Finished Julip Stableblock!

 As promised, this post will be pretty word-light and picture heavy!

The Bridle Tree Barn-Raising Challenge 2021!

This project has been a long time coming, and just to warn you, this is one of my biggest blog posts to date, so I'd advise getting yourself a cup of tea and a snack if you're intending on reading the whole thing in one go! (seriously, it's like 10k of tutorial and angst)

A 'spot' of customisation!

 

Obligatory 'sorry for not posting, I'm useless' introduction, now onto the main topic!

As you may have noticed, I haven't posted any Julip content in a good long while. I don't hate them, nor am I giving up collecting them, they just aren't my main focus these days. With one thing or another I haven't bought a new Julip in years, my last one being a very generous gift I was given last year right before lockdown. I've got several ideas for orders, but who knows when they'll happen!

Anyway, long story short, a few months ago my friend Paul asked me if I'd like to rehome his solitary Julip. He'd been gifted him a number of years ago and while he liked Julips, this particular one didn't really do anything for him as the appaloosa pattern was a bit unrealistic, and he knew I'd be able to give him a more appreciative home. He suggested I customise him and after seeing photos, I definitely agreed. 

With one thing or another, he finally made his way across the pond a couple of weeks ago, and upon opening the box I was greeted to this terrifying sight!

Newbies!

I meant to post this last week but er...you know the drill. XD

Anyway, I came away from the show with a handful of new arrivals and I honestly couldn't be happier with them!

First up is the gorgeous Sullivan, who'll probably be either a Connemara or another Highland for the growing herd. Her name popped into my head almost immediately, and it wasn't until I told Heather that it hit me - I'd accidentally named her after her mum's adorable black cat! 😂

Out of all the grey Julips I have, she's definitely the darkest and I've been after something similar for years, so to find it first time on my favourite mould was just perfect luck! She's had her head dropped a little too which gives her such personality!

Before she could officially join the rest of the herd however, she needed a little tweak...

The mohair Julip uses now is beautifully soft but can go insanely frizzy, as evident here once I got her home...

 

That just wouldn't do at all, so she went on a little trip to the grooming area in the Livery stables for a hose down and a thorough makeover.

Some VERY belated new ponies!

I've been a very bad Julip owner and haven't posted about this lot at all!

I got two spares at the official Julip Live last October (which I still haven't posted about! D:) as well as a couple of animals, and snagged yet another spare just before Christmas.

When I arrived at the live show, as ever, there was a huddle around the spares table so I dumped my bag and boxes by my table and raced over, and to my delight there were still plenty left. The first to catch my eye was this striking lad - a Sports Horse with dropped head and added feathering. I'm not normally a huge fan of the mould as it can be a bit awkward looking but the dropped head really makes a huge difference and I love him now. I named him Taliesin, not originally after the eponymous ancient Welsh poet who I hadn't heard of until recently, but Taliesin Jaffe, the voice actor who I first came to know of through watching Critical Role. I just thought it was a really unusual name!

I love his detailed mapping...

...and his really quirky interrupted blaze.

 I didn't intend to buy more than one spare but as so often happens at live shows, they call out to you and you find yourself powerless to resist their rubbery charms. This was indeed the case with Womble the donkey, who took so long to name it's literally been months since I got him, and is the main reason why it's taken me so long to post about them all!

I was very brave when I got home and very carefully cut a mane slot in his neck so I could hair him properly. As much as I love the donkey mould, I really don't like its baldness, so I added mohair to his neck as well as his tail. In hindsight I wish I'd given him more blonde than grey but never mind. His ears looked a little plain too so he got the painted ear floof treatment.

He's only my second donkey and it's really interesting to compare him to Lyra, who was made fairly early on in the mould's life.

I have to pose Lyra like this as her forelegs are different sizes and she doesn't stand stable any other way, so ignore that aspect. Womble looks somewhat bigger too, though that could just be an optical illusion because of their different stances.

Lyra is a lot rougher in texture everywhere, whereas Womble is considerably smoother, and the odd-sized legs are more even now. While I prefer the newer, sleeker donkey overall, I do prefer the more defined features of the older model. I'm not sure if its just down to mould wear or over-buffing, but that's the great thing about Julips, they're always different, even if they've come out of the mould one after the other!

I couldn't resist some more animals either, and the colour of this lovely cat immediately reminded me of Tristan, my friend's old cat who died last year. He was a big fluffy Birman so the model isn't a perfect portrait of him but the colour is spot on. He was affectionately known as Tristie (or whingy, as he meowed loudly all the time if you ignored him for more than a couple of minutes) so that's what I named his mini version.

Here he is making friends with siblings Alfie and Edie.

 I might repaint his eyes to match the real mog at one point as I hadn't noticed they weren't blue until now!

The bunnies I named Sandy and Frost, and they join the rest of the warren which is growing so quickly I've had to cobble together this handy name chart so I can remember which is which!

Just before Christmas, Laura announced that she'd be doing some spares, and everyone put forward some suggestions for colour and mould combinations they'd like. I've been after a fleabitten grey welshie for AGES, so when I got a message asking if I'd like first refusal on such a pony, I leapt on the opportunity!

I've always wanted a little grey pony I could inflict lots of pink and diamanté encrusted tack upon, as I think every riding school has that one pony that looks like the result of a unicorn exploding around them; all glitter and bling! I'm not a huge fan of pink myself, but the idea of making all the aforementioned bling really appeals to me so I'm really looking forward to it!

I called her Angel to fit with the 'perfect pony' theme and well, it was Christmas, so it seemed appropriate! XD 

She's the only one to have her own item of tack made so far!

Lake District Live newbies!

Yeah, yeah, I know this is ridiculously late! XD

I bought a few new faces for the Julip yard at this show. I went in hoping for a new Welshie as its my favourite pony mould, but the first one I grabbed at with glee was a Pit Pony.

I've since named him Domino (original, I know) and he's seriously cute.

I ordered up some fake grass samples the other day to experiment with and while they're only tiny sections and mostly too out of scale for Julips, they do come in handy for ponies!

Propped up against something they make rather good hedges too!

As per usual I made him a rug/headcollar set after I got home and he's been spoiled with this very squishy fleece number.

I wasn't sure about the colour choice at first as I usually like piebalds in red or navy blue but I think this dark teal suits him.

At the show, Heather had actually grabbed the only welshie on the spares table to pass to me as she got there first, but I thought she had claimed it for herself so I had a moment of angst until I realised she was waving her at me, lol.

This little mare is the reason this post has been delayed for so long! As I was going to pay for her, Laura warned me that as she had literally just been finished the night before, her paintwork was delicate and I should wait at least a week for everything to stabilise before I styled her hair or anything. That suited me fine as I knew I could work on the pit pony in the meantime and all was well. Well, at least it was until I flipped her mane over one day to see how it would look on the other side and realised there was a bit of paint missing on one ear! I must have caught it when I fiddled with her mane and could have kicked myself for not being more patient. Laura was very good about it all and offered to take her back immediately but I held off, as I wanted to see if it would stabilise and as it was only a little bit missing I could touch it up. It took a few weeks of cautious picking with a fingernail every now and again to test but eventually it stopped peeling and I was able to fill in the missing section with acrylic. You wouldn't know it had ever happened to look at her now, but I'll still be extra careful with her just in case!

She was nameless up until a couple of weeks ago when I posted this pic on facebook (yep, the Pokemon Go! bug has bitten me!) and a fellow Julip collector told me that I absolutely had to name a Julip Pidgey now and well, it stuck. XD

She really is the most wonderful shade of chestnut and I adore the colour of her mane and tail. (even if it really doesn't want to lie flat despite the amount of products I've put through it!)

I now have three chestnut welshies and I'm not quite sure how that happened, lol. I'll need to take a photo of them all together to show just how different they are, despite being similarly coloured and on the same mould.

As well as the ponies I had a bit of a splurge at the animal table too...

I saw Richard putting this one on the stand and I don't think he was there for ten seconds before I'd claimed him! He's easily the nicest Julip dog I've ever seen and almost everyone else at the show agreed! I named him George after the pub we were staying at (The George Washington) and also because I felt he needed that kind of traditional humany name. He got a smart leather collar too as soon as we got home and I think it suits him perfectly.

Laura said they made him a twin as he turned out so well and I think he's being cast so more can be produced which is really nice as I think it will be a really popular addition to the line! I've always loved Fox Terriers and Airdaley types so I'm super pleased to get one in Julip form!

In truth I'm more of a cat person than a dog person and I really wanted some of the walking cats at the last show but I wasn't quick enough. I more than made up for it this time and ended up with two!

Brother and sister pair Alfie and Edie were too cute to separate so I just had to get both. Hey, I don't make the rules!

Alfie's stripes were the first thing that drew me to him - I'm a sucker for a nice ginger mog!

He's got such a mischievous expression too, like he's plotting all manner of shenanigans.

Edie was slightly less stripy with a shorter tail and more rounded features...

...but had a really sweet expression. I think she's definitely the lap cat of the pair - more interested in settling down on the sofa for a nap than hunting mice and getting under everyone's feet ala Alfie.

Both enjoy exploring the long grass in the fields though.

Alfie's probably plotting to catch my other two newbies, yet more bunnies for the collection; Ash and Puddle!

I spotted Puddle first but because Julips get lonely without company (again, I don't make the rules, this is just fact!) I was forced to find him a friend and thought the little grey one was quite unusual.

I need more bunnies like a hole in the head but they're just so addictive I can't help bringing back more at every show! 

I'd quite like to order up some in wild rabbit colouring so I can use them in scenes and things though, so that's something to think about for the future.

Anyway, it won't be long until the official Julip Live in October which I'm *fingers crossed* going to so assuming I can actually save some pennies by then I might have even more to introduce!

Copperfox 10 Day Challenge! - Yard Tour!

 Post 2 of my Copperfox 10 Day Challenge.

Day 2:  Name your model or barn

'Have a go at naming the most recent addition to your herd by giving them a show name, stable name and pet name. As further ideas, why not do the same for your barn or stable yard and then make a barn tour video?'

I've already named my yard and most of its inhabitants, but I thought a yard tour might be a nice idea for a post. I don't have it all set out permanently so a video wouldn't be very easy to manage, but I can definitely show it off using the medium of photographs!

Rowan and Ava

Another new arrival I meant to introduce along with Rosa the cob, I couldn't do it until she'd been given a name which was proving elusive! Some Julips arrive with a name already, others tell me what they'd like almost as soon as I unwrap them and others, well, others are awkward. Rowan took weeks to name, and in the end it wasn't even me that came up with it!



This lovely little lady came from a fellow collector on ebay who I didn't realise I knew until after I'd bought her! XD  She had a black mane and tail which seemed odd considering that her clearly light coloured legs weren't exactly conducive to being bay. I fell in love with her adorable little face though and just had to have her, despite her odd colouration. I thought she'd make a far better chestnut and was happily justified when I took her on a little trip to the Julip Salon after she arrived.





As per usual she got her own tack set on arrival, though ironically she's still waiting on a headcollar and rug which are usually the first things I'll make for a newbie! I used some of Horsing Around's new Julip scale stirrups and I have to say, they're absolutely perfect! I got them in a sale they had on after Christmas along with a set of Stablemate ones which I'll need to get round to using soon.



Her rider is newly made too, and while I'm a bit 'meh' about her face, I do like her customised unicorn jumper! She's called Ava and will be either her owner or loaner, I haven't decided yet. She jsut had to belong to her somehow though, they've both got matching hair after all!

Some very belated new arrivals!

 First post of a new year, hooray!

I hope 2016 will be an improvement on 2015 - the last few weeks of last year weren't so good for my family. My grandpa, whose health had been steadily declining for years, died a week after his 90th birthday and less than a week before Christmas, and we couldn't get the funeral arranged til Hogmanay, so the festive period felt well, less than festive. It was long expected though, and he went peacefully so I'm not as sad as you might expect - I'm just happy he's in no more pain really.

Anyway, that was morbid, back to the ponies!

As usual, I ordered myself a Julip for Christmas and got her in plenty of time, but through one thing or another, I didn't get round to photographing her until this week!

I'd absolutely fallen in love with some friends' gorgeously gorgeous piebald cob mares and asked Laura if she could make me something similar - I think she was pleased to get a relatively simple order from me for a change!

Despite loving cobs, I have very few in common cobby colours, and so far all but one of my Cob Mares are shown as Highlands, so I thought it was about time I got myself a piebald. I also fancied adding some feathering for that proper traditional cob look and well, to say I'm pleased is something of an understatement. XD

 

I feel kinda bad though as Laura added in hoof stripes...which now you can't see at all. XD

I washed her mane and tail in my usual way, but this time with some hair mousse afterwards and I have to say, I think I'm a convert! (it smells lovely too, so yay, bonus!)

I deliberated over her name for absolutely ages, and she was originally going to be Domino, until Rosa popped into my head whilst watching TV and now I can't imagine her as anything else!

Because she was a Christmas coblet, all her tack is suitably festive.  She got a sparkly headcollar with white fluffy padding on the nose and poll...

I think I glued on the poll padding a bit squint, lol

...an equally glitzy rug made from some festive fabric I got in a post-christmas sale at the local fabric shop...

...and a bridle with inset red leathery bits, loosely based on -this one- I found online.

I got some leather lace from a friend for christmas, so I used that for the bridle, only it required skiving and I kept slicing it too thin and breaking it, so some parts had to be glued together from too short straps to make them longer!

She doesn't have her own saddle yet, but here she is in someone else's for photos.

 

Rosa didn't arrive alone however...

When I bought the two collies from the Oxford live, and showed my mum, her first thought was that they looked a bit like foxes, and that thought stuck with me until I knew I just had to order one up!

Lewis and Morse.

It's amazing the difference a fluffy tail makes!
He has such a cunning and crafty expression, like he's planning some mischief, I just had to call him Reynard!

Definitely plotting.

I'd also managed to nab a couple from the last spares night before Christmas, although it was something of a miracle I managed to get anything - everything went within seconds!

The first was another bunny - I just couldn't resist! I called him Cinnamon (or Cinnamon Bun(ny) to give him his full title. XD)

I also got two at the Oxford Live, which I don't think I introduced - Freckle on the left and Conker on the right.

Finally, a moggy!

I can't say I'm much of a fan of the Julip sitting cats or indeed, sitting animals of any description because they can't do anything in scenes other than sit! At least standing ones can be made to look like they're jumping or rolling around with a bit of imagination, but sitting ones are pretty limited!

That said, I couldn't resist this one because of his face, he's just too cute!

I called him Marmaduke, and to me he looks like the sort of big chunky mog who'd be a welcome lap-warmer during the winter months.

I've bought something else in the meantime, but until I pick a name for her she'll remain unintroduced!