Pommel Horse Project

I've been wanting to make a pommel horse for a really long time. I just think they're pretty cool from a sculptural-furniture object standpoint, and of course they offer a myriad of perversion possibilities too… Plus this mostly came together from scrap material - I had a piece of foam sitting around, and a leather remnant that was about the right size. I just needed to purchase the 4x4 lumber for the legs, and it was off to the races. 

As you can see from the photos, the structure isn't based on fine mortise-and-tenon joinery. I used the poor-man's method of wood glue and a shit-load of screws. 

I was fine with that, as everything but the legs gets covered with upholstery anyway. And trust me, this baby is strong and rigid. I toyed with the idea of tapering the legs, but if you see the antique versions (1stDibs usually has a great, if expensive, selection) they typically have straight (un-tapered) legs. 

For the next step, I just laid the foam over the horse and wrapped it in plastic. I cut a couple of pieces from the foam to cap the ends. 

Next up: duct tape. Longtime followers of this blog know that it's my preferred method for generating custom pattern shapes for complex objects. 

A couple of layers on, until everything's nice and smooth. Do you notice the lip on the left side of the image below? I thought I'd try something clever there, and make a space for someone to fit their head between the horse and someone straddling the horse. Didn't really work out, so I'd recommend keeping the sides a cleaner, traditional symmetrical shape. 

Draw potential seam lines out with a marker. 

I was toying with the idea of it wrapping around a bit…

Cut the duct-tape pattern off with scissors. We end up with the main piece…

…and two end-pieces. 

I'm sure at some point I traced the duct-tape pattern onto butcher paper to make the pattern. I usually make the pattern symmetrical and perfect the lines. Then it's transferred to the leather. 

I ended up using darts even though I wanted to keep it as smooth as possible. This is dictated by the shape you want to make and the thickness/stretchy-ness of the leather. 

This leather isn't very stretchy…

Once the end pieces are sewn on and flattened, I pull it over the foam and secure along the edge with upholstery tacks. 

It came out pretty nice, and makes me want to do more furniture-type upholstered and padded stuff. 

Put some stain on the legs, just to give it some color. 

In this shot you can see the ridges in the foam from where it was kept in storage. Over time I expect those to come out… 

And finally at least 3 coats of polyurethane to protect the finish. Sanding with fine grit in between. I've been liking the satin finish lately… Do you think I should add some forged iron rings? 

Hope you liked the project! Stay tuned, more to come…

Padded Sensory Deprivation Hood - Beauty Pix

Padded Sensory Deprivation Hood - PART III

The initial idea for this hood was to have breathing tubes, but after experimenting with a mock-up of the foam and leather sandwich layers, the best option turned out to be using a plain old #00 grommet. 

I couldn't find a sleek, low-profile way to have the tube secure on both sides. Maybe in future designs I'll figure out a way to make this work, but for now I'm stumped. 

 One more element to add: a rear lacing tongue to keep the hair out of the laces. 

 I used double-sided tape to hold the tongue in position, and stitched it using the post-bed machine with roller foot. 

 I wouldn't recommend doing the tongue sewing after the grommets were set, but in this case the hood is a prototype. The only way to create a pattern is to actually make the thing, making notes and changes along the way. Once the pattern is proofed, it will be easier to set the grommets after sewing the tongue. 

So finally we have the finished hood. And just in time for Christmas! 

Padded Sensory Deprivation Hood - PART II

So, now that we have our pattern we can get started... First the inner hood, which I'm making in a Japanese plonge leather. It's thin (0.5mm) and soft, with a velvety suede texture on the back side. 

 The weird part is I'm making this layer inside-out. I want the smooth shiny surface on the outside, but I don't want any seams on the inside. So the shiny side is where I'm marking and sewing this hood (the opposite of what I'd usually do). 

 I place this sewn plonge inner hood on the form…

 …and glue down all the seams. 

 Next I trace and cut (using my modified pattern) the foam parts. 

 This is half-inch thick foam...

 The outer hood is made of a lamb-tan cowhide (Lamba from Sav-Mor) which is about 1.2mm thick. Very soft, and with a shiny outer surface. 

 I use spray adhesive to glue the foam layer parts to the inner hood. 

 Here you can see the gap for the rear lacing: 

 Once I've sewn the outer layer, I put it on the form inside out, just to check and see how everything is fitting. 

 Looks really nice. I want it to be nice and snug, but not too tight anywhere. 

 I end up gluing a layer of leather into the neck to stiffen it up a bit, and give it a little more structure. 

 I do another test fit, this time right-side out. 

 Everything looks okay... so it's time to glue the outer layer in place. 

 I don't want the chin to slip out of alignment, so I peel the outer layer (like a banana) and apply spray adhesive. 

I fold it back and sew along the neck seam using the post-bed, locking the foam in place. 

 I next fold and clip the rear opening, which is then topstitched along the edge. 

 The neck area of the inner and outer hoods are glued then pressed together. The bottom edge of the collar is then folded up and sewn. 

Now the two hoods are completely locked together. 

 I put it back on the form and lace the hood up to help pull everything together. 

 I want the leather to take shape and rest overnight. 

 Just a couple more finishing touches, and this one is complete!