Throwback Thursday

The subject of my last post was my new Thestral, but he wasn't the first one I ever made. Even if he's a huge improvement over the last one.

Back when I could show in the Breyerfest Youth Show, I sculpted a Thestral. He started out as a Morgan model. I think I made him the last year I could show in that show--so I was 16--making it seven-ish years ago. He won his unrealistic custom class.
I couldn't find a picture of him at the Breyerfest Children/Youth show, but here's one from a local show. I showed him at a handful before he fell apart.

Time hasn't been kind to him. I have zero idea about where his other front leg is. For real. No idea. He had wings at some point, but they broke off too and have been lost.  I made them out of chopsticks and fabric. I spray painted it all.

While I was making him the leg popped off and I merely hot glued it back on. It seemed like the most clever of ideas at the time. Unluckily for me, hot glue has a much shorter life span than the super glue/baking soda mix.

I still like the face work I did on him. 

One day I'll make a traditional Thestral, but for now, I'm happy with the huge improvement between one and two. 

The Making Of Black Mirror

Back in Febuary I had the desire to sculpt. But I didn't have any idea of what to sculpt so I hacked off a few of the stablemate unicorn horns.  

But then then it hit me. An idea. I'd had a Django body hanging around for a year and imagined him as a Thestral.

Thestrals are skeleton horse like creatures with reptilian features. And a beak.

source: harry potter wiki

First I drew some guide lines on him.

And then I grabbed my engraver and dremel and went at it. I whittled him down to pretty much an armature.

The trouble area was the tail area. Chopping the tail off took away some of his hind legs too. Oh well, it needed resculpted anyways. 

Threstals have long tails so I inserted a wire for that. Super glue and baking soda held it together. 

Next came the actual sculpting part. 

I finished one side of it in a weekend before putting it down. After I'd finished the face I thought wow, now I have to do the other side. I think I'm good for now. 

School took over and the Thestral was forgotten. After I finished the semester I decided to do more work on him. And the idea of entering the best of customs contest took hold. 

I stopped taking progress pictues because I needed him done, and done fast to meet the deadline.

The wings required some creativity. I made an armature with wire and poka dotted fabric. I stiffened it with baking soda and super glue.

The Thestral gained the name Black Mirror because of my re-binging of the Netflix series.

After much sanding and painting, Black Mirror was done. He was photographed the last day the contest was open and the photos were submitted with two hours to spare. I'm really happy with how he came out. It has been a long time since I've resculpted something to this degree, so it was a nice challenge 

Time To Get Thrifty

I love to go to yard sales and thrift shopping, and in the last few weeks I've picked up some cool stuff.
I think the draw of it to me is the unknown. You never know what you're going to find and that makes it the most fun.
I often find the most interesting model horse accessories. My favorite part of the hobby is the diy aspect of it so yard sales are the perfect spot to find odd objects. So here are some of the things I've found the last few weeks.
Furniture making is a hit or miss with me--but for a grand total of 50 cents I thought these two pieces would be worth a shot.

This fence is cute and all but the flowers and leaves will be perfect for a flower pot or something that requires plants. I don't love to make flowers so I try to buy in scale ones whenever I see them. There's enough to make two pots.

There's something this can be used for. It could be a part of a jump or a part of a trail obstacle.

These HO things are tiny. I haven't figured out what to do with the wall thing, but the box of potential props still has space.

I've always wanted to put one of these together. It was cheap and unopened,so again,  I thought I'd give it a try.

I've never found Breyers at my local Goodwill, but a few weeks ago I found a few classics and stablemates. The two foals will be my 2019 Feather Fund donations.

Now this was my find this weekend. I haven't fully figured out what I'll use it for but it'll look nice on my computer desk until I do. I bought it for 3 dollars, decided to look it up online, and found that it's worth 130$.

Whenever you pass a yard sale and have extra time, stop at it. You never know what'll be there!