Summer sluggishness and looney times

Okay Mother Nature, the constant 80 degree weather is getting very annoying! Granted it is nice for me priming a bunch of bodies, but it isn't fun working in a fast food restaurant in this weather. Not to mention how hot vehicles can get....ugh. Once the summer solstice hits I will be eagerly counting down to winter.

 

Bengal babies have been liking it.

One plus side to the warm weather is being able to catalog my models when I'm not at work or being lazy. It's nice knowing that I'm three quarters of the way done, and that much closer to getting a number of how many horses I have. I have found some I even forgot I have! Storage has taken its toll on at least one of my larger models, which I am really attached to. Goffert, my first Traditional scale model, has developed seam splits on his back and where the plastic holds the metal stand in his leg. When I packed everyone away last summer he only had a hoof rub, so finding him in this new state has had me bummed out of photographing the others lately. I have decided that once finances are kinder to me that I will look for another and give this old friend of mine a new life to the best of my abilities.

If that happens sooner than later, I might end up overloading myself. For some silly reason I thought it was a good idea to multitask with projects. So far the count is at Bengals Find Me Tasty (acrylics), a G3 Arabian Stablemate (acrylics also), a G2 trotting Stablemate foal (who I decided to do in pastels), a cantering Stablemate foal (who is being done in eye shadow to see how different it is from pastels), a G1 Arabian Stablemate (in resculpt stage),  and G1 and G2 Thoroughbred mares being primered for who knows what. I might have lost my mind. Big. Time.

 

And I don't know why I am using this to represent my loss of sanity but I'm going with it.

Cataloguing and the mystical modern chalky

I got the crazy idea of photographing and cataloguing all my models. Have found out a few things, like I have over 100 Stablemates and way more micro minis than I expected. Also found out the two times Gizmo and DeEtta toppled over my box holding the little fellas, it damaged and scuffed them more than I initially thought. Not only that, my phone doesn't tell me that it's overheating, unless I try using the flash on the camera.

 

I also had these fellas for 10 (left) and 2 (right) years and didn't realize they were identical!

Can see the difference in painting methods over 8 years with these guys.

And onto the damage...two horses that broke and I repaired back in my "carpet herd" days broke again, in the same spots, and a third one lost its ear. Most of my white horses and leopard appaloosas got scuffs on them, and one blanket appaloosa that came with the Hidalgo Buffalo Bill play set has a boatload of scuffs that make her look like a poorly executed pintaloosa (yikes!).

 

I don't remember the white going that close to her shoulders, and the other side is worse.

My old customs fared well, one stallion yellowed, but back then I was using shellac that my dad also used for his woodworking projects. Mohair fell off of a Classic sized model I had in there also.

 

Had a random butterfly photobomb my micro minis from Grand Champions.

This is the only one I saved, where he wasn't whapping them with his wings.

 Then there's this guy. When I packed everyone away he was in PSQ condition. I was appalled when I pulled him out at the damage, and then was curious at what was underneath.

 

This is his pretty side, but you can still see alot of scuffing on his ears and back hooves.

And underneath the gray....

 

IT'S

 

WHITE

 

PAINT??!!!

Obnoxiously opaque white paint under the steel gray topcoat! Only thing I could think was why??? It is something I only heard of with vintage chalkies, or white horses (duhhh), but this is neither. Granted he's from 2002 which some people call vintage which I strongly disagree with. He isn't vintage or white, so why.... I dug around and found out about modern chalkies. The people I have asked say he has the characteristics of a modern basecoat chalkie. I was floored. Never knew there was such a thing until today, and would have never known his little secret if the kittens weren't destructive. I almost wonder if I have any others, but I'm not about to hand my unscathed models to DeEtta to chew on!

 

 

Survived the sickies

Okay, that last cold I got was evil. I actually was out of work for a week, and I now have gunk in my lungs again. I do have some exciting things to share though. My Patriot came in the mail, and so did my dapple grey foal. In the midst of having a fever over 102 for two days I thought cleaning my desk was a good idea, took me this last week of feeling better to remember where I put everything but it is nice having my workspace back. Clumsy Gizmo knocked horses off my desk so I had to touch up the works in progress and finish them up to keep them safe. Believe it or not that includes Stonewall Lee!

I still can't decide what to call his color, but I think I know what my next experiment will be. I see this one being a possible black with a brown base coat.

 

Bengals Find Me Tasty is coming along well with her layers of white. She's almost done before I move on to the details and mohair.