Last post of 2012!!

Oh dear, well one of my new years resolutions from the beginning of 2012 didn't really stick. My intention was to try and post on here a bit more, but I've actually written fewer posts than in 2011! 

I'll try again for 2013 but I'm not promising anything this time! Over the last 12 months I've probably made fewer tack sets than ever. As far as full sets go, I've made one huntseat set, one classic scale show set, one western set, one Australian set, a pebbles scale western set and then a couple of bridles and other small accessories. So, pretty varied really, but only 5 sets over 12 months. I couldn't do anything for January or February as we were still waiting for our container to arrive, so maybe my annual rate is closer to about 6 sets, or 2 months per set. This is useful to know, and it's the kind of time frame I should bear in mind when planning next years workload. 

Right now I have three things on the books: a bridle, a Draught horse presentation set, and a full cross-country set. More variety - I like it. I also have a few updates on the website to do and facebook as well. The Yahoo group is really taking a backseat. Updating four different things seems pretty inefficient so I will be discontinuing that group shortly. Blogger works far better for announcements, and facebook works well for random snippets and in-progress photos.

I have really been lacking any sort of motivation since the Ultimate Gold 2 live show on the 9th (yes I should do a blog post about that...). I had 5 days off over Christmas and yet didn't lift a finger in the studio. It was nice and clean, fairly inviting, but I just didn't fancy making anything. Lots my mojo a little, but it doesn't help the temperatures have been at least 36C each day. Big heat is a recipe for disaster when it comes to Lauren's motivation. So I didn't push it. I laid on the sofa watching cooking shows and property shows, and looking after my friend's dog Ted who is a pretty cool Cocker Spaniel. He's the only dog I've ever met who likes swimming in figure of 8's at the dog pool. I've also been going and feeding my friend Linda's 4 cats, two of which are stray kittens she has taken in and cared for. They are timid little things but after a week of going round I am at the stage of being able to pet them both. It's so nice being around animals again, they have such a soothing influence. Hopefully it won't be too long before we have our own best friend in the house.

I'll sign off for 2012 by wishing everyone a fantastic New Year! Here's a random picture of a polo pony playing at Polo on the Beach, Cornwall 2011. Leave me a comment if you'd like to see more pics from this event!

Le Trec with a Standing model

For my upcoming live show, I have been researching a little known equestrian sport that I think will e a good match for one of my standing models. I recently bought my Wico resin as an unpainted body and asked Sherry Clayton to paint him up for me. She did a great job and painted just the right amount of sabino markings. I'm not totally decided on a breed but he'll be something along the lines of Gelderlander, KWPN or Holstein, I think those three breeds allow sabino. 

Anyway, he does look rather nice with some of the blue accessories I have. I made the bridle years ago for an Arab I have, but who has a broken ear right now. It's made of some kind of plasticy lace, which I remember being a real pain at the time but has held up well, none of the bonds have broken. I do have other colours of this stuff too so one day may explore other possibilities with it. The whole bluey theme would go well with some kind of endurance set up, but his pose isn't exactly very active. I suppose he could do a vetting scene but I would need more dolls for that. So I looked into Le Trec. Now this is a sport I would definitely do if I had my own horse! It consists of three main phases: orienteering on horseback (POR), control of paces (CoP), and the cross-country/obstacle course (PTV). The sport has French origins which explains the acronyms used for each phase! It was originally designed as a way to test equestrian guides in the horse tourism industry.

The POR can be up to 12km long at the lowest level, up to 40km at the highest level. Riders get a limited amount of time to trace the route onto their own map, and then ride the route starting with 240 points. Points are knocked off for missing checkpoints, getting the route wrong, etc. The CoP is carried out over a marked out section 150m, where they must demonstrate control of the various paces, for example cantering the course as slowly as possible whilst not breaking gait. The PTV phase is probably the most interesting from a model horse showing point of view. The course comprises 16 obstacles, each of which are judged, and these are a mix of what you may find on a cross-country course or a trail course. Typical obstacles include crossing a bridge, small jumps, opening/closing a gate, going up and down staircases etc. The one that caught my eye, with Wico in mind, was the immobility obstacle. Trec Ireland has great data sheets on each obstacle, particularly useful for those of use who like lots of good documentation.

The immbility obstacle requires the rider to walk into the centre of a 2.5m diameter circle. The rider then has 10 seconds to position the horse and release the reins completely, laying them on the horses neck. Once the reins are released the timer is started and is stopped when either the rider moves to pick up the reins or when the horse leaves the circle. Full marks are awarded if the timer reaches 10 seconds. Deductions occur for interventions, brutality or dangerous methods!

So, my Wico looks pleasantly relaxed and at ease, and will look great inside that circle.

This weekend I made up a base which is pretty simple, and will use small cones to demarcate the circle, using a plate as a template. The flags are secured in small holes in the base.

There is also a dismounted immobility obstacle, where the horse is led into a 4m circle and left there whilst the riders leaves the circle and stays outside another 8m circle. The rules are basically the same but I chose the mounted version as it takes up less space, and I don't have to deal with trying to get a doll to stand up!

Overall I'm pretty happy with the idea of it all. We'll see how it goes down at the weekend!

Working Western set #2

Another set that has taken me a while to complete, it was delayed due to my other old orders. Sharon asked for a set similar to the first Working Western set I made in early 2011. I have done a different carving pattern, and used slightly different colours for the seat and pommel assembly. This also used a TWMHC tree as opposed to a Rio Rondo tree, so some modification of the patterns was required.

Sharon also loved the resin this saddle set is shown on, so I sent them both off to live with her on the other side of Australia. She let me know that this combo won Reserve Champion in performance at the recent Canberra live show.

I have a busy tack-making month coming up, in preparation for the second Ultimate Gold live show on the 9th of December. Mostly it is accessories, a few bridles and props. But I do have to make a LB scale western show set. I have made the tree so far which in some ways can be the trickiest part, is it dictates the final shape, size and proportions of the final saddle. I've also doodled a design for it and will try and see if I can fit in all the details I want! Should be interesting....

Pony Cuteness!

One of my recent orders has been for a snaffle bridle to fit the Breyer Classic scale Haflinger pony. I didn't have one of my own so decided to order one, as I knew it would be a bit dodgy doing this one from measurements. The cheapest way to get Breyers here in Australia is to buy them from the UK! It takes a week or so for them to arrive but then again the domestic post usually takes that long anyway. I also bought a Classic scale warmblood (the Selle Francais), and a Heartbreaker and Valentine set (or whatever they're called). I don't generally pay too much attention to Original Finish models unless I know I'll need the mould for tack fitting purposes! I do enjoy customising them so they will all become fodder for that. I like the resculpt part but not really the painting part so I'll get someone else to do that!

For the pony, my idea was to get rid of the huge mane and forelock to make her a bit more tack friendly. When she arrived, it's pretty clear she's not true classic scale. Much bigger in fact. I think she'd make a good small pony in Traditional scale. Anyway, just as I was about to start the bridle, I was mooching on MH$P as one does, and came across a gorgeous customised Haflinger by Frances Stevens. Just had to have her, as she was almost perfectly in the image of what I had intended for my original model. She had cute little braids, and a very pretty colour which any little girl would adore!

She arrived last week and I got the bridle finished at the weekend. She made the bridle fitting a lot easier! I made two browbands for the bridle, one to keep intact, and the other can be chopped up if the owner needs it to fit around the forelock on the original model.

 

I've given her the suitably cute name of Mayblossom

Finally, the Australian set!

I was very happy yesterday to finally put Caitlin's Australian set in the mail to her! Overall I was really happy with how this one turned out, and along the way have found some cool new supplies. The best discovery was bookbinding kangaroo leather from Packer Direct. They had a sale on and I purchased 4 skins, for $15 each. I would say each skin is about 5 sq.ft., so that was a pretty good deal. I ended up with skins in black, whiskey, brown and brandy. The black and brandy are really nice colours, the brown and whiskey not as nice. But it re-dyes very easily so all of it will be put to good use.

 

 

For this set I used the brandy coloured hide but went over it again with All-in-One Cherry Chocolate to get a deeper colour. The All-in-One also conditions and seals the leather and this particular leather went exceptionally soft and shiny. It also brought out the tooling really nicely. One thing I did learn is that it's much easier to apply the dye on a larger piece, then cut out the patterns. 

 

 

Most of the hardware on this set is cast. The bridle buckles are particular favourites of mine and are the swedge type buckles made by Sulser Saddlery sold through The World of Model Horse Collecting on ebay.

 

Caitlin requested a purple and lime green colour theme for the girth, as she has lots of accessories to match. I'm sure it will certainly stand out! The stirrup leathers are fully adjsuatble much in the same way as western fenders, with the buckle near the stirrup but concealed between the folded leather.

 

 

UG Live Show Pictures

I have a couple of blog posts to write up so I'll start with the first one I should have done 6 weeks ago!

I went to the Ultimate Gold Live Show in July, my first Australian live show. All in all it was pretty similar to shows in the UK, the only major difference being the Artist Resins being combined with Customs, and having one judge judge a whole division. I have too many resins and customs as it is, so having a combined section meant I had to really think about who to take. But it's a good excuse to sell some of my customs as they won't get shown as much and I do find their finishes a bit more delicate than resins, especially when it gets warm.

Anyway here are some pics, apologies for the wonkyness of them! Enjoy!

My Darcy resin, Morganesque, 6th in English Flatwork

Aurora, 2nd in Western Pleasure

Galen, joint 1st in Other Performance

Redwood Clever Cowboy, owned by Stacey Crowley, taking the Performance Championship

Redwood Princeton, also owned by Stacey, taking Reserve Performance honours 

My customised Briony resin won the Repaint/Rehair/Reposition class. I repositioned her head and neck and Faye Cohen did the rest

First for Sundance, painted by Amanda Greaves in her breed class. She also won the Mini Paint Pattern colour class too!

My spotty thoroughbred wins the sporthorse class, he was painted by Sherry Clayton

Followed by my Atom resin who is shown as a Equus Kinsky

My handsome Gomez resin won the Other Pure Breed class. He also got a 3rd in the grey class and 5th in the traditional repaint class.

Something Wicked won the Other Partbred class. He is a Cooper resin painted by Teresa Botkins

I introduced some of my Equorums to the Aussies. The OF classes were fairly quiet but I was very pleased with this first place in the Grey colour class

Another Equorum, Orion, won the draft breed class and spotted colour class

Stacey's Deputed Duke resin took out the Reserve Supreme

 And Robyn's Stone Warmblood EA Dazzlendaze took top honours at the show

Olympic fever!

Things have been very quiet on here, I do apologise!

But I have been somewhat distracted by the amazing pictures from the London Olympics. I've mainly been watching the equestrian events and these have been interspersed with athletics, tennis, rowing and hockey. I am a hockey player so feel I should be watching that! I have been blown away by the success of Great Britain in everything but especially the equestrian events. Golds in the team Show Jumping and Dressage are outstanding achievements for a nation that traditionally has never been classed as one of the big guns in these events. Moment of beaming pride now over!

The pic is of Zara Phillips (not taken by me!) knocking a pole during the 3-day-event. I just love the jump, hoping at some point to re-create it so I've added it to my long list of projects.