Recreating the Harecroft Horses logo

One of my favourite wild animals is our native brown hare.
I'd always liked them, but one almost magical experience nearly twenty years ago made me see them as something truly special. Mid winter, alone in a bitter-cold frozen paddock made sparkling by a low sun just reaching above the hedge line, and some little movement made me glance up; a hare, running steadily in a straight line across the field. For no apparent reason, quiet and unstartled, he veered off his line and ran a full circle around me, about fifteen feet from where I stood, turning to watch him as he went. When he'd rejoined his original line, he ran on away through the frost and was gone. A breathtaking encounter, and unforgettable.

Some time shortly after starting to show my Julips, back in 2001, I chose the name Harecroft Farm for my model horse herd. A couple of years later, I drew up a logo based on the fascinating and ancient three hares symbol, and used it in my website graphics, forum signatures, and as a watermark on any photos submitted to online resources like Stonehorseref. There's even a fictional pub named The Three Hares in my written work.
Unfortunately, over time, and in transferring files from one failing computer to another, and my website from old hosting to the current one, I'd lost my master copy of the logo, and no longer used it.

The other day, realising how long it had been missing from my Harecroft branding, I was thinking of recreating the original logo from a poor quality copy, as simple pixel art the way it used to be.
But then I thought, no, I can do better than that.
Graphics have moved on - whereas in 2002 a two-tone pixel art jpeg made with mouse clicks in Microsoft Paint was a decent enough stab at making something, these days I've got a Wacom tablet with a very clever pen, surely I can create a much better version now!

First of all, I drew up a rough of a running hare. He didn't need to be too large or too detailed, after all he'd soon become just a part of the bigger project. 
If you look up 'three hares logo' on google images you'll see all kinds of different artists' interpretations of the same logo, from beautifully realistic and detailed paintings, through to sleek and simplified digital outlines. Some of them look cute, some veer toward dramatic and slightly creepy. I wanted mine to be naturalistic and appealing but not overly stylised. Click to see him full size.

Once I'd made one hare, it was time to duplicate him round into the carefully aligned triangular trio, sharing just three ears between them. Getting the angles exactly right so the special redrawn ears matched up was very tricky, and because my mind's not mathematical in the slightest, I had to just judge it by eye and guesswork - in fact there was a tiny bit of scribbling and adjusting done to make them fit!

Here they are! Some illustrators draw from extra nature-based motifs for decorating their three hare pieces, like leaves or flowers, while others emphasise the symmetry with an elaborate border. But because mine is intended as a logo, I wanted it have a very simple open outline. 

On a plain white page, which I can change to any colour linework and overlay onto any background for making my website graphics.

Here's a couple of small bold-outlined copies, which will work as a light or dark watermark over photos, should I ever need to use one.

And finally, I couldn't resist putting some colour into the original hare rough and finishing him off nicely.

Magpie Models - two new customs

Last week, I started sorting out some photographs to enter in Magpie Models' first ever official photo show.
My little herd is rather retro, as I've got left behind by new releases - all my OF Magpies are getting well toward vintage status, from the 1990s to early 2000s. And so there's a strange charm to looking through their photos again after all this time - a nostalgia for the hobby the way it used to be, the friends who used to collect alongside me, and the excitement of finding a new pony to tick off the list, or sharing newly painted customs with our little community of fans. 
I never stopped liking my Magpies, the whole herd still kept carefully on display to this day, I just stopped having an awful lot to do with them when I wasn't actively collecting, I lost my place in that discussion between collectors as the various model forums fizzled out in favour of the modern social media connections, and they never got show outings as I focused on trying to make it to just the Julip-specific events.

In short, without ever really having decided to, I'd dropped out of the Magpie community, and my herd had been, if not forgotten, then at least neglected. The closest I'd come to revisiting them had been making up a welsh shell as a portrait of my own pony, a couple of years ago.

Going through my photos again had brought back all those memories, of who I'd bought different models from, and of shows I'd taken them to in the past. The happiness of finding that rare Personality model for sale, or unwrapping an obscure one-of-a-kind and standing him among new welshie friends. For a little while, sorting out pictures, deciding who to enter in each class, remembering some names they'd come with and others I'd chosen myself, thinking 'oh, you ARE nice!' about old favourites...I was back in Magpie collector mode, enjoying them as much as ever.

And it inspired me, to go to the Miscellaneous Dusty Stuff section of my body box (which, let's face it, has never been just one box, but an assortment of different crates, boxes, piles and shelves where I keep unpainted or bargain broken/worn-out horses in need of a new coat of colour). I knew there were Magpies in there; at least two Welsh ponies and about three halves of a shetland, right? Turns out there's three welshies, less shetland pony than I thought, and a donkey in two pieces that I don't even remember buying!
I'd set them aside as needing too much prep work for now, and...abandoned them for a decade. I stopped painting at all, even the easy Stablemate bodies, so the awkward ones stood no chance. I do that kind of thing, if my inspiration or creativity crumples, I just hide from it and do nothing for unseemly amounts of time, heh.

But lately, I've been painting again. SO MUCH PAINTING. 

So, I thought, I'd embrace this little renaissance of Magpie love, and customise myself a couple of welshies. I'd love some new faces for my herd, invented little characters wearing coat colours how I paint them now, rather than how I painted fifteen years ago.
It was about time.

And here they are!

I chose two patterns I've had successful attempts with lately, as the whole point here was to do paintjobs I knew I was confident with and the Magpies deserved, rather than using up my extremely limited selection of bodies on haphazard or tentative experimental paintjobs which might not really work.

Here's a little in-progress shot - you can see I'm economical with my stupidly expensive paint by not putting any on the bits I'll be going over as white markings!

And here he is all finished, meet Harecroft North Star, who may well be my new favourite from my whole long conga of Magpie welshies.

 

I love the way he turned out, almost exactly what I had in mind when I planned him - except for the mane and tail. I didn't have any mohair long enough to make him a loose tail as I'd originally been imagining, just offcuts from my newest Julip's mane, so I used a little bunch of that for the bottom of his tail, making up the plaited top with half a cotton bud wrapped in black embroidery thread, and finished with a thread braid. The 'bud' end is still there, pushed in through the tail hole to hold it in place without even needing to risk the usual messy glue tactics. The mane is more thread, a long thick strand knotted to form the braids and glued down in one piece.

A couple more shots showing all of his markings, and then on to the next introduction...

Harecroft Thorn of Camorr (a name I've had on my ideas list for a very long time without any pony to fit it!), a British Spotted Pony.

Why an appaloosa pattern? Because I've never painted one on a Magpie before, this colour has been going well for me lately, and he could then be a breed which suits being shown plaited up. Because again, I wanted to do the braided cotton bud tail and thread mane - although I had a long enough hank of this mixed grey mohair to make a loose mane and tail, I hate handling it with glue, making a right mess of myself, the mohair, and the paintwork on the horse I'm trying to hair. Avoiding the model-spoiling, and general stressy horror of glue based hairing, was a major deciding factor in picking this breed over a British native which need to be loose and natural!

I seem to have lost his front-angle shot, but here's one of his other side so you can see all the spots, anyway.

There's one more welsh pony in the body box. I've re-glued his split seams, filed and smoothed them, and he's waiting for a colour idea to strike. And then there's the pieces of shetland, once I've found a pair of both sides rather than two matching lefts. And I'm sure I can do something with this halved donkey...

Breyer 2021 regular runs reviewed

I realise this post might seem really late, when any possible readers will already have seen the photos on retailer blogs and social media, but I admit it - I'm having a hard time getting excited about Breyer releases when the UK's supply of them is so patchy these days.
Let me make it very clear : it's not the British retailers at fault in the slightest - our online shops are doing the best they can to get their stock in throughout the year, they want to sell what we want to buy, and I'm sure they're as upset as their customers with how slow and frustrating things have got.
It's the distributor's lack of speed or willingness to get all the models imported into the UK in the first place (and, importantly, Breyer being ok with this) which leaves us feeling like second class customers, who don't matter and don't deserve a ready supply of nice things.
It's just kind of disheartening wanting to be an avid collector, but not knowing when or if we'll actually be able to buy the models we've taken a liking to. Some are only a couple of months behind the US. Other main releases aren't imported til summer, or autumn, and the retailers aren't promised up front whether the missing items will ever be added to the list at all. Some mid-years don't arrive til the following year - we don't have Peptoboonsmal yet, for example.
If you have your heart set on a certain model, maybe you can order it fairly soon, but maybe you just have to wait and wait til someone else decides if you're allowed that one.
So what's the point of getting excited over the 2021 pictures, when we don't know which are coming? Not worth being quick off the mark with my review post, when we don't know which will be available to buy quickly in spring, or later, or never.

Right, having got my apathy out of the way early, may as well have a look at the horses and record my thoughts on them - I find it interesting to go back to these 'first impression' posts much later on and see whether my opinions changed on seeing the models in real photos or in person, and which of my selections I did end up owning after all.
Each model name links to the item page on Breyer's official website, and opens in a new tab if you want to click it. I don't ever hotlink photos on the blog (cos I'm not a retailer allowed the pictures for promo purposes), so this seems the best way to show which horse I'm talking about.
If anyone's reading this post from the far distant future when these releases have been and gone and the links are no longer valid, I leave my honest apologies here in Feb 2021 and hope you're doing well in whatever year you're reading from!

Traditional scale

The Ideal Series - American Paint Horse
I wrote last year that maybe I'd like this mould (which I forever think of as The One Like The Stone ISH But Not Quite) more in a more interesting colour than the plain chestnut quarter horse we were given for 2020.
And I think I was right. I do like it more. But still not enough for him to jump onto any theoretical wishlist - there's still something about the head I find a bit off, I think the muzzle is too small leaving the head very pointed, and the eyes are either too small or to low, making him look a little bit less friendly and alert than the dear old ISH he reminds me of.
His pattern is taken exactly from the painting, and I've a feeling that may not have been based on any one real life horse - the front half looks frame overo while the back half looks tobiano, and yes I've seen enough pinto horses to realise this muddle can happen, but perhaps it's just that I'd kind of like models to be a good example of one thing or another?
But he's better than the plain chestnut, and I don't hate him, I just find I can't overlook two things in the same way I could overlook one - put a funny patch arrangement on a horse with a gorgeous, happy head, I'd still buy it; this one, I probably won't.

Sporður Frá Bergi
Now this is one which will hurt if it turns out to be missing from the UK shipment!
I've got two trad Icelandics already, the Svali regular run and the Elska dapple grey, and it would round up the little trio so nicely to add a skewbald friend for them. Sporður (I have to paste the Eth letter every time I type this name, my keyboard doesn't have one even in the alt key shortcuts) has great patches, well copied from the real horse, with just enough jagged-edge detailing and a nice ratio of colour to white. And it's a good small but chunky mould, authentic to breed type and with Moody's typical big-haired, accurate, and characterful sculpting style. He'd be a lovely addition to any OF collection but especially for Icelandic enthusiasts and general native-type pony fans. 

Theo
A mould I've been looking forward to ever since it was first revealed, he reminds me of the sort of imposing, hefty, muscular draft sculpt you only ever used to see in artist resins, it's great that he's made it into the regular run range so quickly, and in a very decent colour, too. I'm not 100% convinced on the breed choice, Ardennes are usually more massive through the leg and often more heavily curly-feathered too, but there's nothing stopping me picking one of the more athletic-built continental heavy breeds for showing my own one. Because Theo is also on the wishlist I'd be making if it wasn't for the ever-present doubt over whether we'll be getting him here, heh.

Cloud's Encore and Tor
Oddly enough, I was reading about the real horses not too long ago, when researching mustangs for my custom painting, and these two were on a list of mares and their foals born in a certain year. As with the Paint Horse, there's two reasons I don't like the Encore model enough to buy the set - the mould's long neck & lack of chest/belly depth, and the pearly paint. Yup, still hating pearlised colour on anything but the few breed & colour combinations which realistically have it - especially when it includes pearl hooves - I'm never changing my stance on that!

Chocolatey
Oh no, another one I'd like! What's that, three so far? 
I haven't got all that many of Breyer's trad appaloosas, quite a few have gone onto moulds I don't much like, so it's good to see a mould I not only don't mind, but don't have yet - Chocolatey may well be the first for my shelf, it's always fun getting a new one even if they don't tesselate so nicely as conga lines for space-saving display! Breyer's designer seems to have done a good job of his colour, not so detailed or flashy as some paintjobs with a lot of varnish roaning and colour shift and darker-coloured spots, but enough that it looks realistic version of a simple blanket pattern, and not a bad match for the real horse.

Obsidian
I don't do decorator models, but I thought Obsidian deserved a hugely positive mention because thank goodness Breyer have finally stepped out of the endless pearly pastel aesthetic for their regular run unicorns and done something very different! Sadly I don't think he'll sell as well as his sparkly rainbow counterparts, meaning he won't be around as long and they probably won't do anything else dark and subtle, and all the awesome goth kids won't have a unicorn collection to rival that of the pearly girlies, but hey, at least there's one. And a big chunky hairy horse, too. Hurrah!

By the way, the Trads have had a major box redesign this year, and...I just don't get the appeal. If they were aiming for cheap and boring, they hit the nail on the head. The new look with a washed out background image and loads of open blank space is like some low-budget brand trying to cut costs with plain basic packaging, and they're all the same. The old boxes had a sharp, colourful, quality look, individually themed by photo, colours, and font to suit each horse's breed, country, or discipline, which set Breyer apart as not like all the cheap kiddie toys, somehow more grown up and intelligent/educational, and therefore worth the high price.
And I'll really miss cutting up the box to salvage the background photos, because they were excellent for photographing smaller scale models against something which suited their nationality!

Classic scale

We have a new batch of regular runs this year (apparently we're supposed to be calling them Freedom Series now, but as a scale name that's hopeless cos they're packaging Mini Whinnies and some of the random aimed-at-younger-kids toy type models under the same branding, so all the collectors I know are determinedly still calling the Classics Classics anyway, heh)

Coppery chestnut thoroughbred
Very nice, but also too similar to the original chestnut Ariat release for me to need both.

Silver bay morab
Not liking the pearly mane or the mould, one to miss for me.

Bright bay morgan
This one is growing on me, I really like the mould and pose, especially his happy little face - I avoided the initial release because of, yes you guessed it, the bloomin' pearl painted mane and tail, so I could see myself ending up with one of these bays instead.

Black pinto rearing mustang
It seems there aren't many piebald models compared to skewbald, cos brighter shaded colours look more interesting as a paintjob, but I think a black and white looks really striking and I don't have this mould yet, so he's on my maybe list.

Pearly grey trakehner
I don't even have to say it, do I. My entire review is right there in the first word of his release name.

Buckskin blanket appaloosa
I'm surprised how much I like this one, the darker shading along the topline really makes the paintjob work, and I think if the production runs are as nice as this promo pic, I'll be very tempted. 

Spanish mustang family
Generally not a fan of sets, because there's usually one you like, one you don't, and one you're indifferent to - and this is no exception. The foal is brilliant, the black horse is nice enough, but the morgan mould I just don't rate much (although I do have one in the middle of severe resculpting, but his surface area will be more Milliput than plastic by the time he's done with, heh)

Stablemates

We still don't get a full set of Stablemate singles this year, but there are some single carded releases on offer - gemstone themed decorator colours on the unicorn versions of several moulds. I usually skip reviewing the decorators as that's best left for their fans, but these are worth a mention cos it's a good way to buy that elusive Alborozo body without having to shell out on a mixed set, or risk a blind bag with no chance to squeeze it first.

Pintos and Palominos
This is a really nice set, and another which I hope we'll be allowed to buy over here cos I'd be so disappointed if it's deemed not necessary for the UK collectors. We get a lovely pale creamy palomino quarter horse, a frame overo on that mould which I still think of as 'driving' from it's World Equestrian Games introduction, the brilliant levade lipizzaner in pinto (which is fun, for historical horse fans with a fondness for obsolete colours not found in the modern breeds), and the Darley mould in a dark golden palomino which will be ideal for my 'They're all National Show Horses' theory of that not being a proper old-world typey arabian, heh. 

In the Paint and Play department, we get single carded clearware unicorns (the same as in the boxed set last year : magnolia, alborozo, new warmblood and walking TB), blind bag blank white unicorns (G2 morgan, G2 warmblood, prince charming, mini connemara), and two different trio sets, the Horse family and the Unicorn family.
These are all intended for creative children and come with the obligatory chunky brush and plastic-potted bad paints, but would provide a handy way for adult customisers to get hold of bodies; the horns are easy enough to remove, but I do wish they'd do some non-unicorns of the fun new moulds just so I didn't have to do so much prep work to paint a horse!
The other Paint and Play sets listed as new, aren't - the moulds and even the paint colours in there are the same as last year - did they really discontinue and relaunch those just to add some logo blob marketing deal in the corner about something/someone called Froggy Stuff, which, I assume, young people care about and I'm too old to understand the point of.

On Identifyyourbreyer, but not on Breyer's own site, there's some 'Horse Foal Surprise' sets, which are an odd mix of last year's Mystery Foal adults (palomino walking TB, dun WB stallion, pinto loping QH), plus three new adults, and an as-yet unknown foal in each box.
Will it be the same foal, or a different one?
Why didn't they do two new horses?
Why aren't they on Breyer's site anywhere?
All as mysterious as a secret foal in a barn box, heh.

That's it, for now. How's my theoretical wishlist looking this year?

Three trads; Sporður, Theo, Chocolatey
Possibly three classics; pinto mustang, bay morgan, buckskin appaloosa
Definitely the palomino & paint SM set
Some more paint-kit walking TBs and alborozos for my body box

This might change. I've certainly got models now which I thought looked boring in the catalogue, or was sure I'd never like til I saw one in person. There's others I thought looked great but turned out disappointing in person and I never did buy them. And of course, what I can buy is dictated by whether the distributor chooses to import it all.
How about yours? Do any of the 2021 releases call out an irresistible 'buy me!' to you?
One thing I always find entertaining about this hobby is how one person's what are they thinking that's horrible horse is another collector's gorgeous must-have, how the ones I overlook entirely might be top of someone else's wishlist, while I'm sitting here raving about a totally different model, and none of my hobby friends get what's so good about it.
And does anyone like the new boxes better?

Bonnie and The Foal

What's the most exciting kind of model horsey parcel? One which arrives with this sticker on!

Inside, there's two long-planned and much-anticipated little paper wrapped parcels, with the distinct smell of fresh latex and paint. One big and one small, whatever could they be?

It's them! Portrait models of my two real ponies.

I've handled lots of tempting brand new spares in their plastic bags over the years at shows, but somehow none of them quite come close to the sight of your very own horsey friends immortalised in Julip form. 

After a little bit of hairdressing to make their manes behave the same way the real ones do, and waiting til I had a day off work to catch the brief hour or so where the sun gets far enough in through the window above the front door to set up my scenery, they've had their photoshoot and are ready to be introduced.

First up, Bonnie. A purebred papered shetland pony of true island stock, I've owned her eight years, and she's currently thirteen. 

Bonnie was my impulse buy, my depression cure; something to focus on, to give me a reason to get up in the mornings, and to have a friend in my daily life, even if that friend was a pony. Every day, no matter how miserable and bitter-cold, is better if it starts with hugging a shetland.

We've since done a lot of harness long-reining and long walks round the country lanes, in-hand jumping, and many hours of just enjoying each other's company, as I cut weeds while she nibbles.

Bon is that rarest of things, the nice shetland, so the Julip pit pony's cheeky-but-sweet expression is perfect for her.

The real Bonnie's sooty palomino colour changes all the time, from pale golden cream with grey legs in winter, through warm gingery tan with deeper brown points in spring as she sheds not one but two successive winter coat layers, ending up a surprising dark chocolatey colour in mid summer which contrasts with her shock of blonde mane. Then in autumn her coat grows through the gingery shades again, before ending up back to light gold by midwinter.

This presented quite a dilemma - which Bonnie should I get a Julip of?

In the end, I decided her april-to-june and september-to-october 'in between' coat would be better than either extreme of her sleekest darkest summer coat, or her deep winter fluff - that way, the model would be accurate twice every year, not once!

 

Laura, the Julip artist, was very worried that she couldn't capture this ever-changing coat, but the mini Bonnie Bunny is a spot-on match for the colour I had in mind, and looks so much like the real thing!

These pictures were taken at the only show we ever went to, and doesn't she look like such a Julip Pit Pony here! When the older Shetland Pony mould was resurrected I remember having a couple of 'oh, you'll be having that for Bonnie then?' conversations at shows, but I've always imagined her in the Pit Pony mould, and still think it's by far a better match for her.

   

Her mane always flops partly to the near side of her neck, so I copied the messy style with the help of a little bit of hair mousse (I bought a can specially for Julips!)

Here she is in her headcollar, a copy of her real one, apart from one thing - there's no way I could embroider her name into the tiny grosgrain ribbon, so it's missing the word BONNIE on each side!

After I'd already owned Bonnie for a couple of years, she gained a field companion, in the shape of a really, really annoying foal. We just called it 'the foal', and put up with it being there cos it needed a friend and a place to stay, and the owner thought my shetland would provide the companionship, while I provided the early handling.
Of course, it's impossible not to fall in love with the most scatty, affectionate, protective, eccentric, and just plain weird foal you ever could imagine meeting, we bonded into a little trio, so when she was going to be sold on at two and a half, I bought her so she could stay. She already thought she was my horse - or perhaps I'm her human! - so it was inevitable.

I backed her to ride, and we had a really great year or two exploring together, but we're both retired now - she never really enjoyed it so much as walking in hand with me, and I've got old injuries causing new problems which made it increasingly uncomfortable to be in the saddle rather than on foot, so we stopped the riding pony idea and are just field companions.
She'll be turning nine this spring, but she's still called The Foal, because nothing else ever seemed to stick. 

At first, I thought the Julip CJP would be the best mould for her, but as she grew up and matured, her shape changed a great deal, and last year I finally decided that the Welsh Cob mould looked far more like the adult foal. Both ponies have a little bit of feather under their heels, so I asked for their Julip counterparts to have that little bit of customisation, too, just to make them even more alike.

Left, the day after I bought her, and right, how she looks now!

Foal is another who changes colour with her seasonal moults, not so dramatically as Bonnie but enough that I had to make the choice which I'd rather have for her Julip self - I went for her light, bright and shiny summer coat, cos in winter she's very shaggy with fluffy legs, which the mould isn't!

This is definitely the right mould choice, just look at that quirky face! The Welsh Cob mould always looks like it's up to something it shouldn't be and just got caught, which is perfect for a horse who's devoted so much of her life to stealing my hats; picking up anything that can be picked up and running around with it; obsessing over buttons, velcro, and toggles on every item of human clothing she can get into her mouth; stalking wildlife; pestering trees; biting/licking/turning-upside-down/climbing-in or otherwise molesting wheel barrows... the list is endless!

 

You can see clearly here how she hasn't got fully black legs like most bays, but is actually the variation known as wild bay. Most of her mane is on the right side, apart from the little chunk which always flips over her neck to hang the other way.

What do you mean? I didn't push the wheelbarrow over. Those aren't my hoofprints where I tried standing on it with both front feet, and they're not my teethmarks in the wheel. I wasn't even near it. I wasn't even looking at it. I wasn't even thinking about wheelbarrows. I don't even know what they ARE!

In an amazing co-incidence, Julip foal ended up with one stray white strand of hair in her forelock, which only came to light when I gave her a parting to make sure we can see her little star. Real foal has one too, though this wasn't visible in any of the pictures I sent to Julip, and I didn't mention it!

I tried to find a sensible forward-facing headshot of the foal to show you, only most of her closeups look like this...

Or this!

But this is a nice one :

As with Bon, I made a copy of the foal's real headcollar, complete with fluffy noseband (it's actually her old one I stopped using cos the buckle rusted and got difficult, but the new one is an impossible multicoloured-green-checkerboard pattern I can't make in miniature!)

And here they are together - it's so, so nice to have Julips of my girls at long last, I'd always thought I would, but it's taken a very long time to get round to actually ordering them. They're definitely worth the wait!