Get Ready for Fun Week!!!!

I hope you are all ready for fun week because I certainly don't feel like I am! This post will have a run down of everything that is going on this week, please make sure to register for events that you need to register for.

I have highlighted events as follows:

Bold - Require Registration
Italics - Running all week

Red - Facebook
Blue - Instagram
Pink - Website

Below is a day by day run down of everything that is going on. I've added links where appropriate and a little bit of detail about each one.

Monday

Instagram Giveaway - https://www.instagram.com/chestnutridgemodelhorses/ 

Facebook Competition - https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

18:45 (19:00 start) BST - Zoom Pub Quiz (email catriona@chestnutridge.co.uk for registration details)

Surprise Models Go Live - https://www.chestnutridge.co.uk/store/p563/Mystery_Traditional.html

Treasure Hunt Begins - www.chestnutridge.co.uk

More info at: https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

Fun Week Bingo Begins (both Facebook & Instagram) - https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/ OR https://www.instagram.com/chestnutridgemodelhorses/ 

Tuesday

Instagram Giveaway - https://www.instagram.com/chestnutridgemodelhorses/ 

Facebook Competition - https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

19:00-21:00 BST Market Night - https://www.chestnutridge.co.uk/store/c15/Marketnight.html#/

Surprise Models (if remaining) - https://www.chestnutridge.co.uk/store/p563/Mystery_Traditional.html

Treasure Hunt - www.chestnutridge.co.uk

More info at: https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

Fun Week Bingo (both Facebook & Instagram) - https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/ OR https://www.instagram.com/chestnutridgemodelhorses/ 

Wednesday

Instagram Giveaway - https://www.instagram.com/chestnutridgemodelhorses/ 

Facebook Competition - https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

17:00 BST - Introduction to the Hobby Seminar (Facebook Live): https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

Surprise Models (if remaining) - https://www.chestnutridge.co.uk/store/p563/Mystery_Traditional.html

Treasure Hunt - www.chestnutridge.co.uk

More info at: https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

Fun Week Bingo (both Facebook & Instagram) - https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/ OR https://www.instagram.com/chestnutridgemodelhorses/ 

Thursday

Instagram Giveaway - https://www.instagram.com/chestnutridgemodelhorses/ 

Facebook Competition - https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

19:00 BST - Zoom Social (email catriona@chestnutridge.co.uk for registration details, over 18s only)

Surprise Models (if remaining) - https://www.chestnutridge.co.uk/store/p563/Mystery_Traditional.html

Treasure Hunt - www.chestnutridge.co.uk

More info at: https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

Fun Week Bingo (both Facebook & Instagram) - https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/ OR https://www.instagram.com/chestnutridgemodelhorses/ 

Friday

Instagram Giveaway - https://www.instagram.com/chestnutridgemodelhorses/ 

Facebook Competition - https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

19:00-22:00 BST - Auction Night: https://www.chestnutridge.co.uk/store/c16/Auction_Night.html#/

Surprise Models (if remaining) - https://www.chestnutridge.co.uk/store/p563/Mystery_Traditional.html

Treasure Hunt - www.chestnutridge.co.uk

More info at: https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

Fun Week Bingo (both Facebook & Instagram) - https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/ OR https://www.instagram.com/chestnutridgemodelhorses/ 

Saturday

Instagram Giveaway - https://www.instagram.com/chestnutridgemodelhorses/ 

Facebook Competition - https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

Surprise Models (if remaining) - https://www.chestnutridge.co.uk/store/p563/Mystery_Traditional.html

Treasure Hunt - www.chestnutridge.co.uk

More info at: https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

Fun Week Bingo (both Facebook & Instagram) - https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/ OR https://www.instagram.com/chestnutridgemodelhorses/ 

Sunday

Instagram Giveaway - https://www.instagram.com/chestnutridgemodelhorses/ 

Facebook Competition - https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

Surprise Models (if remaining) end - https://www.chestnutridge.co.uk/store/p563/Mystery_Traditional.html

Treasure Hunt ends - www.chestnutridge.co.uk

More info at: https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

Fun Week Bingo ends (both Facebook & Instagram) - https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/ OR https://www.instagram.com/chestnutridgemodelhorses/ 

Grand Photoshow Closes - https://www.chestnutridge.co.uk/grand-photoshow.html

Seminar #9 - Prepping

It seems a little backwards that we are doing a prepping seminar after we have done painting ones! But on Friday we will be making up for that with an awesome seminar that will help you to prep your model horses.

Time: 13:00 BST (UK Time)
Date: 19th June 2020
Link: https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

In the seminar we will cover how to remove seams and seals, how to fill holes, how to add some extra detail and things to think about when prepping older or poorly moulded OFs. We will also talk about priming and about stripping off custom paintwork!



There are lots of things to cover in this seminar, some we will just talk about and some we will demonstrate. There will be a bit of Blue Peter "here is one I did earlier" because some of the things are a bit time consuming but it will be great to get involved in the conversation. Afterall prepping is the most important part of painting!

Next Seminar Anouncement

Thank you to everyone for our votes, I can confirm that the top voted seminar is another Judging Workshop!

In July we will be having a go at judging some workmanship classes.

You can now vote for the next seminar here (I have added an OF judging class option as suggested):

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

BreyerFest Fun Week 2020

It feels slightly strange writing this as it shouldn't be happening this year. But instead here I am writing it and trying to make it bigger and better than ever! I think we all need cheering up and Chestnut Ridge is here to MAKE YOU HAPPY. So be happy. No choice. Forced fun.

Please note - this is nothing to do with the official BreyerFest and is not endorsed by them in anyway. It's just a bit of fun run by the UK model horse community each year.

OK so normally we just do a few competitions and giveaways and things, but this year I've decided to make it bigger and better! So as well as competitions and giveaways we have some weird and wonderful other things for you to get involved in.

All live events will be run the Monday-Thursday so that they do not clash with any official BreyerFest events.

Daily Giveaways

We will be running daily giveaways on our Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/chestnutridgemodelhorses/

Each day all you will have to do is comment for your chance to win the item. There will be a total of seven items to give away!

Daily Trivia/Competitions

On our Facebook page we will be running daily trivia/competitions. This is basically what we normally do. We normally ask people to do things like guess the amounts produced of certain models or the surprise model so I haven't concluded what we'll do this year but I'll think of something!

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

There will be prizes available.

Model Horse 'Pub Quiz'

Please note changes.

The Pub Quiz will be held on Zoom and there will be no prizes offered. I have toyed with how I can make this work, I want to make it fun and interactive but also fair.

This is why I have changed it to a Zoom call. This will allow everyone to take part and actually interact with each other! It will make it more fun :)

To help prevent cheating or upset there will be NO PRIZES! So cheating will just make people angry at you and you will gain nothing from it. Also bare in mind you are on camera!

Grand Photoshow

The Grand Photoshow is up and running and ends on July 12th. There are some awesome prizes and rosettes and it is completely free to enter.

More details can be found here: https://www.chestnutridge.co.uk/grand-photoshow.html#/

'Surprise' Models

Throughout the week of BreyerFest we will have 10 'surprise' Traditional scale models available on the website.

They will be priced at £35.00 each and will be wrapped up so even I won't know what you are getting!

We are going to put one extra special model in there but I haven't finalised what this will be yet so keep watching to find out :D

https://www.chestnutridge.co.uk/shop.html

Auction Night

During our Auction Night you will have the chance to purchase 25 items as part of 99p start auctions. These will include a mixture of OFs, CMs, ARs, CTFs and Tack as well as some bundles or more unusual items.

20% of the money raised will be donated to The Bail Project: https://bailproject.org/

NB: A few items will be 100% charity listings will all the money raised being donated to the Bail Project. If you would like to donate an item as part of this please let me know.

Market Night

Our Market Night will be run on another evening. This is your chance to get your paws on a selection of really cool items! They will be first come first serve.

There will be fifty items available as part of our Market Night sale.

Again this will be a mixture of items.

Zoom Social

Our Zoom Social will be open to all model horse hobbyists over 18 years of age. Come together, have a chat, share some painting tips or just talk about whatever it is you guys talk about at live shows.

Over 18s only for a reason. People never behave.

Introduction to the Hobby Seminar

This is an extra special seminar for BreyerFest Fun Week. This seminar will go through all the different elements of the model horse hobby, explain to you some key terms and tell you how you can get involved. It's designed for newcommers but will be suitable for all.

It will be held via Facebook live like our other seminars: https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

Treasure Hunt

Throughout the week you can take part in our treasure hunt. Collect clues, put them together and come to the right conclusion for your chance to win an extra special prize!

Fun Week Bingo

We will be running our usual 'bingo'. Photograph an item to match each of the squares, upload to Facebook or Instagram and you could win a pretty awesome prize!

The Schedule

Monday 6th

Daily Giveway (Instagram)

Daily Competition (Facebook)

Surprise Models Listed

Treasure Hunt Begins

Fun Week Bingo Starts

Model Horse Pub Quiz

Tuesday 7th

Daily Giveway (Instagram)

Daily Competition (Facebook)

Market Night

Wednesday 8th

Daily Giveway (Instagram)

Daily Competition (Facebook)

Introduction to the Hobby Seminar

Thursday 9th

Daily Giveway (Instagram)

Daily Competition (Facebook)

Zoom Social

Friday 10th

Daily Giveway (Instagram)

Daily Competition (Facebook)

Auction Night

Saturday 11th

Daily Giveway (Instagram)

Daily Competition (Facebook)

Sunday 12th

Daily Giveway (Instagram)

Daily Competition (Facebook)

Grand Photoshow Closes

Seminar #8 - Make Along Arabian Halter!

What are you doing this Friday? I tell you what you are doing, you are making an Arabian halter!

Our next seminar is a fun make along, you can just watch or you can take part as we make a beautiful Arabian halter.

We will talk you through some of the basics of halter making and also show you how to make tassels which I know is something a lot of people struggle with. It will be a nice simple design but we'll also talk about how you can jazz it up a bit!

If you want to take part and make along with us you'll need the following:

Supplies

Ribbon
2x 6mm Jump Rings
1x 5mm Jump Ring
Hook
Chain
Embroidery Thread
Seed Beads

Tools

Glue
Scissors
Needlenose Pliers
Piece of Thin Card/Plastic
Beading Needle

Al Fahl is rather excited about this seminar!












Also I'm pleased to announce that following voting in July we will be running a valuing and identifying models seminar!

As the desire for more judging seminars was so obvious I have also added this as a voting option on the form. We will definitely run more but democracy wins and more people wanted valuing!

Next Seminar - Judge Along!

I have five days to figure out how on Earth this will work and where on earth I am going to film it! I suspect we will be doing it in the lounge? But then how will we change classes? I have no idea. But I'll figure it out!

Our next seminar is going to be a judge along! This is your chance to be a live show judge and have a go at judging some models. I'll start by talking you through what we look for as judges and then you will have a go at judging your very own classes, entrants will be able to say which models they think should place 1st, 2nd & 3rd and why. See if you all agree and get ready for some probably heated debate!

This will be a really interactive seminar so the more people who join in the better :D Also a great chance to slag off some of my model horses!

Date: 5th June 2020

Time: 11.00AM BST (UK Time)

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

I hope to see you all there :)

Next Seminar Announcement!

Thank you to everyone who has voted, I can announce that the next seminar on the list will be.....Picking Models for Showing! 

You can now vote for the following seminar at: https://www.chestnutridge.co.uk/seminar-schedule.html#/

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

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!

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 :)

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.

Seminar #3 - Cataloguing Models - Friday 1st May 2020

I hope you have been enjoying our seminar series and are learning lots about model horses and what to do with them. Whether you are an experienced hobbyist or new to the hobby each seminar has something for you.

Our next seminar will show you how to effectively catalogue your model horses.

It is important to catalogue your collection accurately for a variety of reasons, we will discuss these in the seminar!

It will show you how to:

• Put together a spreadsheet
• Use functions like filters and formulas to get the most out of your spreadsheet
• Basics about identifying & valuing models (we will do this in more detail in a later seminar)

If you want to take part we recommend having your computer open with Excel (Google Sheets or similar will also work but you may find the functionality a bit limited) so you can make your spreadsheet as we go!

Seminar Date: 1st May 2020

Seminar Time: 13.00 BST (UK Time)

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

Finally all past seminars are now uploaded to our YouTube channel, so you can watch them when you want :)

See you guys Friday!

Seminar #2 - Friday 24th April 2020 - Make Along!

Thank you to everyone who attended our seminar yesterday, it was great fun and I hope you all learned loads! I think we confused some non-model horse people who stumbled upon us but it was wonderful to share the love :D

Our next seminar will be: Friday 24th April

At: 11:00 BST

This seminar is going to be a bit different as it is going to be a 'make along'. The idea is that we will all sit down and I will go through the steps of making a simple headcollar and you guys can follow and make one to! It will be good fun for both experienced tack makers and novice ones alike.

But you will of course have to stock up on supplies first so I have put a list below of things you will need. If you can't get your supplies by Friday don't worry. Yesterday the phone and Facebook cooperated so you should be able to watch the video online afterwards and have a go. There will also be a step by step picture guide on our website.

Supplies Needed

Leather Lace/Ribbon x1m

1/8" Buckle x1

If you don't own any buckles you can make your own using thin wire - the same goes for the rest of the supplies!

6mm Jump Ring x4

Or 2x 6mm jump rings & 2x Halter Slot Rings

5mm Jump Ring x1

Tools Needed

Scissors

Glue

Needlenose Pliers

Sharp Craft Knife/Xacto Blade/Scalpel 

If you cannot get the things don't worry, just join in anyway for some fun or to ask questions or share your own tips. This is going to be an interesting experiment to see whether it works but it should be fun :)

It will be held on Facebook live here: https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels

I look forward to seeing you all there!

Facebook Live Seminars - Schedule!

Hello everyone :) So starting tomorrow we are going to be running some live seminars through Facebook live.

To view them you will need to be on our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/chestnutridgemodels/

The full schedule is below. Seminars will run every Saturday. Hopefully I will also be able to save and upload the videos onto YouTube after but sometimes my phone is a bit funny about doing this. So no promises! I will add them to the pages story for 24 hours after though x

If you want to work along with the seminar I've added some supplies you will need. However, you don't have to and can just watch!

I will go live five minutes prior to start time to give people time to get settled.

Schedule

Saturday 18th April - 17:00 BST (UK Time)

Breed Allocation & Breed Card Creation

Supplies Needed: None!

Friday 24th April - 11:00 BST (UK Time)

Simple Tack Making - Make Your Own Headcollar!

Supplies Needed: Ribbon/Leather Lace; 4x 6mm Jump Rings OR 2x Halter Slot Rings & 2x 6mm Jump Rings; 1x 5mm Jump Ring; 1x 1/8" Buckle; Glue; Scissors; Sharp Knife/Scalpel/Xacto Knife

Friday 1st May - 13:00 BST (UK Time)

Cataloguing Your Models

Supplies Needed: Microsoft Excel or Similar

Friday 8th May - 15:00 BST (UK Time)

Airbrushing for Beginners

Supplies Needed: Airbrush; Compressor/Air Can; Paint; Water; Pipette; Prepped Model Horse; Airbrush Cleaner; Face Mask

Friday 15th May - 19:00 BST (UK Time)

Add Some Sparkle!

Supplies Needed: Crystals/Gems; Glue; Something to Sparkle (tack, model horse, doll, you)

Friday 22nd May - 17:00 BST (UK Time)

Preparing Your Horses for Showing

Supplies Needed: None!