Website temporarily down

The nameservers (whatever they are) were just updated, so my site should be back up in a day or two. :)

Updates!

Yikes! I really did not mean to let nearly a year pass between updates. The last year has kept me very busy, but I have been working steadily on commissions, and I am now nearly finished with all of my backlog. I am thrilled to say the least! :)

Updates on commissions in progress can be found here as usual:

http://www.whitehorseproductions.com/progress.html


I've also started a Facebook page for my studio where I will post updates, pix of new pieces, etc. Facebook seems to be the most popular venue these days, but I plan to post my updates to my Yahoo Group and this blog as well.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/White-Horse-Productions/279631155436209


And last but not least, while I haven't had much to blog about here, I have been posting relatively regularly to my new Model Horse Collectibility blog. It's geared toward collectibility showing and judging, a passion of mine.

http://modelhorsecollectibility.blogspot.com/

The Curse of the Chalky El Pastor

As a collector of rare and oddball Breyers, I am a huge fan of chalky models. Most of them were produced in the mid-1970s during the oil crisis when clean white plastic wasn't easily or cheaply available to Breyer. Instead, many Breyers were molded in more readily available colored plastic, such as green, purple, grey, brown, etc, and then were base-coated in thick white paint to hide the oddly colored plastic before their normal paint job was applied. Chalkies are prized by collectors not only because they are more rare than their non-chalky counterparts, but also because the white base-coat tends to give otherwise mundane paint jobs a bit more contrast and eye appeal.

I have a variety of chalkies in my collection, but one in particular has eluded me for a number of years. El Pastor is probably the easiest and most common chalky to find, and yet he has frustratingly slipped through my fingers more times than I care to count. I bought one about ten years ago, but the Post Office lost him en route to me. I followed several of them on eBay and managed to get outbid on them all. Finally, just last month, I found a lot of horses that intrigued me on eBay because of a Lady Phase that had four socks instead of the usual three. The El Pastor in amongst the other horses in the lot looked chalky as well, so I snagged the group for an excellent price. When they arrived, I was horrified by the packing job---the box had been cut down and ended up half-crushed, and worse still, it had no peanuts, no newspaper, no anything to keep the horses from banging into each other except for one thin sheet of bubble wrap around each model. The El Pastor was at the bottom of the jumble of horses, and he was a chalky alright. And he was the only horse in the box that broke. Of course.



Having repaired more than a few resins that have arrived in my studio broken, I've taken to fixing the odd Breyer as well. And having a chalky El Pastor in hand finally, such as he was, I decided there was nothing for it but to fix this poor horse. As with repairing any broken piece other than ears, I like to pin the pieces for added durability. I started by drilling a hole in each piece with a small Dremel bit I use for carvings out ears, nostrils, and hooves.



I used a small piece of wire about the thickness of a coat hanger to pin the pieces and secured it in the body piece with a bit of Gapoxio pushed into the hole.






I put a little bit of Gapoxio in the hole in the foot and then glued the edges of the break together with Locktite super glue. Between the pin, the Gapoxio, and the glue, the leg should be stronger than ever now. The break was pretty clean, but all the same, I sanded down the edges to make them smooth and filled two small gaps with Gapoxio.



With black pastels, I covered up the paint damage from the sanding.



And then I airbrushed some black paint over that to even out the look of the repair.



And voila! Not quite good as new, but back in one piece. The break is very nearly invisible, and I finally have a chalky El Pastor. I may upgrade him someday, but I'm quite pleased I was able to fix him.

A wintery Wintersong CM

This handsome Shire is a repainted Breyer Wintersong inspired by all the snow we've had this winter. As you can see, he's been out for a stroll in it and has gotten his feathers a little dirty. This gentle giant is available on ebay this week along with his stablemate, a lovely wild dunskin sabino Wintersong.



You can see them here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170594717299

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170594721730

Thanks for looking! Stay warm! :-)

Revamped website and general update

Work has been beyond insane for the last 6 weeks or so, giving me much less internet time than usual. But I have managed to give my website a much needed overhaul at last, and while I don't code anything fancier than basic HTML, I think it's an improvement. The Gallery is now organized by color rather than breed (which in retrospect makes so much more sense):

http://www.whitehorseproductions.com/gallery.html

I also have updated my Progress page of current commissions. I had hoped to have everything done by the end of October, but I was under the weather for a bit as well as overwhelmed by the real job, so I'm going to have to push my goal out to the end of the year.

http://www.whitehorseproductions.com/progress.html

My books are open for new commissions if anyone is interested.

http://www.whitehorseproductions.com/custom_info.html

I am also willing to offer very generous trade credit for anything on my want list (especially any Sarah M-B resins or a glossy Rachel Alexandra).

http://www.whitehorseproductions.com/wantlist.html

I hope those of you who watched the Breeders Cup enjoyed it! I was thrilled to see Goldikova make history by becoming the first horse to win three Breeders Cup races. She has cemented her place in history beside Brigadier Gerard as one of the best, if not the best, milers of all time. Her groom's reaction as she roared down the stretch to victory is one of the neatest BC moments I've ever seen. Serious warm fuzzies, let me tell ya. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W70SzJtkQwk

I know many people were sad to see Zenyatta's unbeaten streak broken in the Classic, but she put in such a game effort that I was more impressed by her loss than any of her wins. It's kind of mind-blowing to think that these last 2 years have brought us 3 of the most talented mares I've ever seen---Rachel Alexandra, the fastest filly since Ruffian; Zenyatta, the most consistent since Personal Ensign; and Goldikova, who utterly defies description. I feel so incredibly lucky to be alive to see these goddesses of the turf.

Zenyatta portrait to ebay

I've been so busy working on commissions that I haven't had anytime to blog. But I have had a few spare moments to complete a sales piece in between orders, too. :)



She's on ebay now:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170563587346

Thanks for looking! :)

Flying Heart Fundraiser donation!

I'm sure you've all heard by now about the Flying Heart Fundraiser to benefit Melissa and Herman Gaulding who are struggling with mounting medical bills, so much so that Melissa announced she was going to be selling her beloved clinkie collection. Since then, hobbyists have more than risen to the occassion to help Melly and her busband, raising nearly $11,000 to date. I think Karen Gerhardt expressed it best when she said, "if a large number of people sold one precious item from their collection, then maybe Melly wouldn't have to sell ALL of hers. We are all bearing her pain just a little by spreading it out and maybe making it not hurt so much."

I have just finished a fun little donation horse, and he's up on Auction Barn now. 100% of the proceeds go to Melly. :)