Belated post

I meant to write this post a looong time ago and I did take photos for it but I have no idea where the pictures are so when I unpacked my models after the liveshow I took some time to take a few pictures.

Last July, Christina Brown of CK Tiny Tack did a blog post on saddle pads and Thelwell ponies. I found them adorable and Christina was nice enough to leave a saddle pad up for grabs, all you had to do was to pay the shipping. I couldn't believe my luck when I was the first to inquire about it. 

I liked the pictures of it but it looks even better in hand.

It's really nicely made and very detailed.

I just love the picture of the stubborn little pony. I think all of us have met a pony like that sometime!

It's even marked with CKTT Saddlery!

I love this saddle pad and I'd love to have more of them but unfortunately I don't have enough saddles! So for now I have to settle with this one but that is definitely good enough!

The Silver Brumby Project

When I was around 7 or 8 years old, I ccame across the Silver Brumby books by Elyne Mitchell for the first time. I read the first (The Silver Brumby) and the second book (Silver Brumby's Daughter) in a matter of days. I was completely hooked and it wasn't long before I found the third (Silver Brumbies of the South) and fourth (Silver Brumby Kingdom) book at my local library. I read them too in a matter of days and liked them just as much, or I'd say more since Silver Brumbies of the South was my absolute favourite. I've actually never read the last two books in the series as my library never seemed to have them in when I was there. Instead I re-read the first four books more times then I could count.

My Swedish double edition of the Silver Brumby and Silver Brumby's Daughter.

Years have gone since then but I've never forgotten the books and the fact that I never got to read the end of the book series kind of bother me. So a while ago I started to search for the books to add them to my collection of horsebooks. I want to read them again and one day, perhaps, pass them on to my own children.

The books I'm trying to locate for my Silver Brumby collection is:

The Silver Brumby
Silver Brumby's Daughter
Silver Brumbies of the South
Silver Brumby Kingdom
Silver Brumby Whirlwind
Son of the Whirlwind

and

Moon Filly (even though it's not an "actual" Thowra book it is connected to the rest).

I've actually been able to locate the first and second books and the fifth and sixth books.

The illustration on the cover of the Swedish edition of Silver Brumby's Daughter and found on the back of this double volume.

So what does this have to do with model horses you ask.

Actually it's quite simple; I have a plan to recreate all the important characters from these Brumby stories in model horse form. I also have a plan to create some of my favourite scenes from the books.

It'll take quite some time to do this so it'll be a slow but ongoing project. Although I will publish som progress pictures on this blog I've created a website for those of you who want to have all the news and info: The Silver Brumby Project

I plan to make this project in scale 1:32 (Stablemate) and I'll try to make each model different, either by using different molds for each horse or by some slight resculpting and repositioning.

I really look forward to this project, but before I can start I need to make a complete list of the characthers.

Lost and found...

My dear little cat who was lost has now been found. Like I said in the previous post, he'd been missing since the late evening of the 14 June. 

On the 16th of June I was out of patience and fed up with waiting for him to come home on his own. I went out around noon to try and find him. I searched ditches in case he'd been hit by a car, I looked into windows in every type of building I could without trespassing (the neighbours and people passing by probably thought I was a burglar or a nutjob!) and stayed and listened to try to hear if I could hear if he was locked in somewhere.

I came home empty handed, I didn't find anything. 

Later that evening I told my mother that I wanted to go out searching for him and she joined me. On our way home I thought I heard a cat meow. My mother thought it was the cat that followed us but I said no and tried to hear it again. It took some time and I nearly gave up when I saw a cat (a black and white one so it wasn't mine) sitting beside a tree, meowing. Then I heard it.

Another meow from somewhere else. I called out; Svante, and I heard the cat meow again. It came from far up in the three. It was jet black outside and I couldn't even see a cat in the tree so I kept calling out his name. And he kept answering, every time. I told my mother that it must be Svante, eventhough I wasn't sure as I couldn't see him. We ran home to get flashlights and it took us half an hour to actually get a visual of the cat, and sure enough, it was our Svante. We called around and tried to reach him with a ladder but with no results, no one would help us and we couldn't reach him.

The hardest part of it all was that we had to go home and sleep, knowing that he sat in the tree, meowing for us to come get him. But there was not much more we could do in the dark.

So the next day I was up by 7 a.m and started calling people to see if there was anyone who could help me. There wasn't. It was the third day he'd been sitting in the tree and I desperately wanted him down. I didn't know what to do. I made a few tries with the ladder again but with no results. He sat approximately 10 meters up in a high chestnut tree. 

At about 5 p.m. my father came to help me and with his out-of-the-box placing of the ladder (it probably wasn't considered particularly safe) I was able to climb up and reach for Svante. He did his best to try and get as close to me as he dared and I had him! I shook the whole climb down (I'm not afraid of heights but it was scary walking on the ladder in that position and with a cat under my arm!). But the only thing that matter was that Svante was home!

Sleeping on my workclothes.

He was a little dehydrated and very hungry but with added water to his canned food he is much better today. He is still a little sleepy but when he doesn't sleep he plays or eats so he'll probably be back to his old self in no time.

MIA

It's hard to even write this post since I'm so scared something bad has happened.

Svante, our dear little cat, is missing.

He was last seen on the early evening of the 14 June. He did not come home later that evening as he always does. To some that might not seem like a big deal but, to us who knows him, it is. He has never been gone more than one night, and it has only happened on one occassion, he came home the next day, injured.

He always comes running as soon as he hears someone by the door and he wouldn't willingly miss several meals!

So as of today, I consider him missing and I pray for his safe return.

New barn accessories

I've been quite creative for a while now (between school, studies and other things). I have my eyes set on making a small horse-shop scene with different horse accessories so by taking small steps, making one item at the time I will get there one day =)

Lately I've turned these:

Into these:

15 rope halters in 5 different colours.

Light Brown

Light Green

Red

Light Blue

Black

Besides making rope halters I've made a few lead ropes in different colours (to match the rope halters:

Light blue, light brown, red, red/black and green/black.

I also tried to make a couple of Jolly Balls for the horses. These are made in polymer clay and then primed and painted. I need to make better ones but for a first try I think they are ok.

They're not quite finished in this picture, they need a few more layers of paint and then sealer.

Another first was this pink haynet:

Yes, it actually is pink even though it doesn't look like it.

It's not perfect but it was just a first try since I didn't have the materials I wanted. I think I got the hang of the technique and once I've made a few more tries (with the right materials) I'll make a small tutorial for them =)

Liveshow mix

This is the last post of the small blog post "series" from the show. Here I've collected pictures of winners from some of the small special shows and pictures of some of my absolute favourite models from the show.

Quite Like June xx

I've seen some pictures of this resin (I believe it's called Kestrel) and firstly, thought it was much smaller, secondly, I've never actually found it very interesting. That is until I saw her live. She actually looks much more interesting IRL and she's of a very managable size. After seeing her live, I wouldn't mind owning one. This one is called Quite Like June xx and she did quite well in both halter (second in her class if I remember correctly) and performance (winning her class).

This entry was so cute I just couldn't not take a picture of it! I believe the tack was made by Becky Yeager and the rider was made by the owner of this entry. The tack was just amazing, so small but so detailed! Same goes for the doll. I wish I was able to make such nice things in such small scales, unfortunately I lack patience.

Atlas VS

This entry was nice but the real reason I choose this picture was because I really like the horse. 

R. Blue Mist Bandit

This was the Best in Show of the performance special show; R. Blue Mist Bandit. A nice set up and a really nice horse.

The Lakeshore class

The clinkies show consisted of three classes of which I only got pictures of one. Which was probably my favourite; the Lakeshore class. I'm especially fond of the Houdini, Touch of the Sky and Marshall.

TO Tobias

My absolute favourite Lakeshore is the Houdini and I was happy to see that it was a bay tobiano Houdini (just like my own Bellini of Decorima) who claimed the Best in Show of the clinky special show.

Ciderprinsen J

The winner of the customs by owner special show was Ciderprinsen J, an Eberl Sioux rep. S. Nordström. He's a real beauty and he always does really well in shows!

This one was probably my absolute favourite fantasy horse. I'm normally not into fantasy horses but I really liked this one. The owner made a great job enhancing the model with the base. I might need to get one of these for my self and do something similar but I'm thinking cliffs, perhaps some water... Will see what the future brings.

Noclaf

This is Noclaf. He is a Norwag. I'm not quite sure what that is but I think he is really cool. Apparently, I wasn't the only one since Noclaf went on to claim the Best in Show of the Fantasy and Decorators special show.

Viggo

This is a Rose Tiny resin and behind him is another Tiny resin remade to a mare. I really like both of them and the colour of Viggo is kind of what I had in mind fo my own Tiny resin but since I'm a sucker for white markings my Tiny will have some. And the plan, at least for now, is to make him a mare.

Ace E D Cee

This Phoenix resin had the most lovely colour and pattern and for not being a stockhorse person I'd love to have her on my shelf.

This model is a remade Idocus body with a Keltic Salinero head. I really can't say why but I really like this horse. His calm, collected expression and sweet eyes. And as you could see above, he looks good in tack too.

I really like this Icelandic mold and the one above and the one below are repainted by C. Brennholt from Norway. They are really nice and I would love to try and paint some of these myself.

I couldn't help myself when I saw these two donkeys. They are just adorable! Painted to match each other I would've loved to add them to my almost non-existant longears collection.

This model has one of the best fleabitten paintjobs I've ever seen on an OF model. And it's a very nice mold as well. I'll try to add one of these to my collection some day.

Muse

Muse was an entirely new encounter. She is an Equorum Arabian, I believe. She's really cool and there's something very feminine over her long legs and petite body. To my knowledge this girl is the only Equorum in Sweden.

Ojo Del Diablo

I saw a really cool appaloosa Brandus a few weeks before the live show. That Brandus made me curious and I wanted to see one for myself as to decide if I should put him up on my wantlist. At the liveshow I got my chance. He was painted in a very interesting pinto pattern and I really liked him.

Bon Power

Another model I really liked was a Rose Rasam repainted and haired by S. Nordström. Rasam has never really struck me as an arabian. I really can't say why but I think there is something with his body that just reminds me of a riding pony I've seen. So when I've pictured Rasam I've always seen him as a Riding Pony (with arabian blood in him of course) or perhaps a Welara. Bon Power who was shown at the show did very well as a Riding Pony and I think it suits him very well.

Briar VS

This horse was probably my overall favourite of the show. He is an Eberl Willoughby rep. S. Nordström. He is painted after the real warmblood stallion Briar, a horse I adore. He would've been an awesome addition to my growing Eberl warmblood herd but I believe he was a commission/already sold. Anyway he is absolutely lovely, the model looks great and the paintjob suits him so well.

Oh well, one day I'll hopefully have a Briar portrait of my own.

As always I was so inspired when I came home I don't know where to start! I want to paint more horses and try tackmaking, propmaking and anything in between. It was a great liveshow and I look forward to go to another!