Awards from Breakables

The awards from Breakables at BreyerFest have arrived and I am pleased with my winnings. (Even more so because I didn't have to risk breakage since it was a photo show and I was able to show some chinas that I never take out of the china cabinet.)

There were eight separate shows, each with many divisions. Each class had two judges, one for breed and one for collectibility. As you can tell by the ribbons, I am much more a collectibility collector than one who looks for breed standards when buying pieces.

Both my Reserve Champion ribbons were for collectibility.

Comann was Reserve Champion Collectibility Pony/Draft in the Minis Division,

while Tinker Toy was named Reserve Collectibility Champion for his division and then awarded Overall Reserve Grand Champion of the Other Countryware show!

That meant he won this lovely plaque by Meg Walker.

Diana Dubbeld, who hosted the show, said that Breyer will also be sending something to those who won an Overall award. I have no idea as to what it might be, but I am hoping that it might be china or porcelain.

In the Works

July was a busy month, model wise. BreyerFest was held, I entered a couple of model photo shows, judged the china division of the Great Lakes Congress photo show, and I sewed.

Did I ever sew! Five to six days a week, and not just the western shirts for Pony Pal Cambria and Cowpoke Titan. I'm sewing pony pouches and getting ready to start selling them.

Most sewists have lots of fabric on hand - some of it left over from former projects, some because it was purchased it for a project that never happened, and some (maybe even most, haha) simply because it was appealing! (That's the, "Some day I'll..." category.)

This orange fleece is a case in point. Seven yards that I'd planned to use for a project that I never got around to doing.

This cherry fabric was bought to make matching aprons for a fellow teacher at school and her daughter; after I finished that project, I bought some more for future projects. The pink unicorn Stablemate pouch was made from fabric used to make a quiet book for (who else?) Pony Pal Mila.

Cowpoke Titan's full name is Titan Rex Kailana (his other grandmother is Hawaiian, hence the Hawaiian name) and he is called T-Rex by the family. As a tie in to his nickname, this fabric was used to make him a pillow as well as a quiet book.

This made me think of fox hunting. (And, that song What Does the Fox Say? ran through my mind the entire time I was stitching this fabric!)

My Wrinkle in Time fabric with a model to show size. (That is my all-time favorite book. My 5th grade teacher read it to me, and I loved it so much, I read it aloud to every class I ever taught.)

The phrase "pony pouch" is not mine to use, so I had to come up with another term. I thought about "Nag Bags," but Ellen Vogel uses that. So, I came up with my own phrase. It's a bit of a mouthful, but if you had been one of my students, it would make you smile - in my classroom we were always looking for what we called "high quality words."

Any guesses? If you are the first to guess it, I will send you the pony pouch of your choice. Send any guesses to me at lisenbarger8@gmail.com. (If more than one person guesses the right answer, I will go with the one with the earliest time stamp.)

The name of my new business and a link to it will be posted Saturday morning.

Good luck!

What is This?

In the movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Pumpkin King Jack Skellington explores Christmastown and sings the song, What's This?

That song runs through my mind every time I take this Proud Arabian Stallion off my shelves. What is it? It's not an ordinary PAS.

I found him back in the 1990s while out poking around antique shops.

I was immediately intrigued by him because he looked odd to me.

I thought back then that he might be a base coat chalky, but as our knowledge of chalkies has grown over time, I waffle back and forth on that.

The bottom of his hooves are odd and not what you find on a non-chalky but they're not quite like chalky hooves, either. 

It's not dirt as it does not wash off. 

The piece has a USA stamp, so it fits into the chalky era.

I decided to try the light trick. Since base coat chalkies have a layer of white paint under the coat, the light is blocked when you put a flashlight to them. 

Very little light got through its body. For comparison, I grabbed a non chalky Proud Arabian Stallion, also in dapple grey and put the flashlight up to it.

What a difference - that light is coming right through the plastic.

I tried again with the unusual PAS and got the same results.

I have looked at photos of chalky dapple grey PASs, and the one on Identify Your Breyer has a lot of similarities. But I still am not entirely convinced that this piece is chalky.

So, I continue to ask the same question that Jack Skellington did. What is this?

Goal Achieved (I Guess)

Well, I seem to have achieved my goal. I've been hoping that some of the Pony Pals or Cowpokes, or even my own children and their spouses, might find an interest in my collection and want it when I am no longer here. But I have to admit, this interchange with Pony Pal Mila was a bit unnerving.

She and Cowpokes Ian and Lukie were here when a surprise box arrived in the mail from my friend, Liz Cory. (Theoretically we were all "napping" on my bed. Three kids, one dog, and a Grammy... Not a lot of sleep happening.)

Inside was Eire, a BreyerFest model I'd wanted but hadn't been able to snag from the Pop Up/Fling stores despite countless times of refreshing and waiting for the stores to restock. (I'd actually had one in my cart once, but when I went to pay for it, it disappeared. I was so disappointed.)

After I had passed Eire around for everyone to see, Mila asked for it back. And then she caught me by surprise with this question.

"Grammy? Can I have this when you're dead?" 

Oh, my! I certainly wasn't expecting THAT! When I didn't reply right away (I was trying not to laugh), she asked again. All righty, then! I seem to have achieved my goal to have a family member who wants to inherit my collection! (Hey, one piece is a start, right?)

Cowpoke Lukie wants that Eire, too. He even ended up holding it while he "napped." Pony Pal Mila has some competition. 

Thank you, Liz, for surprising me with Eire! It looks like you can rest assured that your gift will be treasured for years to come, one way or another.

Yes, I Made a Doll

In the early 1990s I made a circus performance set-up complete with tack, ring, and doll rider.

 (Anne Field, this is why I asked YOU to make my new doll and didn't do it myself!)

I poked around on Identify Your Breyer trying to figure out which Brenda Breyer I had used. Judging by the shirt, it was an English rider doll. But the hair puzzles me - I don't see any English dolls with short hair.

She is from the early 1990s and can bend her legs, but that is the only articulation she has.

I made a harness for Liberty to wear, painted a huge quilting hoop and affixed gold star stickers to it, added some footing, and showed them in performance classes at live shows.

 Believe it or not, the set-up did well and qualified for the very first NAN in 1995.

It even placed in the Top Ten! (Which is an indication as to how far Performance entries have come since 1995.)

I'm still under post-op lifting restrictions, but I will see if Craig will pull out some tubs for me where I think I have the harness stored as well as a photo of the circus entry from NAN 1995. Stay tuned!

Karen Crossley/Pawprint

Karen Crossley (aka "Pawprint") was a friend and fellow blogger (Dust Ponies: Musings about the Model Horse Hobby) who frequently commented here on Horsiemama. I am stunned and saddened by her loss. 

Rest in peace, Pawprint/Karen. I will miss you, your writings, and your friendship.

Karen Crossley

Sunday, February 24th, 1963 –  Tuesday, July 28th, 2020

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Obituary for Karen Louise Crossley

Karen Crossley, 57, passed away in her sleep July 28, 2020.

A talented and prolific writer, she had recently retired, due to increasing health issues, from her position of Communications Officer at Canada Revenue Agency, where she was employed since 2002.  

Karen was a lifelong learner, achieving her BA in English and History from the University of Winnipeg, a Creative Communications diploma in Journalism from Red River Community College, and her master's degree in English Literature from the University of Manitoba, beginning studies toward a PhD shortly thereafter. 

She loved both drama and travel from an early age; interests that she pursued for her own enjoyment, and professionally, as a freelance journalist and features writer for The Winnipeg Sun, and a freelance writer for numerous arts and entertainment programs and publications. 
She had an abiding passion for horses, in the flesh, in literature and as collectible models and figurines. She volunteered with the Manitoba Riding for the Disabled Association; was an avid fan of equestrian events, competitions, and novels; wrote her master's thesis on the children's literature classic, Black Beauty; was well regarded in the horse collecting world, known throughout Canada and the US; and most recently, created a blog, Dust Ponies, for fellow aficionados of Breyer Club model horses and other related collectibles.

Karen was pre-deceased by her father, Robert Crossley, in 2009, and is mourned by her mother, June, brother, Gordon, and sister, Kim, as well as aunts, uncles, cousins and dear friends. 

Cremation has taken place, and there will be a private family service. 

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Manitoba Riding for the Disabled Association, or the Winnipeg Humane Society.  

Big Plans

I have big plans for my new RubberNedz Andalusian Circus Horse.

First, I am trying to find a stand for him. I like this round acrylic jewelry display stand.

 And I like this rectangular acrylic jewelry stand, too.

 The original stand is sculpted to look like a tree branch

and has a notch in it where his hoof rests. It's made of a harder plastic and doesn't bend or give under the weight of the horse. Still, I have a hard time not holding my breath when I use it, and Donna did tell me that most people find something else to keep this piece upright.

But there is something else I am working on, and that is the replication in miniature of a childhood dream. My sister and I used to pretend that we were performers in a circus (bareback riders). We would spend time "performing" in the back yard, riding the circus train (i.e. the couch) to the circus's next destination, and we even had little cardboard suitcases (I think borrowed from our Barbies) that we would pack and take with us as the circus traveled. 

We also took ballet lessons - everyone KNOWS that circus riders are really ballerinas, right? At least that's what we thought. (Google Images of Wesley Dennis illustration; all other circus and pattern photos from Google Images.)

With those memories in mind, I decided to explore making a vintage circus scene from the late 1950s/early 1960s. I had the horse, but I needed either a bareback rider

 or a ringmaster (since my RubberNedz is rearing.) And I wanted it to be female

because the doll would represent me. Who better to talk to about my ideas than Anne Field of Field of Dolls Studio?

I researched a lot of old circus photos trying to find a costume that was not the glitzy and glittery Las Vegas style. 

Then I came across this photo from a vintage pattern book. That ballerina dress was just what I was looking for. It's elegant and pretty, definitely circus worthy, but not so over the top that it detracts from the real beauty in the ring - the horse.

Anne helped me decide on fabric and had some ideas for accents to the dress, and then agreed to create the doll for me. 

This is new territory for me but I am super excited.