Hobby Slump and Covid

My backyard during the snowstorm.

Neighbor's backyard after the snow storm.

(Sorry, the pics are outdated. There's a LOT more snow at my house now.)

The first half of December was really good. The second half was not so good. Don't get me wrong, Christmas is always very special and wonderful (especially when spent with family), but getting Covid immediately after is not fun. I was down with it for about a week.

January's been bad too. I fell into a hobby slump after my Covid, and just haven't been doing much. All of my chronic conditions flared too, so it sapped both energy and ambition. (I'm doing better now, just a few lingering issues which should be cleared up at my next Dr appointment.)

Since I last wrote, I have *checks notes, becomes concerned about personal spending habits* more than thirty new model horses to write about. Among them is a very special little fella who I am very excited to show off. Fingers crossed this snow stops flying soon so I can snap some good pics of him!

Oh, I also have the collab horse. ;)

In the meantime, enjoy some random pics of my camera roll depicting some current works in progress. I apologize for the horrific mess that is my desk.

Closing thought: Would any of my readers like to see a giveaway featuring a collection of miniatures? I'm thinking things like polymer clay model horse acc., mini candies (like pictured above), mini chip bags, etc. Let me know in the comments!!

First Layer of Paint

Wow, did it take me long enough to write this post?? Lol, I meant to publish this two days ago.

Anyhoo, I got the base coat on my collab pony! It's streaky and patchy, but that's normal for the first layer of a basecoat. I chose a nice, bright metallic chestnut for the undertones. He'll get darker and darker, but that color history will make him nice and rich. 

What do you think? I'm pretty pleased with the pattern layout, and it should complement the color nicely. :) Please post in the comments how your paint-a-long horses are coming!

Collab Body Reveal

 Revealing the body from yesterday's post! 

Photo credit to IDYB

It was Sagr! He was released in 1983, the same year as the Christmas Story. 

This was my first choice, simply because he was fully primed. 😂 I also thought he would be quite cute with some cat tracks on that long neck of his. I was bringing him upstairs from the priming station, examining him for priming flaws, when he started to "talk" to me. He made it very clear that he did not want to be a tobiano. By the time we reached the top, he had convinced me and I set about hunting for another body. I settled on this one, a Schleich TWH Stallion. I primed him, and I'm laying out markings now. 

Photo credit to Schleich stock image found on Bing

I picked the TWH up at a yard sale some two or three years ago. I paid a quarter! Pretty good deal in my opinion. He's been begging for new clothes since, and I think seal bay tobiano will be fantastic.

If you are painting along with us, please feel free to send me photos of your models! I would love to post photos of your models on the blog.

Collab Voting Results! And a Sneak Peek.

The votes are in! They surprised me, honestly. I think the base color that won (and won by quite a good lead!) would have been the last one I expected. No objections though! You guys picked good. :)

The winning color is SEAL BAY TOBIANO WITH CAT TRACKS! 

*Not my pic*

Seal bay won by majority, getting over 54% of the votes. Runner up was "Other" which I will cover in a moment. Then there was a tie between bay and chestnut. Finally there was black. 

Votes for "Other" included a lot of roans, duns, and buckskins. There were a few others as well. :)

Pattern votes were a lot tighter. Tobiano won, with just 2 votes ahead of overo! 3rd runner-up was splash, with an even spit among the others (excluding solid, which received only 1 vote).

"Other" in the pattern category consisted of cat tracks, rare markings, and some odds and ends, mainly specifying how the pinto markings should be distributed.

The Extra category had some fantastic suggestions! Thank you all! The most popular one was people wanting to see Artist Resins. I'm sorry to disappoint, but I do not currently collect resins! I plan on starting into them someday, but my current hobby room does not accommodate such fragile beings. I follow them from afar right now. :) I may be able to reach out to some sculptors though and request interviews, if that would be of interest? Let me know what you think in the comments.

I have chosen my body, but I will not be announcing who it is today. Instead, I will leave you with a sneak peek, cropped from a pic on IDYB. I will not tell you what scale. Please feel free to put your guesses in the comments! I will reveal the answer tomorrow or the next day. :)

Hint: Given their year of birth, they're lucky they didn't shoot their eye out.

Collab Announcement!

It's finally ready for an official announcement! Equiden and I have teamed up for a blog collab! We are each doing a custom model in the same general color. Here's the extra fun part. . . YOU get to pick the color!! You can vote using a google form. Link here. If for some reason you can't use it, please comment your vote in the comments. Please comment if you have any questions!

We get to pick the bodies for use, and they will probably be in SM scale (but no promises!). After the form closes, we will each be doing a series on our model's creation-  start to finish.

The form is available for voting for two weeks (that means that the deadline is Wednesday, May 17th, at 11:59pm EST). You can only vote once, so choose wisely!

Added note: There is a bonus question on the form, asking for suggestions on future posts/series/topics for our blogs. This is optional, but it would be awesome if you could fill it out. :)

As always, it is tremendously appreciated when you share the links and promote this sort of thing to your friends and followers! Please feel free to link to any part of this.

Here's a quick link list for easy access:

Equiden's Plastic Ponies - https://equidensplasticponies.blogspot.com

Spotted Dreams Studio - https://spotteddreamsstudio.blogspot.com

Form - https://forms.gle/azCjgPJGE27vTwa56

P.S. Thank you for all the well wishes! It means more than you know.