Field of Dolls Online Aftermath

     There is a lot of work that goes into holding a live show. You need to find and rent a hall, make sure it’s large enough to hold the show tables and shower tables, you have to make sure you have awards on time and so many other little details. But at the end of the show day you are finished. Everyone has their awards, you clean up, much less than you stated with, and you go home. That’s it, you’re done. Other than typing up results.

     For an online show there is less work leading up to the show. You don’t have to find a hall because everything is online. To prep for the Field of Dolls online show I made a Google Form for entries (this is amazing and I might use it for live shows if I ever hold one again!), I made and paid for a SmugMug account, and I made the albums. Then I took care of answering questions and fixing things as needed. When entries closed I did my portion of the judging. When Marisa and Liesl finished their portions of the judging I complied all the results and figured out champs (So, I did the results, lol). I made a list of the different champs and reserves and organized prizes to do the livestream. It was fun. Doing the door prizes was really fun for me as well. After I was done I finished organizing most everything (so, I cleaned up) and that was it until Thursday.       Travis had a half day remote so I took the whole day off and helped him with his school stuff. While he did classes I packed up all of the prizes for shipping. This took about 3 hours. I did help Travis a little bit in that time, but mostly it was packing.

     Once school was done for Travis I got to work on postage. I had the packages and my postage scale and got to weighing and postage printing. About 2 hours and roughly $250 of postage later, all of the packages had labels printed and they were ready to be applied. I cut them all out, put them in alphabetical order, and started applying them to the packages. It REALLY is a time saver to alphabetize things.

     Putting the labels on took about 40 minutes. I really had to push myself at the end. I went through 2 glue sticks and 2 rolls of tape, but I got them finished! Then it was off to the post office.

      I had one giant bag and two regular sizes grocery bags of packages. Travis helped me carry everything. But we got them all checked in and on the way! With the delays in shipping because of the holidays I am not sure how soon anyone will be getting their prizes, but they are coming! Eventually.

     So now I am officially finished with the first Field of Dolls online show. It was definitely a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun. The judges have been paid, the prizes shipped and the finances wrapped up. I did keep back some of the prizes I purchased for next year, which leaves me only about $250 in the hole for this show. It almost ended up much worse for me. As with all things, I learned a lot of things. What works, what doesn’t work, what needs to be tweaked. One thing I am unwilling to compromise on is prizes. I love the idea of every class placing getting a prize. That will continue for the next show. I love the idea of having a ton of door prizes, I will find a way to make that continue. I love the idea of rewarding an excellent shower, and not just the most creatively used horse, and being able to offer champs to a lot of people. The way I am doing the champs for the Spring show will spread it out for sure. Seven people will win top awards. My hope is to then have a variety of excellent raffle prizes to give others a chance to win some awesome things. I had a really good time making this show happen and I a going to keep looking for ways to make it even better.

I'll Name Her Crystal

     Other than my Little Elecktra doll, and my little boy doll that I call my Travis doll, my dolls don't really have names. Last week I made myself a doll, which is something I have not done in a long time. I think I'll name her Crystal. This doll doesn't actually look anything like Crystal, or anyone else I know, but she kept on telling me her name is Crystal. And who am I to argue with this little doll? Maybe I just miss my friend. Anyway, I decided to try out some fun photos. I have a 1:9 scale Christmas tree, but my ornaments have not arrived yet. I have not worked out an ideal set up for photos yet, but I had a good time. 

     I am also really happy because these photos are not show photos. Not that I don't want to have show photos, or take show photos, but these photos are in no way show photos. They could not be for anything other than fun. And I did have a good time. I am still working on figuring out lighting, but I did get some OK photos.

     Crystal seemed to enjoy hanging out in the comfy chair with a coffee and a stack of horse books. 

         She got to hang out with Abby, who wouldn't have a good time doing that?

     Really, who would not have a good time doing this?

     It looks like the flamingo might be stealing her coffee, but I don't think Crystal cares. Her little barn is in the background, waiting for some more work to get done for the Bridle Tree Barn raising challenge. But hanging out reading seems like an excellent choice for the day. 

     I definitely need to work on my lighting. And where I set everything up to take photos. That, as is the case with many things, is a work in progress. But I had a good time getting these photos. Now to work on improving the way I take them. 
 

Susan is Amazing

       Years ago I had a Bold Endeavor resin that I named Cloud Dancing. He was such an excellent show horse! I believe he earned a NAMHSA Performance versatility award in 2 shows. I loved that horse and I loved showing him. Eventually he got some major cracking in his paint and I had to stop showing him. Then I ran into bills that needed paying and Cloud Dancing got sold at body price to help pay them. It really sucked. A lot of horses got sold over the years that I didn't necessarily want to let go of. 

Cloud Dancing

      I have not had a lot of excitement for the hobby in recent years. I still enjoy going to shows, and seeing and talking to my friends, but I have not wanted a new horse in a long time. Or new tack or anything else. I was not really feeling creative either. Then this year was different. 2020 has been a mess in a lot of ways, but it has sparked a lot of creativity in a lot of areas. One of them being creative shows that are being held online. All of a sudden I wanted to put together photos. I think it started with the Breyerfest photo show. My photos were not super, I needed to work on that. But it sparked that part of me that wants to get new things and try new things. I bought Purdy Zipping Chick, though I quickly discovered I could not show her in a Breyerfest show. I also decided I really missed my Indian Silver resin Time Lord, and arranged to buy him back from my friend Iva. I have commissioned and bought new tack over the summer, taken performance photos and bought a very cool arena. If they ever let it out of Russia I might even get to use it. 

      After I got Time Lord back I started thinking of other horses that I missed. I really missed having a Bold Endeavor to show. So I started hunting for one. I could not find one, but I kept on looking. One day I thought to ask my friend Susan if she happened to have one that I could buy. She did not. I sort of forgot about it and I kept casually looking for a Bold Endeavor. 

     Then the other day I got a box in the mail from Sherry Clayton. And inside was this horse. I was floored. He was from Susan! And he is stunningly beautiful. And I thought he looked super familiar. So much like Cloud Dancing. 

      Well, he is NOT Cloud Dancing, but he very much like him. Susan had found one that was in rough shape and had Sherry (who also painted Cloud Dancing) paint him up to look similar. All I can say is wow. So much wow. 

     This was such an incredibly amazing gift! It is almost like having Cloud Dancing back. I am not sure what to name him yet. I have been trying to see if I can think of a name that is related to Cloud Dancing, since this horse is so similar, but nothing is coming to me yet. I'll keep on thinking about it. And soon I will get this guy in tack and take some performance photos! I'm so excited! Thank you Susan, for such an AMAZING gift!
 

Field of Dolls AR/CM Champions

     Here are the champion and reserve champion photos from the AR/CM division of the Field of Dolls Online Show. Enjoy!

Reserve Champion Other Performance- JTIA Unforgettable- Joan Yount

Champion Other performance- Hollywood Bling- Danielle Feldman

      Reserve champion Western - Hollywood Bling - Danielle Feldman

Champion Western- JTIA Cattitude - Joan Yount 

Reserve Champion English- Hollywood Bling – Danielle Feldman 

Champion English - Xecutive Decision – Kimberly Bleecker

Overall AR/CM performance reserve champion: JTIA Cattitude owned by Joan Yount        

Overall AR/CM Performance champion: Hollywood Bling owned by Danielle Feldman 

 

Field of Dolls OF Champions

      I really enjoyed hosting the Field of Dolls Online Show. It has been a long time since I have hosted a show of any kind and this mix of photo showing and live showing aspects was a lot of fun. Please enjoy the champ photos from the OF performance division. 

Reserve Champion Other Performance- NLF Girasole- Lawrence T. Nichols

Champion Other Performance- Theodore- Jennifer Buxton

Reserve champion western - Touch of Red - Jennifer Buxton

Champion Western - Dancin’ On The Ceiling - Charlotte Martin

Reserve Champion English- TS Allannah – Mary Ann Snyder

       This may be the most creative egg and spoon entry I have ever seen!

Champion - Harley Quinn – Kimberly Bleecker

Overall OF reserve performance champion: Harley Quinn owned by Kimberly Bleecker            

Overall OF performance champion: Theodore owned by Jennifer Buxton      

This is Jennifer’s Fault

     Some day last week I happened to see a post somewhere on Facebook about some miniatures Jennifer Buxton had, or a link she posted to find some, I am not sure. Somewhere in the comments Jennifer posted the link to Sinny's Mini Art, which is a miniatures site I have never before been to. Damn. So of course I went to it and I started scrolling through pages and pages of miniatures. I also added lots of them to my cart. Why do I need miniature shampoo and conditioner? I don't. But I might some day. And clearly I will find a need for the laundry basket, thermos, dish soap, fountain soda and the phone on the selfie stick. The paints I clearly need for NaMoPaiMo, because even though I sold several of this exact set at my miniatures sale, I didn't keep any for myself. So for sure, this is definitely Jennifer's fault. 

      This tiny barn is also most certainly Jennifer's fault. Because she has one in a really cool photo she took and I wanted one. Isn't that how it works? I searched ebay for them and several other places but couldn't find anything that was nice. But one of the first things on the Sinny's homepage when I went were laser cut houses. I figured I would do a search for a barn. It was the first thing that went into the cart. I am so happy!

     I also realized that now I have a barn that needs building. Which means I can participate in the Bridle Tree Barn Raising Challenge on Facebook. This barn definitely needs some raising. I didn't think I would be able to actually play along with everyone because I don't have a barn to refurbish or decorate and my arena is already built, I am just waiting for it to arrive. But then while I was taking photos thinking about doing this post I realized I HAVE a barn! And if I hurry up I can get this tiny thing built AND decorated! How fun would that be? I don't know if any of it will happen, but I can make an effort. 

     So thank you Jennifer for being my enabler and telling me of more miniature sites that I just need to look through. I love my tiny things! Any more recommendations?

Field of Dolls Online Show Live

       I have held photo shows in the past, and I have held live shows. I have never before hosted an online show. I know that some people think of online shows solely in the realm of photo shows. But the new style of online show that has developed in 2020 is far from a typical photo show. We still take photos of the entries, someone still judges exactly what is in the photo and does the placings, and prizes are awarded. 

      One of the big differences with a lot of online shows is the ability to add a bit of live show experience to them. When the shows are hosted on Facebook you can see results as they come in (unless I am the judge and then I write down all my placings and wait and post them all in one sitting, muah ha ha!) or a lot of people will do a partial livestream of some of the results. I have always loved this part of the experience and I definitely wanted to add that. 

     I wanted several things for my show; a performance class list, prizes, more prizes, a livestream for some of the results, and prizes, just to name a few things. So I decided to hold a show, sort of settled on a date (and had to change dates slightly a couple of times), made a class list that was comprised of both traditional show classes and the creative scene classes that I love, and I started shopping for prizes. 

     I went 100% off the deep end with prizes. And it freaked me out. I got several small monetary donations from showers (so awesome!) with their entry fees and an over-the-top generous monetary donation from Susan Hargrove. Susan saved me. I also got a bunch of donations from people that helped grow the prize pool.

     Thursday night I did a bunch of math and figured out the overall OF and overall AR/CM champ and reserve performance models. Then I did some more math and figured out the overall performance champ and reserve for the specialty/scene class. This one went by shower. Then I did an overall shower champ and reserve prize. There was a lot of math on Thursday. 

      Friday I put names on baggies. Everyone who earned at least one prize in the show got a baggie. Then I put them in alphabetical order by first name (because alphabetizing makes sorting go SO much faster!) and I went through the placings and sorted all of the miniatures for the traditional classes and all of the mini rosettes for the specialty classes. And I messed up somewhere. But I decided it didn't matter and I didn't care. And I went to bed. 

     Saturday morning I woke up and realized I really needed to fix the prize bags, but I didn't want to dump everything, sort it all back out and start over. So I made a list of every shower in the show (not hard when you have lists everywhere!) and then I went through the entire show and I put down everyone's placings. My list was also in alphabetical order and it went pretty fast. Then I went to the prize bags and fixed my mistakes. I felt a lot better. I also went back through the champ and reserve champ prizes and the overall prizes. I tweaked what needed tweaking, to make sure there were really nice prize packs for the big awards, and then I made sure that the raffles were set as well. 

     Before the livestream started I set up the camera and ring light (which is WAY better lighting, now I just need to tweak it so it doesn't totally wash out the small things I try to show), I set out the raffle prizes (I think I had 23!), I set out the champ and reserve prizes in order, got my tiny cauldron of names and I was pretty much ready to go. 

     When I got started I had the usual moment of panic, but since I just did a live sale a week ago, it was not overly scary for very long. Plus I had everything laid out in such an efficient way that I had no time to be nervous. I think I started by mentioning the mess up and the need to fix it (I know I mentioned it, can't remember when) and shortly after I got started and said hi to people I jumped into the raffles. When I would pull a name I would then tape it to the prize and put it aside in a bag. SUPER fast! Even with taking a bit of time to show off some of the items I think I was done with raffles in about 11 minutes. Maybe. And, as mentioned, I had a lot of them. Then I jumped into the prizes. I started with the prize for first entry and last entry, then the judge's choice entries. After that I went right down the OF list and so on. I showed all the different prizes for the bigger awards and then I was done. In about 40 minutes I had gone through everything I planned. It was fast. So I talked a bit about the Spring show and my plans for that. I think I will publish the class list sometime relatively soon. And I will start thinking about the dates. When I want it to start, finish and so on. I need a 2021 calendar (I have one in the back of my car). But definitely there will be some part of the show in April. Maybe the results portions. Not completely sure on that yet. But I have plans that are starting to come together, prizes that have already started to be ordered, and I am hoping it will be just as amazing as the first Field of Dolls Online show was. Or maybe even better.