I came across the term findings when I started looking for items to use on my tack pieces. It seems to belong to the jewellery making world, Wikipedia says “Jewellery findings are the parts used to join jewellery components together to form a completed article”. You don’t have to spend much money on these items, it’s a great (cheap) shopping trip.

Sometimes you don’t even need to buy anything, just keep an eye out for things that look to be in scale to what you want to achieve. The grey fabric halter was made from the strings holding the tags on my Fat Face jumpers! But they looked right when I spotted them so I kept them in a drawer, along with many other bits and pieces, until I decided to give the halter a try.

And who doesn’t love tiny, shiny, sparkly things anyway. Mooching around craft shops like The Range or Hobbeycraft, any local stationary shops, out of the way places in bohemian parts of town. I’ve had some great bits and pieces from the pound shops. Its only the specialised items that tend to break the bank a bit! Lots of the paper crafting items cross over really well, brads look great if they are small enough. I found some beautiful buttons in my Mum’s button box which I am keeping aside for breast collar centres.

One of my best finds was watch parts! I have an idea to do a steampunk saddle in the future, I love steampunk. The first order of parts (Ebay purchase) were slightly too big, but useful I hope. The second order has tiny, tiny parts but they are ideal for bridles/halters embellishments, replacements for studs, and you get plenty to work with.