Breyerfest Loot part 2

      In part two of Breyerfest loot, we look at the things that look the same, but are not in fact the same. What I mean is, my two Breyerfest volunteer models showed up today. Now we all know I am not an OF collector, I have said it often enough. And while some people think that is just a thing I say to hide my love of OF models, it's not, it's actually true. I think I currently own maybe 5 traditional scale OFs (2 are ponies, so, small), and I have some stablemates, including a Django conga. But all together I am pretty sure I have less than 30 stablemates. If I would just get up and count I would know for sure (I counted, I have 11 OF stablemates). So yeah, I really am not an OF collector. Part of what comes with that is not having OF collector's eyes. But I do have the eyes of a prepper, which is partly why I don't really like OF horses. I can't fix the flaws and they bug me. So anyway, I looked over these super shiny models and on this first one I didn't actually see any flaws. No weird lines in the mold, no weird dull spots in the gloss, no crap in the gloss. This is a REALLY nice horse. As far as I can tell. I also took a whole ton of photos of her from every angle I could think of, since I don't have those OF collector's eyes. This one is listed on the Rare Model Horse sales group on Facebook (with ALL her photos) for $1000 including US shipping. You do have to be a member of the group to see things (I'm pretty sure) but if you are not, and really have an interest in this horse, send me an email to fieldofdolls@gmail.com and I will send you a pile of photos of her. 

   Hey look! It's the same horse... but not. I should have actually gotten a shot of them together, but I didn't think of it until after model A was already wrapped back up. I want to handle these horses as little as possible, and I want them unwrapped as little as possible. So it is entirely possible that they have more similar coloring, but I don't really think that is the case. Anyway, This second model is almost as nice as the first one, but does have one little goober in his gloss (which I do have a photo of). He is currently listed on MH$P, with lots of photos, $850 plus shipping

      I still have a couple more things coming from my Breyerfest purchasing (though both were actually purchased from artists after Breyerfest) and I will share those when they arrive. I will have some more doll updates soon. I mostly need to talk myself into taking some photos. I still have no more news on the live sale, other than likely the end of August. For people in the miniatures club, the packages are on their way as of yesterday.

Breyerfest Loot

     I have not been very into the hobby lately, as I mentioned many times. I virtually attended Breyerfest, but I didn't really participate all that much. Still, what is Breyerfest without a bit of shopping and loot photos? My Nikolas arrived last week and I got a quick and horrible photo for a friend of mine. 

     Then today my purchases from Breyer arrived.  I only made one purchase, instead of multiples, and some of that was because I don't really want the hassle of working on reselling things. Yes, I am one of those terrible people who tries to recoup some costs by selling items. This was my box of purchased stuff. 

     This was my loot all spread out, before I opened the surprise special run to see what I got or the Rhenish draft to see if he was matte or glossy. 

      He's matte. And very pretty, but still huge. I am sure I could come up with some clever performance entries for him, but he would definitely need a whole lot of everything made just for him. I am not in that place so he is for sale. 

This guy is for sale here.

     So then I opened up my surprise horse. For years of feeling up blind bag models I was sure it was one of the Rotating Draft Surprise models. Not that that narrowed it down all that much! I was a little bit bummed that it was not Rapunzel. I very likely would have kept her. But I got this Wedgewood blue paint draft horse. He is HUGE and a decorator, so definitely not my thing. He is also for sale. 

This guy is for sale here.

     I bought myself a Strudel, because he's so stinking cute, but I am not sure what to do with him now. I have Pal's Palette, the plush from last year, on my dashboard (I think Kimber, who does the live feed for virtual Breyerfest, said she has a plush on her dashboard, and that is where I got the idea). But Strudel is definitely a sitter. And I don't think he will fit on my dashboard. Plus, if I start a collection of stuffed things on the dashboard of my car, someone is likely to eventually give me crap about it. Potentially a cop. So I am not currently sure what the fate of my Strudel is. So he is still in his plastic. 

    Lorelei is the crystal horse for this year. I sold all but one of my other crystal horses earlier this year so kind of didn't think I would keep her. But I was talking to my friend Marisa the other day about Breyerfest and Breyerfest loot. She pointed out that I HAD to keep her because she's a PAM (I do love PAM!). And I was still not sure. But then I took her out of her box, to make sure she wasn't broken... and she is now on the shelf.

     The last piece of Breyer Breyerfest loot is the Best of Breyerfest stablemate set. This was one of those things I bought because shipping was expensive and I really wanted to make it worth my while. I am likely not keeping this set and very well might break them up. I did also buy a non-Breyerfest shopping tote (because I have a vast collection of reusable shopping bags) and a non-Breyerfest Friesian horse T-shirt. 

     I do have a couple of pieces coming from artists, one was from a post-breyerfest sale (I think?) and one was some tack I saw and really liked. I will share those things when they arrive. 

Fun With Dolls

     Guess what I did yesterday? Nothing. I did nothing. It was planned nothing, so I could mentally handle it, but I did nothing. Well, mostly nothing. I did go to the store to pick up stuff for taco salad, because I decided I wanted taco salad. Then I made the taco salad and eventually washed the dishes. But mostly I did nothing. I took some chairs into the yard under the pine trees (because shade) and sat and did nothing. It was expected to be in the mid-90s, we don't have air conditioning, and outside is so much nicer. Especially if there is humidity. We actually only had about 35% humidity, which was pretty nice. And my hair stayed dry almost all day! Which is weird for during a heatwave. The sweat-filled, non-drying hair is one of my least favorite parts of heatwaves. But anyway, I sat in my yard and did almost nothing. I looked at the internet a bit, because I can't seem to look away, but mostly I did nothing. I listened to a couple of podcasts and sometimes I just listened to the birds. A lot of nothing. 

     So yesterday was full of mostly nothing, but last week was full of doll making. Hunt seat dolls to be exact. Three hunt seat dolls, in identical outfits, who are all very different. There was also some fun with dolls photos. Because I do get a kick out of making dolls look less like dolls. In this one, apparently the 2 dolls on the edge heard some news that the doll in the middle just HAS to hear, right now!

This photo just makes me happy. 

    And this one... do you know how hard it is to make dolls look like they are holding hands? Well, not hard if there are only 2 of them doing it, that was not bad. Adding a third doll and not having them all staring off in different directions, looking bored, was the trick. I still did not get them all to look at the camera, which is often my goal when photographing dolls. But maybe this team is waiting for some results. I don't know. But this was also a fun picture to set up. 

    As you can see from my recent posts, I have actually been managing to not only work on dolls, but finish a bunch of dolls. At this point I am starting to have a variety of them finished. This week I need to work on a couple of dolls for an order and I think I will throw in a youth hunt seat doll as well. I have a body prepped for that already, so I am already partway there. 

    So yesterday I started my day by doing very little. I spent a couple of hours in the yard, then watched a show, ate taco salad, and then spent a bunch more time in the yard. It was a nice day of mostly staying still. It's supposed to be even hotter today, day 5 of the heatwave, but I feel like I might need to do some moving around. Maybe. 
 

The Western Pleasure Project

     People that know me, or have been reading my blog for a while, know that I work a lot. I mean, a lot a lot. I make myself deadlines for things often. I have had many well-meaning people tell me that the deadlines really are arbitrary, and I should cut myself some slack. But when you are self-employed, you need to make the deadlines, or things don't necessarily happen. Ever. Which then makes the deadlines not arbitrary. It doesn't mean that my deadlines shouldn't be a bit more flexible. It is OK to not hit the top goal every single time. Some of them are quite ambitious. And some of them are not. 

     I have changed a lot of how I work in the past year. I no longer expect maximum results all the time. I no longer expect to work all day at school and then come home and work all afternoon, and evening, on dolls. I have much more realistic expectations. I don't need to work ALL the time. I don't need to blog every day. It doesn't make me a failure, it makes me take better care of me. 

     The end of the last school year was super rough. I probably should not have agreed to teach, at least not as a long term substitute. It took full-time teacher dedication, but did not pay like a full-time teacher. The only reason that matters is it left me too tired to make dolls. I was mentally and physically exhausted. And could not often function when I got home. Even with cutting myself some slack, I felt like I was failing at almost everything. I was doing a really great job teaching, but was not able to put any energy into my business. A business I have worked on building for 16 years. It was mentally rough. But now, all of a sudden, not only is there a light at the end of the tunnel, but I reached the end of the tunnel. All of a sudden I have energy to work on dolls. I have time and space in my brain to work on dolls. And it has been pretty excellent!

     When I made the casual western ladies on the Lena doll body, I was also working on this western pleasure doll. She is semi-casual as well, because not every doll needs to be super loaded up with decorative bling. I do love bling, but I know that sometimes a less fancy doll is what people are looking for. 

    Not to worry though, I have plenty of blingy dolls in the works. I have been working on batches of dolls again, which is sometimes an easier way to work. This week I was working on a whole bunch of western pleasure dolls. Blingy western pleasure dolls. It can be a challenge to work on a variety of similar dolls all at once while also not making them all the same. I think I have managed well though. I guess we will see when they are all finished up and fully revealed!

    Here is a bit of a closer look at the semi-casual western pleasure Lena. Her turquoise shirt is not a solid color, but slightly patterned. I think she would be a fun doll for a large variety of setups. This is the type of doll that I might use to be a super versatile doll. She can do western pleasure or trail, since not every western pleasure entrant is super fancy. She can also do things like working classes, even without specialty chaps. I may also be wrong on that, lol. But I know when I started showing 1000 years ago, a doll like this (though it was usually a cowboy doll) was great for all the western classes. At local level shows anyway. But maybe we have moved into specialized for absolutely everything at this point. Even at the local level. I haven't been paying enough attention. 

    To wrap up, I think I am finally recovered, mostly, from teaching. It really did take a lot out of me, and left me really exhausted for a really long time. Now I am waking up in a great mood, wanting to do things. I go to sleep thinking about what types of dolls I want to make. I have always done a lot of doll designing in my sleep. I am still planning on having another live sale, though likely it will be around the end of August instead of the middle of August, and I am working on having a good variety of available items. More information to come soon!
 

Customer Photos- Katy Niles

      I really love model horse performance photos. Even when I don't have much interest in showing, or even setting anything up, I really love model horse performance photos. The other day, my friend Katy Niles sent me some photos from NAN and Breyerfest, using dolls I have made for her. First up is her little youth doll. I hate this doll. I actually hate most youth dolls and have not enjoyed making them in a very long time. To ride well they need to be remade almost completely. And then they are delicate. This doll has been broken a couple of times. I definitely prefer to modify the little Yvonne dolls and make a more durable youth doll. 

      This is another doll that I made for Katy, and the scene is a sensory experience at the barn. The documentation tells all about the sights, sounds, smells, and so on. Apparently there was also sound to go with this entry! Katy tried to send me a video of it, but instagram decided not to let me see it (video unavailable). So I will just have to imagine it. 

     Here is the little youth doll again, now at Breyerfest. I hear she is also broken again, which is not at all surprising. While I was fixing, then remaking, my youth doll I must have broken her several times, made her a whole new body, hated it, modified it, and then changed to the modified little Yvonne body. They are definitely easier to work with, both in construction and use. 

     This was the doll that I made quickly last week. Or the week before, I have totally lost track of time (I think it is Friday...). This setup got 5th in a really tough class. I have never shown at Breyerfest live, but I have heard stories of the crazy fierce competition. Placing at all sounds pretty amazing to me!

     Thank you Katy for sharing your photos and showing how fun it is to play with dolls.Every day I am getting a little bit closer to wanting to do it myself. And seeing cool performance photos helps with my motivation.



 

A Couple of Cowgirls

     I finished these dolls a couple of weeks ago and have just not managed to post about them until now. They were both done on the Lena doll body, from KC's Galloping Gals, and both ended up wearing shades of pink. I realized that after they were finished. But what can I say, pink is an excellent color! And I also know that not everyone agrees. I don't know what it is, but so many people have really strong feelings about the color pink. Either they love it or hate it. Not sure why that it. Clearly, I am a lover of the color pink!

     These two ladies also have removable hats and fully haired heads. I really love them. Not that I need two more casual dolls for my collection. Especially when I am not actually using any of my performance or 1:9 scale dollhouse stuff at the moment. Though I will admit to having bought a new tack set just after the end of Breyerfest. It is coming from Russia so I know very well it could be several weeks to several months before it arrives. I don't even know if I actually have a horse it will fit on. But it is beautiful, and while I don't need it at all, I liked it enough to buy it. 

     

    Something amazing happened this week. All of a sudden a lot of my meh feeling about everything went away. I was no longer having to fight myself to get anything done. It really is such a switch to how I have been feeling for a couple of months (maybe longer? Maybe shorter?). Instead of feeling like there are weights on me every time I try to pick things up to work on them I am all of a sudden interested in working on things. Sure, it is still a bit hard to make myself sew, but that is such a process to get set up and ready. But work has been happening. Not a lot of blogging has been happening, other than my weird Breyerfest posts, but work has been happening. I have still been slacking off on taking photos so I don't have anything ready to put in a post. But I do promise, posts are coming. They will even be about dolls. 

 

On the Third Day of Breyerfest

      I'm weirdly all Breyerfested out. I did not participate all that much, even though I had a virtual ticket and could have watched the live feed and a variety of other things. I did a small bit of shopping, but none of the things I bought were things I super loved, needed, or necessarily wanted. I decided that what I did want was to get up and move around, instead of just sitting inside all day. So Travis and I went to the indoor flea market (so yeah, still inside, but moving around) and we had a look around. We saw some Breyer horses... 

    And we saw a GIANT horse statue. We also ran into one of my former students, who recognized me, and I tried like hell, but could not come up with his name. He told me and I still could not place him. I recognized his face and that was all. On the drive home I remembered that I had him in an algebra 2 class at the beginning of this past school year, before I started teaching. And I felt like an ass. I had no idea my brain was so messed up that I could forget a kid that quickly. Many of them seem to forget me the moment they leave the classroom, but I usually have a little bit more retention than that. Stupid brain. 

     We also saw this lady at the flea market, who I immediately sent a picture of to Jennifer Buxton. Which makes sense if you caught the riding demo or if you happened to see the photos on Facebook. 

     So on this third day of Breyerfest I saw someone I sort of recognized but couldn't figure out where from (just that I taught him something at some point), I saw big and small model horses, and things that reminded me of friends. And I was hot and tired. That sounds like the wrap up of a lot of people's Breyerfest weekend. Back to dolls soon, I promise.