Sad sad thing

So...remember my Albino Five Gaiter I was talking about last time? Well....he had a bad tumble when the squirrels were harassing DeEtta one night a few days after my last blog post.

 

General is a casualty of the "Squirrel Wars" that have been going on this spring. On the plus side the sunning is doing well for him! I was disappointed that it happened at all, but I didn't expect DeEtta to have a meltdown over it. She cried all night because he was absent from his spot, so I put Buddy up there. It somewhat cheered her up. A couple weeks later the Quake Hold that I ordered in March finally arrived, so I put him back at his post. My plan is to finish sunning him and  then send him to a restoration artist to fix his leg and some scuffed up shading.

 

(I had to be creative with standing him back up)

Neat Acquisitions

As I said in my last post, I have gotten quite a few vintage models for my collection. So this will be a photo dominated post with some words about each one.

First up is my Classic Arabian Family, who came with their original photo box. They are in nice condition, and the stallion and foal have some neat variations. The stallion's star is crooked, while the foal has some over spray on one eye and half of a hoof unpainted. I was pretty stoked about those quirks, don't ask me why.

 

I also got the Classic Andalusian Family with their photo box too, which has a few water stains and the handle disintegrated in my hands (I did not expect that one!). Despite the box flaws the family was in lovely condition, and to my knowledge has no obvious variations. It's really nice having and seeing older models in their original release colors and with any ephemera.

 

 The two boxed families came from the same seller, who sent me a message making sure if I was fine with them putting in an extra model they couldn't sell. I agreed, and was curious. Will it be a loose classic, an uncommon Stablemate, or maybe a body quality model? To my pleasure it was the bald face black Stretch Morgan. I have a soft spot for not only Arabians, but Morgans, so he was a beautiful bonus. I understand the reason they couldn't sell him, there are a bunch of him and his more common masked star counterpart on eBay all the time. Despite that fact he's in rather nice condition, with minor ear tip rubs and hoof rubs.

 

This next guy is a proud find of mine. He is a common one, but I am still thrilled to own an albino Five Gaiter. He is yellowed, so I am attempting the sunshine treatment on him. He looks awesome as the light shines through him and the girls take care to not knock him over.

 

 

That's all for this entry! I have others I need to photograph when DeEtta isn't in my lap trying to send me to bed, but it is bedtime for this cat mom.

Too Long, Too Long

Welp, that was a very long hiatus! I am alive still, I promise. Despite the silence things have been productive...ish. DeEtta Hope is 3ft long from nose to tail, and still thinks she can fit in my palm, which makes bedtime a little awkward for this Bengal momma.

 

My face was sweating, and she was very very very smug about it.

 

She also tried to gift herself to me for Christmas. I still have no idea where she found that bag.

She has become quite the cat, one moment acting like a rebellious teenager and before I can react she's being a clingy kitten the next. I am honestly surprised she isn't in my lap trying to help me type this very second, it has become her favorite hobby. Gizmo is not as flip-flop with her behavior, she spends her days acting like the happy puppy cat she is unless her younger sister is antagonizing her. They both really enjoy being around what I do which really helps me with getting bored. 

 

I finally put a shelf up in my room last month, and they love the perch quality of it. 

In the world of Starshore Studios, things have been slow but steady. I acquired some neat vintages over my absence from here, along with more micros from Maggie Bennett's monthly subscription. Best. Drunk purchase. Ever.

(I do not endorse drinking and browsing the Internet, or drinking and prepping models. I was miraculously lucky in both cases and also learned a lesson) 

I also remembered to sign up for the Breyer Collector and Stablemate Clubs this year, and pretty happy with what it has given me (once I dish out the cash of course). I got the green Christmas Sherman Morgan with only one minor flaw in his gloss, and got my Coco the other day with one gloop of lint on her off side. In my opinion they're both really nice since I live where there's no live shows. 

Despite no live shows I have been participating more within the hobby. How, you may ask? Well for those who are on Facebook and follow Jennifer of Braymere Custom Saddlery, you would have either been caught up in, or observing, the National Model Painting Month event she kicked off in February. I missed the sign up deadline, but she still encouraged folks to take part in the spirit of the hobby getting together and helping each other. I normally don't paint in the winter since I can't use the matte sealant outdoors but I decided that it shouldn't be too hard to guard the model's paint job until break up season; and I was getting rather bored of going to work, coming home, sitting on the computer gaming, go to sleep, repeat routine. Around this time I got an unpainted Peter Stone Morgan (the 1997 one, or "old mold" as I've heard some people call him) and as soon as I laid eyes on him he wanted to imitate the Vintage Appaloosa Performance Horse (Breyer #99) coloring. Of course I couldn't say no, so out came the paints and frisket!

As you can guess, there were mishaps. First it was the frisket/sneeze incident. I had the jar in my hand and didn't put it down when I felt the sneeze coming. On the plus side, some of it splattered on the horse nicely; as for my nose and desk...well I lost alot of fine nose hairs getting that out of my nasal cavity and I'm still finding specks of the latex doom on my computer monitor this very second. Second mishap was color choice. The frisket dries orange, and my base coat I chose was an orange based burnt sienna. I was hating myself for that, along with the third mishap which was painting in too thick of layers. This meant that not only was the frisket hard to find, it also was taking off too much of the paint surrounding it or just stretching it out like a limp noodle. There was also the heated discussion with DeEtta who was thinking it was okay to sit above the desk and droll on me and the horse's freshly laid down paint...

Despite those blunders (and mild hypothermia from an ice fishing day) I got him finished! I will admit the Traditional scale is intimidating to paint but it was a fun challenge. There are some things I need to improve on, like fading the color into the bare plastic and not using a stiff bristled paint brush. I also need too improve on color matching but that will get better with time. Next post will feature some of my new additions, but until then enjoy these progress photos of Sharp Dressed Man!

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.

Perplexing

Good 'ol eBay knows how to drive me crazy. Here's the recent confusion.

Flocked Rearing Stallion. Says that it's the Classic scale (aka Rex). The problem is to date the two rearing stallion molds made by Chris Hess have only been confirmed to be flocked once. And it was King (the Traditional scale) as a white circus horse. So I'm having trouble wrapping my head around this black flocked Rex as a circus horse. I almost want to get him to see in person what the blazes is up with him, maybe a possible custom....

I also have acquired one thing that is a few different weaknesses of mine in one. He's rather beat up but I love him because a) he's the vintage style dapple b) a Maureen Love mold c) an oddity. Behold a mislabeled Arabian stallion!

I got him with scuffy alabaster Arabians from the same time period, a mare and stallion (in his proper mold). Plus side to getting vintages is that DeEtta isn't too interested in eating them. I also have a dapple PAF on it's way to my mailbox; sad part is the cutie got shipped with standard shipping so we are on day 6 out of possibly day 8-12 for the journey through Canada. Also eagerly awaiting some reference books for vintage Hartlands and Breyers. Finally got my first Traditional scale Peter Stone horse! He's the older morgan mold in a seal bay coloring and is nearly flawless. At the price I paid I thought I was getting a Chips scale, so it was quite the surprise. He came with his tag from live showing with the name Dracula, so I decided to keep that as his name.

In the subject of names I have someone who will be needing one soon. Since it is the first day of working on her I'm not too worried, I have hopes of her becoming a pretty appy.

Little this, little that

Okay, that was a longer than expected hiatus. Got bit by a cat, had to get a tetanus shot the next day, then a couple days after that the doctor decided to take a bit of blood from me (different reason). All of this happened on my right arm, so it is a little sore. I also got involved in redoing a fanfiction I was working on a few years ago, never got too far in it so there isn't much to tweak. Those things along with being on an antibiotic that my body doesn't take kindly to kept me from opening my laptop-the fanfiction is on my phone so it was in easier access.

First things first, I told y'all that I would show off my childhood holy grail. Here he is!

 

Northern Lights was the first decorator I was introduced to back when I was eight, and my mom would only buy me Stablemates, so I was out of luck. I now have him, 14 years later, and he is still in his box, fat white zip ties and all! DeEtta has already tried to nibble at the box, so I'm definitely keeping him in there for now. He sits on my dresser where I see him when I wake up and giggle at my fortune. If only it was that easy to find all my childhood holy grails...

I also got around to photographing my little Hartland foals.

 

They're so darn cute!

They are both the Arabian foal mold unpainted, but they have a few differences. The color is the most obvious. Little pale fella's head is also facing downwards more than its darker companion. then there's these mold marks I know nothing about.

 

"D"

 

 

"A"

I know nothing about Hartlands, so it might be something simple. For now I don't know. In a way they do remind me of the youngest and most rambunctious kitties of the house, and I managed to get a picture of them together without them moving. They are both alike, but have their own unique quirks.

 

DeEtta is quickly catching up to Gizmo. 

I have other things I've been working on, but will save for another time when I don't have hormonal kitties crawling all over me. (Gizmo is in heat, and Bear is acting like she will be soon also...)

 

One crazy week

Well life threw a few twists. The weather has been causing my nerve endings and other neurological tweaks to go haywire to the point of my non medical remedy for my sleep seizures to not work. I've thankfully gone three nights without one, but very exhausted nonetheless. I ripped my pants picking up Snoopy (the 18 pound bundle of ornery at the shelter), and he seemed to find it amusing.

 

Here he was telling me that he had nothing to do with it.

Work was bustling like crazy, I thought I was going to have dreams of all the customers who were saying "We're from Fairbanks!" "Do you have a Fairbanks special?" "Why don't you guys open an Arbys up in Fairbanks?" (There was an Arbys in Fairbanks, but it got no business at all so it got shut down), and then the good 'ol "I'll have (insert multiples of 10) roast beef sandwiches/sliders." I'm still not sure what in the world was going on to have alot of people from Interior Alaska down here, but it was nuts. With how often we get asked for a Fairbanks special, which is something we stopped doing 8 years ago, I have strongly considered doing a group of decorator custom stablemates and call them "The Fairbanks Special."

I have also managed to create jeweled Egyptian Arabian halters, nothing too fancy but they turned out way better than I expected. Honeysuckle and Sundown really like them.

 

Honeysuckle's bald face does not like my camera at all.

Spot also gave us a huge scare. She started acting lethargic and uninterested in everything, and the Bengal kittens were watching over her intently. Because she's the leader of the little "colony" and was showing a great deal of weakness, Bear kept on attempting to attack her but was foiled by DeEtta's speed and Gizmo's size every time; so my service animal in training decided to be Spot's body guard. We started to get worried when she stopped grooming herself and was turning down the offer of treats, and started wondering if she needed a vet visit on Friday.

Between Friday night and Saturday morning things took a very bad turn. Spot had been sleeping on my bed since Wednesday by DeEtta's beckoning so I got used to sleeping like a corkscrew. Around the midnight hours going into Saturday I woke up to a very upset and distressed DeEtta who was mewing up a storm and worriedly mothering Spot with Gizmo sitting on the floor upset also. I turned on my light and found Spot bleeding all over my bed and herself and barely responding to the Bengals. Fast forward to a few hours later and we had the vet telling us she has pyometra, basically the cat form of endometriosis, and they were giving her a very small chance of survival. For those who don't know what pyometra and endometriosis are, and are too lazy to look, they are basically infections of the uterus and are very life threatening.

The vet told us the recommended choice was surgery that had a 30% chance that was out of our budget despite getting paid the day before, and there was a smaller chance with how weak she was of it being successful. She did give us the option of trying antibiotics, but told us it had just as much of a chance of being successful, but was way cheaper; so we took that route knowing that if she wasn't better in 48 hours we had to take the sad route of euthanasia. Saturday was still scary with her, but Sunday morning we found her eating and moving around. Since then she's been improving wonderfully, and is strong enough to not need a guardian kitty and swiftly reminded Bear of her place. She still seems a little tired, but I don't blame her. Here's to hoping the next week goes smoother!

 

Sunday night she was being herself trying to make Jason stop playing Division.

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.