Covid & More UV Light Findings

Yeesh! What a ride this bout with Covid has been! It knocked both Craig and me flat.

Craig rarely gets so sick that he goes to bed, but this time was different. (I love that his two buddies are keeping him company as he sleeps.)

Two days later it was me who felt like she'd been hit by a truck. I had chills and my head hurt terribly. I realize that I'd felt this way before with Covid, so I got a test out and checked.

I've had Covid several times, but never has a test showed a positive result immediately after I put in the drops. I still waited the time that was directed, but the results did not change - they remained a very clear positive result.

I'm still sick but at least I feel well enough to get up, eat a little (I've lost 6 pounds in just two days) and write a bit. I'm sleeping a lot during the day and tire easily, but I am on the way to being well. Grateful!

Thanks for all who commented or reached out to me. It was much appreciated.

So... Back to using my UV light to look at my new models. And after having found the black mark on my Zulu, I was dreading what might show up on my Gilded.

He's on the Geronimo mold, a mold I like very much

and things looked good at first.

The only visible iffy place I could see was under his off front leg where it looked like there was a small black line in the gold.

Sure enough, under the UV light, there was a heart shaped blemish.

I discovered another one on his near hind hock

and a third one on his neck. 

Oddly enough, he also had some lines that appeared to be drawn on his legs. They almost look like the barring that you might find on a horse with primitive markings.

None of these are visible without the UV light, though.

Finally, a third type of mark were darker smudge-like marks above his near hock.

Completely invisible in normal light, but obvious in the UV light.

Wondering if I would find flaws on every model I looked at, I pulled out some recent models, seven of them, including another recent Geronimo.

None of them had flaws.  Good news, but puzzling, too. I mean, what are the odds that two of my newest ones would have significant flaws and others not?

I decided to pull out my 2021 BreyerFest Dani and check her sort of as the "ultimate test." 

When she arrived, she had a lot of masking left on her that I had to remove.

It was EVERYWHERE. I peeled and peeled and peeled masking off.

The fact that it was blue made it easier to find, but still, it took quite a bit of time to find it all.

It seemed to me that if any model had issues, it might be Dani, and so I put her under the UV light. 

Nothing! She was clean all over, and I looked carefully. That was a relief, but I am still puzzled. Why would two new pieces have such flaws? Did they come out of the same group in the warehouse in China? Do other models from that same group have flaws that only show up under a UV light?

Or do I need to look at a bigger sample of models from my collection? After all, seven (eight with Dani) isn't that many.

It is a puzzle for sure. Not only will I go over all future models with a UV light, but I hope to start going through my entire collection, shelf by shelf. That will be a huge job, but hey, I'm retired! Besides, I love to do research and actually did a lot of research, writing, and publishing when I was in the classroom. This will be an old familiar project for me, for sure.

Wish me luck!

(Go here for some of my research papers.)

Coming Full Circle (and Beyond)

No, I am not branching out into tack sales, especially tack for live horses, not model.

But yes, there was a lovely bridle plopped down on my sales table Saturday among my sales items and my show string.

Shannon Rodgers had dropped by and was making a delivery - one that had had quite a circuitous, cross country journey before landing in the middle of my pouches.

Special delivery for Dani Boiko! She was also going to drop by and pick up an order of haversacks that I had made her, so Shannon asked if I minded if she left the bridle there for Dani. Of course not! Both women are friends and I don't mind helping them out.

Soon Tiffany Purdy was at my table chatting to Shannon, Dani, and me, and the story of the bridle began to emerge, at least, as I understand it.

Tiffany has an older mare, Sassy, that she'd recently put back into training. To prepare for that, Tiffany had bought three new bridles for her mare. Then, Sassy became ill, the bridles were not needed, and Tiffany passed all three bridles on to Jennifer Buxton for her mare, Olive.

Two of the bridles, the prink and the black, fit Olive well, but the purple bridle did not. (Photos of Olive and the bridles by Jennifer.)

Since Olive already had several bridles, Jennifer did a give away on her blog to get the bridle into the hands of someone who could use it, be it for tack making, use on a real horse, or as horsey decor for home.

I entered, Dani entered, and Shannon entered along with a host of other folks. Shannon was the lucky winner and so Jennifer mailed the bridle to her.

Now, here is where I am not clear - the bridle going from Shannon to Dani. I do know this - Shannon is a very generous lady, and it would not surprise me if she'd originally intended to keep it herself but then found out that her friend Dani had wanted to win the Tiffany/Jennifer bridle to use for her own horse.

And so arrangements were made for Shannon to drop it off at the October GLC show where Dani would pick it up. Since Dani was also picking up an order from me, my table became the drop-off spot, and since Tiffany was at the show judging, we all ended up standing around my table, talking and laughing at the circuitous route that that bridle had taken to get to Dani.

Talk about coming full circle!

Other things to talk about? Breyer is in full steam ahead mode: they've released the 2024 retired list of models, opened the Collector and Deluxe Collectors Clubs, dropped a new model for their Wild Animals Series (Mangoky, a Lemur done on the Valegro mold), and switched BreyerWest in Denver to BreyerMidwest in Salina, Kansas. Their annual holiday catalog has begun arriving in homes and photos show that  Hagen Renaker's original Zara has been shrunk down to Stablemate size! (Fellow blogger Kirsten Wellman has an excellent article about this and its historical significance here.)

Hobbyists who track when things are released are saying that the BreyerFest 2025 Celebration model should be revealed in early November. Personally, I am expecting it to be a "Wow" model - it will be celebrating Breyer's 75th anniversary and I think this will be a very special BreyerFest as a result.

As always, stay 'tooned! (And good luck keeping up with all the Breyer news!)

Breyerfest Loot: "Unmasking" Dani & Kaleidescope

Like just about everyone else, I am waiting on my BreyerFest purchases. I'm patient, but I'm a little nervous, too. The one order that is marked "Fulfilled" on Breyer's web site has arrived but only one of the two models in that order were in the box.

Kaleidescope! And I really, really like him. Can't wait to add him to the other Stablemates that I don't collect.

He was one of my most-wanted pieces, so I am glad he made it safely - other hobbyists have reported receiving empty boxes from Breyer. (It is very, very evident that Breyer has a real problem with the shipping company they are using.)

While I'd received tracking for Kaleidescope's box and was expecting him, 

I was not expecting the box that Dani came in. We were still in Utah when it was delivered and luckily my next door neighbor saw it and brought it into the house for me. 

Dani is lovely, but she also had a problem. When I looked closer, I  saw what appeared to be a large, raised, dark Appaloosa spot.

Can you see it? It was under her tail and hard to see (and photograph.)

I rubbed my finger across it and realized that it was a bit of masking that had been left behind.

I gently lifted it off with my fingernail and then began looking at Dani more carefully.

Sure enough, I found another bit of masking on her near hind leg.

Again I peeled that one off and then continued to inspect her not only visually, but by lightly running my hands over her - the masking was raised and could be felt even when it was difficult to see.

A third piece was stuck at the base of her neck

and was the last one that I could find.

Except... that it wasn't.

As I was writing this blog post, I flipped her over and something on her inside near hind leg caught my eye.

Another sliver of masking - that's four pieces now!

And actually I think there is some at the base of her ear - I can feel it, but it is stuck fast in the paint and I am afraid I will damage her so I left it alone.

Prisma, this year's crystal horse, was supposed to have been shipped along with Kaleidescope. Maybe he will come unannounced as Dani did, or maybe he will come with some of the other models in my order.

I have faith in Breyer, but I don't have that same confidence in the warehouse company. Fingers crossed.