Young'un

Well I figured I would post a little follow up to my post "pass it on", today my friend Stella came back to learn how to make some more tack!

Today we tried bridles..

 

It was great to see how much she improved after only making tack twice!

Her first western bridle, she did everything except make the bit

Her first English bridle!

After we made the bridles she wanted to set up my barn..

The riders got a little crazy while we made bridles ;)

It was a good day, definitely felt great to see her work hard and make progress!

My Traditional Resins

Hello again! Today I thought I'd just blog about my very few traditional customs and resins. I mainly focus on the minis because of space and price, but every once and a while I like to treat myself to one of the big guys.

These first two were both bought at Models In The Sunshine this past May. The show holder recently announced she would not be holding MITS for another few years, so it is nice to have these horses to remember it by! If you've read my post on my MITS haul you might recognize them.

'RRS Walkin On Sunshine' is a Willy Remember Me resin sculpted and painted by Lisa Sents. She was also customized to a mare. I really love this mare and hopefully I can bribe Maddy or Becky to make me some tack for her...

My photos don't do her justice at all, she's amazing! I love her dapples and I think she has just enough chrome to stand out. :)

The other horse I bought at MITS was RRS Shere Khan, a bay tobiano Braveheart resin painted and sculpted by Sheryl Leisure. I really like drafts so he is a very welcome addition to my collection. For his price I couldn't resist!

My only unpainted resin right now is a Walter resin. I got him in a trade with Becky in exchange for some paintwork. Becky got him in very poor shape (thick acrylics and pretty much a body) and I have done a bit of prepping on him, but not much. I named him Corky but will have to come up with a show name for him once he's painted. I like the build of this resin quite a bit. He's an appendix QH and I think he's the perfect balance of a build. :)

I'm thinking either Chocolate Palomino or flaxen chestnut.

Thanks for reading! Sorry for the shorter posts from me recently, been super busy with Breyerfest prep. As of the time of this posting I leave in 16 days and have so, so much to do. The next post from me will probably be info on what I'll be selling at the Clarion, so look out for that!

-Emma

Breyerfest 101: The Clarion

Hey again! Today we are back with yet another Breyerfest 101 post, this time about the Clarion hotel! I got a call last week that we got a room, so Maddy and I will be selling some stuff out of it! I've been on the wait list since August, so we are really happy to be staying there.

In honor of this I thought I'd do a quick post about the Clarion. :)

First of all, the clarion can be referred to by a few names. In the very beginning, the Clarion hotel was called the Holiday Inn. Then it was bought by the Clarion hotel chain, and of course they renamed it. But us hobbyists are lazy, so it was deemed the CHIN.

Several things go on at the CHIN, but the Room Sales are the biggest by far.

(a quick not before we start: none of these photos are mine as I'm terrible at taking photos at events. I have tried to contact the owners and have received no response. If one of these is yours and you want me to the it down, just let me know! I am making no money off of this post or this blog.)

The room sales are when people open up the doors to their room and set up tables, shelves or even just lay sales items the beds or chairs.

Photo property of Golden Oak Stables.

You can find many, many things in the room sales including rare OFs, regular runs, body boxes, customs and so much more!

Photo property of 101IHeartMoondancer on Youtube.

Some people even bring airbrushes and customizing supplies and will repair models on the spot!

The next big thing that happens is the Swap Meet. This is an official Breyer event that happens Friday evening at 7:30. However, if  you want to get in early, you need to line up early! I plan to be in line by 6:00.

In the Swap Meet you can also find pretty much anything! Breyer also sets up a table that has all the Breyerfest models on it so you can see them, as well as sneak peaks at collector's club models! 

Last is the Artisans Gallery. This is where customizers, tack makers, and sculptures set up tables to sell what the make. This part of the Clarion is generally much more expensive, but it's great to look at even if you can't but things!

And that's in for the CHIN! Breyerfest is so, so close! I leave in like 18 days! Would anyone like to see specific topics? Comment below!

-Emma

We Made It!

It was just a normal day... I scrolled through my facebook feed and clicked on the new Braymere post. 

Because I had a little extra time I decided to read a little bit of Stage Left Studios blog... and then I saw it.

It couldn't be...

BUT IT WAS. We had made it big. Jennifer Buxton's recommended blog bar is, to us, the holy grail. Achieved. 

Thank you Ms. Buxton!

-the team

We apologize for not posting, but I will have another post done soon as I have a very cool new addition to my stable!

-Becky

Summertime

As usual, summertime is keeping me very busy! So much going on.. so little time..


So here's some insight as to what I've been up to :)


First things first, one of my mustang mares had a mule baby! This little girl has stolen my heart.

Another exciting thing, I finally purchased some Apoxie and tried my hand at sculpting! So far I've just done minor stuff, manes, tongues etc.

I've also been getting back into photography since I joined Instagram, there are a lot of amazing photographers on there, very inspiring!

Pool party, redneck style!

Also working on finishing some tack commissions..

Halters for WildPitchStudios on instagram, check her out!!

Western saddle for KingstonStudios on instagram

After my last show I've decided to take a break from performance until next year, I just need to reboot and get some new ideas.
But I have been having fun playing 'dress up' once in a while..



I had a bit of a slump in my painting, but I'm glad to say I'm back at it and going strong! I have a lot of up coming sales pieces.. ;)

I've also been rushing like crazy to raise some money for my trip to breyerfest, it'll be my first year going! Downside is I didn't really plan ahead, and I need to make $600 before I leave, yes, it's crazy!

Hope you guys enjoyed this post, you'll be hearing from me again very soon!

~Maddy

Cowgirl Gone English

I have recently realized that at this point in my life, I have more experience riding in english discipline than western...

All around my room I have my english tack lying around...

the horses I ride are mostly english horses...

So what does that make me?

Not a cowgirl. 

What do you think? Should we change the blog name?

-Becky

Hits and Misses

I was inspired by Jennifer Buxton's post called 'Hits and Hits' from her most recent performance show, so I decided to do my own! Basically the idea is to talk about your performance entries and think about what you can improve and what was good! :) 

       My first entry was for harness. I had the only harness entry which gave me the placing by default, but the judge really liked it. In the future I'd like to get a cart to go with it though!

The next class I competed in was Parade. This entry was kinda thrown together but once again,  I was the only entry in the class!  I want to get a proper parade saddle and make my rider look a bit more festive, but overall is was OK.

After that I did Other Performance. I'm gonna call this one a miss. It's a Walking Dead setup which is good, but I didn't execute it well. I was a little stressed because I was having some tack issues and I couldn't get the doll to stand. I ended up with a fourth out of fifth. Calling this one a miss.

Onto english! Other English was first, and I did Cross Country. I'm really happy with this entry. I made all the doll's clothes and the diorama. This entry has been evolving since my first performance show. When I first showed it, there wasn't a doll, diorama, boots, or breastplate. It wasn't great. For this class I got a third out of ten, so I'm calling it a hit!

Hunters/Jumpers was another interesting class. Because my jump cups went missing I had to do a puddle jumpers entry. I dressed the doll and made the jump. I ended up with yet another third. Looking at the photos now I realized I forgot to take off the SMB boots from Other English. -_- This one isn't a hit or a miss for me, I think it is just average. 

I'm not very knowledgeable on Dressage (though I'd love to do it!) so this was kinda hard! Since I don't have a dressage saddle I opted to do Eventing Derby dressage, which allows my rider to be a bit more casual and all purpose tack to be used. I got second out of 7. I'm gonna call this one a hit, I really like how it turned out! 

My plan was to enter the next class, English Pleasure, but I ended up pulling my horse because I couldn't find my pattern or my poles. Another reason to stay organized!

The last english class was Pleasure. I didn't get a photo of this because it was really nothing special. I ended up with a 5th against some really nice horses, so I think it was average!

Instead of my average pleasure entry, enjoy a photo of Maddy's amazing pleasure entry. ;)

The first class of the Western division was Other Western! I didn't place in this or Western Pleasure (or get photos... -_-) so I won't show them. They were both pretty much misses. I got a fourth in Western Games but being the slacker I am, didn't get a photo.

My favorite entry of the day was my Stockwork entry! It started out as a joke with Maddy and Becky about me not having any cows or stock work animals, so I decided to do something different. 

This is my herding cats entry! It was by far my best entry of the day and the most rewarding win. :) This one is totally a hit for me!

And that's it! Overall I think I did really well, and I can't wait for my next performance show!

-Emma

Pass It On

Recently my best friends younger sister Stella asked if I would teach her how to make tack, at first I wasn't too keen on the idea because I'm self taught and not a very good teacher, but I figured I'd give it a shot!

First we watched some videos on YouTube to get some ideas and see what she was interested in.

We started off with a rope halter,

She actually did really well!

Next I tried something new, making a hay feeder!

I helped her a bit since honestly I didn't know how it was going to work,

but hers turned out really nice!

Last project was a ribbon halter,  it's not perfect, but I can say it looks a whole lot better than my first!

After we were done working we saddled up and went for a little ride.

If any of you have a younger friend that is interested in breyers, please encourage them and help them out, it's fun, rewarding and we need to help build the next generation of collectors and artists!

Happy crafting! - Maddy