I just got a shipping notification for a 22 lb box o' Breyers. Just to clarify I did not getting tracking information from Breyer. I received my number through the UPS My Choice app (it's free to sign up) but my orders on Breyer's website still show as unfulfilled, so I have no idea honestly what is in this shipment. It might even just be the rest of my VIP models or even just my Danis, I'm not 100% sure. It's definitely not enough for everything though so it'll be a nice surprise to see what there is. Hopefully I can get a few pre-orders fulfilled since I know all y'all are waiting patiently for your beautiful models! Basically, now that Breyerfest is over, I start looking forward to the upcoming fall releases, which should be a lot, especially since the Classics and Halloween horse, Thriller, have been delayed until September now. I have been throwing myself full force back into customizing and I've actually had the Breyerfest video replays playing in the background while I customize to give me something to listen to. I've been making quite a few glow in the dark stablemate Halloween ponies. Here is a glimpse at my works in the making (the heater is used to dry the paint and finish quicker): I had such a huge demand for them last year that I wanted to make sure I'm prepared this time. Last year I couldn't keep up. I'd get one done and it would sell before I could get the next one done. Not that I'm complaining, as I often use the profit made from these to help pay back the funds spent at Breyerfest, so I'm starting early this time. I do have some stablemates for sale that will be customized if they don't sell soon, so rescue them from the body box if you want them OF! Quality wise there's nothing wrong with them... but if I have OF stablemates that I don't think will sell real well they end up being customized.
My holy grail, True North, finally came today and he is as stunning as I'd hoped! That leaves only one more Premier Club horse to track down before I finally have all the ones that I've been wanting to add, my final grail being Dundee who (as I've seen from so many praying for him to be the surprise horse) isn't let go from collections very often. I also wanted to give a special welcome to all the new readers. I notice with every Breyerfest that traffic to my website doubles to triples. I try my best to keep up on all the latest news so you hear first hand about upcoming releases so I truly hope you all are here to stay! Well, it happened. It was bound to happen sooner or later. I had a spill on my horse. It was due to no fault of his however. I was galloping him when the catch bar on my English saddle somehow unlatched itself and my left stirrup came completely off, taking my boot with it. It flung off, spooking my horse mid gallop, and he flipped up, unseating me. I fell, landing on my back hard enough to crack my helmet. I ended up with a concussion and badly injured my wrist and elbow. I will have to be in a cast for a few weeks. Sadly, I was in the middle of a few customs when it happened. As you can see a couple were inspired by Old Glory, though with my own twist, of course. I will also have a few Halloween horses available and a beach unicorn on the Walking Arabian mold. My customs take me several days to weeks to complete them depending upon their size and how detailed they are. I paint all of them in free hand, no stenciling or masking is ever used, so fine details need precision. Thankfully, it wasn't my writing arm that was injured so I am still able to use a brush, however it will be holding the models still enough with my other hand that will be a challenge. Completing them will give me something to do while I heal. If all goes well, I hope to have them finished by next Monday at the latest. I'm out of matte finish right now so all these guys will be glossy when finished.
It's February 1st and y'all officially knows what that means! Breyerfest tickets are NOW available for purchase! The VIP tickets literally sold out in minutes but All Access and General Admission tickets are still available, along with the Event Stablemates 4 Pack at the time of writing this. It's possible that the Event Stablemates will sell out by the end of the day. Remember that those lucky enough to get a VIP ticket will get the 4 pack automatically. They make thousands of the All Access tickets so don't feel you'll need to be in a hurry to buy them. If you'd like to see prices and possibly purchase one (I highly recommend at least getting a General Admission for the limited editions) visit Breyer's website here. You may have thought I forgot but my Valentine's Day customs will be posted on my eBay page today! The auctions will end with plenty enough time for them to arrive to you by the holiday :)
I have some exciting colors including some rainbow horses so there will be plenty for everyone. Here are a few sneak peeks at what's available: 2020 has been a hard year, no doubt, but even if you haven't been directly affected by the virus, there is still the threat of it hanging over our heads, at least until we know how this vaccine will work out (and thank you to all healthcare providers on the front lines willing to be the guinea pigs for this new vaccine... y'all are always willing to put yourselves in harm's way for the sake of survival for others) so now that we're coming to the end of the year, let's hope 2021 will go a little smoother. A new year, a new vaccine, a new president and renewed hope. I'm hoping things will be looking up by July and we'll be at Breyerfest in person, as I'd love to be able to offer pickups. If not and it's virtual again next year, I can still offer pickups on special runs but there is no way I'd be able to do store specials if the setup is the same as last year. I can't believe it won't be long until the Breyerfest special runs are revealed, and tickets go on sale. By the way, are we ever going to know who the celebration horse is? It takes at least 6 months for Breyer to produce the models for Breyerfest, so it's gotta be soon. All things considered, the hobby has been good to me this year. I have cranked out more customs this past few days than I think I have over the past 3 months. I've already listed some and will be listing more tomorrow. I've finished several Stablemates, all Halloween. I've made a couple animal decos that are currently getting finishing touches, and am going to be starting on Christmas decos this next week. Here is a sneak peek: Breyer is having their end of the year sale now so be sure to head over to their website to check it out. From a collector's point (aka rare stuff) there isn't really much, mostly warehouse bargains and retiring regular runs. The Christmas blanket with Yuletide Greetings apparently was part of the deal but it is now sold out. A big question is: will there be another Ambrose this year? Ambrose was a connoisseur quality - and American made might I add - appaloosa that Breyer offered on December 27th last year. It was kind of out of the blue, as they'd never done it before, so I'm thinking it was it just a one time offer. They did reveal one of the last two Stablemates Club horses, unless they show the optional 7th purchase then it'll be three more reveals, but the optional horse for last year wasn't shown until the very last day of the year. This is the vintage model and his name is Raider. He's a glossy chestnut frame overo on the G1 Seabiscuit mold. In my opinion, he looks like a mini of the "Picture This" contest horse that we voted on at Breyerfest. So this leaves the Django model. I'm kind of hoping Breyer won't use a decorator this year, as I'd love to have other realistic colors on Django, but I don't think it's likely. I think deep down that Django will be our decorator. The optional 7th horse last year was revealed on the last day of the year last year, so my guess is if they do show it, that's when it'll be. They did say for sure that there will be a 7th horse though.
While Breyer has been on their appaloosa fix this year, I couldn't help but be taken in by it. I have decided to add Lil Ricky Rocker to my collection after seeing him in person when he came in one of my dealer orders as a special order for someone. I didn't know Breyer he was pearly! The original Lil Ricky Rocker models that my local dealer had when he first came out didn't look like they had any pearling, it just looked like bare plastic and the spots were smeared. Breyer has really stepped up their game with this guy, as the horse I was sent from them was a nice specimen. He has so much pearling, you can actually see it in the photos. He also has very minimal smudging on his spots. Speaking of appaloosas, I've decided to try my hand at making leopard appaloosas in acrylics since I've just finished up all my Halloween stablemates for the year, and which have been posted on eBay if anyone's interested. I am in the process of painting a traditional Halloween horse which will probably be available in September sometime, as well as a couple unicorn mini whinnies, which will be turned into skeleton horses and available sometime this week. Actually the appys are not turning out too bad! They are still in the works but here is what 2 of the 3 look like so far: I have several more stablemates bodies to keep me busy, and if I can't sell my regular run stablemates, I will customize those as well, as I need the shelf space. I've decided to downsize on my stablemate collection, keeping only the rare stablemates. Those itty bitty guys are like potato chips... they're so cheap you go to get just one and end up bringing home ten, then before you know it, you have hundreds. I really have no control when it comes to these guys, but I truly need to start.
I apologize to my repeat customers for not being able to restock mid years since July. I had planned on placing an order at the beginning of August but our vehicle debts piled up, not just with the costs of repairing our own vehicle, but the rental car we were using in the meantime also put us back nearly $1000. The good news is that I'm planning on putting in an order next week for more regular runs, the Christmas horse and ornaments. Last I heard holiday merchandise is supposed to be shipped in September, but we'll see when I order if that's changed. There's also usually a fall special run, which I'm going to ask about and hopefully be able to order, so long as COVID didn't affect production too much like it's doing with those Walmart stablemates. Speaking of which, this is listed on Walmart's website: Series 4? My local Walmart hasn't even gotten in series 3 yet. The Unicorn Crazy series 3 are always wiped out every time I discover a new box so I'm really surprised I was able to find the purple chase. I haven't found another one since. I don't know what series 3 was supposed to look like (if anyone knows or has seen them elsewhere please feel free to educate me in the comments) but apparently series 4 will have what looks like a bay Mustang, a grullo pinto Paso Fino, a dun? Rearing Andalusian and a pearly light grey Darley Arabian. I can't see what the fifth one is and the chase looks like it may be the Icelandic mold again. I'm assuming since there's a series 4 in the Horse Crazy series, there will be a series 4 in the Unicorn Crazy series. Ugh! Y'all know how I feel about blind bags... I'm taking advantage of this "down time" between Breyerfest and the upcoming holiday rush to work on some customs. I will be cranking out more Halloween customs this year than I ever have to put me in the spirit since I'm really not looking forward to colder weather. I have actually already sold a couple and have several in the works. These are the ones currently finished so far: It's amazing what one can do when they're limited to only black and white paint because of a paint crisis. The good news is that my local art store has finally restocked their paints so I was able to get a few more colors. I'm in the midst of a rainbow leopard appaloosa and giraffe pair (traditional/classic and shrinky) though I still have quite a few stablemate bodies that I'd like to do a few more colorful Halloween customs on. I also have a traditional Bugsy Maloney that had a huge box side rub that I plan to make into a bloodshot eyeball leopard appy. Every custom that sells helps to replenish the debt that our car cost us, even the small stablemates all add up, so I appreciate everyone for supporting my work.
Unfortunately this means that I had to officially give up Vermeer since I won't have the funds to pay for him. Thankfully he's already lined up to go to a new home, and also thankfully I wasn't in love with him. A Knabstrubber would have looked stunning in this color pattern, but unfortunately a spotted Friesian doesn't really fit well in my herd and under my strict criteria, so I'm glad he'll be going to someone who will cherish him. I do hope that Breyer makes some more colors on that new mold though. Would love to see it in more draft-like colors such as palomino, silver bay or dapple grey done on this beauty. Yes, I know that Friesians don't come in any of those colors, but Swedish Northern Horses and other breeds of similar stature do. We're still expecting a Stablemate Club release this month as well, and by the looks of it, Breyer must be offering the Premier Club and Stablemate Club horses together. I'm really hoping it'll be Sultan released for the Stablemate Club so I don't regret not being able to take advantage of combined shipping. Sultan will also be looking for a new home when he's released for the same reason as Vermeer: he doesn't fit my strict herd criteria. If it's the gambler's choice on the other hand, I will be keeping him no matter what color I get since Alborozo is one of my favorite stablemate molds. Everyone asked and Breyer listened! Here is the Bouncer that everyone has been wishing for: Not sure what's with all the appaloosas this year (Goji, Lionel, the second PC release, Klaus, Thorn, Oak, the 70th anniversary Indian Pony and now this guy) but it must be the year of the spotted horses for sure! While he's cute, I'm not too big on leopard appys. Now before y'all start hating on me I do love them in real life, yes, but I don't always like them on Breyers because of all the blank color. Now, depending upon if the white is chalky (basecoated) or if it's simply bare plastic is a huge factor in whether I'll buy them or not. This guy I admit I think is one of the better leopards that Breyer has done. If he were glossy, I'd probably take the gamble of seeing if his coat is chalky or not, but I don't really have the $160 to throw on him right now to find out. The bare plastic is the reason I traded my appy Nayati for a pinto. The Nayati I traded for came with an unusually pink face. The gal I traded with said she got three of the same, and I'm pretty sure the pinto she sent me pictures of wasn't the same one she sent me because that one had a lot less white. Still, I rather like the pink face, and he fits in a lot better with my flashy pinto herd than the appy. I'm actually rather fond of the pinking. There is apparently a world wide paint crisis I don't know about, or a lot of really bored people hoarding art supplies. Whatever the case, all the local Walmart stores in my area are out of paint. If they don't stock up soon, I'm also going to be out of paint and thus the horses I'm currently working on now will have to be my last customs for a while. I finally finished my Classic giraffe, my tiger Misty and Stormy and an American Dream inspired by Mischief Night. I have a few stablemates left that are almost done but, again, these will probably be my last customs for a while. Apparently Breyer is also dealing with their own set of quarantined problems because I have three orders that have not been shipped yet, including Altynai, and I ordered him the day he was released. Very unusual for Breyer to be so backed up... not sure what's going on. Usually they have my shipments out with a couple of days.
While at Walmart on a food run, I came across a freshly opened box of Mini Whinnies and noticed that they were series 4. I didn't even know they made a new series. Honestly I haven't been able to find series 3 yet. Anyways, I ended up purchasing a few for eBay because I figured there probably wouldn't be too many due to the China ban. I didn't get the chase but apparently its name is Vegas. Anyways I have been working on a Wild Life stablemate collection that I mentioned in a previous post, mostly from boredom, but also to bring in some side income while I'm out of work. I'm still in the process of a couple, and the ones shown below are already up on eBay. I've made a macaw, a zorse mare and foal set, an alligator, a leopard and a giraffe. I also have a rainbow leopard I'm doing, which is turning out to be really cool, something like Lisa Frank would design. By the way, the spots on all my horses are 100% hand painted. I don't use stencils, pre-cut patterns or masking. They are done completely by free hand in acrylics. I don't use colored pencils for fine details. It's all paint. I'm pretty good at getting the paint as smooth as possible to look OF despite the detail. This is what makes my customs unique because I don't do a mix of mediums, nor do I use an airbrush. My final WIP are these three MW. They are a trio of horses painted like Red Dead Redemption 2 horses. For those of you who play the game, I made Buell the blue eyed cremello, the blue eyed splash Paint who is said to be the rarest horse in the game (and yes I added some mapping) and my personal favorite the gold Turkoman, aka Akhal Teke. They are all done on the MW series 3 new Thoroughbred mold.
First things first. I went to my local Tractor Supply for feed and decided to check out the Breyer aisle. Last couple times I went through quickly, as I had the kids with me when I bought Hakan and only had so much time before work when I wanted to look for the Spirit stablemates (that was when I found the chase) but only managed to get a glance at Sampson. Well, I can now finally tick him off my list of future purchases. I had time so I went through the three Sampsons that they had. The first two had very even, unrealistic shading that made them look kind of plain (I think back to Hal at Breyerfest) but I managed to pick the best shaded one. All of them had a huge visible mold line on the front leg but this guy had black almost all the way up his leg, which hid the line a little better. He did have some overspray, although I thought the overspray complimented his shading. As I had a coupon from being a rewards member for a single toy, I went ahead and got him 30% off. This was Black Friday pricing and made it much easier to purchase him despite the flaws since I was getting a good deal. When I removed him from his box, I couldn't believe how heavy he was. I always wondered why this mold was always so much more expensive than most regular runs. Now I see why, all that extra plastic makes him like a dumbbell in weight. It makes me really hope they use this mold for next year's Breyerfest now. I like the original "fluffy" version of this mold a lot better than the modified Andalusian version. I also have Alejandro and I admit that his curved out tail makes him a bit of a shelf hog. I've heard rumors that some Stellas were made with glow in the dark plastic, so some Stellas have glow in the dark white markings. You can test this by holding your phone flashlight up to the box and pulling it away after a few seconds to see if it's glowing. I was half tempted to try it at my local Tractor Supply, but unfortunately they have their horses in view of the registers and I didn't want the employees asking questions LOL. All of the Spirit blind bags were completely sold out at my store and I ended up finding the Mystery Unicorn surprise in a completely different area of the store than the other Breyers, probably someone wanting to feel up the bags without much attention and just left them there. Only three were left so I didn't bother looking for the chase. I figured my chances were incredibly slim, that and I don't really like that chase model anyways. He looks just like Sarge from Breyerfest except with gold trim and a horn.
Speaking of unicorns and stablemates, I've been working on two stablemate customs for the fall season and I think people are going to really like them. I switched it up from the typical skeleton horses that I usually make. Both of them were challenging because of the detail in them, and as such I'm going to ask a bit more for them than I do my other custom stablemates, but I'm sure they'll be desired! They are very nice, even if they were a thorn in my side to paint. I like challenges though, and they definitely were difficult! They were 100% hand painted in acrylics, not airbrushed, and no stencils or pastels were used. Check out my sneak peeks below. Can you guess what they are? They have already been added to my eBay page and will be put on my website soon! Breyer has released their Classics Halloween horse for Friday the 13th early to Collector Club members, along with the adorable stablemates from the Collector Club tent at Breyerfest. If these horses are available after then they will be offered to everyone who visits their website as web specials. However, the Fruitcake Fillies sold out before they were even offered to the public, and I'm expecting the Spooky Surprise stablemates to do the same so this is one of the perks of being a CC member. This is Classics sized Salem who sports the "purrfect" combination of paint and pattern. He is a grullo with a spooky cat pinto design with paw print shaped spots, a purple pearly sheen and the white areas glow in the dark. I have to say that Breyer really surprised us for this one who is, in my personal opinion, the best Classics Halloween custom they've done. Bad for my wallet though, as I had to have Salem after already just buying Samhain, who is now sold out. The stablemates sized horses are called the Spooky Surprise collection and they include a gambler's choice of either Calavera, Ichabod or Bats in the Belfry in miniature. When I saw these at Breyerfest, I wanted them, but after seeing their price tag and due to the fact that Breyer is just releasing too many darn things I want this year, I decided to forego them. If you'd like to purchase my two (they were limited to 2 per order) I do have them available on eBay. Last but not least, the Halloween customs that I have made for this year are already hitting the shelves! I've made the Horsemen of the Apocalypse my series this year. I've made four "horsemen" in stablemates size, all are completed, and two have already been sold. As traditional horses take so much time to do (I've actually been working on "Death" since last fall) I will only be customizing two this year. "Death" is on the Thoroughbred Mare mold - one of my favorite vintage molds - because she has to be old if she's dead, right? The other horse "Famine" is on the Desatado mold and was just finished. I predicted him to be done by September, and was correct. He is probably one of my best customs to date so stop by my Halloween customs page and check him out! I also have a test run that I was going to use for "Death" on the stablemates series but I decided to use a different mold instead. He will be offered on eBay as well. Finally, I've also customized two Mini Whinnies foals, my first Mini Whinnies customs ever, in my most popular glow-in-the-dark skeleton designs. If you would like a sample of my work but can't afford the more expensive customs, the Mini Whinnies are perfect for all budgets! If they sell well, I will make more ;) If you're interested in any of my customs, feel free to check them out on eBay. I'm trying to save up for the upcoming holidays, which admittedly is hard with five children to buy gifts for, so I often sell my customs this time of the year to help out. I'm hoping to take advantage of the CC Appreciation deal this year. I missed the last few years because there wasn't enough RRs that I wanted, but this year they've released quite a few that I would like to add to my collection. With so many good horses they've come out with this year, my wallet isn't too happy with me LOL!
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