UH Custom Contest Entry

This weekend I started (and finished) my UH customzing contest entry. The theme of the contest is 'British' so me being me I put that into Google images and used random.org to choose the image.

The resulting image was a 'Red Coat' Colonial soldier from the American Civil War. I thought why not and got to work.

For the horse to work he needed to have a hat and a gun which I sculpted out of Amazing Sculpt and added on.

In this image you can just see him fully prepped with just a few layers of paint initially added:



He has had his trousers and boots done and that is all....

I built up the colour in layers just as if it were layers of clothing. In this image you can see the first layer of red which created his characteristic red coat:



The next stage was to paint his 'skin' this meant doing his face and front hooves in a skin type colour. They then had pastels added. All of his paintwork was done as if he was human and not equine.



The final few layers involved adding all the details and trims. These had to be carefully built up. The last thing to be painted was the gun and then the guns details:



And here is the finished piece! This is the decent picture of him. In the background is a printed off image of Civil War British soldiers to help give some context to the piece. You can clearly see all the painted on details and the sculpting:



The other side of the horse showing the buttons up the boots and other details:



The belly actually had most of the detail as this is where the coat did up. Note the sash passing over the belt buckle and the detail on the jacket:



And finally an image of the head. The soldier in the picture had grey hair so I thought my little Andy should have a grey mane and tail to match:



So yes I will keep you posted and let you know if I win!

Mucho fluffiness!

Remember the electrocuted Shetland pony and the slightly bald Hobo???

Well now they are mucho fluffy! Well I say that the Shetland will eventually be part of a performance set up the theme of which is small children hacking off ponies mane whilst mother goes inside to get a cup of tea..something that working at pony club happened far to many times for comfort!

First off is 'All the Small Things' as you can see he is rather nice with his new mane and tail. The mane actually turned out quite nice I thought it would be hideous...



And now Shetland :D He has lots of tail fluff and the deliberately short mane for the performance set up:



Now to just get some willing victims to complete the set up!

Grackle Bridle & Breastplate

For Macclesfield Live Show on March 10th I intend to complete a Cross Country set up. The inspiration for the set up is this picture here:


All credit to whoever took that picture - it is not mine I stole it off Google!


To complete the set up I need to make several things:

• Grackle bridle
• Breastplate
• Boots
• Saddle
• Rider
• Cross Country Jump
• Base

The first thing on the list was the bridle so I set to work and over the weekend have managed to create something vaguely resembling a bridle!

This is the first picture I took:


As you can see I've done the cheek pieces, head band and throatlash. I've also started the noseband by creating the little piece of fleece that will go under the cross piece. I'm using a cast pewter D-ring snaffle bit which I found in my box of many random things...

This is the second shot:


As you can see the noseband is complete. The two pieces cross through the cross piece but are pretty much glued down so can't move, as a result it has been fitted to the model I am using for the set up (a Show Jumping Warmblood - Breyer Ideal).

The next picture:



A little more progress has been made and all the pieces are now pretty much attached. The final stages are to finish off the noseband and to create a headband and then to complete the reins.

The finished bridle:



I finished it off with some little pieces of gold metal (just the trims from those buckle sheets you get from Rio Rondo) and have vaguely fitted the bridle. Some buckles still need doing up but that takes a lot of mental strength...

I decided that before I left for University I should also finish the breasplate....

So here is the completed breastplate:



It also has a nice piece of sheepskin and is fully adjustable with working buckles. It is loosely placed around the horses neck here and will be properly fitted when the saddle is done!

So my mission for next weekend is to do the boots, saddle and rider....

What happens when you electrocute a Shetland pony?

It's one of life's many mysteries...

But now I have an answer for you!

This is what happens....

New Customs

Over the weekend I got four new customs painted so I thought I would share them with you.

Commission Pieces
First up are two commission pieces. Both are for the same women who wanted portraits done of her daughters two ponies.

The first is a beautiful Classic Scale Andalusian stallion. He is a very light grey and done mostly in pastels with some airbrushing underneath to add colour to his base coat. His details have been finished in hand painted acrylics as always




(o and yes we had snow)!

The second was described by her initially to me as a Light Bay Dartmoor. It is actually light bay with Panagre which is a colour I had never done before. He is done entirely in pastels with his details finished in hand painted acrylics.




Test Models
I always do a test model when I do a commission piece to make sure that the colour is just perfect for the customer. These two were no exception to the general rule.

The first is a lovely Hobo done to a light grey. He will need mohairing but here are his pictures pre-hairing:




The second is the test model for the Dartmoor. She is a beautiful Black Forest mare and looks absolutely stunning. She has already been sold and will be proxy shown by myself throughout the show season so please come and take a look at her prettiness!




So there we have it! This weekends creations. All were done on Saturday morning and photographed on Sunday (just in time for the snow). Definitely looking forward to trying to get lots of painting done over reading week!

Chestnut Ridge Charity Customizing Contest

The voting has closed and the winners have been decided so I thought I would do a quick post to show you the winning horses.

1st place went to this beautiful appaloosa painted by Lacey Shaline Marshall:



2nd place went to one of my own customs a light grey G3 TWH:



And third place went to a set of purple unicorns by Elizabeth Hibbard!!!



I am hoping to do another contest soon. If you would like to enter or want details of the eBay auctions when they are put up just comment :D

Mane Stages

I finished the mane on the Sagr on Friday and thought I would show you the steps by which I completed it.

The first step was to obviously remove the whole of the mane. I used a dremel tool to hack most of the mane off and then sanded the rest down. Unfortunately I was left with a few holes once this was finished as the plastic simply wasn't thick enough:



These had to be filled. I used Amazing Sculpt to fill the holes and let it dry for 24 hours before sanding it down:



Once it was sanded I started on the mane. I did a lot of experimenting but eventually ended up using a sort of triangle technique forming triangles and then tooling them into the right shape. I started at the base of the neck and worked upwards to make it look more natural. I used a tool to gently lift the mane off to give it the windswept appearance:



A lot more tooling and sculpting later and finishing with alcohol spirit and the mane was left to dry. The horse was left wedged in a drawer so the mane naturally fell back and dried windswept:



The primer is currently drying (it hadn't been applied here) so more updates next week. Not bad for my second ever attempt at mane resculpting!