(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Pin Loom Tail
By Kathleen McPherson
“An old cowpoke went riding out one dark and windy day.
Upon a ridge he rested as he went along his way.
When all at once a mighty herd of red eyed cows he saw.
A-plowing through the ragged sky and up a cloudy draw.”
Pair this song from 1948, written by Stan Jones, with the whimsy of Margaret Stump’s pin loom creations, and you get inspiration for a wild and wooly table centerpiece for the fall.
I began with the cowboy’s pony. That required three pin loom pieces, a 4” by 6”, a 4” by 4”, and a 2” by 2”. Those each became the body, neck, and head. His ears and eyes were needle felted. Twigs from our oak trees gave him legs. Blue mohair gave his mane and tail an appearance of the sky. 
Every good cowpony needs a cowboy, but this was about a “ghost rider”. Enter a simple plastic skeleton. With a little help from a heat gun, he was shaped into a perfect bowlegged cowboy capable of driving the herd of red eyed cows. His hat was formed from a piece of felt, and his chaps were cut from leather. Google eyes added character. A piece of cotton cable string became his lariat. Now he was mounted and ready to ride!
Wil Anderson, from the film The Cowboys, said, “The cow is nothing but trouble tied up in a leather bag.” I tied ‘em up in wool! The longhorn cattle were created from three pin loom pieces, a 4” by 6”, and 2 – 2” by 2” pieces. Those each became the body, neck and head. Cows have shorter necks than horses. The tails were braided and slipped into the body and stitched down. Ears were completed the same as the tails, but slipped into the head of course! Google eyes, again, added character. The challenge was finding the perfect oak twigs from the trees on the ranch for the longhorns. They had to have that perfect twist. They were wrapped and stitched on.
To assemble the scene, I sanded and stained a whiskey barrel stave, mounted the ghost rider and longhorns, and YeeHaw…. I had a “Ghost Rider in the Sky.”
What’s next? “You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen”…. Only 7 more and Rudolph to go!