Safe Travels

I hate packing models for shows. It takes a whole lot of time and energy to do and as I like to bring quite a few models to shows I usually start packing very carefully but in the end I am not as meticulous. I also go to shows by car so my models are quite safe during travels (as in not to bumpy and they don't really move around). So I have thought long and hard on my options to make packing easier and maybe even safer.

I have looked around and found that padded pouches seem like a popular method and I think that would work very well for me. So I decided to make myself some padded pouches for my models.

The thing is, I haven't used a sewing machine in probably 15 years!  And I had pretty much no idea how I would have to do to get my satin lined padded pouches.

After a lot of research and material gathering I finished my first trial attempt today.

It has a satin lining with fleece padding and cotton outside. It is not perfect, as I didn't have enough of this particular fabric to make the flap I plan to have to fold over the top.

But I am still quite happy with how it turned out, especially for being my first try, and my first sewing machine experience for a whole lot of years.

As I plan a very specific colour scheme for my own pouches I borrowed a model from my boyfriend to make this pouch. Bilbo is a Breyer Tr. SBH Phoenix repainted by my boyfriend.

He fits quite nicely in his new travel pouch and there is enough fabric on top so that it would be possible to fold the top over if desired.

I really like how it came out and I must say that now that I know how to do it, it wasn't that bad or that time consuming. The sewing was the easiest and fastest part of it all and now I only need to make a few real templates and then it shouldn't take too long to make a few more. But for today, I'll stick with this one.

Working on it

I have done some small model related stuff the last days. I am working a lot and have a whole lot of plans for several weekends to come so hobby time is limited and I feel like every small thing I do is great progress.

First of all I've fixed the interior of the stable scene. Next up is to paint it.

I've painted the outside of the stable scene.

To get the right texture I painted it with a sponge as the look of the stable walls I'm after is not completely smooth.

I have also painted the base for the stable scene. There are still some way to go. I need to find the part for the stable door that I misplaced and then there is painting the inside, decorating the outside and fixing the window so it'll take a while to finish but so far I think it looks good.

I've also re-organized my body shelf. It has been quite a mess for some time now and I feel it's hard to get a good overview of what you have if they are just lying in big piles. So now I've organized them so that the ready to paint models are at the left on the shelf, the ones that have been started are to the right and the ones that needs work/customization/primer are in the middle.

It's quite crowded so I need to start painting more models (or at least paint some of the bigger ones) to get room for more!

Safe travels

Recently I started paying of a grail of mine and in a not too distant future he will come live with me. I am absolutely over the moon and can't wait to the day I can look at him in my cabinet.

Anyway, as this model is very special to me I wanted him to be able to travel really safe as I plan on bringing him to as many live shows as I can. I had seen a few ideas and tutorials on different sites and blogs and talked to my boyfriend about them.

So for our three year anniversary as a couple he bought me this:

An aluminium case big enough to house my new addition. We went out and bought some padding (my boyfriend wanted to make sure that I was happy with the choice of padding 😊) and I got to work on the case.

With the help of Leah Koerper's tutorial and Emily Rodgers' tutorial posted on Jennifer Buxton's blog I got to work and started cutting out the shape of the model.

I cut through layer for layer and even though it took quite some time,

I'm rather happy with the results.

I can't wait for my grail to arrive and when he does, I'm ready and he can travel safe with me to shows 😊

Goody bag

This year I've been entering a few giveaways hosted by different hobby people and I have been really lucky.

At the end of July, Chestnut Ridge hosted a week of offers, treasure hunt and competitions on their Facebook page as a celebration of Breyerfest. I entered both the treasure hunt and competitions as I thought it was a really nice idea.

I wasn't expecting to win anything so I was really surprised and happy to see my name was drawn among the correct answers in a word search puzzle. I was one of those who found the name of the auction model (Spirit) and found his sale price ($1800).

So I won a goody bag. 

It was that goody bag that was in the envelope so I decided to open it first.

I got a Breyer pen and pencil.

A paintbrush, a painting sponge and a bottle of gold acrylic colour. I was in need of gold acrylics so that was great!

I also got a Breyer G3 Pony ready for paint. I think this model is super cute and I can't wait to paint it. I'm thinking silver bay or silver black, maybe a palomino or tobiano, We'll see what happens.

Thank you so much to Chestnut Ridge for hosting this week of fun, I had a blast. And thank you for the goody bag! :)

Organizers

I got a small package in the mail today. And it contained my new organizing solution for my pastels. I have been looking for some small jars so that I can shave down my pastels and store them like a powder as that will make things easier for when I will use them.

I was so happy when I found these (at an okey price too!) jars that are stored in an acrylic box. That way it will be easy to keep track of the pastels and easy to bring with me if I need!

The jars are just the perfect size and they are exactly what I was looking for so I am very pleased :)

I can't wait until I can put my pastels in them! But that will be for another day, I have a huge exam on Thuesday and two presentations, one tomorrow and one on Friday so I won't have time to do that for a while... Oh well... At least the subject is really interesting, but it won't be easy so back to the anesthesia studies.