Adding horse mane and horse furniture. When working wet on dry putty, I use saliva as a barrier. This helps prevent the fresh putty from sticking to the cured surface. To make flowing mane/hair, I will sculpt just small sections at time. Usually bottom to top of neck. I will flatten the section of fresh putty against the neck, working quick enough to keep it from sticking to the neck. Then it's all about manipulating the hair to desired look. It takes some timing, practice and patience.w

Picked up a new set of 54mm Hornet heads, the expressions are great. Can't wait to see this face painted up. Also, adding a little length to some cast shoes.

Building the figure armatures

Taking a break from the horses to build the figure armatures. I use paper clips, they have strength but are pliable enough to take some manipulating.

Sculpting saddle holster covers

Adding these holster covers is good practice for sculpting drapery but being mindful of direction of the subject it's being attached to, this case a rearing horse.

Making saddle holsters

This is an item I really should have casted. They are fairly easy to do, but for as many as I make, it would be a time saver. It's basically plastic tubing with a blob of putty formed into a rough shape. I wrap wire around the tip to give the plastic rod some teeth for the putty to grab onto.

Adding straps and saddles

Aside from the horses, I'll be utilizing other parts from these Arifix kits. The Scots Grey's kit has a neat saddle that makes a great foundation for the rider.

Cutting straps and drilling holes.

The straps for the saddle, bridle, etc are cut at various widths from thin plastic. The holes are being drilled for anchoring pins for the horse bit and to the legs for mounting to base.

New putty and sculpting a horses neck

Nothing like a new batch of putty. I prefer Aves white epoxy putty. The natural color is too hard blend noticably. Using the white, it's much easier to see the making of a smooth transition. For smoothing, I use Mike Blank's recommdation of using saliva with a wide paint brush. Saliva has the right consistency while water will tend to break up the putty.

Fehrbellin Vignette -Composing Scene

The composing is pretty straight forward. Since it's a close copy of the illustration, there will be however, some minor tweaks here and there.

Fehrbellin Vignette

I'm seperating two halves of the horses body to add more animation. The inside upper body, where the two halves meet, I will apply epoxy glue for added strength. I won't be filling the entire body cavity with putty but using just enough to fill the gap and spread over both sides.

Fehrbellin vignette -Cleaning castings

After cleaning up the flashing I will be cutting off limbs of one of the horses for reposition. Two of the three horses will get new necks.

New project: Fehrbellin 1675

...one more:)

These are just the pics I took with my smart phone, and I have to admit that these images are a tad better than the ones taken with my regular camera.

More Dettingen Pics

Dettingen Vignette painted!

I finished it just before the Chicago Show. This piece seemed to drag on throughout the summer. Not my usual pace. Now I'm feeling rejuvenated and newly inspired. To bad we can't bottle this motivation, it would be great to Crack it open during the dog days. These pics were taken with my phone. I'll load more in the next couple days.

MMSI Chicago 2015 Last batch.

Last batch of show pics. I didn't get as many as I would've liked, because I was there attending for a short time, and the tables were crowded with people. The turn out was large in pieces and spectators.I hope this trend continues.