Éire

Eire is the souvenir store stablemate for BreyerFest this year.

Whilst I like the pattern I am not a massive fan of green, like I think you can have too much green and I suspect after BF I will have too much green!

He's a decorator on the Corbin mould:

Seminar #6 - Adding Some Sparkle

Do you like sparkly things?

Do you think the biggest problem with the world is there are TOO FEW sparkly things?

Do you want to know how to make everything you own sparkly?

Then I have the perfect seminar for you! Whether you are an experienced sparkler or a newbie to the sparkling world we will be going through step by step how to jazz up everything from model horses to headcollars to even dolls clothes! 

No longer will your shelves be filled with boring bland model horses, no more the disappointment as you stare at your worn out brown tack, no longer the sinking feeling you get when you realise your doll doesn't have diamante encrusted jodhpurs

Join us next Friday as we SPARKLE THE WORLD! Bring some glue and some sparkles and sparkle along with us, don't forget to share your sparkling creations!

Seminar Date: 22nd May 2020

Seminar Time: 17:00 BST (UK Time)

Seminar Location: https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

Seminar Reveal!

The votes are in and I can confirm that the winning seminar is......Secrets of a Show Host! 

The voting has been updated and you can now vote for the next seminar after that, you have until next Saturday to vote so don't delay :D

Vote here:

https://www.chestnutridge.co.uk/seminar-schedule.html

New Peter Stone Mould!

Now I know I've been really naughty and stolen a picture off Facebook but I am just so excited about this I had to share!

Stone Horses have a brand new mould and it is sculpted by my all time favourite sculptor Maggie Bennett!!!

This is Remington:



He will be released in Traditional scale but they are offering some Pebbles resins this weekend if you head on over to their Facebook group (usually the best place for Stone news): https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=249497304471

I don't care how many kidneys I have to sell I need one of these. They are beautiful! I think I want a bay...or a palomino...

Achilles and Patroclus

A couple of weeks ago I completed this Maggie Bennett Blitzen resin:



He was named Achilles because apparently every horse must have a Greek name at the moment



But then I felt kinda sad because I didn't like the idea of Achilles being all alone without Patroclus.

So it wasn't long before the next micro I was working on was nicknamed Patroclus. And not too long after that that the name stuck.

He is a Jessie pewter micro by Maggie Bennet (and yes I know not a stallion but we will ignore this).

Say hello to Patroclus:



They actually look really cute together! They now live together on the shelf, next to Persephone (I told you the Greek thing was getting out of hand)



So they can spend eternity together :)

Vintage & Premier Club Grab Bags

If you are in the Breyer Vintage or Premier clubs then you can get hold of grab bags at the moment!

They are a random drawing, so you have to enter for them, and they are only available for club members. Go to www.breyerhorses.com and login to your account to enter.

They contain a random model from the previous years of the club. I've had a few of these over the years and have been able to add some lovely models to my herd and also get some ummm victims.

I've entered for the vintage one, I haven't been a member the last few years so hoping I'll get one from then and not one of the ones I already have!!! 

If you do get one let me know who you get! And if you get a duplicate of one you already have shout, I may be able to rehome it for you :)

I would be over the moon if I got picked and got a Rockford in mine! HE SO SHINY!

Mackenzie

Sorry I completely forgot to share this one yesterday! I was distracted by spotty ponies.

I say this every year (I know) but the BreyerFest plush is just AWESOME! I can't wait to add him to my army of little Breyer plushies who are going to TAKE OVER THE WORLD



I mean look at his ickle hat and scarf! IT'S ADORABLE!



He is literally the cutest thing.

Bilberry

Bilberry is the latest Collector's Club release from Breyer. He is a beautiful leopard spotted pony on the Bouncer mould.




If you are a collector's club member you can enter for him now at www.breyerhorses.com

Seminar Updates

I know I did a blog post with a list back in April but to be fair that isn't that helpful! So today I did the first stage of a bit of a website overhaul that will see all the seminars linked and listed on the site for people to watch forever more.

As part of this I have added a full schedule of the upcoming seminars. I have also added an option for you to vote for the next one in the series! There is even an 'other' box if there is something in particular you would like to see:

https://www.chestnutridge.co.uk/seminar-schedule.html#/

I am slowly working on downloading and then uploading the last two onto YouTube, but as I'm sure you can imagine this is quite a painful task when you have internet as slow as mine! My hope is that each week we can add them online so you can watch them in your own time and of course pause them, particularly good for the make alongs.

Finally, I know that last week's didn't really go as planned, a combination of overtired, being in a bad headspace and the idea not really working meant that it wasn't great. I'm hoping this will change on Friday! Friday's seminar is in the evening so if you like we can also have a bit of a social. Should I get drunk whilst grooming model horses? I don't see how that could ever go wrong. Take a shot everytime I knock something!

BreyerFest Swag Sale

From tomorrow onwards Breyer are going to be pre-selling the BreyerFest swag through their website.

This is open to everyone, so you don't need a BF ticket to buy the items. I'm definitely going to be grabbing myself a t-shirt or something, although I may leave it until actual BreyerFest to do so!

You can find out more here: https://www.breyerhorses.com/blogs/breyerfest-blog/fling-shop-swag

Here are some of the t-shirt designs:

Seminar #5 - Preparing Your Model Horses for Showing

So I think we learned yesterday that airbrushing seminars don't really work! But it was worth a try.

Our next seminar will be on preparing your horses for showing, in particular it will look at how to prepare haired models and CTF models for showing, as a judge I see a lot of really badly prepared models and quite frankly you are not going to do well at shows if your horse turns up looking like its just rolled out of bed!

Seminar Date: 15th May 2020

Time: 19:00 BST (UK Time)

Location: https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

This will be a nice evening seminar, so feel free to bring a drink, get on the chat section and enjoy :)

PLUSHIE PEAK!!!!

LOOK AT THE FURRY LEGS! IT IS THE PLUSHIE! THE MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL THE BF MODELS!



I NEED TO CUDDLE IT NOW

O and also Breyer like released the custom contest prizes or something, I dunno, boring horses:

Cornwall



Breton



The single day tickets are also now on sale, although the four pack has sold out:

https://www.breyerhorses.com/collections/breyerfest-2020-tickets/products/2020-single-day

But all this is boring because PLUSHIE!!!!

BreyerFest Special Run Master List

If you haven't been keeping up with the BreyerFest conversation over the last couple of days then you will have missed several important announcements about the way that BreyerFest special runs are going to happen.

The latest one can be found here:

https://www.breyerhorses.com/blogs/breyerfest-blog/multiple-special-run-tickets

If, like me, you have multiple tickets the best way to do it (unless you want duplicates) is to send a master list. After Monday's update (which didn't mention this option) I was really worried about getting duplicates and working hard on trying to create a statistical formula that would give me the best chance of getting the ones I wanted without duplicates.

But the new master list option removes that risk, yes you could still get unlucky and get duplicates, but there is far less risk of that happening as they'll work down your master list for each slot and remove ones you've already received. Obviously if the only ones left when you're drawn are ones you've already got then you are going to get ones you've already got, but there is far less risk.

So here is my master list :)

1. Surprise Model

2. Brighid & Beltane

3. Lugh

4. Oak

5. Boudicca

6. Hamish

7. Ash

8. Thorn

9. Epona

Who is at the top of your list? And who is at the bottom? I would love to know yours as well!

Can you guess the ponies?

Yesterday Breyer released two more BreyerFest sneak peaks.

First is this one:



Yep no idea. I can tell you its a pinto!

Second is this one:



To me this looks like the shoulder on Cigar, but honestly I never get these right, I am so useless!

Let me know your guesses below :D

Many Spotty Bums

The last few days I have been painting a disturbing number of spotty bums, I mean appaloosas of course, but you never know.

Anyway I thought I would take some time out of constantly refreshing the Breyer website to see if single day tickets are up yet to introduce them to you.

First of all is Persephone. This is a Maggie Bennett Bangles pewter micro:



Second is History - this one is for sale! She is a Schleich Welsh Pony mare.



This is Caranthir, who has the same name as one of my guinea pigs but it just kinda stuck! He is an Apollo resin by Maggie Bennett.



And this is Enforcement - also for sale, a Schleich Welsh Stallion (would make a great pair with History)



This one doesn't really have a spotty bum but he wanted to say hi anyway:



The resins are both staying with me but you can find the other three listed at: https://www.chestnutridge.co.uk/store/c3/custom-finish#/

Seminar #4 - An Introduction to Airbrushing

I can't believe we are already on seminar number 4! I am going to have to add more to the calendar (and I know I still need to add a proper page to the website)!

Seminar number four is going to be an introduction to airbrushing. We are going to go through all the basics of airbrushing, take an airbrush apart to look at all the different parts, discuss cleaning, troubleshooting, paints and actually put some paint on a model horse!

If you've never airbrushed before and always wanted to try then this is a great video for you :) It is also really good if you do airbrush as you might pick up some tips and tricks or you might see how useless I can be at times! We'll take apart and clean my really horrible clogged airbrush so that will be fun!

The Important Info

Date: 8th May 2020

Time: 15:00 BST (UK Time)

Location: https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

You can have a go at the same time and follow along when we paint a model or you can just watch! Entirely up to you :)

An example of an airbrushed custom model horse.

Greenman

Last week we showed you this sneak peak from Breyer:



It was quite clear it was going to be this year's Classic Store Special decorator, he is now been announced so say hello to Greenman:



This has to be my favourite BF special run so far! He is absolutely stunning! Points have been raised about the lack of realism on the fairies but we can ignore them and focus on the beautiful green man on his barrel!

If I don't get him I think I may cry a lot



Really excited for my BF shopping now!

O and if you missed out on some of the Breyer specials yesterday then they are back in stock!

https://www.breyerhorses.com/collections/racehorses-sale-weekend-save-up-to-50

Arran

The final Breyer single day Stablemate is Arran:



This is the first release on the new tiny Croi mould so it will be interesting to see what she looks like in the flesh!

I will definitely be trying to get a full set, I can see Breyer's website not loading properly though, I do wish they would increase their server space! It took me 45 minutes to checkout and buy a model on Tuesday...

Anyway, enjoy :D