Struck by stars and stripes

Guys, I am screaming. Look at this fella!

 

 He is so awesome! I've never been attracted to the translucents much, but something about this guy just draws me to him like ants to sugar water. For those who haven't heard or don't follow me for my model horse obsession, World of Model Horses revealed the 2016 4th of July Breyer horse on their Facebook page this morning, and he (maybe I should mention his name is Patriot) is a 3000 piece run that they have pre orders of already. I am just purely awestruck by him, the red points, the stars on his hindquarters like a blanket appaloosa pattern, the blue, oh that blue....I know for sure that if he's giving others such happy vibes like he is with me the pre orders will be filled quickly and he won't be cheap on the secondary market for a while.

Speaking of the secondary market, eBay has had some interesting gems. I'm not a big fan of the Breyer elephant, but these pieces are in great condition and rather neat.

 

If I was to pursue getting one, it would be a decorator like this cutie.

And here are some more with some info on them. They all were clearly from the same person who was a collector that tended to their models very well. 

 

There was also this. Not too special, but one of the "custom ideas" in this auction really threw me off and made me ask myself why someone would do such a weird idea...

 

Welp, that's all I really got for today. For those who were hoping to see kitties, I will give you eye candy of a couple of the cats I was working with at the shelter.

 

Finn and Holly were placed in the community room together since they were both declawed and possessed passive personalities. They couldn't agree on who could sit with me; Holly won until I got up and stretched then Finn did a victory prance as she hid on a shelf.

 

Sawyer was a lovebug who wanted to be everywhere but his kennel. The full time vet got a kick out of hearing me tell him we weren't going to play "The Adventures of Tomcat Sawyer"

 

Zara was one of Tuesday's transfers from the stray room, and not even a half hour later I had people wanting to adopt her. I love knowing there's people who can find room in their hearts to adopt adult kitties, makes me look forward to going back next Tuesday.

 

Unique little ponies

Why hello strangers I'm still alive! Just been busy and sick, but doing things nonetheless. Been spending alot of time on eBay acquiring horses and wishing I could get others...

 

 I am really coveting this guy, his shading is beautiful! But alas, I am already at my horsey budget for this pay period, so I had to say farewell to possibly giving him a home with me.

 And then there's this beauty that is far too above my budget. I feel honored just being able to see that he exists, very mystifying coloring for the Adios mold. Backstory included!

 

I might have missed out on some beauties, but I still have become victorious. I had two unpainted Hartland arabian foals come in the mail, each one very unique on its own, along with a couple more models en route. One is a model I identify as one of my "childhood holy grails," and I will definitely be showing him off when he arrives, and I got an older Peter Stone model coming also. Once they arrive I will be taking a respite from adding to my collection until I can get a DeEtta proof display cabinet to put them in. Something about the smell of the newer Breyers seems to scream "eat me" to the cute terror, so thankfully my vintages are safe...for now. They do have a new toy to keep them occupied for a while, I already woke up a few times last night to them enjoying it.

 

Finally a picture of all five! Sabbat at the top, Bear to the right, Gizmo on the left, DeEtta on the new toy and Spot at the bottom. The Bengal babies love it.

Speaking of Bengals, DeEtta has been getting restless and wanting to go on an adventure lately to the point of trying to walk out the door when I go to work, and Gizmo has been very clingy to me. It's almost like they know that I'm struggling with this infection with how Gizmo soothes me to sleep, DeEtta wakes me up when I stop breathing, and they greet me as soon as I get home. I even have an editor for tonight's entry, but it might be because I'm extremely exhausted from the day. On that note, I better rest up and get ready to help the shelter kitties tomorrow get love until they find forever homes.

 

Yeah, Gizmo doesn't look smug at all.

Feline shenanigans and a scary little machine

Last few days have been a hit and miss with my health, and the antibiotic was wreaking more havoc than the sickness, but I am still alive! And let's just say there were a couple kitties that kept sticking close to me, so I caught them in their "natural habitat." Please forgive the horrendous photo placement.

   




Gizmo was "helping" me braid...

    

I was also front row to a Bengal battle! DeEtta was having a good time lounging back, even while slapping Gizmo's paw.

I love this shot, it shows how close in size they are. Gizmo still has more muscle tone than DeEtta.

I also started working on my pony pouches again, and with a new method. It is definitely one that I'm still trying to figure out, and it has bite. So far it has pricked my innocent thumb and nearly mangled a piece of material. Who knew a handheld sewing machine could be so scary....it took me an hour to make one pouch for one stablemate. One. Hour. I would be better off hand sewing them unless I can get better at not getting attacked by the machine and making giant snarled messes somehow. It would be nice to get the pouches made for at least the stablemates so that they can quit chafing against each other in their storage tote. One step at a time, or else I will trip and fall.

 

So cute, but also intimidating...

And don't forget, tomorrow is pi(e) day!!

Triumph and trial

Well this sickness is more than I wanted. Doctor said that I have an ear infection...on top of my respiratory infection that I thought I was done with. Awesome. Hopefully the medicine I got this time around will help, because it's no fun being drained halfway through my work shift.
Despite the not so appealing health, I have some good things come my way. My recent mail has come in, and I have been stoked since I opened them.

 

I am not a child, just child like.

My two latest Breyers came in, and I have been as giddy as when I cook myself a batch of deep fried pike bites. I have since put them down but I was holding and gawking at them for the fifteen mile ride home and the first few minutes after I got in the house. It also occurred to me that my current breed crush is Arabians, I actually only had two (not counting stablemates) until a few weeks ago. For being older molds, these guys are gorgeous, especially the proud Arabian stallion I just got. Since I'm exhausted I'll end it here with pictures of my two new beauties.

 

This is the one I referred to as Tamarisk's new girlfriend, I have named her Acacia.

And say hello to Sundown.

 

Research struggles

With the near completion of one project (Stonewall Lee), I am preparing to do the research portion for another project. For being a mess up on base coloring, he is turning out gorgeous, almost like a steel gray snowflake appaloosa. Speaking of appaloosas, I have decided that will be my next project. I finally succumbed and bought a stablemate sized artist resin mare that is rolling blissfully on her back. I fell in love with her at first sight and decided that I was going to get her.

 

I might be a fool for horses that aren't the kind you would put in a winner's arena setting.

As soon as I saw her, I immediately pictured her as a leopard appaloosa. Simple enough on the basic end, white horse with spots like a dalmatian. That would be the case if I was making a doodle of a leopard appaloosa, but I want to do it right, mottled skin and all. It wasn't hard to gather reference pictures for the eyes, hooves, genitalia, and muzzle, but there one big gaping detail I'm struggling with that is out in the open on this beauty. Her belly. I know the hair is thin on parts of the belly, so pinking and mottling will show through, but I can't remember exactly where, and Google is acting like a stubborn critter about my search terms. At least it hasn't given me anything traumatizing like when I've looked for other things in the image search, I actually got lucky and found an adorable find!

 

Behold the mythical "Cataloosa"

Of course before I would go slopping paint on an artist resin with a pattern I've never done, I need a test pony. Thank god that I have a body box of beaten up models I've acquired in multiple horse lots on eBay, so I have a few to pick from. My victim of choice is a little bit/paddock pal quarter horse that was painted a yellow brown. When I removed the paint from him and his little buddies soon after I acquired them with a method I used many times before, something......strange happened. Unlike other times, I used a cheap oven cleaner which seemed to cause a very acidic reaction against the plastic; and took off not only the paint, but it dissolved the top layer of plastic in some places into a gel like mess. I managed to rescue them and clean them before too much damage was done while cussing and muttering and wondering if the cheap crap had acetone or something in it. Here I am, pulling him (well, her, his manhood was a victim of the death slime) out of the body box, and I'm debating on bathing it, it still smells like the lemon scented oven cleaner from eight months ago. If you ever decide to do the oven cleaner in a baggie method to remove acrylic paint from a Breyer, I advise using a brand name oven cleaner instead of the bargain brand stuff at the corner store, it will save you a night of wanting to rampage through a basement apartment and go upstairs to ask your landlord for a cigarette although you are trying to break the habit. I have determined that once I lightly sand down the rough edges around the resulting slime craters and put a gesso layer on him (her!) then it will be safe to practice some mottling.

Sick day and ramblings

Just my luck lately. Get crushed in a door over the summer, have my left lung forget how to function, catch a respiratory infection in January, and get a nasty cold once I'm healed up from the infection. The most annoying part is when it keeps me from going to work....how am I supposed to add to my collection if I'm not making money?! At least the cats are happy that there's a human to pick on all day, three of the five commandeered my bed when I got up to get a drink. The other two were playing, but it got suddenly quiet. Knowing Gizmo and DeEtta that can mean anything from nap time to plotting on how to climb the walls in a different fashion.
In other news, I got a girlfriend for Tamarisk (I'm keeping it a secret from him) and I'm perfecting my braids for Arabian tack. I found a four strand method that works nicely as long as I have a way to hold it down, and it has a smooth symmetrical result to it. I think a bit more practice and I can create some lovely pieces for my growing Arabian collection (I wonder what color will go well with the wood grains). The joys of a berserk nervous system makes me contemplate working on my stablemate sized customs, but there's one I would love to finish and another that I believe I have found a good color for. There was a time a couple years ago when the only blockade from finishing a model in one sitting is my tendency of having to put it down before I get annoyed, now that happens faster depending on what kind of day it is with my twitches and shakes. I also found another flaw of mine is being impatient and not wanting to clean the brush or water down the paint to make more smooth brushstroke-less layers.
One fine example of this is my custom Epona, who I completed in a record two hours (not recommended). She did turn out as I wanted but also atrociously. If you look closer you can see little balls of dried acrylic paint that stuck to my brush that I decided to not have the time to clean.

 

Bad Ali, no pretty ponies or potato salad for such impatience! 

Here is my work in progress whose color turned into a whoops. Stonewall Lee was supposed to be a dapple grey, but I went wrong somewhere in the beginning and didn't notice until I was too far along to want to retry. He is almost done, just waiting on a good day to not twitch everywhere while detailing his mane. My major mess up was not thinning the paint, so there are a few brush strokes on him, especially his black stockings, and I'm theorizing that is another reason his grey came out far darker than expected.

 

Points to whoever can think of a name for his coloring!

Working on him will be for another time when I won't potentially cough up gunk on him. These two definitely aren't my first customs, but the others are packed away. I am thinking of sewing together some pony pouches to better pack everyone in, and I'll take pictures as I find them. And to end today's random entry, I shall display a photo of what all the cats are possibly doing! Starring DeEtta, who is keeping an eye/ear on me.

 

Zzzzzzzzzz...