The Pegasus Project Part IV

The ol' peggy guy is moving along..... slowly but surely. =:)

It takes awhile to do a drastic custom model, especially when the clay takes awhile to set up and harden. I'll definitely be switching to Aves apoxie for the wings rather than my old standby favorite gapoxio. Apoxie sculpt is more of a non-toxic clay, and the feathers will be a "sizeable" feat to accomplish in themselves....
Here is the start of the neck. The factory NSH neck was too big and bulky for what was needed, so it went into the trash can. To build a new one, a wire armature is needed. I generally use twisted picture hanging wire that is easily moveable, and I attach it with glue and clay on the inside of the head and shoulders. The down side to picture wire being light and moveable - is that it does not want to stay in place very well. So after I fiddle around with setting it up where the skeletal strucuture would be, I'll then have to fill it with material to make it more stable.

Nothing is worse than spending a half an hour getting the wire just right where you want it, and then sneezing and knocking the whole thing onto floor...ugh!

To stabilize the wire neck, I carefully place wadded up pieces of tinfoil into the nooks and crannies as "filler" material. I'll then use some tape to keep the tinfoil from sticking out and moving. The reason to place fillers in stuff is so that you won't exhaust all of your clay supply trying to bulk up body parts from the inside out. You can fill up areas and then put your nice hardening clay on the top. It will eliminate spending excess amounts of money at the art store buying pounds of clay just to bury it in a sculpture.
Also, filling areas with a light weight material like tinfoil and tape cuts down on weight. This guy will be heavy enough as it is, even with him being filled with light stuff. I remember when I first started out doing models I would cram everything with clay and have a 20 pound model by the time it was done. I still use some of them as bar bells for work outs......

After the neck is attached firmly and resculpted, I'll move on to the main trunk. It always looks really bad to begin with. I've hacked the belly apart and lengthened the back out. Most of the underside is gone too, just a big gaping hole from the bottom of the heartgirth back to the inside hamstrings.

There is a whole lot of resculpting to do to the barrel and where it ties into the hindquarters. If anyone has ever watched a Teke gallop, or jump, (or any movement really...) everything shows up. They are a really animated breed. The rib cage, wither ties, lower stomach muscles, top backstraps, backbone ridge, and sarcal points are evident and can be seen through the skin. Even on a fat Akhal Teke - you can see the parts working when they are moving and being active. Fascinating stuff. It's probably the number one reason why they are so challenging yet so fun to sculpt. The moving parts are clearly visible.

Starting the rump. After sawing it in half and narrowing it up a bit, I'll have to go through and rework the entire hind end. You can see that the back lower half where the hamstrings are located are bigger than where the top hip bones are located. It looks "funk-a-delic" and incorrect from the dremel chopping work.

Almost all horses - no matter what breed or type, have a triangle appearance from the hip bones back to the hamstring points. This guy will have that too....in time.
-Shannon.

It's Springtime!

We are officially ready to welcome in the spring season with a lovely set of triplets! Wahoo!

"Fatty" the ewe always amazes me. She has never failed to deliver less than three lambs - (even with her very first lamb crop!) and always lambs before the rest of the flock. She's a great asset for anybody's program, and I consider myself very lucky she's in ours.

Last year Fatty had two dark ram lambs and a red and white ewe lamb. This year it is in reverse - a red and white ram lamb and two dark ewe lambs. Ironically, they are the same colors as last year too: a red and white, brown and white, and a solid black. There's some interesting color genetics at work.
Lots of sunny spring weather ahead! Wahoo!!!!
-Shannon.

Hi-Point Yellow Broomtail

I just got my fall 2010 issue of the "Aside World" publication in the mail - and low and behold! Nettie's "representin'" her breed quite well! She's the high point mustang in the International Sidesaddle Organization, and we're in the mid-pack range for overall high point equine. I'm fairly proud of my scrubby little high desert whirly-gig.
She's still a long way to go before being able to do any formal appointments classes, but we're making some good strides in getting there. One of my future goals is to compete in the sidesaddle class at the Eddie McMurdo show - someday........ Not sure if we'll ever get there, but it's a good goal to have.

-Shannon.

The Pegasus Project Part III

Heads ahoy!

Generally the most important part of a model, (or any animal scupture), is the head and eyes. It sets the mood for everything else to come. If a horse is spooking with nostrils aflarin' and wild eyes bugging out of their head, it's body will generally follow suit with a rigid "ready to leave" position. If he's being a laid back ol' plug in a field with some lazy flopped over ears and a dozing sleepy eye, you can bet the hind leg will be cocked and the body will be in an uber-relaxed position. It all begins with the head and eye to set a mood for what you want to do with something.

I'll be the first one to admit that I absolutely adore a good wild and wooly "out-of-control" horse sculpture. One that is freaking out and bolting off into orbit. But, the pegasus is at home in the clouds and he knows he is an immortal being protected by the gods. So he really has no reason to freak out about anything. He's proven himself to be a brave soul flying into battle against the kracken, so if that didn't rile him up - not much else would.
As you can see above, I've split the head into different parts. Tekes have a narrow overall body profile, and most american breeds have a rounder and more thicker appearance throughout. The NSH mold is a fairly beefy mold, and almost every inch of it will have to be slimmed down.

I started by taking out two swaths of the head to shrink the skull up a bit. You can see that the original mold had two different sizes of eyes. Most folks really don't pay much attention to models when they buy them in the store, but 90% of the time the eyes won't match up. One is generally bigger than the other due to the casting process. When you disect models down into smaller parts, these things become clearly apparent.
Frankensteed. After taking out a chunk along the skull line and underneath the jaw, the head is ready to be put back together. As you can see, the smaller eye and the veins are not level - one side is slightly lower than the other. When a model that exhibits a turned head is cast, sometimes one side deflates and the other side remains normal and puffed out. It happens, and there is generally nothing that a caster can do about it. (After all, Breyer models are a mass produced product.) But you can see that the cheek bone and jaw bones on the right side are puffed out, and the left side is flat. This will get fixed.
"The horror......the horror....." Marlon Brando's infamous whispered words leave a lasting impression when you're working with mangled chopped-up plastics. In order to do new eyes, the old ones have to go. The nose and ears have been chucked into the garbage can as well.
Bird brain anyone? Things get funky when you're playing around with anatomy. He looks more like a crow at this point. There might be more to the Turkmen belief that their horses were as swift as eagles after all.....
The shoulders are next. The same principle as the head will follow. He'll be going on an ultra-slimfast diet.
-Shannon.

The Pegasus Project Part II

Chop chop! The Breyer Naranda has entered the world of the Mayfield chinese chop-o-rama shop. The industrial strength dremel does wonders for cutting up plastics. She's now a member of the funky herd of disassembled co-horts that roams the vast plains of imagination land. Fun stuff!

As you can see, she now looks very different with just some minor repositioning of her loose floating body parts. She's gone from a high necked saddlebred looking creature, into more of a hacked-up trotting arabian contraption. You can begin to imagine what she will look like when there is anatomy attachment. Oh, but wait! Imagining the final image will not be quite so likely, because the finished product will look nothing like this. She will not be trotting.....nor have her head down.....nor be a mare......nor be that color.....nor have that mane and tail..... The plot thickens.

It turns out that I did not have the only original idea in the world to turn an Akhal Teke into a pegasus. The russian folks at MAAK have held this idea in previous years as well. In some of their advertisments for shows they have incorporated the image of the flying horse. Below is the 2005 silver version.

And then there is the 2007 golden version. It's a nice sculpture that someone has done. But I'm not sure if it's an actual sculpture that was awarded as trophies, or if this was a master bronze sculpture that was on display somewhere, or even if this is just a photoshop image someone has came up with for the ad...? I don't know. Information would be great. All that I know is that this looks like a grand idea!

-Shannon.

The Pegasus Project Part I

After years of battling through studio backlog orders, I'm finally beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Yayhhh!!!! This comes as a tremendous relief, as I hate for my customers to have to wait forever for something to get done. So I'm really glad that I'm finally getting almost caught up with older projects. My books were permanently closed after I buried myself with painting and customizing orders two years ago. At that time I didn't realize how time consuming some of the projects would actually be. But I've grown in leaps and bounds on sculpting equine biomechanics and trying out new painting techniques with those older pieces - so it has been a great learning experience. This brings me to my next exciting new project....

Very rarely, (and I do mean seriously rarely) do I get to work on something for myself. Since the backlog is starting to get cleaned up and out of the way, I thought it would be really great to work on something to go into my own collection for a change. Greek mythology has always been a great inspiration, and the immortal flying horse pegasus is a subject that I've wanted to tackle for a very long time. Of course, this great steed will have my own personal spin and style amended to him.

I love both the new and old versions of the Clash Of The Titans, and I think it's really interesting to see the different breeds of horses that they have cast as a pegasus. I do very much love the black friesian in the new movie! That is very cool. Changing the color and type of the horse is great. Friesians are a very romantic breed. But of course there is only one type of horse that could ever be a true heavenly pegasus in my eyes - and that is an Akhal Teke. Being a self-proclaimed hoarder of Akhal Teke models, I can't help but add a winged one to my stash. This is going to be an especially challenging project, but oh so much fun to try out!
Above is an ancient greek vase depicting Belleraphon astride pegasus slaying the chimera. There is some great literature and different depictions of the story of pegasus on this site: http://www.theoi.com/Ther/HipposPegasos.html


And above is the guinea pig that I've picked for this project - a Breyer Naranda national show horse mold. She will be mostly unrecognizable when completed. The disassembling of this poor girl will be broken down into different step by step parts for viewing. The end product will be a mighty flying Akhal Teke stallion with a golden bridle. I'm totally stoked for this project! Can't wait to begin...

On another note: In the past, a few people have asked me what it is exactly that I do with model horses. This project will be a tutorial look at the customizing process a model goes through in my studio. Maybe then, they will understand a bit more about the luney weird projects that I work on. =:)

Let the funky pegasus games begin!

-Shannon.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a bright and jolly Christmas and a very happy New Year! Looking forward to some new and exciting adventures in 2011. =:)
-Shannon.