Chalky Luck

 I just acquired my third chalky Breyer, and second I've found in the wild.  Coincidentally, both of the wild ones have been Donkeys, and both from the same estate auction place.  

Donkey B was an accident, he was in a bunch of toys, in the background of the photo, and I bid on a whim because the lot was going pretty low.  I was happy to have the donkey at that price anyway, and even happier when I picked everything up, unpacked them, and he turned out to be a green plastic Donkey in pretty good shape.  

There were some other goodies in the lot (it was a large lot), including a nice large Dala horse. 

Not included in the photos yet - Touch of Class and the chestnut QH Yearling in really good condition, a glossy alabaster Shetland missing half an ear, a dozen or so Stablemates in various conditions, and other odds and ends of Funrise, Safari, Schleich, a Nylint, a painted Craft House Arabian, and some unmarked, unidentified critters. 

The DIY Light Box, version 1

 At Virtual Breyerfest, one of the things I did was watch all the workshops, how-to sessions, and seminars I could fit in.  One was about making a DIY light box from a cardboard box, tracing paper, and some office supplies.  I watched twice and took notes, and then let it percolate for a while.  I did stash a couple of large boxes over the summer, and ordered a roll of tracing paper from Amazon since the local Michaels & Jo-Ann Fabric didn't have any.  Last week, I googled some more blogs on DIY light boxes and found another similar version, since I misplaced my notes.  

 

Step one - assemble components

 I got motivated last week and rounded up all the parts, after reading the how-to blog again.  Very large box, wooden yardstick, utility knife, pencil, tape, tracing paper, and scissors.

 The Breyerfest version didn't include a roof/lid, but I thought I'd leave it for stability.  

Cut windows in the sides and roof

I left a good margin of cardboard all around, for structural integrity and to give me something to tape the paper to. 

Add tracing paper

Measured and cut the tracing paper, tacked it down with scotch tape, then trimmed it up and taped it with box tape for sturdiness.

Cell phone shot

Canon Powershot

Stablemate

Traditional

The test run was on the dining room table, with a bankers lamp on either side, and the dining room light overhead.  Took pictures with iPhone (SE2) and the camera (Canon Powershot A2200).  The phone does better with white balance for quick shots, but it's eternally out of free space.  The camera has Macro mode and other nifty things, but I'll have to remember how to tweak the white balance.  I also need more light, especially overhead.  I found an Ottlite floor light at the local auction this week and won it for a good price, so that's going to help the lighting issue.  It might make the white balance a little more difficult though - the camera has WB presets but I may need to do a custom WB instead. 

And that's the first installment of the DIY light box saga.  This will be a lot better than the cluttered, distracting pics I usually take on the office desk, with keyboards, computer monitors, and other stuff in the background.  It needs a little work on the backdrop, and I probably need to find a larger box for Trad-scale photos.

The Second Chance horses

 UPS has dropped off three boxes in the last two days.  My luck was not great - no green clearware Surprise, but I got a chestnut sabino to go with the bay pinto.  Second Wild Things was not the green version, either.  But, my Fight Song is the variant without a base, so there's that.  

The final list: 

1. Quagga A
2. Quagga B
3. Surprise A - dark bay overo matte, run of 950
4. Surprise B - chestnut sabino matte, run of 950 (the greenware was a run of 650)
5. This is My Fight Song - the baseless variant was a run of 875, the "normal" variant is a run of 1,625
6. Wild Things A - both the normal chestnut run of 1,950 (the green variant is a run of 1,050
   
7. Wild Things B 
8. Percy A & B
9. Athenian Lady 
10. Blue Zeus 
11. Just Like Fire, the Classic
12. Better than Revenge, the fruit-stripe Fjord
13. the 4-pack of single-day Stablemates in deco dapples
14. the 5-piece Best of Breyerfest SM set 

Holy cow, maybe I need to spend less at BFest.  Eight Traditionals, 11 Stablemates, a Classic, and two plushies.   

Also.  I get that Breyer is using this waffleweave paper instead of bubble wrap, to try and be more eco-friendly.  But when the packers don't expand the waffle paper, and it's just left flat, it offers crap all in the way of protection.  They can do better.

 

 

 

Breyer's Second Chance Breyerfest sale

 One of the reasons for buying a Breyerfest ticket even if I can't go in person, is that it gives me access to their online second-chance sale later on.  This year's leftovers sale was last week, and I managed to be online and make not one, not two, but three orders.  Multiple orders were a thing because of their limit of two SRs per order.  

Order 1 - I Will Survive (the quagga) and Fight Song (the new rearing mold).  Fight Song has sold out, but Survive is still available (odd, given the prices on the Caves of Lascaux horse from a previous BF)

 

 

Order 2 - The Wild Things SM (hoping for the variant) and a second Surprise (I really want a green one), plus the commemorative program.

 

Order 3 - a second I Will Survive, a second plush Percy, and a second commemorative program - I think I was planning to use these as trade fodder, or just to sell to someone who missed out on the BF sales.  

 

 

Can't wait for these guys to show up.

First Breyer shipment is here

 The first shipment finally arrived.  

Athenian Lady is here.  The white spot on the top of her rump is intentional, by the way.  

Still waiting for the rest of the horses.  May be a while.

Breyerfest shipments

 The Breyerfest shipments are starting to happen.  They seem to be shipping everything separately so far.  I've got Percy the plush on the way, and the 4-piece Stablemate set in another shipment.  At least they aren't charging per shipment. 

Breyerfest 2024 is done

 Breyerfest is over for the year.  

I got my two top picks for the Special Runs - the Surprise horse and the Fruit Stripe sport pony.  Can't wait for them to get here.  And the Breyer Store was in good shape this year - it went live on time, didn't crash, and I managed to do all my purchases in two orders and 15 minutes.  I also managed to resist the temptation to buy a second Wild Things in hopes of getting the green variation. 

I spent a few hours watching the seminars, especially Lesli Kathman's color genetics and Jenn Danza's repair class.  Then I watched a couple of workshops.  They're available online until the end of the month, so I'll need to watch them again and take more notes.