Harecroft Holly Blue

This year brings the 75th anniversary of my favourite model horse company of all, Julip Originals. Made and painted by hand since 1945, Julips today combine the quirky charming cuteness of their toy origins, with detailed, realistic paintwork - each horse, pony or donkey is a little one-of-a-kind work of art. It'll come as no surprise to you if you've checked out the rest of my blog, but I collect a lot of model horses. Current total stands at somewhere over 1,600. But a Julip arrival is special, somehow - they're expensive but worth it, each one precious and full of character - they somehow count more than any other model horse. And they're highly addictive, I don't think there's any such thing as buying one Julip, they very soon work their magic and you find you own an ever-growing herd of them.

The annual official Julip live show has always been a highlight of the year for fans; a chance to get together in person, to meet new collectors and catch up with old friends, as well as taking our models along for competition classes, and if we're lucky, come home with a new addition from the 'spares' table.
Spares are a concept which might seem a bit strange if you're more used to collecting models with a production run, so let me explain : rather than being made to a range of set designs, Julips are a true mix-and-match kind of creature - usually, you choose the mould, the colour and markings, maybe send in a reference picture, and it's made, specially for you. But now and then, Julip make up some random mould and colour combinations, and because these spare models aren't set aside for any particular customer, they became known simply as Spares.

Because this year's Live show had to be cancelled, the Diamond Anniversary celebrations were adjusted into an online event : instead of a live show in a village hall, Julip ran a photo show, the specially resurrected old mould made it's debut online, along with the announcement of commemorative rosettes and pets, and instead of selling the spares in person, they were sold through the forum. Needless to say, they were very sought-after, with more people than ever hoping to get their hands on one of this anniversary batch of Julips.
Their photographs went up in the days before Spares Night, and we each had chance to draw up a little shortlist of which models we liked best, which we hoped to try for - to make it fair, there was a limit of one Julip per person, so you really had to be sure you were aiming for your favourites, and cross your fingers you'd manage to get hold of anything at all in the mad rush! My first choice sold in the blink of an eye, so it was on to concentrate my efforts as hard as I could on my second favourite - and to my astonishment, I got him!

This here is one of the most adorable Julip ponies I've ever seen, with his soft glowing colour, gently faded dappling, and sweet, innocent face. I don't have many greys, and almost all my dappled ones are very dark (by chance, not choice - that just happens to be what's come my way over the years), so he instantly stood out as one I'd love to own, though it's so hard to grab a spare I tried not to get my hopes up!

I've named him Harecroft Holly Blue, as earlier on the day I bought him, I'd seen holly blue butterflies on a country walk. He'll be Blue for short, although I don't mind Holly for him either - speaking as a Red Dwarf fan, it's definitely a boy's name!

The other side, showing his beautiful mane. I used hair mousse on it to help tame the over-the-top fluffiness, and that's brought out the lovely natural wave in the hair.

Of course, I couldn't leave him long without some tack of his own, and the first thing I made was this little headcollar and leadrope set, inspired by the silvery grey and blue shades of his namesake butterfly. My superglue wasn't the best, so it didn't end up quite so detailed as I'd like (I planned a blue thread trim between the braid and the grey edge), but I think it suits him well.

As well as his headcollar, I wanted to make him an in-hand bridle inspired by the same blue butterflies which gave him his name - a bright sky blue, a soft deeper blue, and the braid enhanced by thread in silver and metallic royal blue laid carefully along the ribbon overlaps, which shines when the sun catches it. Usually I'm all about traditonal, workmanlike turnout, but some ponies just seem meant to carry a bit of bright'n'sparkly (as long as it's not pink!)

Another angle, which shows the touch of grey at the base of his tail, and that lovely dappled bum.

And one final pretty portrait to end on - welcome to the herd, Harecroft Holly Blue, and happy 75th Anniversary, Julip!

Jaffacake

What do you call things that aren't brand new, or nearly-new, or even within-two-or-three-years second hand, but aren't old enough to call vintage yet, either? Retro!

A couple of weeks ago, some Julips popped up on ebay which came from the old days of J-club, when Annabel still ran the company. One of the horses was really distinctive, a dun skewbald which I remember (after all this time!) was called Toffee, and that her owner had two different Toffee Julips as the second one was ordered with more accurate markings. I don't know if the ebay model was the first or second Toffee, though!
The other two Julips listed were chestnuts, and when I flicked between the photos, I realised something curious - they were the same pony! Four short white socks, and a really unusually shaped face marking, with dark blobs on the nose and chin. So it seems the owner had two portrait models for this one, as well as the skewbald I remembered. I decided I liked the dartmoor best of the pair, as he had such a cute cheeky face, and set my heart on bidding for him. Luckily, I got him, and he arrived here safe and sound (after a short stay with someone else with the same house number down a different road, because the postman didn't pay attention!).

I just love his face marking, it doesn't really matter that he's a portrait of one I never knew, cos the quirky blaze and inkblot nose just give him so much real-pony character, it was that which made me really want to buy him.

I showed his photos to fellow Julip collectors on the current J-club forum, and a couple of people remembered his original name : Jaffa. I'm calling him Jaffacake instead, as it sounds just that little bit sweeter, and the slight change allows for the fact I never knew his first owner's pony myself.

He brought with him two buckets, and two headcollars, and a custom made blue rug to travel in.

A close-up of that nose! His family horse counterpart had the same marking, ever so slightly different but that's probably just the difficulty of painting from photos, or a different reference sent for one model than the other. I can't be sure of the exact year any of these ebay models were made, but the way he's painted - especially the eyes - dates him to between 2007 and 2008.

He had a mane and tail trim cos I never can stand leaving them at the uncut length (the mohair ones are better, as it's 'long' isn't all that long, the old nylon manes would reach the ground and tails trail a good inch or two on it, which just doesn't work for a realistic and practical pony length!), but other than that I'm leaving him alone : his hooves are a bit wonky and his chestnut colour is from peak era plain unshaded colours, but cos I've been collecting Julips all that time, the older ones appeal in a bringing-back-memories nostalgia way, a bit like the true vintages do for people who started collecting in the 60s, 70s or 80s!