A few more newbies

The snow is all gone now, and it doesn't look like it will be back this week. So far this winter has been tame compared to last year's. (granted we started that winter in Kansas City, MO...)

So the new herd members got their show photos taken in the light box!

Dúlamán - Kerry Bog Pony colt. 

 This backdrop has been a favorite of mine for years. It blends nicely with the grass strip and the suede we use as footing. It works best for LittleBits/Pebbles scale and smaller, but it works well for Classic foals.

Starry Eyes Little Lady - Hackney Pony filly.

Ghost Wolf Godiva - American Miniature Horse mare.

Unfortunately there was a pesky glare from one of the table lights that made taking a picture of Godiva with the other backdrop, so she got the rinkydink printout. It looks realistic, but I like the blue sky and deep middle-ground of the other one better.

I also like to create backstories and personalities for my models every now and then. This time, my poor little Colorful Foals came to me as orphans. Dúlamán adopted Clementine (see the previous blog entry) as his mother (much to her annoyance, but she's too nice to turn him away), while Little Lady latched on to Godiva. (who took to foster motherhood with much more enthusiasm)  Ah, happy endings.

Breyers in the snow

Clementine- grade pony mare

Our new house has something that has worked out spectacularly well for the hobby- an uncluttered and stunning backdrop for show and sales photos! I've blogged about it before, but I just can't get over this gorgeous countryside that we now live in.

Hobbes- Hanoverian gelding

You have already seen some summer and fall shots in previous blog entries, since it's snowed a bit this past week, let's show off some winter shots!

Zeva- grade horse mare

The two mountains in the distance are about four miles away and are a part of the Green Mountain range. Across the street is a neighbor's field, this year the crop was soybeans. 

Tabula Rasa- Appendix QH mare

And the road just behind the fence is a fairly major north-south route for people going to and from work. Picture taking is carefully planned since I use a timer (I use a wide depth of field) or else I get a blurred-out neighbor's car going by...

Wild Plum- Miniature/Welsh cross mare

Taking photos of dark models against light snow is a pain, but it can be done well. 

Storm Phantom- Chincoteague mare

And taking photos of lighter colored models is quite a bit less hair-loss inducing.

Levi- Grade stallion

Although I did leave my alabaster and grey models inside for a later, indoor shoot.

Amazon Freckles- QH mare

Old Amazon here has been photo showing since the late 1990s with the same photo, shot with a film camera, which was taken in our San Antonio, Texas backyard. As fond as I am of that photo, I decided the old girl deserved a bigger, clearer photo. (unfortunately the original's hard copy was lost or else I'd re-scan it)

That's all for now, until next time!

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone had a good one. Here's my Christmas Breyer for this year (thank you Meredith!):

I've named her "Clementine", a nod to her rather orangey-shade of chestnut (and a Lost reference, I'm a die-hard fan, oh well :p) and she'll be shown as a grade pony mare in Trad scale.  I also got Christmas money, so there will be some more new herd members along as soon as I decide what I want. Whee!

Just a heads up on some new tack that is for sale on MH$P. Sales include this red and gold neck bells set, this pink 'roo lace trail halter/bridle combo. These are currently on eBay.  

This was a bridle I started at a get-together for Vermont and NY hobbyists in Colchester, and sort of rattled around my projects box for a few months. Still getting the hang of twisting floss, I would love to get that "spiral within a spiral" look I see on real mecate reins. Haven't found a method that works for that yet. Pooh.

Look for a whiskey and silver bells set later this week. :)

New tack body

Been awhile since I bought a new model, and what fun it was to lie in wait for the mail truck again!

This handsome fellow is Stone's new Saddlebred mold, sculpted by artist Kathi Bogucki. Stone had several factory seconds on eBay at a reduced price, sold "as-is" with only the guarantee that he would come with a head, two ears, four legs, and a tail (!). And let me tell you- they weren't kidding. He looks fine from this angle, but up close... whoo. Prepper's nightmare. XD

But you can't beat paying $36 for a Traditional Bogucki sculpt! (trying not to notice that they dropped the price even more to $24... grr) I'm toying with the idea of having him painted eventually by my sister, but for now, he stays in his naked glossy white glory as a tack fitting body. Now he and my unpainted Palouse can start a nudist colony...

Knots to you, too

I learned four new things with this bridle: the half round six braid, three strand twisted cord, how to make cheek attachments that tie instead of buckle, and the hackamore knot. I learned the first three fairly quickly, but the hackamore knot had me stumped for a while. 

I had trouble just finding instructions for the thing, I found photos of the knot, videos that showed how to tie it (no good to me, I need high resolution illustrations to stare at) and instructions on how to tie the mecate rein (which I already know), but nothing on hackamore knots. Finally I found a site that said "oh, yeah, it's also known as a jug knot". Great! So it was off to Google instructions for "jug knots". 

Two sites came up with good, clear images, two similar but slightly different methods that seemed like something I could grasp. So I picked one tutorial, and so began my sometimes plodding learning process where I basically stare at instructions for some time, fiddling with my practice cord, repeating each step until I feel like I had it right. Well, there was one step I just couldn't get right because of vague wording. (OK I "turn down" these loops, fine, but what the heck does "turn down" mean??) So I turned to the other tutorial.

This one was trickier, but I got the hang of it, right up until the next-to-last-step. Stumped again, but this time because I couldn't get it to work for me on such a small scale. The loops were simply too small to make the passes this tutorial was showing. This tutorial mentioned another term, "jar knot", so, in exasperation, I Googled this term.

Ah, much, much better. A good, clear tutorial popped up with instructions that I could get to work with small scale loops! Yay! I got my practice string to do it! Yay again! Now I had to do it with my braided length of linen thread bent double to create the loop I needed to tie the latch knot for the throatlatch. It took quite a bit of patience, since the doubled strands wanted to part every time I touched it, then once I got the knot I had to loosen and adjust to move it down and leave the braids long enough to pass over the crown and tie on the other side, but compared to the learning process, that was a piece of cake!

And voilà. It matches the Western set I did last year, dark brown and sandy tones are my favorite. You do have to untie the latch knot and the cheek knot in order to take it off, which is a PITA, but in my opinion the look is worth it.

I do get a kick out of the fact that there is no metal on this bridle. (well, except for the aluminum wire core in the bosal, but it doesn't count ;p )

This bridle is for sale on MH$P for $70 ppd, hopefully I will get some nicer outside photos in the future.


ETA 9/22- bridle is now on eBay.  SOLD! Outdoor photos can still be seen here.

Until next time!

Pre-Irene skies and a "new" model

Pretty spectacular sunset last night with the outer edges of Irene's clouds starting to pass overhead!

Right now it's a steady rain with some wind gusts. We're supposed to get stronger winds this afternoon into evening, hopefully it won't knock out power. 

In model news, I donated several items to the raffle at Melissa Addison's American Heartland Live (Platte City, MO) just before our move to VT, and put most of my tickets in for this handsome fellow: 

Besixdouze, Belgian Brabant stallion

SO happy to have won him! Big thank you to Cassie Black for donating him, and to Melissa for holding AHL. I wish I could have attended one more time, it was a fun show every year. 

Well, he'll be a Region X showhorse, now. :)

Until next time!