Ok, so this is getting a little ridiculous now – over 2 months on and I’m still raving about the BOYCC event. Well, that’s just how I roll I’m afraid!
I just realised I didn’t post about the Goodie Bags! I will save that for a separate post, as the bags were so incredibly generously filled that I think they deserve a post of their own!
So, on to The Show – the middle section of the BOYCC Event; a two-day show, day One being Workmanship and day Two being Breed classes. On the evening between, we had a lovely meal with themed tables – although this took place in the middle of the show, I’m going to report about that separately (perhaps covering the event in 5 posts now…?).
I’d not been able to pack many models, so the image below shows my entire showstring for this event, including the two additional models I bought from Donna, two tiles I bought from Melly (the FHF Tiles, I missed out when they were available and thought I’d never get one [all unsold copies were destroyed after a certain date], so I was very please when Melly brought some she had kept to sell, to raise funds towards the next BOYCC, where she plans to sponsor another person for the show. I think this is a wonderful idea!), also shown is my SMB BOYCC special tile, still in it’s cellophane wrapping.
Aside from all the clinky goodness on show, there were some additional goodies on display, including these items of Jewellery from Mel Miller – some of which included Lesli Kathman’s bead-works.
Here are some of the other lovely sights from the showers’ tables.
If there were a single model in the world you could own – what would it be? I think this guy would have to be mine. The ever-stately Boreas by Karen Gerhardt, this copy glazed by her to a mind-boggling matte dappled grey.
Heather (I think, so sorry, the name has escaped me!) brought along a host of Hagen Renaker models. HR had produced a special run for the show, it included a really sweet dog and a grey appaloosa horse. They came as a set, advertised as “buy the horse, get the dog free, or if you prefer, buy the dog and get the horse free” – made me chuckle! That giant squirrel in the background was an interesting model…!
On to the classes! First up was the Appaloosa Workmanship class. This model by Addi grabbed everyone’s attention, it has an incredible glaze-job on it!
This was my entry:
This was one of the models Donna had brought with her, I had been sooo tempted over this one, he didn’t hang around for long though and was right there on the show table the next day!
The level of detail and craftsmanship in this first class set the standard for the rest of the day….
Whilst the show was going on, the various artist donations were arranged along the bar area. Here is the donation from Kristin Lucas Francis. She hadn’t been able to get to BOYCC but had sent over not just a centre-piece, but all the decorations to make her table (on the evening, see further down this post) into a tropical paradise. Her Centrepiece was a fabulous arrangement of basket and flowers and, nestled in the middle was a “Tiki-Saurus” model.
Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig overwhelmed us all with goodies, here you can see the amazing one-of-a-kind centrepiece model alongside some of her other donations – here we have a set of her little Hammies, and also some additional tiles she sent which were actually reject models, experimental glazes that hadn’t worked for various reasons. I was lucky enough to have a winning ticket for the door-prize (aka raffle-that-isn’t-a-raffle-cos-we-weren’t-allowed-to-in-that-building) and I swiftly chose one of these – I plan to hang it in my studio to remind me that, though something may not be “technically” perfect, it can still be very beautiful. Hopefully it will help me to accept the time to cast a model and stop picking away at it – something I do really struggle with.
I know you want to see this closer, so here is a couple of shots of Sarah’s amazing Table Centrepiece:
It was smaller than anyone expected, which shows just how very detailed this model is. The finger in the shot isn’t for scale, I just kept on shooting while the other ladies were having a mooch through all the goodies too!
Here we have a couple of very large medallion models (I’m not sure they are called medallions – you wouldn’t want one of these enormous models hanging off your neck, that’s for sure!) donated by Lynn Fraley. Lynn wasn’t able to attend BOYCC as she was having surgery following a round of chemo. Lynn is an incredible woman, check out her blog for some inspirational positivity!
In the background is the pot donated by Marge Para, it was superbly decorated, it reminded me a little of the Hagen Renaker wall hangings I’ve seen on MH$P occasionally.
I can’t remember who donated these Collie medallions, I’m so sorry, please add a comment below if you can credit this artist. I thought these were really lovely!
Karen Gerhardt brought along some goodies, including a (insert “shock, horror” moment here) resin model!!! She had on offer this lovely Optime bust, plus a couple of art-glazed mini medallion/pins models similar to those from the Workshop she held, and a resin Roundabout model, allowed in with special permission, as he will shortly be appearing in clinky form. It was lovely to see this model, especially as he was inspired during Karen’s stay in the UK.
Donna Chaney also had more goodies for us including these little chess piece models. I have to admit, I’m a bit of a sucker for these guys and might have tried a bit of bribery during the show to try to get my mitts on another one! Sadly I wasn’t successful, however it all turned out ok in the end (as you’ll see further on).
Here’s another random panorama from the show. I love these pictures, they really grab the atmosphere of the moment!
Back to the donations – this, well, this guy was just divine! This is Karen Gerhardt’s Table Centrepiece; a custom glazed, claybody custom large traditional scale Boreas! Needless to say, I was all over this guy – I was going to be sitting at Karen’s table so was going to get to ogle him all evening, he was just stunning!
This is Donna Chaney’s Table Centrepiece, it was so beautiful! Cupid is my favourite AA model and this one of a kind scene model was just beautiful. How Donna managed to fly this from the UK to the other side of the world without breaking it is beyond me!
Here is Addi’s Table Centrepiece. it’s not shown very well here, but the piece was a pot that she had made during college I believe, it was a unique twisted shape and had some very bizarre transfer-type images on it but it also had Addi’s style and charm, and was filled with some lovely decorative treats including some lovely tea!
I admit I didn’t get many photos from the show itself, I was either running around like a lunatic trying not to miss classes (with my tiny showstring I really had no excuse!), or making like a Magpie at all the lovely shiny things! Here are a couple more highlights though, including this brand spanking new Wyakin in Bone China, who made up Michelle Platt’s entire showstring I think. She was so lovely!
I thought this Animal Artistry Rearing Shire was beautiful, I love the steely greys!
And this little miss, wowsa – there were a few Vixen and Imp models (most if not all belonging to Melly!) and they are just amazing – how they are cast without breaking is just mesmerising!!
Here were some more awards, Addi told me that some had come from Etsy, I got the card of the artist, I’ll try to remember to post those details here at some point as these tiny little pin awards were so beautiful, and the way they were presented just added to them.
During the show, upstairs a few collector classes were held. First up was the Medallion class, there were some really interesting entries and it was quite an education reading about them (click the pics for larger images):
This was my entry, though I also added a little “Key” explaining each one. I had mistakenly thought that there would be medallion classes in the show, so hadn’t brought a “collection” per se, however I did manage to cobble together these, now I had my FHF Melly tiles and my BOYCC one too.
I’d happily have any of these, I love Lesli’s work and am hoping to add one of her “trading card” medallions to my collection one day, but I want to create my own trading card style model following her lead, perhaps we could trade, hehe!
Talking of Lesli… Throughout the show, Lesli was wearing one of her lovely pendants. I can’t find much information on these apart from an old blog post of hers here. I am a big fan of Lesli’s work, the only reason I don’t have more is that my “up” times financially never coincide with the times she sells lovely treats like this. I commented on the necklace she was wearing at the show, and to my surprise and delight, she took it off, handed it to me and said “call it a wedding gift”. So, I am now the very proud owner of this beautiful pendant, with a gorgeous glaze design.
Even the back is beautiful – look at the filigree style mount, it’s just gorgeous! Thank you Lesli, this is a VERY special item and I will treasure it!
Ok, back to the show! This was another entry into the collector class. I did squeeze two entries in (after I explained my goof over the medallion classes vs single collector class). These chess-piece style models from Donna Chaney are beautiful, very tricky to photograph though, so I’ll put two pics of them.
These are glazed in a green/metal glaze, I’m not sure what to call it but it is very nice indeed. I also have some in a blue glaze, and some in a creamy coloured glaze but I only have the complete set of 6 in this green colour.
This set was lovely I thought too, and as the show progressed, this entry grew and grew after Mel Miller added in a Lesli Kathman pendant she had constructed into a dramatic deep red necklace, and I added in my new treasure, and I think someone else added in a piece by Lesli too, sadly I didn’t get a shot of this once everyone had added in to it (I’m sure I did, I think I’ve lost a few photos! 
)
Here was a great entry featuring the original BOYC Trophy model in a lovely metallic glaze. I love the Fraley “rock” models too, and as it turned out I managed to purchase a pair of these from the show to add to my own collection (it might even be the ones pictured, hehe!).
Here is a lovely collection, very nicely presented too, I think these belong to Kim Knight, I’m not sure though.
I particularly liked the two SMB medallions in this set, I own a pair of these and have seen lots come up on MH$P and eBay over the years, but I’ve never seen them in this lovely variegated glaze before.
Another addition – spot the newby in the collection below (scroll up to see how it started out, hehe!)
Finally, this superb collection of medallions including one model I’m not sure what to call – the centrepiece of this collection was an incredible piece! Nobody knew anything about it, I think it should be in a museum it looks so incredibly delicate (and in MINT condition, too!!), I was in awe… and so was the judge – this collection took first place in the medallion collectors class.
My two entries took fourth and fifth places, which I was very happy with. I was even more happy when I saw that they had won two new little SMB magnet models – Sarah must have been working round the clock to have all these gorgeous models done in time for BOYCC!
There was also an Animal Artistry collector’s class, sponsored by Donna Chaney. I appear to have lost my photos from that, too which is disappointing as there were some very collectible models in the class! I had entered 5 of my 6 Cupid models as, stupidly, I had managed to lose one of them before BOYCC. I have now found the wayward model, it was still wrapped up and hiding in the packing materials for my show string! Here are my Cupids:
First up – Cupid (predictable)
On this photo below, on the left we have Cupid the Cute (struggling for names for him!) and Little Lucifer on the right…
This is Noel, a OOAK take on the Christmas special run model from 2007…
This is Spotty – as you can see, I have trouble finding names for my models!
…and finally, this little wayward miss is the model I had lost prior to the show. A slightly more adventurous name, this is Flutterby:
Without my photos I’m not sure exactly where the collection (minus Flutterby) placed, I think it was 5th or 6th. I didn’t mind this at all, there were some super-rare models on show and my collection wasn’t complete, plus, I got this cool purple t-shirt from Donna!
Back downstairs to the main show hall and it was time for the big-guns to come out and my goodness, there were some super models to ogle! Recently (and more so since I visited the Royal Worcester Museum last year), I’ve been interested in works by Doris Lindner. There were a lovely selection of pieces by her on display, I was amazed some of these had been packed for travelling, the fragile little details on them were beautiful!
This Suffolk Punch model in particular caught my eye – I think at some point in my life I hope to have one of these, though it will have to be a rich and lucky time to find one and afford it! This model took the blue in his class, which did not surprise me at all, he was awesome and those ribbons in his mane and tail were so fine and realistic!
I also noticed this model, I’ve seen copies of these (or even this one, they’re very rare so I believe) online and loved them, but seeing it there in front of me was a treat – the engineering behind this model is amazing in itself!
As I drooled over all the beautiful model, I came upon this – it’s a Clinky Little One!!! I was so thrilled to see this, I had seen all of the Little Ones Joanie had done so far but only as photos, so seeing this model on the table in front of me was a real thrill! I took a couple of photos, one with flash and one without.
And this Little One is in very good company, look at all the wonderful models it will be living with!
More treats on show, here is a little Minkiewicz family…
…and this guy, he is Animal Artistry Royalty! I’ve seen this model pictured on the Animal Artistry Gallery for years, it’s definitely on my wish list (and probably most other AA collectors too, hehe!)!
More donations appeared throughout the show, it seemed every time I looked there were even more! These custom glazed treats came from Addi I believe:
…and these gorgeous tiles were from Marge Para too!
This is a shot of the dining area, if you click on it you can see the tables to the left, then the notice boards and book of remembrance for Karen Grimm’s family, then the tables to the right were where we had the medallion collector’s class. Over to the far right you can just see the area that was used for the presentations.
I had a little job in the afternoon of gluing the glazed tiles into wooden frames, to be used for the overall champion prizes. I think I got them all glued in pretty solidly!
As the afternoon neared and end, I took in a few more sights from other shower’s tables, including this crazy beautiful itchy horse model, it was so pleasing on the eye, I loved it!
The “Other Animal” class was split, as there were many feline entries. This isn’t feline but caught my eye – can you identify this model, I have a few friends who have seen this and would like to find out more, and so would I, I thought it was lovely!
The judge for the newly created “Cats” class, asked if I minded if they split my entry into two – a custom model from AA, glazed as a portrait of our two cats, Amber and Deeley. I though it might be because she liked one cat but not the other, but as it turned out she wanted to award first AND second place to my little model. I was so proud, my first Blue ribbon of the show!
These are the lovely little pins that Amber and Deeley won.
Here is Cupid the Cute (renamed as “Neptune” for the day as I forgot his name…sigh
) on the left , Venus the Pegasus and Little Lucifer in the Fantasy class. I have a fair few fantasy models but only brought these as most I have are so delicate. with wings and horns and so on.
There were some lovely entries, including this Rocking Horse
Here’s a table shot, I was a bit tickled as the two models shown closest below; the Pegasus and the Batwing horse, are both models I have at home but had left behind, so I was really pleased to see someone had brought their copies along.
Another blue! Venus took first place and I was so excited! Neptune (aka Cupid the Cute) and Little Lucifer also got ribbons for 5th and 6th place too.
I was also really happy to see how these guys placed too!
I think this model may be a HR, but I’m not sure. He was so sweet, very large but cuddly looking (which is an achievement for a dragon!)!
Towards the end of the show, the Artist classes were on including (amongst others) the Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig class, Joanie Berkwitz class and the Donna Chaney custom model class.
I entered my cat model and to my absolute delight, they won the class!! Now, you remember those Chess Piece models Donna had, well, guess what the prize was for this class – I was thrilled!!
I think my energy was waning towards the final minutes of the show, so I got very few photos which was such a shame
The show ended which was sad, but I think everyone took home a prize of some description and new purchases galore. I gained a couple more things during the show, including another chocolate Pirate Parrot (more on that in the Goodie bag post), and a little Al Hadiye model from Deb McDermott. I really love the little Arab, Deb had a few models and I was tempted with them all, but this little one took my fancy the most.
Next up – the dinner event – well worth reading as it has plenty of clinky models going on!
) – Sarah wasn’t at BOYCC as her father was poorly, but she sent along ample gifts for her table including the amazing OOAK sculpture she created prior to the show.
