1800s and talked about the different styles that evolved around the continent and how the different styles overlapped and evolved as saddlers and their work moved around the country.















If anyone ever gets a chance to go to Oklahoma City, make sure you go and see the National Cowboy Museum... and try and time it for the end of September to see the TCAA exhibit; you won't be disappointed!

Darc--

thank you SO MUCH For sharing your insights and description..and the photos!! ohmygawd....i'm just drooling and drooling and drooling.

As a quilter, I will often go to a quilt show and come home inspired...have to start a new one right away <g>...is it the same for you? did you come back all fired up?????

betsey

Hey Darc;

Thanks much for the report and photos.

I am glad the Seminar went well for you, it is an opportunity of a lifetime, I am very jealous and with I was there. Dale is an very talented saddle maker, efficiently is the exactly word we used when Dale went through a saddle with us before we went to work for him, he made a saddle in 2 1/2 days while explaining his Techniques, telling a few fishing story's, all that was left to do was oil it and string it up. It is a very inspiring to see a saddle made that fast while no quality is lost in the process. My saddles have never been the same since my time with Dale(for the better I hope) To bad you didn't see Dale sew a bind, he can do it so quick and good it will make your head spin. I'm sure you gained a ton of info from Dale and Steve Mecum. Maybe from some of the other makers at the show also.

That sure is a nice rig of Chuck Stormes, great lines on it. From looking at all of your photos it looks like this is the year of the single rigged saddle.

Thanks again Darc.

Steve

[ October 18, 2006, 09:38 AM: Message edited by: flynsaddle ]

Darc;

Did Dale buid a saddle for the sale also, fi so did you get a photo of it?

Thanks

Thank you Darc for sharing those pictures. Just a wonderful display of craftsmanship.
The first time I saw your work was a saddle you had on Ebay. The dark chocolate wade. So rich and shiney I could see the reflection of the trees on the seat. I have never seen so many people praise a saddlemaker in the Q & A part of the page. At least 100 of the views on the page counter were my husband and I..

Betsey,

I got the same feeling as you coming home from the show... had a bunch of new ideas I wanted to try right away! I have a bunch of saddles on the go in various stages so i've been experimenting with some of the things I saw Dale do and am happy with the results so far.

Steve,

Alot of the photos I took of the gear didn't turn out too well because it was all in glass cases... but I managed to find a couple of Dale's work. The first was a set of saddlebags with floral carving and dyed background. The flowers really jump off the leather at you! The saddle he made was another minature (last year he made a minature as well). He did an unbelievable job of scaling everything. I've seen some pretty nice minatures before, but you can usually find some detail in them that wasn't scaled down properly. From the photo, you probably can't tell how small the saddle really is.

I also found a couple photos of Steve Mecum's second saddle... it may be fairly plain compared to some of the other saddles, but he used a type of flower that I've never seen on saddle before (some sort of daisy) and to me it really stood out as unique.









I really hadn't noticed that most of the saddles were single rigged until you mentioned it. You'd kind of expect it from Chuck, but maybe not as much from the others. I think from a display standpoint that it looks cleaner and my own preference is riding a single rigged saddle, but I know alot of people who look at them and think something is missing or isn't right.

HH,

thanks for the words, I was really suprised at the response that saddle got on Ebay and because of it I'm backed up for better than a year... I talked a good number of people out of bidding on it for various reasons and in turn some of them decided to custom order a saddle. I am currently working on one of these orders for a fellow from Kansas... I've posted a photo of this saddle below... it has the same brown color to it.



Darc

No question about it, Darc. You are definitely the king of the keyhole stamp! Just perfect. I really like your carving pattern on the cantle....with the open background. Excellent affect. You're right. The open background looks really nice on saddles. Think I might open mine a bit too. Trouble is, it takes a lot of extra time to do the background and keep it even.

And how about the Rick Bean swivel knife cuts! Amazing. Just amazing work, all of it.

And the 4 day saddle.... well, as long as he's been doing it, he could probably build one in his sleep. Having a plan, good sharp tools, a stitcher that you don't have to keep fussing with, confidence and 40 years of experience sure helps.

Darc, I wish you'd quit posting pictures of those fine saddles. I've had to start wearing depends because they're so nice I pee my pants everytime I look at them.

Paul

Hey Paul,

I'm sorry to hear about the wet pants... by the looks of it there are a few people around this board who could stamp you a very nice diaper bag... and perhaps Betsey could make some diapers to go with it... the extra quilted kind!

Actually Paul, I had a similar feeling in Oklahoma City at the exhibition except mine was more of a sick gut feeling seeing how good these guys work is!

D.

quote:

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Originally posted by D.A. Kabatoff:
..........Actually Paul, I had a similar feeling in Oklahoma City at the exhibition except mine was more of a sick gut feeling seeing how good these guys work is!
D.

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I think the word is "demoralizing", to explain the feeling, alternating with "inspiration", "desperation" and maybe a little "consternation", depending on what greasy spoon restaurant you ate breakfast at that morning.