New horses for the herd

 In spite of my attempts at self-control, I've added some more horses lately. 

 Thanks to the consignment auction, I've added a bunch of nice vintage Breyers: 

• the Clydesdale Mare & Foal gift set, with box and blankets
• the Our First Pony gift set, with cardboard box and halter for Midge
• another dapple-gray Proud Arabian Stallion
• Abdullah on the Trakener mold (my second Abdullah)
• bay G1 Morgan Stallion
• bay G1 Arabian mare 
• a handful of rider dolls (four, I think) and assorted tack
• and a red Dala horse made in Sweden 

Then, this week, one of the thrift stores posted some pictures on facebook, and I spotted a pair of Cheval ponies on a shelf.  Got up the next morning and was waiting (with 25 other people) when they opened.  Turns out there were seven Cheval ponies total, all the comical spaghetti-mane Shetlands.  Only $10 each, so I bought them all.  They're in pretty good condition, one has a repaired leg and an ear chip, and there's some crazing here and there, but they're so cute. 

 

 

El Dorado is here

 My luck continues -  El Dorado is the newest addition to the Blue Horse herd. 

 

 Not the best picture, but I can't get to the big light box, and he won't fit the small one. 

Vintage Club horse!

 Breyer just sent out emails for the latest Vintage Club horse.  El Dorado, the Semi-Rearing Mustang in either blue or gold, with the Appaloosa Performance Horse pattern.  If I get the blue one, I'll already have a sort-of mini-me, with the Wedgewood & Copenhagen SM Mustangs from last year's Premiere Collectors Club. 

 

 

 

More photos

 Playing around with the small light box, and unboxing some SMs.  The SM displays are in dire need of rearranging, because I've got a literal pile of SMs on the desk. 

 

 

Fjord fascination

 I made an addition to the resin herd recently.  Happened to see a Facebook post with some horses for sale, including this small cute Fjord, an Animal Artistry resin.  I'd seen one in a room post from Breyerfest, but of course wasn't there to buy it. 

 

 

This one is the reason I made the smaller light box, which will fit on top of the printer, since I don't (at the moment) have table space free for the big light box.   

Hartland Tinymites

 I had a little Marketplace luck and bought a box of small toy horses for $10.  Mostly because I noticed some Hartland Tinymites in the picture.  Also got two tiny copies of the HR Swaps.  Playing with the little lightbox and took some pictures, but only one Tinymite so far.  

 

Behold: the Tinymite drafter in brown plastic. 

 

 

The light box project

 At one of the recent online BreyerFests, there was an online workshop on making your own lightbox for photography.  Fairly low budget - you need a cardboard box, some parchment or tracing paper, and posterboard or something for a background.  And tape.I made a fairly large one, but thought a small one for Stablemates and similar things would be useful too. So, off I went. 

 

I made some upgrades yesterday - the edges got extra layers of cardboard for reinforcements.  Today I cut the posterboard for the floor and back.  Turned out pretty good.  The lighting is a work in progress.  Right now I've got an Ott-lite on one side and a small lamp on the other side, and a reading light that you wear around your neck for a moveable light.  I think the workshop version had an open top, but I did a window top for more stability.  I need to find the tracing paper, though.  Parchment paper was barely large enough, and the tape doesn't like to grip the parchment paper very well. 

 

But it does a pretty good job so far.