Update, and Crafting Doll Boots

First things first, I must apologise, again, that it has been so long since I last posted. 

The simple truth of the matter is that my depression makes it very difficult to do most things that I normally enjoy doing, including blogging.

I've had chronic depression for the last 12+ years, and its severity can vary wildly from barely noticeable to unable to leave the house. I've tried to post about it here so many times I've lost count now, but every time I deleted the post because I reasoned that people don't come here to read about my mental health. However, I'm mentioning it here now because I want to be honest with you guys about why I don't post so often these days. Other bloggers who occasionally write about their struggles with depression, like Horse Tender Studio, have helped me to see that it's ok to write about it, so I'd like to ask you to please be patient with me: I haven't forgotten about or abandoned my blog, I'm just struggling to post as often as before. With that said, I've set myself the goal to post at least once a month, so we'll see how that goes.

But enough about that, moving on.

Plenty has happened, model wise, since I last posted. New faces have joined my herds, I've rediscovered my love of Grand Champions Model Horses (I hope to write a more in-depth post on them at some time in the future), and I'm slowly making my way through the 101 craft projects I'd like to attempt. And, on that news, I'd like to introduce you to some non-equine faces.

 Another blog that I enjoy reading is Tiny Horse Talk, and for some time now she has been posting about making clothes and props for her Breyer doll, Sarah. The more I read the more I felt inspired to get a poseable doll and make some of my own accessories for it. 

 In the end, I got three. The two blond dolls are both Grand Champions riders that I was able to buy very cheaply second hand. The brunette is a Breyer Classics doll, and also came to me second hand with a foal that I've been after for a while now.

 They're both from the Pet Groomer set. I wasn't too bothered about getting the other animals and items from the set, so when these two were offered for a very good price, I went for them.

 The foal goes perfectly with the Classic Haflinger mare. He's meant to be a palomino, but since their colours are so close, foals often have lighter baby coats anyway, and pangare on flaxen chestnut lightens the coat to the point that many people confuse it for palomino, I have no trouble calling him a Haflinger. 

 Since Mum's name is Dancing Gypsy, baby told me he wanted to be called Traveller's Tango, or Tango for short.

Anyway, back to our dolls. I decided very early on that I preferred the brunette's clothes on one of the blondes, so shirts and shoes got swapped around. Unfortunately, being second hand, one doll came without shoes, so once swapped over that left the Breyer doll with literal cold feet.

 As an interesting side note, the Grand Champions dolls (left) have longer feet than the Breyer Classic doll's (right). Thankfully the Breyer shoes still fit the GC doll.

After doing a bit of searching on ebay for spare shoes, I failed to find anything suitable, so I opted instead to try making my own boots for the doll. Most of the tutorials I found seemed too complicated or required materials I haven't got, but then I stumbled across this step-by-step guide by My Froggy Stuff for making doll UGG boots. I had felt, I had needles and thread, so I decided to give it a go!

Of course, as a first attempt they're a bit crude. I opted for purple felt to match the doll's waistcoat, and I used some old thin white fleecy material for the trim. It didn't work out as well as I was hoping, but it does pull the whole thing together, so I'm not sorry. 

I had a bit of trouble at first following the tutorial, but thankfully I could pause and rewind the video as often as necessary until it finally clicked into place for me. I really find video tutorials helpful in this regard, because watching someone actually going through the steps is more useful than looking at a signal frame in a photo guide. 

 The soles were actually cut from a piece of black foam that previously came as packaging for some sort of electrical equipment (I can't remember exactly what, it's been so long...). The foam was perfect for the job, and I just love it when you get a chance to use one of those hundreds of 'come-in-handies' we all have lying around :) I tweaked the tutorial slightly by scoring the underside of the soles with some scissors to add ridges for extra grip.

 Of course, 1:12 (Classic) scale is much smaller than the 1:6 scale of most Barbie-type dolls, which the tutorial was made for, so sewing and gluing everything was very fiddly. And I had no buttons small enough to use as final details, so instead I dug through my craft box until I came across 4 purple beads. Using a needle and thread, I sewed bows onto the front of the boots, added the beads onto the loose ends and secured them with a knot on the inside. It would probably have been easier to use wool or embroidery floss for the laces, but cotton thread was all I had :)

  Once the glue had completely dried I pulled the boots onto the Breyer doll's feet, and I'm very happy with the end result. Thankfully, UGG-type boots are designed to be large and easy to pull on. The felt isn't the exact same colour as her vest, but that doesn't bother me. 

 Her jeans didn't really want to tuck inside the boots, but with some gentle persuasion they can be encouraged to go in. The large soles of the boots help the doll to stand up, and her feet fit snugly inside.

All that was left was to give her a name. With her brown hair and blues eyes, she reminds me of my late aunt, so I decided to name the doll 'Janet' after her. I think it suits her, but I don't have any blonde women in my family, so I'm still trying to figure out what to name the GC dolls. I'd like to make more items of clothing for all three of them eventually. But I might need a while to recover from the tininess of those boots :)

Breyer Classic Haflinger Mare

This girl actually arrived before Frankel, but he was much too impatient to wait his turn :)

So, you may remember I recently talked about the Breyer Classic Haflinger mare and how I'd like to add her to my collection. Not long after that post I found one being sold second hand with good reference photos, and decided to go for it. The photos made her colouring look nicely subtle, but I didn't get too excited until I saw the model with my own eyes. After all, online photos of models can be vastly different to real life, for many reasons, such as lighting, background, editing etc. 

My new mare arrived promptly, and I was quietly happy with the outcome. She was a lot like her sales photo. Despite the fact that she's Classic scale I'd expected her to be bigger, for some unknown reason, so I was a little surprised at her size. But that's just me being weird :)

 I can definitely see why this mould has become such a runaway hit with so many collectors and customisers. She's just so lovely and well-balanced, with the sweetest face. She makes me think of a wise school pony, patiently teaching children and adults how to ride as she plods obediently round the sand school or down a bridle path on a hack. She'd be the absolute beginner's pony, probably the one the instructor puts the timid riders on so she can relax their nerves and show them there's nothing to worry about.

 At the same time, I can completely see this mould pulling a pony trap on a quiet drive out, bringing home a hunter's deer strapped to her back or walking behind another horse as a pack pony. And there's no doubt she'd make an excellent broodmare, probably one who's already had a couple of foals and is well  experienced in rearing youngsters by now. She just so wonderfully diverse.

 It's really nice to see a slightly older mare in Breyer's lineup. I'm no expert when it comes to ageing horses, but I'd probably say this girl is in her early to mid teens, based on how she's sculpted. I certainly wouldn't call her a young mare, but she's not yet an old lady either.

 I've seen photos of some models with quite poor over-spray on their forelocks, but my girl seems very well painted. Maybe it's just less noticeable on a subtler chestnut.

She's got a gorgeous long mane and tail, and I love the fact that her mane looks a little tousled and thick, just like a real native pony. The slight feathering on her fetlocks is also a nice touch.

 

 She's a really lovely girl, from any angle. I kinda wish the sculptor had added chestnuts, at least to her front legs, but that's a minor thing.

  I like the fact that each of her hooves are carved to resemble a real horse's hoof, not just left flat plastic.

  I like the fact that she's got shading and isn't just a flat chestnut. I like the darker colouring on her knees and hocks, and it's really nice that as well as the grey on her muzzle, she also has grey shading around her eyes, ear tips and even her 'mare parts'!

 That's right! Whilst Breyer's stallions and geldings have been anatomically correct (for the most part) for years now, this is the first Breyer mare I've seen with a suggestion of udders between her legs. Now, they're not much, just a couple of bumps in the mould, but it's clear that they're intentional and certainly a step in the right direction.

 I appreciate that Breyers are often given to younger children to play with, and there are parents that are uncomfortable with their kids' plastic animals being anatomically correct. But I personally think that stallion parts are far more explicit than mare's udders. On the other hand, there may be a problem with the injecting moulding process that makes it difficult to produce mares with udders. If that's the case then maybe this is the first sign that Breyer are working out how to overcome that problem? I know I appreciate that little extra touch of realism, and hope it continues in future moulds.

 Normally I wait until I've got the model in my hands and can see it with my own eyes before I choose a name for them. But this time I had a name already picked out for this girl. I've called her Gypsy, after a palomino Welsh Cob mare I saw in a pony magazine when I was a child. It was the very first time I'd come across 'gypsy' being used as a name for an animal, and I thought it was really pretty. And whilst my mare isn't palomino or a Welsh Cob, she reminds me of the photo I saw all those years ago, and I think the name suits her.

Of course, now that I have the gorgeous mare I'm finding myself drawn to her cheeky little colt. The palomino from the Pet Groomer set would probably work best as her baby, colour wise (I'd just call him a very light flaxen chestnut). But the bay tobiano from the Colourful Foals set is just stunning! I'm having a real struggle trying to decide whether to get him (and his filly friend) or not, especially as I don't have a very good mother for him. I don't know whether I'd call him a Haflinger x (and say he got his colouring from his father), or have him be an orphan with Gypsy as his foster mum... Anyone got any ideas or suggestions?

Variations and the Trouble with Online Shopping

First off I'd like to apologise for the lack of blog posts lately. I've tried multiple times over the past week to write something, anything, but each time I haven't succeeded. And it's not for a lack of ideas for blog posts either. I just haven't been...'feeling' it, if you understand what I mean. Hopefully I can get my brain in gear and make more regular updates.

 Ok then, so I'm sure by now (if you're a fan of Breyer model horses) you've probably seen the Classic Haflinger mare mould, otherwise known as 'Gretel'. She's sculpted by Brigitte Eberl (one of Breyer's most popular sculptors), and was revealed at Breyerfest 2011 with her charming colt in a stunning flaxen liver chestnut. Shortly afterwards the mare alone was released as a regular run in standard flaxen chestnut as a purebred Haflinger mare.

Breyer collectors love this model and I've seen her repainted in just about every colour you can think of. While I'm not personally a massive fan of flaxen chestnuts the mould alone has enough character and beauty to earn a spot on my wish list. But there's one very big reason I still haven't got her yet: variation.

You see, this mare comes in a surprising range of colours, from very pale, almost blonde, chestnut to quite a rich, gingery chestnut. I've even seen photos of one that seems to have a body so pale it's the same shade of flaxen as her mane and tail (although there's every chance that could just be a case of poor lighting in the photo). My personal favourite is probably the mid range chestnut, and this is the kind of colour I'd like to get when I buy one.

But that's where my problem lies. Not only are all of the above examples photographs, so they may not reflect the model's true colour 100% accurately, but because of all the variation it's almost impossible to buy one with the exact colour you want unless you go to a shop and see them for yourself in real life. And that, sadly, is where I fall short. There are no shops anywhere close to me here in the UK that sell Breyers. Don't get me wrong, I know there are some. And there are plenty of online shops that sell them. But when the seller uses Breyer's official picture as their photo I have no idea if the model that will arrive is a colour I like or one I don't.

I would love to buy this mare, and I probably will at some point. But unless I can find one with personally taken reference photos I just don't want to take the chance and end up with a model I don't really like. If only I had the experience and confident to repaint her, then it wouldn't matter :)