Model Horse Quarterly Spring Issue Coming Up

The second issue of my new model horse journal, The Model Horse Quarterly, will be available for sale on the EquinArt Creations website on April 1, 2012. It's shaping up to be a wonderful issue thanks to the contributions I'm receiving from the model horse collecting community!

Here's just a small sample of what will be inside:

• How Lakeshore China Model Horses Are Made by Cindy Neuhaus
• Mirror Manor Arabians - an Interview with Katja Contu, and pictures of her amazing collection of Arabian model horses
• New column on Peter Stone model horses by Christa Gleadhill
• Breyer update, directly from Breyer Animal Creations
• Photographing Model Horses by Marie Phillip
• (pending) interview with model horse artist Dani Schacht
• New photos of a great collection and conga of Old Timer molds!
• Collecting Model Foals by Jeanne Grunert

The first issue received rave reviews from collectors, and I even received a lovely email from Breyer, who applauded the quality of the Model Horse Quarterly.

Issues will be available as a PDF, and in black and white and color print, book-quality paperbacks.

If you'd like to contribute to the next issue, the deadline is May 31.  There is NO payment at this time but you will receive a free PDF copy of the issue in which your article appears. Your article must be completely original, and if you submit photos, you must own the copyright on them or send me permission from the picture and horse's owners.  Please visit The Model Horse Quarterly's page for details.

THANK YOU to the contributors!

Photographing Model Horses for Sale

So if you want to show off her hunter potential - with tack?

Photographing model horses available for sale is often a tricky business. For example, if you have a beautiful live show quality painted artist resin model horse and you want to demonstrate his suitability for performance, do you tack him up and photograph him? Think about it. People within the hobby get the fact that the tack doesn't go along with the price of the model.  But even if you state that explicitly in the ad, I guarantee that somebody, somewhere on eBay or Facebook is going to 'assume' you are selling an all-in-one package.  Of course any deal that looks that incredible has got to have a catch.  But people don't read.

Another thing to think about - let's say you have a beautiful unpainted Artist Resin that you never got around to painting, and now you want to sell him. He's actually the second copy of the same resin and you painted copy #1.  Or maybe you are good friends with a super artist and she says, "Oh, I've painted a few of those!" and you ask to borrow her pictures.  Even though you state very clearly "I am selling an unpainted resin" and you have six pictures with the ad, each showing a different painted horse, there's somebody, somewhere who is going to assume they are buying a painted model!

I thought of this yesterday when I saw a gorgeous photo of an artist resin listed for sale.  The photo showed the most exquisite Western tack I've seen in a long time - I mean whoever made that saddle has amazing talent.  Even the buckles worked.  I swooned (I have a thing for tack, both for real horses and models.  I'm a tack junkie! I can't start buying it because I WON'T STOP.)  Yet I wonder how many newcomers to the hobby may have thought "Do I get the saddle and the horse too?"

You may think this is all a weird point. After all, I think most folks reading this blog are very savvy collectors.  Once you've been in the hobby a while you get used to all the idiosyncrasies.  You start to understand the lingo, the ins and outs of buying on MH$P and such, you learn what all the acronyms mean.

But I think it's important to keep in mind that not everyone is savvy...and it's always best to be explicit in the ads and clearly list, maybe in bullet points, exactly what you are selling!

Meet Highland Dale, New Candace Liddy Artist Resin

Thought I'd take a moment to introduce you to a new horse model that's sure to become a friend - HIGHLAND DALE by Candace Liddy!  She's still on the artist's workbench but is turning into such an exciting Artist Resin that I thought I would share the 'sneak peek' pictures Candace sent to me.  She's a Little Bits or 4" scale Artist Resin depicting a Gypsy Vanner/Dale cross...you could easily show her as a Vanner, and with those feathers dream up a few nifty cross breeds too.  She just screams out to me for a nice loud color pattern.  I can't wait to get my copy.  Candace tells me she should be ready for molding and casting in March.  Please visit EquinArt Creations and sign up for our email list if you'd like to receive notification when she is ready, or "Like" our Facebook page (link in the margin of the blog.) 

Antiques Shop Find - Possible Breyer Color Variation?

I wish I'd gotten a better photo of my latest acquisition, an antiques mall find of a Breyer Classic scale Andalusian mare in chestnut.  At first I thought she was the Lusitano release, but the markings don't match.  The one in the Breyer identification book shows no markings on the face, and this gal has a wide, almost chalky kind of blaze (can't see it in the picture, but you can of course see all the cat-induced smudges on my office window.)  What do you think? Is she simply the Breyer Lusitano, a color variation, or from a set that my 2009 Breyer identification guide just doesn't include?

Whenever I go to Appomattox, a town about 20 minutes from my house, I love to visit the Appomattox Gallery, a big antiques mall. There's one vendor who always has a few Breyers.  Some are way overpriced. There was a pinto Proud Arabian mare priced at $10, but both her ears were missing and she was scratched up really bad. I would have bought her as a remake prospect for just $5, but $10 was more than I wanted to pay for a Breyer that damaged.  She had a running mare, a Family Arabian stallion, and a classic Mustang too, but all were in worse shape than this gal.  My chestnut Lusitano classic scale Breyer mare has a big rub on her flank, but otherwise I could photo show her on this side...if I get her into a nice scene and not on top of my bookcase, that is!

So what do you think I bought? The Lusitano mare or something else? And I paid $6.50 for her....big rub on the flank and all...a bargain, or did I get taken?

What's In a Model Horse Name?

KGs Harlem Prince

How do you choose names for your model horses? Some people like to name their models after movies, books, television shows or songs they like.  I have horse models named Banda, Moonlight Sonata, Eroica (not erotica lol!) and Appassionata, which give you a glimpse into my musical tastes - Beethoven features prominently on my playlist!  Then you have the serious model horse collectors who pore over pedigrees, breed books, stud websites and more to find the perfect imaginary parents for their collectibles.  They even use software to create elaborate pedigrees and seek real horse parents with the characteristics exhibited by the model horse foal for the ultimate touch of realism. 

Sometimes I wonder how much a name means for a model horse's show career.  I have one model who I think is beautiful, but her name is clunky.  I got it out of a book on ancient Egypt and she's part Egyptian Arabian, so I thought it was a good name. I also think she's a beautiful model, but she hasn't placed well since I started photo showing her and she didn't even place in the one live show I sent her out to. I wonder how much her name had to do with it?

Names, I think, are like photo show backgrounds - they can and probably do enhance the model horse's chances of pinning, but it's more like they add to the overall realism or impression given to the judge than to the actual horse's chances of winning. Certainly a horse with great conformation, a well chosen breed, and a beautiful presentation would pin over a horse with poor confirmation with a great name.

So what's in a name?  What are your favorite model horse names?

Lyntner's High Rocket - named after a friend's horse - not a great name though!

The Artistic Side of Model Horses

I realized this past week that I needed play time. Do you ever feel like that? I've put in a lot of extra hours over the past two weeks.  I'm not complaining. I love my work as a freelance writer, marketing consultant and creative entrepreneur over at EquinArt Creations. When I'm busy it means that more people are trusting me with their work!  But we all need balance in our lives. I can't go downstairs to the workshop and set up model horse dioramas or make tack right now.  We are doing construction in the basement and John is building a nice walk in pantry for me. I'm looking forward to the end result, but it also means that everything that was in that section of the basement is now piled onto my model horse table.  My paints are packed away, my backgrounds are stored away from dust, and I miss play time with my Breyers.  I had to be content with playing around on the computer with things. I created this video from slides of the Artist Resins at our company.  I hope you enjoy it.  I'm so new at this that I can't quite figure out how to save the pretty music I put behind it, but hopefully practice will make perfect and I will figure that out as I make more.  Enjoy! (The original is on You Tube, by the way, under my business name Seven Oaks Consulting.)

New Artist Resins Coming Soon

Champagne Watchout by Michelle Platt

A quick update before I log off for the evening on new Artist Resins coming soon. We have so many beautiful artist resins and some gorgeous new hand-painted works and stained glass coming out soon that I can't wait to get pictures and show them to you.  Some of the highlights of this spring's new releases include:

• A trotting Arabian mare by Tabatha Pack
• A mini Elnathan by Tabatha Pack (! mini !)
• A new Dale pony in 4" scale from Candace Liddy
• Sheri Rhodes is updating her sold out "Smokin Hot Chic" into a new resin.....
• Michelle Platt is release Champagne Watchout, her naturally shod TWH in Breyer Traditional scale (hurray!)
• Heavy Horse Farms will have new painted leather pieces, plus new stained glass designs

Did I forget anyone? I sure hope not! Pictures of each coming soon....

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