Introductions: Eira

I thought I'd start my herd introductions with Eira,  my one and only unicorn from Breyer (so far!). She's the Christmas unicorn ornament release from 2021, and she's such a sweetheart. I have a soft spot for draft type horses, so her stockier build and lovely feathering is right up my alley. 

She's also the first of my models that I've attempted photographing nicely. (Improvements to come, this was the result of 15 mins on my lunch break at work with my phone). Technically she's not my only unicorn - I have two of her! One lives on my desk at work, and one lives at home hanging off the doorknob to one of the cupboards. 

I wasn't even looking for Eira when I found her - I was looking for a UK seller of Lysander after spotting him in a sales email from Breyer and being enchanted by him. I'm not a collector of Classic/Freedom scale models generally, but he was so pretty and on a good deal, if the shipping to the UK hadn't been so expensive. Looking for a UK seller led me to a small business call Jollytots Equestrian, which just so happened to have this darling lady available. They're not even a model stockist usually from the looks of it - they're aimed at clothes and accessories for kids who ride. One 50% sale later, I had two Eira models and another Breyer Christmas ornament on their way to me. 

Having looked at the rest of the Christmas unicorn collection, I think Eira is my favourite - her snowy dapples and sweet face and just adorable, but I think I'll be pre-ordering this years unicorn too. Scarlet is another draft type unicorn, and her colour is just *chefs kiss*.  I'm trying not to let my completionist tendencies get the better of me with the mini unicorns, because I know at least one of them is on a mould I really don't care for. (More on that another time maybe). 

I don't really have a lot else to say about this sweet girl, other than I'm so glad I bought two! Being able to have one on my desk at work is a nice pick me up when I've had a stressful day. She sits beneath my computer screens and always gives me a little lift when I see her. (Even if I feel guilty for how often I knock her over with my disorganised piles of paper.)

L x

Photo Shows!

Happy Friday! And a happy Friday it is too because - 

Breyer finally announced the online photo shows! 

I've been waiting for more details since they released the info on the live shows. I've never done any model horse showing, so I'm super excited to put my entries together for the Boot Camp show. I downloaded the show packet while I was at work today and spent my lunch break going through it and thinking about which models to put forward for which classes. I have 10 Breyer models right now, and I'm planning on entering all 10 - may as well enter everything I can. Go big or go home right? 

I have a bunch of  real life stuff I have to do this weekend, but I'm so motivated to do some work on my diorama entry and the photo show entries that I'm going to have a hard time managing to do both! Not least because I'll have to come up with show names for all my models and I only have one of them actually named as something other than their usual model release name. It takes me ages to figure out names for anything! I do creative writing too, and I swear I spend more time on baby name websites trying to name characters than actual prospective parents do. 

I've got more stuff to add to my shopping list again, proper lighting, maybe a backdrop of some kind if one of my various pieces of fabric in my sewing stash won't suffice, potentially a second hand camera instead of my phone camera, never mind all the little bits I keep thinking of for my diorama (tiny LED lights, acetate sheets, mounting card, a big pile of fabric samples). Oh my brank account is going to hate me.

Luckily for my bank account though, the email I got from Breyer about the Freedom Elements series being a random ship has put me right off! I'm more of a Traditional scale gal, but one model I got as a gift is a Classic/Freedom scale (Malik, if you're wondering) and I wouldn't' mind getting him some similarly sized friends. He looks a bit out of place amongst the much larger Traditionals. But I'm really only interested in Teak and Terran. I'd love a woodgrain model someday, and a modern woodgrain seems like a much more accessible way to do that than hoping I have the money at the time a vintage one pops up for sale (Ha!), an d I'm a sucker for anything draft-type. But a random ship? No thank you! I'll see if a UK supplier has them available for individual purchase at some point, and if the price is okay I might invest. There's no way I'm paying full price for a 2 in 6 chance of getting  model I actually want though. I understand the blind bags for Stablemates - they're small and cheap enough that that lucky dip concept makes sense to me, but not for larger scale models. Oh well, at least that's some more money I can attempt to put aside for Breyerfest. (Maybe for my Photo Show entrance fee!) 

Until next time

L x

Baby's First BreyerFest Diorama

 So my Breyer collection only began last summer, on my first holiday to see my family in the US in about 11 years. I'd heard of Breyer before, and I'd always collected horse related ornaments and things, but I'd never seen a Breyer model in person before. I'm pretty sure my only knowledge of them came from the posts that the algorithm decides must grace your feed while scrolling Instagram...

I'll tell the full story of finding my first Breyers another time, but the thing I want to talk about today is Breyerfest! Thanks to the terrible awfulness of Covid, it's now a hybrid event, which means this broke Brit can attend online! Hell yeah! My tickets are ready, I've booked my time off work, I've been checking the Breyerfest Blog daily, and I'm just about set on my Special Run and Limited Edition wishlist. 

It was the announcement of the diorama contest that really hooked me though. I love getting crafty, I always have at least a couple different projects of some description on the go, and something about the concept of horse dioramas just immediately tickled my brain. I'll admit, 'Pop Culture That Pops' is a pretty broad theme title, but I came up with enough ideas that me and my coworker, E, couldn't stop giggling about that I just had to jump in! 

Abandoned diorama ideas include; Barbie and Ken ponies on rollerblades, Beatles ponies crossing Abbey Road, Jack the Ripper crime scene and detective ponies (until I realised that's more than 100 years ago, and also not family friendly as per contest guidelines,  oops), and that one scene burned into my mind from Lord of the Rings with all the pretty horses running across a river or something. (I've seen them all twice. I still only remember that one shot of those gorgeous horses. ) 

I don't know what the usual thing is with these diorama contests, but I'm going to try and document the making of, since my coworkers are all very curious about my ridiculous project, and I'll probably post that stuff after the deadline has passed. Suffice to say, Breyerfest has turned into a hyperfocus on a very niche diorama, and all the things that I need to learn to do instead of just assuming I can with unfounded confidence. At least until the online workshop timetable gets announced...

In the meantime, I'll go back to cutting up cardboard and buying so many teeny tiny supplies and hoping I can figure out how to use Milliput to customise models...something I've never done before...

Until next time

L x

Where to start...

 I've loved horses for as long as I can remember. Sure, some of the time that was more 'low-key' and in the background, but I'm having a full on Autistic Special Interest revival right now, and I'm fairly sure my coworkers are sick of me infodumping horse facts at them. 

'Horse' is a pretty broad category for me - not just real life horses fall under my extensive love! My Breyer model collection started last year, my obsession with Spirit has been going strong since it was released I was gifted a VHS of it, and I'm knee deep in fantasy books from the 80's that heavily feature magical horses. If something is horse related, I'm into it, and I want to know more, and please don't tell me about it during work hours because I won't do anymore work that day because the brain gremlins will take over and I will spend the rest of the day researching. Ooops. 

Do I have plans for this blog? To an extent. I have a vague list of post ideas. I mostly just wanted to make a space where I can enthusiastically share my thoughts and hopefully some people who Get It will share their enthusiastic thoughts back. 

I was delighted to discover that blogging is still a thing in 2024! This is probably the 5th blog I've ever had (the rest consigned to history, long deleted), and it was finding other active horse community bloggers that gave me the push to jump back in. So thanks to Breyer History Diva (Angela Gurdon) and Model Horse Madness (Fabala) for unknowingly encouraging the passion!

I'm sure things will change around on here as I remember how to use Blogger (It's changed in the last 11 years!) and I get things like new background photos uploaded and stuff like that. 

So for now, hello, come join the fun, and I'll see you next time

L x