'The Midden'

As well as my stable block, office, feedroom/shed and my in progress tack room (previews of which will be coming soon. ;)) I also have a shop...

I've had this roombox knocking around for years and have been adding to it for just as long. Because I'm really stingy, I haven't paid a lot for really anything inside it and most objects I've either found, been donated or inherited from people. It's nice to see some things as they hold memories of childhood - for instance, the two sea lions on the back shelf I collected as a kid (I think there was some offer on teabags or something, with every packet you got another model) and my friend got the same one, only it had some random green paint on it so she gave it to me. I liked it and called it Kelp as it looked like it had seaweed on it. XD

(Pretend the lights are on lol)



When Aiden Lynch first moved to Hollowcroft, he decided to open a shop. Not an antiques place, oh no, that would be far too posh and upmarket; no, he liked the idea of a shop where you could find pretty much anything inside and, after a lot of work...it finally happened.





















When Aiden says that he can track down anything, he really means it... ;)



Just in case you're ever tempted to steal anything, The Midden is watched over by several guard ferrets who can and will attack when necessary, or just when they feel like it - they aren't fussy.









So come, visit The Midden today for bargains galore!



...and if you're very (un)lucky, Aiden might even serenade you as you shop. ;D



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Anyway, as usual, any questions please post to the usual address and I'll ask Aiden. ;D

I managed to get some nice thin pipecleaners today so hopefully I'll see about making a pipecleaner animal tutorial up soon. :D

EG over and out!

Fuzzy yard pets!

I've always really admired the hairing work of hobbyists like Juliane Garstka and so on, so when Maren of Ivorytower Stables posted her long anticipated hairing tutorial it absolutely made my day!

http://ivorystablenews.blogspot.com/2011/03/fullbody-hairing-english-version-part.html

No sooner had it gone up than I'd read it, gathered all my materials, read it again and then ended up in bed (I wasn't feeling well) half watching a history documentary on BBC iPlayer while I set about giving it a go. I got an iPhone earlier this week (called Ivor ;)) so whenever I needed to check up on anything I didn't even need to leave my bed and could just check out the blog through that - bliss!

My first victim had been languishing in the props drawer for months as he just didn't look right at all. I made him from scratch out of pipecleaners with scraps of leather for ears and pinheads for eyes. Whereas my other bendy dogs turned out ok as the pile of the fluff looked good enough for fur, these ones were too compact and he just looked like...well...a dog made of pipecleaners! XD





Because the mohair is chopped up anyway I realised it was the perfect way to use up all the mangled straggly bits that are the end (and usually waste) result of any horse hairing job. I decided to make him black and tan as he looked like some kind of Rottweiler cross, plus I had tons of leftovers in those colours. I accidently made him incredibly thickset at the front with short legs so who knows what the other half is!









I painted on pawpads too.



Because he's made of pipecleaners he's still poseable - exactly the sort of thing I like on my yard!





'Stay!'



'Sit!'



Unfortunately all this poseability has its downsides...




I named him Max after my friend Deb's Rottie/Collie cross. He isn't supposed to be a portrait or anything, just a tribute of sorts. XD Here he is! (and as far as I know he hasn't peed on anything important - he just licks the inside of car windows. :P)



..and here's model-max with some of the other yard dogs including the two other bendies who I might hair now that I know it looks so good!




Max finished I found I still had loads of chopped up hair so I had a rummage around in the prop drawer in search of another model. I found this Schleich cat that I'd always intended to paint but decided that she'd probably look much nicer as a fluffy mogg instead.





Ivor came in very handy as I could google tortiseshell/calico coat patterns whilst I haired. I repainted the eyes and nose and painted her mouth and pawpads over the hair. Unfortunatly Nigel's macro lens picks up every little detail so she looks a lot rougher than she really is.









She's quite big for Julip scale but meh, I know some absolutely MASSIVE cats so she'll do. :P







I really love her and after pondering a name for ages, I eventually settled on the rather innocuous 'Mogg'. I want to make her some friends out of pipecleaners so I can have some in more interesting positions.
Somewhat shockingly, for someone who isn't a dog person I've managed to aquire loads of them and next to no cats at all!

All that remains is to thank Maren for the brilliant tutorial and see if I can dig out the rest of my pipecleaners...

TTFN!

Looseboxes galore!

Ever since I started designing my Julip yard I'd always wanted to do some proper old fashioned looseboxes with the cast iron bars along each wall. However, lack of space initially quashed that idea and I resigned myself to the fact that I'd probably just have to put up with what I had.

UNTIL NOW!

 

Guess what I've been making for the last two days? :P

 

It's all made from balsa wood, cocktail sticks and bamboo kebab skewers. Although I did measure most of it out, it's still managed to end up wonky but never mind, it just adds to the charm. XD



The latches are all working (bought from a doll's house fair years ago) and the kickbolts at the bottom (cardboard with a pin for movement) also work. I reused some of the balsa from the previous incarnation of the looseboxes and I'm pleased to report that they look much nicer now.



Because they're all interchangable and 'flat packed' the individual sections can be moved about to create the illusion of multiple stalls on the other side...





Not bad for a couple of afternoons!

Custom and Sculpture Update.

Last time you saw this chap he was just an armature covered in tape but I started putting clay on last night and he's starting to look a little better. I'd originally planned for him to be a 1/16th scale Spanish type but he's swiftly morphing into a Julip scale Shetland. XD







He's just the right size for my smallest child rider too! (and as you can see, freestanding! Well...until he fell over from the extra weight on his back that is!)







This is just the first layer obviously and I'm sure there are loads of conformation issues I need to work out before I can get detailing but I'm quite pleased with him so far. I realised only after I'd put the ears on that I've sculpted him in more or less the same pose as Mr Vaskal. (Who is still being sanded by the way, he's got some very stubborn rough patches!)

My G3 Arab etchie is coming along rather nicely at the moment too. This is still only one side but he isn't taking as long as I thought he probably would.