I've been sculpting some...

...medallions! :D :D :D

I decided to stay up all night for the Scottish Independence Referendum and as I'd need something to quell the butterflies, I decided to do some sculpting. I've dabbled in medallions before, but the results were nothing spectacular. (the unpainted one at the bottom isn't mine, that's 'Todd' by Clare Stokes.)

 

This time round however, I'm really pleased with how they turned out. I used Super Sculpey and a variety of homemade sculpting tools, although my main tool of choice was one of these, though ironically I used the handle more than the actual tip! (and those ones on that shop are waaaaay overpriced, I bought the exact same set from 'The Works' for £3.99!)

First up was a Highland pony. I referenced the hundreds of photos I've taken at the RHS over the years so I had a good place to start.

I made a gif showing the rough process of sculpting him. :D

Halfway through I did a little photoshop mockup to see what he'd look like with clothes on...

...and as he looks now. :D

Then,. yesterday I fancied making him a friend...

Originally he was supposed to be a young Clydesdale, but the more I sculpted, the older and less Clydesdaley he looked so now he's just a generic and very hairy cob.

I made another gif - it looks like he's chewing at the start, lol.

His face went through several big changes as I had to reposition his muzzle and eyes a couple of times.

His eye protrudes a lot more than I realised now he's baked but you can't really tell if you're only viewing him from the front. XD

I'm so pleased with them and was wondering if there'd be any interest if I were to cast some copies in resin? The Highland is really chunky (about 24mm at his widest point!) so he'd probably be a little more expensive but I don't really know all the ins and outs of casting things as I've only ever used the college silicone and resin!

(Part of) The West Highland Way!

Don't get too excited, I didn't make it all the 90 odd miles to Fort William! XD

I went out yesterday with my friends Cat and Motunrayo along the West Highland Way; the starting point of which is in my village. We originally intended to go to Mugdock Country Park, which can be accessed along the same route but changed our minds half an hour in. The whole WHW takes days if you walk it and none of us were in any shape to attempt very much more than a few hours!





The route was really quite flat with a couple of minor hills along the way, and although it wasn't perhaps the most sunny of days, it was lovely and cool to walk and I got some nice photographs as I went along.





We thought we'd only manage about four miles and then turn back, but when we got to one particular spot, Mo wanted to go on a little so we could see the hills, so we did...then just kept on going. XD





The Campsie Fells are a range of hills nearby, named after the Gaelic name of one of the hills, that translates to "crooked fairy hill" which is rather sweet. It's most striking feature is Dumgoyne, a volcanic plug that sits right at the end of the range. It was really interesting to see how it changed as we passed it and the distinctive silhouette became more unfamiliar as we went along.







 





After several long hours we finally made it to our destination - The Beech Tree Inn.



We couldn't stay however, as Mo had to be at a show in an hour's time so we called a taxi to take us back to the start. XD

I am woefully unfit and need to lose about 100lb but I'm pleased to say that I only started to struggle along the last quarter of a mile and even then it was just being footsore rather than out of breath or exhausted. We're hoping to make this a fairly regular walk which would be fantastic if we could keep it up because I for one could certainly do with the exercise!

The three of us (I'm not the most photogenic of people, haha!)

Some customised riders...

As I have so many horses (well over fifty Julips now, eep!) I need rather a lot of riders. I have a lot of customised Doctor Who and Primeval figures that do the job, as well as many I have made myself, but I also have a small selection of Julip HOTY riders as well.
The newer ones are infamous for being virtually useless as the wire in their arms and legs is so stiff you can barely pose them. (The earlier iterations of the riders in the '90s were a lot more bendy though, and had nicer expressions)

I've never bought any new, but I have acquired a few over the years, either second-hand off ebay or, in two cases, won in the raffle at live shows!

I had a few in my body box that needed some TLC so this week I sat down and did some surgery... :P

First up we have Lexi.



I completely re-bodied her, with pipecleaners for her body and limbs. Her arms came courtesy of a really naff doll's house doll (whose only redeeming factor was her usefulness as a limb donor) and her boots are Equorum ones, though they are literally just latex recasts of the Julip HOTY boots so I don't really feel too guilty about using them as they're practically Julip anyway, lol.
I repainted her eyes (a bit too big but hey) and gave her some new hair, complete with 'shaved' side section like all the cool kids are modelling these days. To complete the look I gave her a couple of piercings courtesy of some tiny microbeads I had in my stash.



I bought a packet of T-shirt transfer paper at the £1 shop last year that I'd never really got round to using on anything so I dug that out and printed out a load of things including t-shirt designs and even some little EAE logos I can stick onto the edges of saddlepads and things! The pattern is rather lost on the black of Lexi's top unfortunately and it probably doesn't help that the image shifted when I was ironing it on but oh well, it's not bad for a first attempt!

Next up is Daisy.



She was also rebodied, though she got to keep her own arms. (albeit extra long ones, heh) I accidentally made her legs a bit too long too but I think she suits a slightly unrealistic physique. I sculpted the boots from fimo, and her new hair is a combination of mohair and tibetan lamb's wool.  Her face also got a repaint and I think her eyes turned out much nicer than Lexi's.
Her jumper was made from a sock of all things (£1 shops ftw!) and has another transfer print on it. This one looks a lot better I think.



One of the benefits of customising riders is that you can get a good range of variation in height and body type - just like real life! All too often with model horses, the riders all look the same and are usually white, blonde and slim. I like to shake things up a bit. :P



Finally, we have Lauren, a very minimally customised lady. (who doesn't actually have a cyborg eye, it's just the way the light's reflecting on the gloss, lol)



She is one of the slightly older HOTY riders, and as such is perfectly bendy without needing any alterations. The only thing I don't like is that she can't turn her wrists but I can live with it as the rest of her mobility is so good. I gave her a little chest padding (they are all completely flat chested by nature, ahah) to give her a little more of a figure, repainted her face and gave her some new hair. Her jhods are original, as is the waistcoat, but her top is just a bit of scrap fabric cut to size.

It's hard to believe they all started out looking identical!



Here are some of my other altered HOTY bods.

The girl on the left -  Ainsley - has been rewired - same body as normal, just with new wires put in and sections cut out of the plastic to enable the joints to bend better. The one on her right - Mhairi - has had exactly the same done, although her legs were shortened as well.



Kelly, in the middle here, has had exactly the same treatment. (although no amount of customising can ever put a smile on her face, she's the yard's perpetual grump)

 

The girl on the left is a customised doll's house doll, but with an entirely new body and the boy, Rory is completely home-made.




Sally here is as close to original finish as is possible out of my lot - she too has been rewired but that's about it. I gave her some padding and a new jumper (nicked off a small boy) but aside from that she's just as she was out of the packet. (and just as grumpy as Kelly!)






I made a really brief tutorial a couple of years ago on MHL for those wanting to adapt their stiff old HOTYs into a useable state. It can be found --HERE--

SM Scale Desert Rock Diorama!

I'd actually finished this a few weeks ago but only had some pretty basic phone photos of it as I'd managed to misplace the tripod. *insert eye rolling smiley here*

It is the same size as the Fell dio from a few weeks back, but couldn't be more different!
Inspired by the iconic rock spires of Monument Valley in Colorado and the like, I couldn't resist trying my hand at a proper 'western' style diorama.





I made the rock from some leftover blue foam I'd used for a college project so the whole dio weighs very little indeed. A couple of the smaller rocks are actual stone chips but they don't add much to the weight really. The foliage is a variety of lichens (actual tree lichen, not the bog standard 'reindeer moss' that doesn't really look like any kind of real plant in dioramas, lol) with some scatter made from static grass, readily available scatters and some dried herbs - so it smells good too!

It's quite 'flat' but depending on the angle its viewed from, you sometimes can't tell!















I say it's Stablemate scale but it looks equally as good with small Schleich scaled models as well if you imagine it's just a smaller bit of rock.





As much as I like it, I don't really have enough stock type models to really warrant keeping it so I'm hoping to sell it if I can find someone interested! If no one on the forums fancies it I'll stick an ad up on MH$P. :)

I do take commissions for dioramas in all scales so don't hesitate to contact me if you'd like me to make you something. :D