Cats, everywhere...

I am so sorry for my lengthy absence from this blog, guys. Just at the moment we're in the final month or so of moving house, so life is rather hectic and stressful right now, and things like writing a blog have been forced to take a back seat, temporarily. Hopefully, I'll be able to get back onto a more regular rhythm once we're settled into our new home.

In the meantime, I appear to have been silently overtaken by a colony of soft-footed felines...

 Please meet Moss,

 Bueno,

Noah,

 Minka,

 Squirrel,

 Tizzy,

 Tabby,

 Cleo,

and Parsnip.

These two are Wispa and Little Man, and hopefully before too long I'll get a chance to repaint them. Little Man will be turned, with a few tweaks,  into a portrait of my own cat, whilst Wispa, who is an un-branded model, will be entirely repainted. They'll be back to show off their new coats once painted.

 And then finally, with this many cats around, it's inevitable to end up with a litter or two of kittens. The three females are, from left to right, Lilly, Lallie and Lexi,

and the two males are, from left to right, Fidget and Pipkin. 

I have a feeling Heartbeat is the one that's been letting in all these felines...I've made her promise not to bring home any more cats, but I can't be certain she heard me...

Schleich Alpacas

Before I begin, Heartbeat would like to thank you all for your lovely comments on her introduction post. She's already stolen my camera and gone off with it, so it looks like her first adventure is underway!

For this post, however, I want to talk about alpacas. The Schleich alpacas, to be precise.

As a fan of the videogame series Harvest Moon, I'm very fond of farm animals, and more recent games in the series have now introduced alpacas to the lineup of livestock available. This, in turn, got me interested in the Schleich alpacas, but since they're retired it's taken me until now to get hold of a set. And, I've got to say, they are every bit as adorable and fuzzy as I expected!

 Schleich label them as a 'stallion', 'mare' and 'foal' respectively, but I have failed to find any references to these terms being used for the animals in real life. Instead, it would seem that an adult male is called a 'macho' (literally 'male' in Spanish), an adult female is called a 'hembra' (Spanish for 'female') and a baby up to 1 year old is called a 'cria' (from a root word meaning 'to breed/to create'.

 The models are smaller than perhaps expected, being about the size of the Schleich Fell or Dartmoor ponies, but much daintier. Since alpacas are quite small and slim in real life, I'd guess that probably makes these guys 1:24 scale.

 The macho has very interesting, unique colouring. There are 22 defined shades or colours of alpaca fleece, ranging from white to black, fawn to brown, and pinto to spotted. From what I can tell, the macho's colour would probably be described as a mid to dark fawn, but I like to refer to him as 'fox' coloured :)

 The hembra is a much more straight forward dark brown with white patches. The models are of the more common Huacaya (pronounced 'wa-kai-ah') breed, but interestingly she bears a striking resemblance (at least in colour) to this real-life Suri.

 I can't help but think that alpacas look a bit like a cross between a camel and a sheep, especially with those thick fuzzy coats...

 

 The cria is just the sweetest little thing!  Look at that little smiling face!

Baby alpacas make me think of a cross between a lamb and a foal: two of nature's cutest newborns (at least in my opinion XD). I love how she's a cross between mum and dad, with the hembra's white markings and the macho's fawn coat.

 Whilst mum seems very mature and no-nonsense, dad seems to have a twinkle of mischief in his eye, and I think he's passed it on to his daughter. There's just something very cheeky about that little grin...

Seeing as they're a unique little family of three in my collection, I wanted to give them all matching names. Eventually I settled on 'Farthing' for the macho, 'Tuppence' for the hembra and 'Ha'penny' for the cria, which are all names of old coins here in the UK. If I ever find some more alpacas for my little herd I'll be sure to keep up the naming tradition with them :)

Copperfox 10 Day Challenge - Day '4': Naming

Day '4':  Name your model or barn 

 
Have a go at naming the most recent addition to your herd by giving them a show name, stable name and pet name. As further ideas, why not do the same for your barn or stable yard and then make a barn tour video?

I know it's a couple of days late, but I'm not going to try to cram 3 days into one post. So, here's Day 4 of the Copperfox 10 Day Challenge (which is actually Day 2's challenge, since I swapped them round).

Whilst I don't have a stable yard (because I don't have room to set one up or store it), I do have a name for my 'stable' of horses. I use the prefix 'Silverdale Acres' (SA) in front of all my Breyers' show names, and 'Blue Moon Stables' (BMS) for all my Schleich horses (it just feels weird to have them all in the same 'stable').

Most of my models don't have official 'pet' names, mostly because I prefer those kinds of names to happen spontaneously. If I wrote stories for my horses they probably would end up with their own pet names, but since I don't it's not something I worry about. Plus, it's hard enough just coming up with Show and Stable names for them all! Here are just a few of my latest additions (the others still won't tell my what they want to be called...)

 

 I am genuinely smitten with this Stablemate filly! Since I've made my black Paso Fino mare, Nightingale, her mother I figured it would be good to stick with the bird theme, so this filly's name is now Dotterel, or Dot for short (yeah, yeah, I know it's cliche, but it suits her.)

 

 I'm over the moon to finally have this beauty! I'd always admired the pictures of Marigold, the very first release on the Classic Morgan Mare mould, in Breyer's catalogue, but because she was a special Fun Day release I never thought I'd be able to own one. So when this girl was listed on Chestnut Ridge for sale secondhand, I jumped at the chance to get her. And I'm so pleased I did. I adore her, and I've called her Feminine Fox, or Vixen, for her chestnut coat and the way her tail reminds me of a fox's brush.

And lastly, for now, I've bought myself the Schleich male Dalmatian. He's about Classic scale, so he'll be keeping my Schleich male German Shepherd, Kep, company. I wish his spots were better: they look more like patches in some places, like on his shoulder and just above his hock, but I like him nonetheless. Whilst looking for name ideas for my Schleich zebra I came across a web link for an article about a newborn zebra foal at a zoo. The zoo had named the foal 'Ruckus', and I just thought that was such a great name that I borrowed it for my new dog. So, please meet Ruckus.

That's all for now. On to day 5!

Copperfox 10 Day Challenge - Day '2': Photos

Day '2': Your Favourite Model Horse Picture 

 
What is your most favourite model horse picture? Maybe you already have one or maybe you can create a new one?

Yes, ok, I know that this isn't the "proper" challenge for Day 2 of the Copperfox 10 Day Challenge, but the actual challenge for Day 2 involves naming your latest model and I'm still working on that. So, instead of trying to rush the process and ending up with something rubbish, I'm going to jump ahead and do one of the other days early. Besides, the rules do say:

"Remember it is supposed to be fun, so please do not worry if you miss a day, want to skip a challenge or do one twice."

And I'm going to interpret that as permission to reorder the days too :)

Ok, so I'm actually very bad at taking nice photos of my models. I would love to have a nice outdoor area to photograph them in, but until I find somewhere I've had to make do with what I've got. That's why most of my decent photos feature my Schleich models: they're just much easier to take pictures of in a small space. Any time I try with my Traditionals or Classics something very out of scale, like a fence or a garden shed, sneaks into the frame. Anyway, here are some of the best that I've managed to take.

2015 Schleich Tennessee Walker Stallion

Here's the 3rd and final model of the new 2015 Schleich horses I recently purchased. He's the Tennessee Walker stallion, and since he looks so refined and elegant I decided to name him Solitaire, or Sol for short.

 Whilst not a new mould, the 2015 Tennessee Walker stallion features a brand new coat colour. This wonderful pale buttermilk buckskin with ebony black points really suits the mould in my opinion, and I love the contrast between the light creamy body and the satin dark points.

 As far as I can tell, the only change made to the mould is the updated branding on the belly (if you've got both, have a look at the underside of their bellies, you'll see what I mean). I think the horse is meant to be walking, turning to his left as he goes, but I might be wrong. His hooves are wonderfully painted and quite realistic.

 The shading on his coat is quite subtle but very effective. It's lovely to see shading, especially as some of the newer Schleich horses lack it. Colour wise, his coat is very similar to the Schleich exclusive Tennessee Walker mare (which sadly I don't have, so I can't show you them side by side), which makes me think that perhaps she was the inspiration for this model. I think the pale buckskin colour really suits her too, though I don't really like the high black points on her legs, so I'm glad they limited the stallion's black to below his knees.

 My boy has a bit of a flaw in his paintwork on his off (right) side, right in the middle of his belly. I think it's a blob of paint, but I'm not too concerned about it. Maybe I'll just call it a scar where he was wounded and the skin and hair grew back a little thicker in that spot :)

 The rich black of his mane and tail make the hairs look super silky here. I almost expect them to be soft to the touch :)

 The mould isn't flawless. The ears are too big and the legs are too thick, but since the mould is one of the 'older' generation of Schleich horses he's perhaps somewhat more realistic than many of the newer models. It'll be very interesting to see if Schleich continue to reuse some of the older moulds in new colours.

 Since the mould already has horseshoes sculpted on Schleich have painted them on this model. This makes him one of the only 2015 horses to still have horseshoes.

 Compared to my chestnut Tennessee Walker stallion this boy's eyes seem to be painted in a bit more, making them appear slightly larger and fuller. His mane and forelock have been painstakingly painted, so there are very few flaws to be seen.

 I love his face. He just seems so alert yet serious, ready to perform his duty at his rider's command.

 Here he is beside to original flaxen chestnut Tennessee Walker stallion. Personally I think the pale buckskin colour really suits this mould, and maybe even looks better than the original chestnut on him.

Overall I'm really, really happy with this stallion, and very glad I added him to my herd.

2015 Schleich Pinto Stallion

 Here's the second of my new Schleich horses: the 2015 Pinto stallion. I've named him Sunburst.

 He's moulded in a lateral/united canter, although he's looking away into the distance rather than the direction he's actually travelling. Like the older pinto stallion he's painted as a chestnut frame overo, although this boy has a much simpler design than the old model, which probably makes him cheaper and easier to produce.

 He's got a wonderfully wild, windswept mane and tail, although I imagine his mane might make it difficult to tack him up. His overall design makes me think more of a mustang stallion than a tame horse.

 Like most of the other new models, this stallion lacks horseshoes. It seems to be the new direction the Schleich company are moving in with their models, which personally I'm a bit sorry about. I used to love the added details of horseshoes on each horse.

 His coat colour is quite flat and lacks any real shading. In contrast, however, his mane and tail are wonderfully painted, with multiple chestnut tones interwoven throughout.

 I'd prefer it if his hooves on the legs with white markings were a different colour to the hooves on his solid legs, but I'm not too bothered by that. I can't quite tell, but it feels to me that his legs are a little disproportionate in length, and he's got an overall 'toy' feel to him, but he's still quite attractive and a nice addition to the herd.

My particular stallion is made in Tunisia, and interestingly has a longer stocking on his off (right) fore leg than the one shown on Schleich's website. His white patches also seem smoother and more rounded.

 His head is a bit too small and short, but the thing that annoys me most is his black muzzle. With the large white blaze on his face his nose should really be pink, and I think I'll probably end up repainting it eventually.

I like his sweet, blue eyes; they nicely complement his chestnut coat. Whilst he's far from perfect, I'm nonetheless happy with him, and glad I added him to my collection.