Snow Day!

What a night! We have had snow storms in the past, but this was the worst in the past few years. We are at home with over 14" on snow so far and the wind is brutal! But at least I can get some work done. With all this chaos in the house I feel like I am losing my head!
One of my new years goals is to complete a ton of projects that I have been wanting to do, and had buried away. We had to completely clean out the basement during this whole process, and did I find a lot of stuff I had forgotten about! This is a old PS arab body I used the head for something, and a Kristina Lucas head. You can see how I always put long wires into the head for attachement.


This is why I had to stop painting again for a bit. My dining room studio is again a hopeless wreck..but there is light at the end of the tunnel, they are suppose to get all this stuff cleared out this week and I can start painting in the studio!

I suppose it could be worse, I could be outside trying to tackle the ridiculous drifts around the house. Poor husband, I suppose I need to make some sort of nice meal for him today!

here is the arabian, in the new studio! Eventually I will have a real photography booth set up, and yes, I won't use the pink background of my walls! She will have a custom dyed mohair mane and tail when finished. I am planning on a dappled liver chestnut with all kinds of colors in the hair. Her tail will be posable as well.

The lucas head. I love this head, very soft and feminine. I made new metal ears so they would be more delicate than the ones that come with the head.

And finally my rose reiner! This model had a couple things that really bothered me. I didn't like the way he was bent the wrong way through his legs. He is turning right but his right leg is crossed over to the left, looked like he would trip himself to me. I lengthed the neck, corrected the turn which meant moving three legs, and a new tail that flowed with the motion. I also changed the mane a bit to make it more tack friendly.

Here is the front before

The new look.......

And a front view, it make a big difference with the legs moved and no base! More pictures with him in gesso later! I am thinking dappled buckskin frame overo....

Both of these guys will be for sale!

Stablemate Remaking, final day!

Welcome to the final day, the day where you can finish up remaking and prepare a model to paint! To answer a commom question, I get my dental tools off ebay, but you can find them in flea markets too. For priming and sanding, I get my sanding sponges and the rustoleum primer at Menard's (home improvement store, Wal-Mart doesn't carry the thin sponges) and the spray gesso from Dick Blick's www.dickblick.com
First step, sand models all over with a 150grit sanding sponge after all apoxy is dry. You can use the cordless dremel on low to sand in the ears and pasterns with a diamond dust bit.



Brush off all dust BEFORE you spray, I have a stiff stencil type brush I use for this. Dust will make little bumps in your final finish.

Here they are with the sanding sponge type I use. Allow to dry for about an hour, this really depends on your room temp and humidity. DO NOT use spray white primers. The chemical pigments they use to make white really tend to get sticky on models. I have researched to find out exactly why the is, but best I can figure its a reaction with those white pigments and the plastic of the model itself. I use the gray primer since it seems to have a smaller pigment size than the rust color so that leads to a smoother surface

The warmblood after one layer, can you tell I hung on by the tail? He still needs some buffing on the belly.....for this I a 180 grit sponge or an old 150grit that doesn't have as much tooth to it. Making sure I get all sanding marks out too.

The little drafter, standing up he really is neat, but thats not until he is painted!

And the little reiner who I completely didn't take progress photos of. He has a whole neck neck with a long reiner mane..but apparently I only copied this side onto my flash drive...sorry V was on last night and I was distracted!

After they are perfectly smooth I spray with gesso. You can paint right on the grey primer, but for certain body colors a white base is better. Spray gesso is AWESOME to paint on. Has just enough tooth that paint holds on wonderfullly from the first layer, so do pastels, and best of all, its NOT sticky!

Okay next you will see them painted, and next week its a Frankenstein remake, OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!!! LOL

Keep the comments coming!

Stablemate remaking, Day 2

Thank you for all the great comments! I do want to make some additional safety comments. I place a small fan behind me to blow the alcohol vapors away, and better yet have a window open too. Alcohol fumes, if inhaled excessively, can be harmful so its better to be careful. As far as the apoxy itself. I put lotion on my hands before I handle it and wash thoughly afterwards, and try to do as much sculpting with the brushes as possible. When was working in a lab I hate to think of all the stuff I had all over my hands (like benzene, yikes) so I try to use caution. If I am mixing up large amounts for larges bases, I wear gloves. Research for yourself and make sure you are comfortable with your personal safety!
Speaking of bases, since both of these guys are on two legs, they will need bases! So I wrap a hardcover book in foil, then pressed out thin oval sheets. I make the sheet long enough so it entends past the stride of the horse, and about a 1/4" wider than the horse on each side. Then I put a LOT of alcohol on them, and press the horse into the clay, making good hoof imprints. Gently lift the horse out, you may need a finger to hold the base down. The excess alcohol keeps it from sticking too much.


Then I place these in front of the space heater to dry. Several people have said that they are scared to try remaking, please don't think that! A year ago my parents moved out of the house I grew up in, and I found this guy in a box, the very first horse I remade over 20 years ago! I used a candle and bondo to do it, he still has one shoe that I remade flattening solder on the basement floor....oh man what a memory! So try and try again and don't be afraid to make mistakes. Remember Edison said he never failed, he just learned over a 1000 ways how NOT make a lightbulb!

Another thing, even with a simple remake you can make a big difference by cleaning up the pasterns and ears. This reiner is getting a new mane, but I want to get rid of all that extra stuff in his pasterns. Here are the little diamond dust bits I use to do this. The variable speed dremel is a must for that. At high speed it would tear his legs to bits! I do have a cordless one I use to do seam sanding, but it just doesn't have enough torque to really drill areas out.

Now here is the drafter with his neck bulked out. I to this by laying down little pieces of clay roughly shaped into the muscles outline, then smoothed into place first with my fingers, then with the brushes. Let the clay set up a bit (about 30 minutes depending on your room temp) before you try to put in details.

The brush I use is in the picture, a golden taklon flat. I use cheap brushes, but be warned, sometimes the alcohol with cause the bristle glue to dissolve and they fall out! Try several till you find a brand you like.

Above I have used the sculpting tool to make wrinkles, lightly score a line into the clay where you want the winkle, then smooth using a ROUND brush, like the blue one here. Now he has to dry, and hour in front of the space heater does this. When dry sand the neck area nice and smooth, I use a 150grit sanding sponge. Not perfect, just get rid on any big goobers. Now I block out the mane. I want him to have a double sided typical drafter mane, so I make little chuncks in the approximate shape I want the mane and tail to be.

I forgot the last picture of the mane with hair details, but its the same process I did on the warmblood tail. I use the little plastic tool, sharpened pencils, dental tools...try different things and see what you like! Tomorrow I will do through sanding and prepping, and then off to paint!

Stablemate Remaking

Mini Remaking 101

Here is the first installment of what I hope to be a popular series of customizing blogs. For this one I have chosen one of the new stablemates and the popular drafter mold.
To start with you need materials. I use Apoxy Sculpt in natural color that I get from Aves Studio. You can contact them at avesstudio.com. To smooth the apoxy I use denatured alcohol, NOT water! Then a couple of sculpting and dental tools and some golden taklon brushes (yes brushes!). Arm yourself with a good coping saw with a 6"clearance, a variable speed dremel, and a heat gun. And most of all SAFETY GOGGLES!!!!!!!!!
So lets start!
I love the new warmblood, but I want him to be in correct extended trot with the hind leg in the air. So I make a cut on the inside of the hock joint. Rule of thumb, cut plastic away in V shapes on whatever side you are trying to move a part towards. If this were a big horse, I would then make into the back of the hock to make is easier to move. Not needed with the stablemates.

Next I want to do the drafter as a snorty stud with a tucked head, so I make a V cut on the underside of the neck, the side I want to tuck the head to, then a slit in the neck right behind the ears. I do this sitting down, with GOGGLES (I am a science teacher by day, can you tell?) with a towel across my lap. Rest your arm and hand holding the horse against something or sawing will be a bear, and you may snap the leg.

Then heat VERY gently, especially the legs. With stablemates, a hairdryer is enough to move the legs, but a heat gun will be needed for bigger parts. Hold the gun at least 6 inches away and test the joint ofter to see if its ready to move. Use a low heat setting if your gun has one. The problem with the newer plastic is that it tends to bubble easily from over heating, if that happens you will just have to sand and maybe fill in the area. Once the parts are moved where you want them. Dremel away the plastic on each side of the moved area, down past level. This will make it look nicer when you sculpt the new muscles in and prevent it from looking bulky.

Above here they are with the joints moved and excess plastic taken away. I use the diamond dust grinders and a small sanding drum to do this on low speed. I also heated the warmbloods tail to give it some wave and more movement than the original.

Next to start sculpting! Mix up small amounts of apoxy. Really try to remake in layers, not only will it turn out smoother, but you will be able to put more details in the apoxy. To start with, I just do a basic fill in of the neck area to give the foundation to the actual muscles. Smooth in the apoxy with denatured alcohol and your fingers, then brushes in the alcohol. Leave brushes in a GLASS jar with alcohol on them to keep them from drying out. And make sure you wash your hands. It is drying, so best to put some lotion on your hands after you are all done as well

The drafter needs to dry now. I place them in front of a small space heated on low. Not only does it speed up drying time, but will help get rid of the finish chemicals in the plastic that can cause leaching later on (make you model shiney)

Next I roll out little snakes of clay and lay them on the tail. I rough in tail strands with a small plastic sculpting tool. You can make the hair wavy or straight depending on your tastes

Then smooth the hair with a large taklon brush in alcohol. Make sure you stroke in the direction of the hairs. Use a small brush where the apoxy meets the plastic with some pressure to ensure a smooth transition between the two.

Okay enough for today, tune in tomorrow for more! Please let me know what you think and what else would be helpful!