I got the final list together of who is going to Off to the Races Live next month. I got my lists printed and all the tags done. Now I just have to finish putting together the case to haul them in. For the last 5 or so years I have been using this black file folder case. It has hard sides, it's pretty deep and has space on the top for random office things. The biggest plus was that it had a handle. There was nothing better than watching everyone else walk into a show carting box upon box and making multiple trips when all I had to do was grab my one file folder bin and head in. I liked the size of it because back when all I used was puffs to move horses I could easily fit 24 of them in the case. But, all good things must come to an end. Today my case finally kicked the bucket. The latch broke this morning when I was opening it. I was bummed, but at the same time I was a little excited because it meant that I could get a new one. I knew what I wanted to do, getting to actually happen has been a different story.
Years ago I had seen a photo tutorial on making a custom fit case for artist resins. They took a hard sided container, placed foam in the bottom. then traced around the horse to make a hollow space that was perfect for that horse. Then more foam on top and a little chunk under the belly to keep it all in place. I had thought for many years that I would like to do that with my horses, but never had the extra cash needed. Well today was the day. I came up with the general design that I wanted to use, each well would be 3x4 inches with an inch around it on all sides. Another inch above and below to separate the horses seemed like the perfect design. The first and biggest problem was finding a box that would fit what I needed. I was looking for something that was roughly 15x13, not an easy size to find.
I got lucky and found something that was 16x13 and was deep enough for several layers. The only down side was that it didn't really have a good handle. It has a simple one, but carrying it full of foam and horses might get kinds difficult. My original design called for the wells to be 2 inches deep, because I'm crazy and thought that Stablemates would need that much space. After getting all the way home from the craft store, I realized that I should have gotten more 1inch foam, not 2inch. Not to worry, its on my way to work so I was stop and return the 2inch chunks and get more that I need. I did manage to cut out all the wells from the foam that I had. If I can find 1/2 inch foam for the separation layers, then I can get 4 layers instead of 3. Either way it will be enough for all of my horses. 3 layers gets me 27 wells and 4 layers gets me 36. I like 27 better since I have 24 horses, but with the extra space I would have space for papers, extra leg tags and probably a book. I also made some fleece pouches to put the horses in so that the foam doesn't mark up the finish. I don't have access to a good sewing machine anymore so I decided to try liquid stitch. I love how fast it all went, about 1.5 hours to cut and glue all 25 of them. But I'm not sure how they will turn out. The bottle says 24hrs to dry, but they are 99% dry already. I don't want to mess with them until they are totally dry. I will post on how they turn out in a couple days.
I got the confirmation yesterday that I'm entered in Off to the Races. I'm really excited to go but at the same time I'm a little nervous. I haven't shown model horses since 2013 and I have no idea if the horses I'm bringing are even worth bringing. I got most of Zap painted yesterday and I just have to finish him. I don't have any brown paint for hooves so I'll have to get some tomorrow. I'm in love with how he turned out. I pasteled a horse to look like him earlier this winter, but I didn't do it in the smartest way. I marked the white pattern and tried to pastel around it. He's a black and white pinto, so you can guess it was a disaster. The pastel dust went over the lines, which I figured would happen but I didn't think about the fact that the dark dust would get all over the white. I did about 5 layers of thinned paint and it still looks dingy and the white pattern ended up being too far off the model to look natural. I don't have any pictures of him yet, but I hope to soon.
Other than all that things are ok. Trying to go with the flow at home and work, doing what makes me happy and keeps feeding the spark.