Leather Team Horses & Wagon

Hello my dear readers and friends, *grin*

These pictures were taken right here at our farm. Today  seemed the perfect day for me to do these  foggy pictures. These horses have been waiting for pictures for a while now because I was waiting for a nice day and I know some people may don't like "foggy days" but I do!*grin*

These are  my new "leather horses" . I  have them listed along with the wagon on my Etsy shop, however , if they are not sold before I leave to Tom Bishop in Chicago, I will have them at  my table. If you are planning to come to the show , I would  love to meet  you  in person!*grin*

 Each horse have a unique position and expression.

 The hardness are all handmade from leather and many mini accessories. I tried to imitate real hardness  and they look incredible, if i may say,  real in person.:)

The horses  can be removed from the wagon and even the hardness can be removed as no glue was used but it does take patience to buckle everything back in place. ( also some fine tweezers) grin

The leather process is something that I tried last year and made 2 horses . I was blessed to find buyers  right way. I know theses are expensive collector items and i feel privilege  when one decides to collect one.

 The wagon is also handmade ,not by me, but I did altered. It is beautiful wagon!

If you like to purchase , please visit my etsy store.

If you like me to make a commission horse for you, I will be glad too, just ask!

 Thank you so much for taking your time to visit me and if you decide to leave me a comment, even small, I would like to thank you in advance. I am not always able to visit all who kindly comes here , as I still have 6 children at home and all the farm activities, homeschooling and more , keeps me very busy, but please know that I receive as a great encouragement and many times , I promise you this... I need it!

((((Thank you))))) **smiles***

 

Hello!!!!*grin*

These two  are listed on my ebay.... if you felt in love or just want to read about it , please visit my auction by clicking on the tab on the right.

((((thank you)))*smiles*

Horse and Foal

These are the only horses that will be available for S.I.M.P miniature show. I was thinking of mother's day when I made them and how blessed I am for having all my 7 children!*grin*

Ps. I will be doing my first miniature giveaway on July (it will be my birthday!!;)
I add a little poll on the left side. I appreciate very much if you could give me your opinion by answering the poll. I will add more details about the give way at the end of this month.Thank you kindly!!*smiles*

Pearl is now available

Hi friends!*grin*

Here is Pearl... my beloved white horse that I made back in Dec of 2011. She is now listed for 3days on my ebay. If you like to see more pictures ,please visit the auction and click HERE if you like to see progress pictures from when I made her!
Sorry for the short post... it is a lovely and beautiful Sunday Easter and I must spent this time with my loved ones! Hope you are doing the same, no matter where you are!!!!

White Horse Finished

Merry Christmas Friends!!*grin*

As I promised here is the picture of my first horse . The second one is almost ready too and it turned out very nice. I am very excited about making equine as my first ones I made last year were not that great and I can see a great deal of improvement as I am taking my time specially smoothing the clay prior baking.
What do you think? *grin*

Sculpting a horse...WIP

Hello dear friends~*grin*
I was not planning to do this post today but my kind husband took the children out for the day and I end up with too much free time in my hands, believe me or not!=)
well.... this is not a tutorial but I do want to share some things that i have learned through my own trials in sculpting animals,, specially large ones.
I am showing you mostly one horse but have been making two. This is a long process and when I am done, I don't feel like making another large animal for while. It gets to me in a weird way , I think.*grin*
I have made only few horses and few ponies so I don't have a lot experience but the idea behind any sculpting animal is mostly the same , just the anatomy and the level of difficulty is increased sometimes due to different reasons.

To get to his point I spent many hours preparing the clay, creating an armature in which consist of aluminum foil as a core of the horse's belly and a double twisted wire for the limbs. If one don't use the above will have problems. The final baked clay would be too heavy for the thin legs to stand firm and secure, for ex.





I have sculpted horses and baked as I go. For some ways is good because one can work with a hard surface and continue adding more clay and sculpting but in another way is not that great because one can not make changes and miss the over all finished look. So for this time I am not prior baking but rather sculpting the entire animal before iibake it.



Some times I start the head first but this time I did the body then sculpted the head...


Added the head ....

need to continue smooth and shaping the horse...
Now you can see that his face is getting the right shape... love it...grin... and I must say this ; * Nita, I was thinking of you when I was sculpting this horse...can't you tell why?*


As you can see ... he is ready for baking.... I needed to add support because although the armature is strong enough i don't trust the whole baking ordeal....
view from the back.... it is looking good,grin!
here he is baked and you can have a peek of my second horse too... both horses have apoxie sculpt on their legs... I love that stuff and use often with polymer clay. It strenghs the sculpture like nothing else. I would hate to have a animal broke ...
eyes... the eyes... the "life" of the animal, no?*grin*
For these horses I decided to paint with oil paints and then create a "glass- lens" afterwards ..
You can see a little close up for the second horse here... i ran upt white clay and had to mixed with flesh... that is 'why' the horse has a blended color...grin

Merry Christmas to you!!! I will post pictures of both horses when they are done!!

Now tell me... do you like me to show you my process or you like more just to see the final animals ?*smiles*

Updates! Teenager boy and Foals

Phew! I am done!*grin*
I finished the two foals and my teenager boy. His name is John and all three minis are available for bidding at ebay. If you are interested in buying them or seen many other additional pictures , please click on * my auctions* tab.
Thank you for visiting me! *grin*

Cheddar is done!*grin*

If you just stop by for the first time, please read my previous ( 2 ) posts . *grin*
While I was making *mini Cheddar* I did not let the children see it because I want their reaction for when I was done with him. Children are very honest about likes and dislikes and I appreciate that. When I first show Cheddar to Becca, she had the biggest smile on her face and all kinds of ohhh,awww could be heard! She LOVED it!*big grin*
This was a *big* challenge for me. I am still learning how to sculpt horses.... One would think the face is not as hard, but boy , I find it very difficult!
Mini Cheddar here looks like the real one right now... with his winter coat.I had a lot of fun and few tears when I was making him , but over all, I can say that I am happy. What do you think ? does he look like my Becca's real Cheddar? I would LOVE to hear from you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheddar WIP day 1,2 &3

*** you can click on pictures to view enlarged***

Hello dear visitors!*grin*

If you visited by last post or if you are just stopping by now, I am doing a work in progress of my first miniature Horse. When ever I can , I like to use my own animals as inspiration. One of the advantage of that is that I can get lost of pictures from different angles , in which I find very important and helpful for both sculptures in clay and wool.

I also spend sometime looking at the animal... I like to get the *sense* of them specially the eyes. I believe *there* lays the life of miniature animals as well for dolls.

If I try to sculpt the entire animals in one day , most likely it will NOT be my best. There is something about leaving it alone and coming back to it.... I find refresh ...just like when I do my oil paintings.... grin.

I am taking my time with little cheddar and hopefully it will pay off.



Below is DAY 1:



I first sculpted his face... I always do that. having the pictures enlarged and in a small size helps a lot .

The first time I sculpt an animal is always more difficult because once I add the wool he will change for better or worse. There is a * giving/taken* that is more mental than visual....

Cheddar is a little taller than my sheep .... I am glad I had a sheep to do a comparison. When making a miniature animals everything is important or it will NOT be right at the end. I must be careful with the size, sculpt likeness and wool application. *grin*

Day 3:

It took me 2 days of work on the first step. After I sculpted cheddar and fully fired him, I sanded him with a power tool.I would normally had painted his body but because he is fully hair and I will not let any bald spot to be showing, I only painted his face and feet.

For you to have an idea , each leg took me about 30 minutes to add fur. The direction of the wool, plus the right amount of glue and its application is something I need to be so careful. If I trim the wool to soon, the wool will flat and it is not good.... if I wait too long , the wool will stiff and I can not settle the wool how I need.... decisions...decision.... *grin*

He looks funny here because the wool is only partial cut.. much more ahead to come....

I am very happy in how his face is coming along. If i am not happy with the face , why bother with the rest? Can you see his mid forehead? the wool has the twist just like the real cheddar.... ohhh , I like that.

More to come soon....