Arab Costume

Right well first apologies that I have not blogged in a while, exam stress etc. has distracted me! Well I finished my exams on Monday and have already had time to create quite a few things! I have mainly been finishing off orders and finishing customs for CASMES live show on Saturday.

So I thought I would just share this little Stablemate Arab costume. It is in a native style and is done in green and gold. I sorta gave up with attempting to use metallic threads (I really do hate them) and went to a sorta goldey yellow normal thread instead. The bit and saddle tree are from Horsing Around. They do a great little Arab costume making set.

So here it is:




And the front:



And the other side:



Here it is with a custom rider as well:



I think someone has been in the sun too long!

New European Extravaganza Customs

Knabstrupper Foal


The reference for this guy was actually a draft x knabstrupper but was still very cute.

Jet black with some gingering to a blanket appaloosa.

So yes meet American Boy:











Percheron


The smallest guy of the bunch, a little custom mini show pose drafter.

The reference was actually a lot lighter but I messed up on the first layer of pastels so he ended up having to be a light dapple grey.

He has red ribbons :D

So meet American Idiot:

Non-Characteristics in Appaloosa's

I thought this was something that was generally well known...apparently it is not.

As I'm sure most of you will know most Appaloosa horses carry Appaloosa characteristics. These are mottled skin, roaning, white scelera and striped hooves.

However, not all appaloosa coloured horses carry this, the one's that don't are known as Non-Characteristics (or NC's).

NC appaloosa horses come in all breeds, purebred Appaloosa's, mixed horses and appaloosa coloured breeds. In fact it is estimated that around 35% of all Appaloosa coloured horses are NC's. It's not rare at all!

In fact...all Appaloosa breed books/spotted horse societies etc. note the need for these characteristics, they are seen as desirable. Presumably because they indicate pure genetics, or were thought to and now it has become standard. Horse's are marked down if they do not show them.

Genetics wise nobody is quite sure why NC's arise. Research has been performed (see Harrison, 2006) but it has been inconclusive. At least what this testing did show was that NC's are not linked to the presence or lack of presence agouti 'A' series genes or extension 'e' series genes.

Interestingly having very pure Appaloosa line's with consistent characteristic showers does not guarantee that the horse will be born with characteristics. In fact 67% of all NC's are purebred Appaloosa's with Foundation stock lines.

It would be really great to see more genetic research done into this, it's a fascinating area. Something obviously blocks the characteristics but the question is what is it! Suggestions on a post card (or the comment box :p).

Fjord

I completed the Fjord today and he is rather nice. He was done to a very light dun which meant that he is very pale looking.

I'm not entirely sure that the legs are right, they are just as they are in the reference but I'm not sure, maybe it's just me wanting a bit more contrast in the coat.

Anyways...

Meet American Beauty:



Squishy face with white in the mane



His show side:



The dorsal stripe that traces all down the mane, across the back and into the tail



The cute face and stripey ears:



I have also finished the Knabstrupper foal. He isn't great, I'm really not happy with the pattern. But anyways pictures tomorrow...probably

European Extravaganza Updates!

Customs


Well I have started work on the next custom. He is a little Papo Fjord stallion. Not the most appealing of molds but still kinda cute actually:



I decided I wanted a less traditional Fjord, something really creamy and light :D So this is the reference picture I chose:



(obviously both stolen pictures, I apologise...again...)

He is rather cute isn't he :p

So I started by doing a base of peach over all of the areas that needed colour, very lightly airbrushed. Then I sprayed primer lightly over the whole horse, this just lightens the colour to a lighter dun, it's a technique I've found rather useful over the years!

The next stage was darkening using pastels, so basically neck and face and a bit along the back and inside the muscles (although the mold isn't particularly well muscled).

Next up I started the legs. These are firstly brown and black pastel mixed together to form most of the shading and then using a hard brush it is drawn in lines to form the stripes. It took me around 10 minutes per leg but it is now done.

I then started the details and mane and tail. I shaded the muzzle using black and also the genitalia. The mane had to be repainted white as there was some overspray and then the mane crest was done in black mixed with brown. The forelock is light brown, then dark brown and then black. The tail is the same as the forelock. The dorsal stripe is just black and brown again. All of this done in pastels...

The last bit I managed to get done today was the base coat for the eyes. But still needs those finishing, hooves doing and painted details. He does look rather cute though!

Tack


Last night I started work on the spanish bridle. The set up will ultimately be something along these lines:




Again I've been stealing pictures....

I'm using a classic scale levading lippizan for it. Can't decide whether he should be bay like this guy or grey...

Anyway the bridle. Well after discovering that I did not have a Spanish bit I decided to improvise. So I took a Western curb bit (one with hearts on) And added a little piece of chain and a piece of wire to recreate the look of a proper Spanish bit. I've also done the cheek pieces and the browband is attached on one side.

Ultimately it will look something like this:



O yes another stolen picture...I really need to sort out my reference library...


So yes we are getting there slowly! I am revising....honestly...

Fontana

The latest Breyer Collector's Club model is Fontana a beautiful pinto on the Roxy mold:

And yes I did just steal that picture of Breyer...I apologise...very naughty I know but you can't link the webpage! You can't even access it once you've bought her...

Anywho she is gorgeous and I'm sure she is far more worth it than any Honeymoon that that money was going to be spent on *cough*

But what did get me was the shipping, $57.50! That is a lot, I buy from the US a lot and an OF Traditional doesn't normally cost me that much...

This meant the total was £120.00 now to see if my fiance will go halves with me and give me £60...

Friesians Completions

Yay :) The Friesians are all done...getting annoyed by my lack of ability to spell yet :p

First up lets have the CollectA...

Meet Amazing Things...



The ginger is there but deliberately subtle, I'm not a fan of very ginger horses...



His perty face:



And next up is that Bullyland..

So meet America...



You can just see that I added some ginger to her barrel to make her less bland. I also deliberately used a different paint for the mane and tail so it looked slightly different. Jet black horses can be quite boring sometimes :p



And yes I did quite blondely choose the model with the mane over the forehead as the one to have the white star lol



Both will ultimately be sold (or before hand if I can) but they are destined for European Extravaganza first