All Things Spangley

Well I have had a very productive weekend! Whilst taking the final castings from the Lawrence, Baldy and Claude medallion molds I had a bit of festive fun and made a few sparkly Christmas Tree decorations (ornaments). The pic above shows the six castings fresh from the mold, and the picture below show the almost finished article with the tri-colour hanging loop and little bow and bell attached - I have also made a couple of teeny tiny bits of holly, mistletoe and snowflakes that I will be adding to the finished decorations, but I couldn't resist taking a picture of this one on the tree!

I managed to get just one final u/p resin Baldy cast before the mold died, the Claude and Lawrence molds are still holding out, so in all this last weekend I got 10 Lawrences, 4 Claudes and the 1 Baldy in unpainted resin, plus 6 Xmas decorations, and a number of head-only castings in glitter; plus, I still have the Lawrence and Claude molds to make a few more of each. I have given myself until 31st to get as many as I can, but if the molds are still going by them I will finish regardless and that will be that. I started making the head-only castings in glitter to make into tree decorations, but the glitter hides the details and makes them look like blobs! So I had a look through my stock of different finishes and found the polished aluminium ones show the details best. This is why the finished decorations have an aluminium head on a sparkly background, I also added a touch of glitter to a couple of the auminium bits for added twinkle. The halogen tree lights really make the backgrounds twinkle, unfortunately I can't get my camera to catch the sparkliness at it's best! Finally, I have packed up TIBBP medallion, I have a new-found packaging friend in clingfilm, it's an excellent packaging material, cheers Deb for telling me about it!

Season's Greetings!!

Finally, this lovely model is complete! This is the medallion that represents The Blessed Broodmare Project, and I hope you all will find it as wonderful to paint or display it unpainted as I have found it to sculpt. . Sculpting this has been a pure pleasure, the mare knew exactly how she wanted to be from day 1 and her foal has progressed so nicely, I don't know if it is the positive energy coming from the members of TBBP Yahoo group (the group name is now out of date but cannot be changed sadly), Deb Buckler's wonderful emails or my good friend Beccy who is my (neglected) shoulder to cry on when I'm struggling :) Perhaps it's the knowledge that it will bring some good into the world that has made it such a joy to work on, but whatever it is, I don't believe I could have made such a lovely model without these things, so feel I can't take full credit for it's creation.

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Some lettering will be added to the base by Randy Buckler, as I'm hopeless at that sort of thing! I think it will say "The International Blessed Broodmare Project" but I don't know for sure.

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I will be posting this original off in the next few days to Resins by Randy, and then I should have prices. All proceeds will go to TIBBP.

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The medallion is of a mare and a fuzzy foal, laying on a grassy base with the odd dandelion leaf and a comfrey flower to the side. The comfrey symbolises Healing, Growing Together, and Unity, which I believe is very important to this piece.

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I will be updating my website shortly so you will be able to find further images there shortly. For those who aren't aware my website is www.kelly-savage.com, there is also a link on my profile to the right of this post.

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On Another note, I'm closing the editions of the medallions Lawrence, Baldy and Claude this month, I will have to see how many I get from the molds before I can say how many were made, but I am planning to make a few Christmas tree decorations (ornaments) using the molds too. I'll only be making a few but it's very exciting!

A bit worn out.

Well, it's been a little while since I posted, it turns out that burning the candle from both ends justs leaves you with burnout! I've been ordered to take things a bit easier, so with the exception of the TIBBP medallion (yes - it's now The International Blessed Broodmare Project!) I'm not going to be starting any new projects for the remainder of 2007 (it's only a few weeks but I'm bubbling with ideas already!). Here's a pic of the medallion as it is now, I'm adding a banner along the bottom, though how I'm going to fit "The International Blessed broodmare Project" on it I honestly don't know!

I've been doing a bit of casting, and now have a nice little number of special finish "Frodo the Shetland Pony" medallions, and have discovered Mica powder so my castings now have added sparkle!

I'm hoping to do some work on Jasper while I'm taking things a bit slower, which I'm quietly SO excited about, so watch out for an update on him soon.

That's about it for now, I'll post pics of the Frodo's I cast shortly, and hopefully Jessica will be started with casting the unpainted copies soon, she's having one painted up so I can't wait to see my sculpture all dressed up - I love seeing my models painted, it's like the final chapter to the their story!

It's another crazy week, meet the soon-to-be TBBP medallion!

This is the reason for my manic-ness, sleep depravation and current need to be extra nice to my neglected boyfriend! I have yet to finish the model off, and add the T.B.B.P initials or "The Blessed Broodmare Project" if I can fit it on.

I am so pleased that Deb and Randy Buckler have agreed to take my design, cast it and distribute it as a 100% donation towards the horses needing help at the Animali Farm. I'm annoyed with myself at not having it finished sooner, but I really hope that sales from this model might make some difference to the future of a PMU horse that would otherwise face the notorious Canadian auctions.

Please feel free to email me with any observations (if you don't have my email go to www.kelly-savage.com and use the Contact Me page), I have yet to add the text to the medallion so any suggestions on that are gratefully received. I've no idea how much it will cost to buy one of these medallions, but all net sales proceeds will go the The Blessed Broodmare Project horses (TBBP horses are a group of Animali Farm mares that we have chosen to concentrate our efforts on).

Oh, for UK blog-readers, I hope to see you at the Breyer Tour Event in Grantham this Sunday - for details go here or here. I'm aiming to finish the medallion whilst there and will have an array of models, materials and other gubbins - if you're there please stop by and say hi!

It's been a busy week!

As the title suggests, this last week has been a particularly manic one! I spent the weekend casting some more copies of the new Shetland medallion, I'm not showing full photos of them until after the MECs on Saturday, but here is a sneaky pic of some of them all lined up after casting.

I've also started working on a new medallion for the PMU Mares at The Animali Farm, namely the ones listed on Deb and Randy Buckler's website. I was on the Animali website today looking for images I could use as reference for the medallion, and I was so saddened seeing the "Deadline 29th October" notice on so many of the horses listed. The donations are listed for them but there are just so many, the donations are spread far too thinly. This has given me a renewed determination to get this medallion completed as soon as is humanly possible!

Hopefully the sales of the new medallion (a 100% donation by myself and also Deb and Randy Buckler who will very kindly be casting it) will be able to help the mares, sadly not those who's deadline is looming though as it won't be ready and cast in time for them :o( Still, the crisis will continue and there will be more horses who will need our help.

The medallion portrays a draft cross type mare, laying down with her tiny foal beside her. Showing a pregnant mare on a medallion was going to be quite tricky, so I have chosen to illustrate that the crisis these mares are in not only affects them, but also their unborn foals who are as helpless as the mares are to secure their future. The medallion itself measures about 10cm across, making it about the same size as the SMB Feral mare medallion (if you've seen one of those).

ALL net (ie less Paypal fees) moneys from the sales of the medallion will go straight to the mares at the Animali farm, so if you'd like to preorder please get in touch with Deb and Randy as soon as you can, I'm sure they'd be happy to take advance orders on this special model if it helps a mare or two (though a price hasn't been agreed yet as the model isn't yet finished).

Oops I forgot to post the pic of the bronze Shetland pony medallion. It's starting to age so is looking like a real bronze. This photo was taken in a way to reduce the perspective distortion of the previous image, and shows the actual sculpture much more accurately. My apologies to those who subscribe for the multiple updates!

Fuzzy Shetland Medallion in Cold-Cast Bronze

Well, this is very exciting! I've got a cast of the Shetland medallion, which I finished at the weekend. I've just polished it up and here it is: Although this finished model is mine, and I will be making custom-cast and special finish medallions (I have one mold), the new original for this model will be sent to the lady who commissioned it. Not to worry if you want a copy though, she will be producing the unpainted resin medallions and offering them for sale in the near future.

Shetland Pony Medallion

I have a lovely opportunity - a comission sculpture! I've been asked to create a medallion for a lady who would like to expand her casting portfolio. I can't really put too much here, except it's a Shetland Pony, and it's a hairy little thing! Here's a couple of teaser pics:

Guest Artists

I now have a list of guest artists lined up to paint some copies of Pickle (various versions). Sue Kern very kindly painted up the two models pictured here (not for sale at this time):

(Click pic to enlarge)

I have been lucky enough to confirm Guest Artist commissions from the highly talented Lisa Bickford, and also from two of my personal favourite up-and-coming artists Natalie Wolfer (who paints lovely soft peachy noses) and Josie Inman (who can paint fantastic eyes), so watch out for some really nice painted up versions of Pickle soon!

The original for the new version of Pickle will be making her debut at the MECs Championship show on 20th October, and will hopefully go for casting then.

Other news:

2 unpainted copies of Pickle have been donated to the EDIT - I got the wrong show!!! - I've actually donated two models to the Halloween Hoe Down III show on 13th October (not the NEIBITs show which was in September - I bid for some of the auctions on that site, so got all confused when blogging!); and I am told that at least one is to be used as the prize for the Overall Artist's Resin division winner! These are the only donated models I will be sending to the US as, well frankly I can't afford to give away any more models because I've paid for professional casting on them.

The Shetland pony medallion is coming on nicely, I'm hoping to have that finished in a few weeks, at which time it will be handed over to the lady who commissioned it. I will be retaining one mold to use for custom casting purposes though, which is very exciting! Pics to follow.

Poor Jasper is still waiting patiently for some more work to be done on him, I have been offered a place on the Wind Ward RESS program for him, but I'm not too optimistic that I'll have him up to the standard required soon enough. It is so frustrating, I really wish someone would invent a 28 hour day!!!

I've been working on a body model I got ages ago - an AA Classic Striking Out Arab stallion, I have been rebuilding his mane and tail and repairing a broken leg on him, I am hoping to paint this model up myself, in oils. Goodness knows if I'll make a good job of it or not, but I'm looking forward to it immensly!

Ok, that's it for today, I will try to post a little less frequently but I thought I should post a quick catch up on all the models I'm working on.

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

Well I've started re-working the first cast resin model I got with a much more stable base, which has also raised it up a bit too. Please note pictures show unfinished model.

I'd appreciate any comments you'd like to make on this new version. it's hard to see how it will look properly with the dark clay against the white resin so you'll need to use your imagination a bit. I've sculpted some additional mane in the dark clay too so it does flow nicely (IMO).

I'm still planning to make a tack-friendly version of this model, but until the second version (pictured) is cast and I have a new resin model to play with, I can't start on that one.

Ok, here's my first update:

Pickle, the Arab mini-bust has been selling well, the first mold is almost sold out and I have been working on a new original for the second mold (the first mold was taken from my clay original, so it was lost).

I've decided to make a change to the second original, making her taller so that she stands more securely and also if anyone would like to use her as a model for their Arabian tack, she will be more suitable.

Therefore, if you like the Pickle the way she is pictured, you will need to order quickly as I have just 2 in-hand and up to 5 available to order if the mold quality holds out.

The second original will still have a full mane, so if you are after a very tack-friendly version please contact me (no obligation) as I will only re-sculpt her forelock and remove part of her mane for the third mold if I have enough people interested.

Check out my full website here for full info on the Pickle edition.

New blog!

I have blog!! Well, now I've got over the fact I have managed to set this up all by myself without any help, this is my new blog, if you're just passing through or have signed up to it, welcome! I'll be posting blog here on the model horse sculptures I create, work on or paint. At this point I have already cast and issued my medallion trio Lawrence, Baldy and Claude, and more recently have just released my new resin model "Pickle", a mini-bust Arab model. As always, Jasper, my traditional scale Percheron sculpture is still in the works. And finally, I am currently working on a Shetland pony medallion sculpture as a commission and hope to get photos of that one up once it's finished and approved by the lady who commissioned me. Well that's all for now! Kelly (goes off to search for "stick the stuff I just wrote on my blog please" button)