Wednesday, August 28, 2024

The Planet Stablemates Project, Part 2: Complete!

 Hi Magicians!
Wow, it's been just over a year since I started this project and posted about it here and on YouTube.  It's taken me this long to finish it because a) grad school has been consuming my life force like a vampire and b) I didn't have my painting supplies in the UK.  I started the project while over there, using Pebeo Studio Acrylics, but quickly discovered that they aren't opaque or matte enough to make for good model painting (they are great for canvas and paper, though).  My usual horse paints, DecoArt Americana craft acrylics, were all back in the US, so I had to wait until I was able to come home to finish the project.  As soon as I got back, I rushed to finish everything, and now I'm ready to share the results!
I named the horses after their planets, but using the Greek names instead.  The only exception is Uranus, since that's the only planet named after a Greek god instead of a Roman one - so I used the Roman name (Caelus) instead.

1.  PSP Hermes (Mercury): Rose grey Arabian
Hermes is the least similar to his reference photo.  I think I painted him a bit too dark, but I'm still pleased with the outcome.




2. PSP Aphrodite (Venus): Fire chestnut Appaloosa Peruvian Paso
I had to use boiling water and pliers to fix the lifted leg, since it was bent outwards.  It took awhile, but I'm glad I did it before painting!





3. PSP Gaia (Earth): Dapple grey pinto Tennessee Walking Horse
Gaia took the longest out of all of them, because all her dapples are painted by hand!





4.  PSP Selene (Earth's Moon): Dapple grey scrambling foal
Now that I've made the Moon, I'm tempted to make a Sun horse as well.  But at the rate I'm going, it'll take me another year!



5. PSP Ares (Mars): Fire chestnut mosaic chimera Mustang
I'm not sure if this color actually exists in real life - chimera horses are super rare and the only reference images I could find were all black/bays.  I went out on a limb here because I knew it would look cool!




6. PSP Zeus (Jupiter): Bay silver dapple Andalusian 
I've never painted a silver dapple before, so Zeus was a learning experience.  I really love his feet.  I usually just do black hooves, or shell-colored hooves for white feet, so it was fun to do something different this time.  




7. PSP Kronos (Saturn): Splashed white cremello pinto Andalusian
Kronos was the quickest to paint, but he's one of my favorites.  I especially like his blue eyes, even though they're maybe a little creepy.




8. PSP Caelus (Uranus):  Blue roan pinto rearing Andalusian
I tried out a new technique here, using removable masking fluid to cover the white areas so that I wouldn't have to repaint them after flicking on the roaning, and it worked great!  When I was finished, I just peeled off the mask, which was also super satisfying.  Pro tips :)




9. PSP Poseidon (Neptune):  Blue taffy Friesian  
Poseidon is the one horse that I mostly finished in the UK.  You can see that the studio acrylics created a beautiful blended effect on his body and legs, but it took way longer to get here than it would have if I'd been able to use my regular paints.




9. PSP Hades (Pluto):  Liver bay few-spot Appaloosa standing foal
Hades is so cute that the fact he's named after the god of the underworld is kind of hilarious.  I gave him a 'medicine hat' (dark marking on top of the head/ears); horses with these markings are believed by some Native American tribes to have the magical power to protect their riders.




And here they all are together: 

How did I do?  What should I do next? 
As always, feel free to comment below or email me at modelhorsemagic@gmail.com. If you like doll sewing, customizing, and restoration, my other blog is the New Life Doll Hospital and Miniature Workshop.  And don't forget to check out my YouTube channel, Miniature_Magic, for unboxings, collection tours, DIY tutorials, and more! 
Bye Magicians!
~Miniature_Magic




Saturday, August 5, 2023

How to Make your Own Stablemates Jumps

Hey Magicians!
Since I'm back, I thought it was also high time for me to try and publish some of the posts that have been languishing in my drafts folder for awhile.  I took these photos a long time ago but never posted them, so now the time has come.
In this post I'll be telling you how to make a few different kinds of jumps for your stablemates.  Unfortunately I didn't take process photos while making these, but they're pretty self-explanatory once you see the materials and finished pictures. 
Keep in mind that there LOTS of different kinds of jumps.  Most of these I just made using what I had on hand, and you can always go look at pictures of real jumps for more inspiration.  It's pretty easy to make some really creative jumps by recycling junk that you can find around your house...and even out in your yard (hey, that's good for the environment)!  Treat this post more as like a source of inspiration and construction suggestions.

Okay, let's go!!

Log and Brush 

Materials:
- Hot-glue gun
- Scissors/shears
- Ruler
- Cardboard scrap
- Small sticks and twigs from outside (make sure they are dry)
- Small stones/pebbles from outside (wash and dry them so the glue sticks)
- Small wooden beads (1/3" / 0.75cm diameter) (optional)
- Red, white, black, and olive green acrylic paint
- Acrylic paint sealer
- Preserved moss (from the craft store) - can also use green pom-poms or scraps of green yarn, fabric, bits of sponge painted green, etc - get creative!

1. For the base, cut a rectangle of cardboard about 4"x 1.25" (10cm x 3cm) and paint it olive green.  I also added some fading around the edges with black.
2. Cut or break a thick piece of twig/stick (about as big around as your pinky finger) to a bit less than 4" (10cm) long.  This is your 'log'.
3. Use pieces of twigs and hot-glue to build triangular frames around either end of the 'log' so it can stand stably and is suspended off the ground a bit (see the picture).  You can adjust the height of the jump however you like by changing the height of the triangles.
4.  Hot-glue the log/triangle assembly down onto the cardboard base.
5. Hot glue the small stones/pebbles around the outsides of the triangles to add stability and hide the glue.
6. If you want to add directionality to the jump, paint one wooden bead red and one white.  Glue the white bead to the left side of the jump and the red to the right.  You can also make little triangular flags from heavy paper or cardstock if you don't want to use beads.
7. Seal any painted areas with the sealant.  You can also seal the twigs to keep the bark from crumbling off.
8. If you want your jump to be a Trakehner type, you can stop here.  If you'd like a brush-filled jump, glue pieces of preserved moss under the log and between the pebbles.
 
Double-log Trakehner


Materials:
- Hot-glue gun
- Scissors/shears
- Ruler
- Small sticks and twigs from outside (make sure they are dry)
- Small stones/pebbles from outside (wash and dry them so the glue sticks)
- Red, white, black, and olive green acrylic paint
- Acrylic paint sealer

1. Cut or break two thick pieces of twig/stick (about as big around as your pinky finger) to a bit less than 4" (10cm) long (these are the 'logs').
2. Cut two smaller pieces of twig to about 1.1" (3cm).  These are the stabilizers.
3. Glue the two stabilizers to your bottom log so it can stand without rolling.
4. Glue the top log onto the bottom log.
5. Glue small stones/pebbles around the outsides of the jump to make it look like they've been piled up, and to fill in the gaps.
6. If you want to add directionality to the jump, hot glue a little stack of pebbles on each side of the top log.  Paint the left stack white and the right stack red.
7. Seal any painted areas with the sealant.  You can also seal the twigs to keep the bark from crumbling off.


Rustic Fence

Materials:
- Hot-glue gun
- Scissors/shears
- Ruler
- Cardboard scrap
- Small sticks and twigs from outside (make sure they are dry)
- Small stones/pebbles from outside (wash and dry them so the glue sticks)
- Small wooden beads (1/3" / 0.75cm diameter) (optional)
- Red, white, black, and olive green acrylic paint
- Acrylic paint sealer
- Preserved moss 

1. For the base, cut a rectangle of cardboard about 4"x 1.25" (10cm x 3cm) and paint it green.
2. Cut four straight, thin twigs to about 4" (10cm) long.  This are the rails. 
3. Cut two more twigs to about 2.4" (6 cm); you can adjust these to be however tall you want the jump to be.  These are the posts.
4. Hot-glue the rails between the posts at even intervals.
5. Hot-glue the bottom ends of the posts to the cardboard base; pile up the glue to make sure they're sturdy.
5. Hot glue the small stones/pebbles around the bottoms of the posts and the base to help keep the jump upright and add some support.
6. If you want to add directionality to the jump, paint one wooden bead red and one white.  Glue the white bead to the left side of the jump and the red to the right.  As before, you can also make little triangular flags from cardstock.  You can use toothpicks for flagpoles, too.
7. Seal any painted areas with the paint sealant.  You can also seal the twigs to keep the bark from crumbling off.
8. Glue bits of preserved moss around the base and between the pebbles.


Brush Box Oxer
Materials:
- Hot-glue gun
- Scissors/shears
- Ruler
- Cardboard scrap
- Wooden coffee stir sticks (you can also use popsicle sticks but you'll have to split them in half lengthwise)
- Small wooden beads (1/3" / 0.75cm diameter)
- Toothpicks
- Red, white, black, and olive green acrylic paint
- Acrylic paint sealer
- Preserved moss/fake moss  (for this specific project, instead of preserved moss I used the fake foliage that is typically used for making miniature trees.  You can find it in the miniature sections of hobby stores).

1. For the base,  cut a rectangle of cardboard 4"x 1" (10cm x 3cm) and paint it black.
2. Build the two long sides of the brush box by gluing three 4" (10cm) long pieces of coffee stirrer to two 1.3" (3.3 cm) pieces at each end (see the photo).  Do this twice.
3. Glue each of the long sides of the brush box to the long edges of the cardboard base.  Glue the edge of the base to the inside edge of the wooden sides so you can't see the cardboard.  Do this on both sides.  You now have the base of the jump, and the front and back of the box.
4. Cut three 1" (2.5 cm) lengths of coffee stirrer for each of the short sides of the box.
5. On each side, glue the three pieces in between the front and back of the brush box, lining them up with the three horizontal pieces on the front and back, to complete the box.
6.  If you want a natural finish on the box, you can move on to the next step.  Or, you can paint the wooden sticks white as I've done above.
7. On each side of the jump, glue a toothpick sticking straight up, and glue a wooden bead on top of the toothpick (or a triangular paper pennant).
8.  Paint the toothpicks black. Paint one bead red, and the other one white.
9. Seal any painted areas with the paint sealant.
10. Fill the brush box with fake moss.  If you'd like to save on moss, you can use a green-painted piece of cardboard to fill up space in the middle of the box, and just cover the outsides with the moss to make the box look full.

Roll Top

Materials:
- Hot-glue gun
- Scissors/shears
- Ruler
Cardboard scrap
- Small wooden beads (1/3" / 0.75cm diameter)
- Toothpicks
- Red, white, black, and green acrylic paint
- Acrylic paint sealer
- Cardboard or plastic tubes from packaging (or cardstock/heavy paper).  You can use toilet paper tubes, but they're a bit big.

1. If  you are using tubes that you already have,  cut them to 4" (10cm) lengths and then cut them in half the long way to get semicircular curved pieces (like a skateboarding half-pipe).  If you don't have tubes, keep reading.
2. For the base,  cut a rectangle of cardboard 4" (10cm) long and as wide as your tube pieces. Glue the tube halves to the base.
If you didn't have tubes, cut the base to be as wide as your desired jump.  Measure the width and multiply it by 1.6 - this is your roll top's 'flat width'.  Cut a piece of heavy paper/cardstock or light cardboard (like from a product package or pasta box) to be  4" (10cm) long, and as wide as the 'flat width'.  Glue this piece to the base, curving it in the short direction and gluing the edges of the base so that it holds a semicircular shape.
3. Glue small scraps of cardboard across the ends of the jump to seal them; trim off the excess. 
4. Paint the whole jump green.
5. On each side of the jump, glue a toothpick sticking straight up, and glue a wooden bead on top of the toothpick (or a triangular paper pennant).
8. Paint one bead red, and the other one white.
9. Seal any painted areas with the paint sealant.


Tires
Materials:
- Hot-glue gun
- Scissors/shears
- Ruler
- Wooden coffee stirrers
- White, black, and dark brown acrylic paint
- Acrylic paint sealer
- Black permanent marker
- Mentos gum pocket box container (this is what I used) or half of a cardboard tube  (The gum container is a bit niche --  I was about to throw it away and then realized it looked just like a stack of half-tires.  I suppose you could get a similar shape with air-dry clay).

1. If using a gum container, empty and wash it out.  Remove the label and pull off the plastic lid, and spray the plastic container with acrylic paint sealant to matte-ify it.
2.  Mix white and black paint to get a dark grey.  Paint the gum container (or cardboard half-tube).  Add more black paint to get a darker shade and add shading at the ends and in the grooves of the gum container (or at three even intervals on your cardboard tube).
3. Use the permanent marker to add on the grooves to the tires. You can try out a few different patterns to differentiate between the tires.
4. Cut wooden coffee stirrers to uneven lengths and glue them to the ends of the jump to create a fence-like effect as shown.  The specific dimensions depend on what you're using for the tires.   
6. Use brown paint to add some aging/shading to the wood areas.
7. Seal the jump with the paint sealant.


Brush Fill Vertical
Materials:
- Hot-glue gun
- Scissors/shears
- Ruler
- Cardboard scraps
- Wooden coffee stir sticks (you can also use popsicle sticks but you'll have to split them in half lengthwise)
- Red, white, black, and olive green acrylic paint
- Acrylic paint sealer
- Black permanent marker
- Preserved moss/fake moss 
- Your horizontal element - I used a big machine bolt that I literally found in the street outside of my house and washed off.   You could use a piece of stick, wooden dowel, paper tube, dried-up pen... literally anything. 

1. Use pieces of cardboard to build supports on either side of your horizontal element.  The method that you use depends on what your element is.  I had to cut holes into the cardboard to hide the head of the machine bolt, and I used several layers since it's quite heavy.
2. Hot-glue wooden coffee stirrers around the outsides of the cardboard supports to create a fence-like effect.  For added stability, also add a few coffee stirrers horizontally on the 'floor' of the jump to connect the two sides.  This will also give you somewhere to glue the brush later!
3. Paint your jump as desired - I painted the sides white and used black paint to bring out the texture on the bolt cause I thought it looked cool.  Also paint the coffee stirrers on the 'floor' of the jump green.
4. If desired, you can use the permanent marker to add some more detail by drawing designs on the outside of the jump supports.
5. Seal any painted areas with the paint sealant.
6. Hot-glue chunks of fake moss to the 'floor' of the jump to create the brush fill. 


Puissance/Stone Wall
Materials:
- Hot-glue gun
- Scissors/shears
- Ruler
- Cardboard scraps
- Rectangular piece of scrap wood (what I used) or you can glue together a stack of rectangular pieces of cardboard and cover it in paper to get a similar smooth slab shape.  It should be about 4" (10cm) long and as wide and high as you'd like your wall to be. 
- Gold, white, black, and green acrylic paint
- Two fancy beads (optional)
- Acrylic paint sealer
- Black permanent marker
- Preserved moss/fake moss 
- Pebbles/rocks/bits of gravel from outside

1. For the base,  cut a rectangle of cardboard 4.5"x 1.5" (12cm x 4cm) and paint it black.
2. Glue the wall down onto the base.
3.  Base-coat the wall with white acrylic paint.  
4. Use the permanent marker to draw on the outlines of the stones as desired.
5. Mix white and black acrylic paint to get various shades of grey.  Paint in the stones, using darker grey/black around the edges to keep them distinct.  Add light grey highlights, keeping them consistent (for instance, always in the top left corner).
6. Paint the two fancy beads gold and glue them to the top of the wall.
7. Paint the base green.
8. Seal the jump with the paint sealant.
9.  Hot glue pebbles around the base to help keep the jump upright and hide the cardboard. Fill in the gaps with chunks of fake moss.

Puissance/Brick Wall

This is a variation on the stone wall jump above.  Here, I used a stack of cardboard rectangles covered in paper instead of a piece of wood.  Then all you do here is paint the wall brick red and use a ruler and a white colored pencil to add the brick texture.  Add more trim as desired with white acrylic paint.  Here, I also didn't cover the base with moss and rocks, so it looks like it's sitting on grass and is maybe something you'd see on a manicured show-jumping arena.

As always, feel free to comment below or email me at modelhorsemagic@gmail.com. If you like dolls and doll restoration, my other blog is the New Life Doll Hospital and Miniature Workshop.  And don't forget to check out my YouTube channel, Miniature_Magic, for unboxings, collection tours, DIY tutorials, and more! 

Bye Magicians!


~Miniature_Magic


The Planet Stablemates Project, Part 1: I'm Back!

Hi Magicians!

Yikes, I've been gone for a looooong time. The last couple of years have been really busy.  I'm studying aerospace engineering and was finishing up my Bachelor's degree last year.  This year was even crazier because I've moved abroad for two Master's degrees. So I'm currently in Scotland, and my access to anything Breyer is extremely limited!  Needles to say, I have had almost no time for art, and certainly not enough time to get into my favorite sorts of super-involved customs and restoration projects.

That's not gonna stop me, though!  I've got a bit of time, so I'm going to try and get back to posting as often as I can.  I really miss this, and model horses are still a huge passion for me, so don't worry...I'm not going anywhere!

I've put a few videos up on my channel, but I'd like to take this post to announce the project that I'll be working on for the next few posts.  I've decided to call it the Planet Stablemates Project.

Here's the basic idea: since I'll be getting an MSc in Astronautics and Space Engineering next year, I thought it would be cool to paint a series of custom Stablemates inspired by our solar system!  So, one for each planet.  Plus a foal for the Moon, and a foal for Pluto (sorry, Pluto...you'll always be a full-size planet in our hearts, though.)

The coloration of each of the planets is so beautiful.  I've done some research and was actually able to find some real horse colors that match each of the planets quite well!  So I've planned out the series by first deciding which coat color each of the planet horses will have...

Planet Stablemates Project: The Colors

Mercury: Rose Grey

(Images: Mercury and Rose Grey Horse)


Venus: Fire Chestnut Appaloosa

(Images: Venus and Chestnut Appaloosa Horse)


Earth: Steely Dapple Grey Pinto

(Images: Earth and Steely Dapple Grey Horse)


Earth's Moon: Dapple Grey Foal


(Images: Earth's Moon and Dapple Grey Foal)


Mars: Fire Chestnut Chimera (Mosaic)


Jupiter: Bay Silver Dapple


(Images: Jupiter, Bay Silver Dapple Horse)


Saturn: Splashed White Cremello pinto

(Images: Saturn, Splashed White Cremello Pinto Horse)


Uranus: Blue Roan Pinto

(Images: Uranus, Blue Roan Pinto Horse)


Neptune: Blue Taffy

(Images: Neptune, Blue Taffy Horse)


Pluto (Dwarf Planet): Liver Bay Few-Spot Appaloosa Foal

(Images: Pluto, Liver Bay Few-Spot Appaloosa Horse)


Planet Stablemates Project: The Models

Unfortunately, I can't order direct from Breyer here in Scotland.  And, since Breyer isn't popular over here in the UK, I also don't have many options on eBay or Vinted.  Amazon only had two painting kits available (Fantasy Horses Paint & Play and Colorful Breeds Paint & Play), so I bought both.  Serendipitously, the number of horses in both kits combined is PERFECT to complete the project.  So, I've also decided which of the molds each of the planets will be on (All images from Identify Your Breyer):


Mercury: G3 Walking Arabian (From Fantasy Horses Paint & Play kit)


Venus: G3 Peruvian Paso 
(From Fantasy Horses Paint & Play kit)


Earth: G3 Tennessee Walking Horse 
(From Colorful Breeds Paint & Play kit)


Earth's Moon: G2 scrambling foal (From Fantasy Horses Paint & Play kit)


Mars: G4 Rivet (From Fantasy Horses Paint & Play kit)


Jupiter: G4 Andalusian Stallion (From Fantasy Horses Paint & Play kit)


Saturn: G2 Andalusian (From Colorful Breeds Paint & Play kit)


Uranus: G3 Rearing Andalusian (From Colorful Breeds Paint & Play kit)


Neptune: G3 Friesian (From Colorful Breeds Paint & Play kit)


Pluto (Dwarf Planet): G3 standing foal (From Colorful Breeds Paint & Play kit)


You can see the video of me unboxing the models and talking about the project here:


As always, feel free to comment below or email me at modelhorsemagic@gmail.com. If you like dolls and doll restoration, my other blog is the New Life Doll Hospital and Miniature Workshop.  And don't forget to check out my YouTube channel, Miniature_Magic, for unboxings, collection tours, DIY tutorials, and more! 

Bye Magicians!


~Miniature_Magic