Superior event horse

My son, Travis, took therapeutic riding lessons for many years.

 He really enjoyed the horses and was a very good rider.

 He loved "his" horses.

 My therapeutic riding set-up was very important to me because it represented Travis's riding. The doll I used was my "Travis" doll and the documentation was photos of Travis riding as well as the trail pattern they used in one of the shows he rode in. I love performance showing but really my therapeutic riding scene was always the most important to me. Lady Intrigue is my therapy horse. She's a Breyer side saddle Strapless and she has been shown and shown and shown. I started doing the therapeutic riding set-up about 5 years ago and finally all of that hard work has paid off.

 This morning Lady's superior event horse award arrived on my doorstep.

Poor beat-up Lady Intrigue can finally retire from showing. She has been to many many shows and fallen off many many tables. She worked hard as a therapy horse and did well in many other classes as well. Now she has earned a quiet retirement up on the shelf. Now I need a new superior event horse goal. Maybe Lady Liberty will try for superior event in showmanship. That class is pretty important to me as well.

Happy

Today is the first day of NAN 2013. And it's a pretty happy day for me. I watched the live streaming feed for quite a lot of the day. And that was lots of fun. I have to say the highlight of my day was my horse Caramel Latte wining champion in CM hunt seat pleasure stock/pony. The tack is made by Jennifer Buxton and I made the doll.

 I have never actually attended NAN so this was pretty exciting. This photo was taken by Erika Ipes and she said I was welcome to use it. I even got a direct phone call (instead of a text) when Caramel Latte won. 

This next photo is Kahanamoku owned by Marisa Evans (photo by Marisa). She won reserve champion on both Western pleasure stock type and other western and got a top 10 in western trail-stock type. I made her doll and the tack is by Pam Perkins.

 And this is Electric Mayhem also owned by Marisa Evans (photo by Marisa). I am not sure who made the tack but I made her doll. She got top 10 in English trail, Hunt seat pleasure-stock/pony type and dressage. Really great day!

I am hoping I will get more photos of my dolls in action at NAN. Tomorrow is OF performance.

All about Yvonne

If you've been following along with my blog posts or seeing my posts and albums on my doll page on Facebook you have probably figured out I am a big fan of the Yvonne doll made by Zica Toys.

 She just looks so realistic! I know, it's crazy that I would want my DOLL not to look like a doll. But my goal has always been realism.

 Yvonne just looks like a person. Her smaller-than-Breyer-head (which is real person sized!) doesn't fit in the Breyer hunt helmets so that I have to sculpt one. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of doll things. It's not like having to sculpt a whole head after all!

 Yvonne's hand options also make her a great doll for western or English disciplines. For the western dolls I use the loosely curled hands. The fingers are separated perfectly for western events. For the English dolls (this one being the first and only so far) I use the flat hands, reshape them and paint them. This allows the proper hand position for English reins. I am pretty excited about that!

 Yvonne is slightly harder to change the hair on in comparison to the Breyer doll. My rooting tool works just fine on her but it's harder to remove the factory hair from her head. But totally worth the effort as I can now have a variety of lovely ladies to ride! This newest one has her blush done in a way that accentuates her cheekbones and gives her a slimmer looking face (and awesome cheekbones!) while the English doll didn't have any blushing done and has a different look to her face shape because of it. I'm looking forward to trying more "make-up tricks" on future Yvonnes. So far I haven't repainted any eyes because I do like the eyes quite a bit but I think I will start doing some different colored eyes soon. Maybe on the next doll.

The dark bay horse might have been a better option for this light sage outfit with a dark saddle or a matching saddle pad. But my dark saddle doesn't have stirrups that adjust any shorter than they are. Yvonne does need a slight adjustment to her stirrups if she is using the same saddle as a Breyer gal. But not too much. And she sits bareback extremely well.

I think the entire point of this post was to share more photos of this great doll. She may try some other new things soon as well. I think she would look wonderful as a side saddle doll! I don't know yet if she can do it or if she needs to be altered to do it. I should get a side saddle...

The new (dressed) Yvonne doll VS (dressed) Brenda

 
 In my last post I had a head-to-head competition between the new Zica humanoid 8.0 (Yvonne) and the Brenda Breyer doll. Both were completely unmodified and naked so they could not cheat or hide any of their abilities (or lack of). I was so impressed with how Yvonne did naked I wanted to get her dressed as soon as possible to finish testing if she would make a good rider doll. So I chose the most unforgiving riding outfit I could think of; super fitted chaps and a fitted, non-stretchy western shirt. I did some very slight modifications so she would sit deep in the saddle and repainted her face and rehaired her head (neither of those effecting the way she rides of course). The Brenda dolls in this competition have all had heavy modifications including; taping the waists (so they are not floppy), padding the waist (so they don't look like they have on corsets), padded their rear ends (so they can sit up in the saddle instead of falling over or hovering) bendy necks added (so they can look somewhere other than straight ahead or straight to the side), arm joints tightened and so one. To modify the Brenda to get her ready for dressing as a rider doll can take anywhere from 1-2 hours depending on if anything fell off in shipping (I have had legs fall off as soon as they come out of the box) and how hard getting everything to stay where it is supposed to stay turns out to be.

This first comparison is a 3/4 front view. Yvonne has a very realistic face where Brenda looks like a doll. Both have a decent shape and seem to ride nicely.

This second view is also a 3/4 front view but a full body shot. Yvonne looks very comfortable in the saddle and still looks very realistic. This Brenda has a new sculpted head which is decent but not nearly as nice as the Yvonne head sculpt. Both dolls seem to be able to ride well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we have a 3/4 full body back view. Brenda looks like her leg is a bit stiff but that could just be that it wasn't adjusted properly. Brenda looks very natural to me and quite realistic. Both dolls are sitting in the saddle nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up is a full on side view. Yvonne chose to sit in English tack because some people have been asking to see her in tack and I said I would get photos of her in both western and English. She seems to sit very comfortably in an English saddle, even in her chaps! Brenda looks fine and she does hold the reins nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next is the gaming position. It would also be an over fences position if the horse was jumping. Both Brenda and Yvonne do this very well. They are leaning forward and looking up at what they are heading for. Brenda can't do this without her custom bendy neck though Yvonne can do this straight out of the package.

 

 

I've only played with the one Yvonne doll so far but I am a fan. She takes very little modification to make her an excellent rider doll, she has a super realistic face sculpt that I am very excited about, she is shaped like a real person and fairly easy to use. I imagine if I used any sticky wax at all on her hands (I didn't for this shoot) that she would be very simple to use. Her arms do stick out a tiny bit when she is dressed in a fitted top but I think I have a modification that will solve that problem as well. Brenda Breyer can be a very nice rider doll but she does take quite a lot of modification. Yvonne takes very little extra work to make an exceptional rider. Both dolls do have merit as a rider but I am loving the new Yvonne and am looking forward to making many many more of them into custom riders. Yvonne is more expensive to purchase than the Breyer dolls but she saves me so much time not having to do a total body rebuild (and I don't have to sculpt a head!) that I will be offering them for custom order for a very minimal extra cost. Happy showing!

Brenda VS Yvonne

 

 I realize that some people have an issue with nudity even if it is just in a toy human (*ask* a doll). So the cautionary message above will show up instead of a nude doll photo if you are a subscriber.

 

 

Welcome to the first ever (that I am aware of) head-to-head competition between the Breyer female rider dolls and the new Zica humanoid doll Yvonne. We'll call the Breyer doll Brenda (as that was her name for awhile) just so we can talk about them.

 

Here Brenda and Yvonne are meeting for the first time. It's always nice to start with a handshake.

 For the first round I am just comparing the height and the overall look of each doll. Yvonne is wearing the smallest size breasts that she comes with (she comes with 3 sizes) and the hands that are the most appropriate to ride (until I get out the heat gun and mess with another set...). Yvonne seems a little bit shorter than Brenda which will make a lot of hobbyists quite happy since Brenda is often out of scale depending on which horse she is riding.Yvonne looks to have a more human looking waist and thighs that seem to be a bit shorter. Maybe they won't need to be shortened to fit the saddles...

Oh, Yvonne also stands exceptionally well. Brenda takes a little work and holding your breath.

 For the second round We are seeing who can bend their head down further. Good for saluting in dressage, games and probably a whole bunch else. Brenda isn't very good at this.

 Round three is tilting the head back. Great for speed games and over fences. Probably Arab showmanship as well. Brenda doesn't seem to be good at this either. Yvonne is doing an OK job but could do it a bit better to be perfect I think.

 Round 4 is the bendy test. Brenda is trying hard but that is as far down as she can go. Again, breathing is not allowed because she will fall over. Yvonne seems to be exceptionally good at this challenge. Even with her arms flipped over backwards! (I noticed that after the photo shoot). Yvonne's knees and elbows do something weird in this extreme bend but it does allow her to get down further. Brenda still has normal looking (sort of) knees and elbows. I would say it's a tie but I like that Yvonne can bend so much without being rebuilt.

 Well now Yvonne is just showing off! Brenda has no chance at this one.

 Round 5 is sitting a horse. Brenda does that pretty well but she has to "hold on" or she will slide right off. She can do it though...

 ...I think Yvonne does it better. She doesn't need to "hold on" with her hands and can stay seated very easily on her horse. I imagine I could change her leg position as much as needed as well. Also take note, her knees look normal (I can can even switch it so her knee is on the lower pivot point and her thigh is shorter. It's pretty cool!)

 Hmm, I think she is showing off again

Brenda is a nice enough doll that can ride and with some body modifications she can sit nicely, look human and contribute to a win in the show ring. But that does take a lot of body work to get her there. The above Brenda has one of the nice, smaller factory heads (I really will miss them when I run out) but I think Yvonne's head and her features are more in scale with a real person. Yvonne looks cranky but I might be able to make her look more happy, or just serious, with a bit of a repaint. All in all I am incredibly impressed with the new Zica humanoid female doll. They can be ordered here. I will have to test one out dressed before I can give my opinion of a final verdict on the usefulness as a hobby doll but so far I like her a lot!

Getting Better

I'm still not happy with the fact that I HAVE to sculpt heads or be forced to use giant heads on my dolls. But I have a few face molds and am getting better at putting the faces together with a head and adding ears and so on. Adding ears is something I often forget to do. But if you happen to own and incredibly hot hair dryer (like I do) you can cook on a tiny ear if you forget to make one. Or if you realize the ears you put on in the first place are lopsided and you have to take one off and sculpt a new one. I'm still not ecstatic with these heads but they are certainly nicer than if I tried to just sculpt them (still can't sculpt lady faces) and I think they are much preferable to giant heads. I do now have a few giant heads if anyone is interested. I also still have some normal sized factory heads.

The fun thing about cast the faces and molding the heads onto them is that no head is ever going to be exactly like another. Just the process of taking the face out of the mold and smoothing the seem where you added the head is going to change things a bit. This lady below came out of the mold with a toothy smile. I gently closed up her mouth before baking and she looks very different. Differences in painting will also make each one unique. I don't like the fact that I HAVE to sculpt heads but I do like the variety.

Our wonderful worldwide hobby

Awhile back I discovered that Breyer has started producing their dolls with a larger head. I am not sure what possed them to do this but they have done it. At first I thought it was just the dressage doll. Then I found photo proof that it was also the show jumper doll and I knew we had a problem. On March 17th I wrote a blog post entitled Trouble that illustrated (with pictures) my fears. I have recently found out that not only is it the dressage doll and the show jumper doll but also the vet doll and soon the cowgirl doll that will have those big heads. I find that news very sad.
   Not only does it make my job as a doll maker harder but it leaves us showers in the hobby with limited options. We can deal with the large, unrealistic heads, we can make due with older dolls until they just can't be found anymore or we can use sculpted heads. Not everyone can sculpt and not everyone has access to someone who can sculpt for them. I am not an awesome sculptor but with the face push molds I can make a decent head that is properly in scale. With practice I imagine I will get better. I don't really enjoy doing it though. If I could find an in-scale face that I really liked perhaps I would find more joy in producing my own doll heads. I still wish I didn't have to.
   There may be a new option soon. A fairly new company, Zica toys, is now producing a 1:9 scale female doll and I am hoping to get mine in soon. I ordered awhile ago but the company is just the one man (he isn't doing the manufacturing) so I might have a bit of a wait until he gets caught up with all the initial orders. Once I get the doll I can test her out and see how she is as a hobby doll. I really hope she won't need much work as she is pricier than the Breyer dolls. But the Breyer dolls need A LOT of work to be really user friendly. I have high hopes that Yvonne will be the doll of the future. There is also rumor that individual doll parts may become available. If I could just buy some heads that might not be a bad option. Unfortunately it may also force me to raise my prices a little bit.
   Anyway, the part of this post that has to do with our wonderful worldwide hobby has been the support I have been receiving from different parts of the world. I did that post about the trouble with the new big heads on the Breyer dolls and have gotten comments and emails from many people that all agree, this is not a good idea and this is not something we want in a LSQ doll. Just today I got a message from a woman in Germany and then several hours later from a woman in Poland. It's so great to hear from people all over the world and to hear that people are reading my blog! It makes me want to come up with something to say.
   For whatever reason Breyer is convinced these bigger heads on the dolls are a good idea. I don't agree and I have not heard anyone else say that they agree. Perhaps people will stop buying them and Breyer will go back to smaller heads. Perhaps they don't care because they know people will keep on buying from them as they have for years. I don't really know for sure. I do know that I love the model horse hobby and I love being able to make dolls for the collectors. And I really appreciate the support of fellow hobbyists from all over the world.