Mini Me

Big and living or little and plastic or china, I love horses. According to my mother, that love goes back to my toddlerhood. I started riding at ten and got Amy, my first horse at twelve, but I began collecting model horses when I was six. (Santa, you had no idea what you were starting...)

1,000+ plastic, china, and resin model horses later, I still enjoy finding new pieces to add to my collection and love to scope out antique shops, flea markets, and other places looking for horse shaped objects.

My most favorite piece, a Hagen Renaker Designer's Workshop Sherif, that I found at an auction for $4 back in the mid 1990s.

Rumor has it that my mother may have been in collusion with Santa Claus.

She has never confirmed nor denied that rumor. 

(This photo was taken in my horse room which also serves as my sewing room. She and I were sewing a quiet book for my granddaughter, Corinne, and this is one of the pages we were working on. She knitted the snowman's scarf.)

I love to read model horse hobby blogs and especially enjoy those who take their collecting hobby further and make saddles, bridles, and other tack for their models. Some go beyond that and make scenes with dolls.

Over the holidays I had a chance to try my hand at making a doll scene. I have NO ability to create, but I can go to Hobby Lobby and get some dollhouse miniatures or repurpose other things. Here's my first go:

The idea is a living room/sitting room set up. No furniture yet, but I thought this display case looked a bit like built-ins in a home. That was my beginning piece.

The Christmas wreath was one of a pair of earrings that I repurposed (yikes, the things we teachers will wear to bring the holiday spirit into our classrooms!!),  and the pot of flowers is from a jump set I had from one of my performance show set ups. The model horses were a gift from a student years ago, and the books (dollhouse props) are miniature classics (Peter Pan, Moby Dick, etc.) The railroad lamp, another dollhouse prop, reflects my own love of trains (I go by train to Colorado and Utah to visit our kids and grandkids).

The doll is an old Brenda Breyer - I hope to sew her some new, more in-scale clothes. And the beautiful sleigh bells are a favorite of mine and were made for me by Jennifer Buxton of Braymere Custom Saddlery - they are perfect replicas of Abby's sleigh bells!

So many things that reflect me and the things in my life are included that I dubbed the scene "Mini Me." And while there is obviously room for tweaking, it's a beginning. Best of all, it was a fun project.

Christmas 2015 Holly & Ivy

The day before Christmas, Breyer sent out an email telling collectors that there would be a surprise Christmas morning on the web site.

At about 11:00 AM, they posted this:

Two new beautiful decorator colors on the Flash mold with free shipping anywhere in the world! It was open only to members of the Collector Club.

I had my order in by 11:08 AM. (Guess it's a good thing that this was a year without the kids and their families on Christmas day!!)

After a most circuitous route (see earlier post) mine arrived on January 6. I was hoping for an Ivy, although I would have been happy with a Holly, too.

 I got Ivy!!  I say he is a medium lacy pattern, judging from the other photos on Blab.

Ivy, #712167, $95, only 350 made, 2015 Holiday Collector Club Special, $95, 12/2015, Breyer.

2015 Vintage Club Stablemate

Breyer gives the Vintage Collectors Club members a bonus stablemate at the end of the collecting year. The 2015 piece is this one:

It's a G3 mold with a vintage color - alabaster - and beautifully done.

Bravo, 712145, free, 2015 Vintage Collectors Club Stablemate, 12/2015.

The Zodiac Horses

It's not the 60s girl in me at all, but when Breyer announced a line of Zodiac horses for 2015, I was curious and took a look.

The classic Lippizaner done up in such luscious colors as this hooked me and I decided to buy this one and maybe some others.

Sagittarius, #8173, 2015, $14.95, 11/2015, Breyer.

The Bucking Bronco is another vintage mold and one I collect.

Aries, #8165, $14.95, 2015, 11/2015, Breyer.

And the Rearing Stallion, a mini Fighting Stallion!

Pisces, #8175, $14.95, 2015, 11/2015, Breyer.

Not a mold I collect, but a lovely one and the color is gorgeous, so this one was also ordered.

Scorpio, #8172, $14.95, 2015, 11/2015, Breyer.

Well, Breyer had another big sale at the end of December, and I thought long and hard and decided to buy the rest of the set. They are remaining in their boxes and are stored in the closet, but here's a picture of the entire collection from Breyer's web site. (These were sold only through Breyer.)

Beginning at the top and working my way down, left to right:

Taurus, #8166, $18, 2015, 11/2015, Breyer.
Gemini, #8167, $18, 2015, 11/2015, Breyer (This mold has only been used two other times.)
Cancer, #8168, $18, 2015, 11/2015, Breyer.
Leo, #8169. $18, 2015, 11/2015, Breyer.
Virgo, #8170, $18, 2015, 11/2015, Breyer.
Libra, #8171, $18, 2015, 11/2015, Breyer.
Capricorn, #8174, $18, 2015, 11/2015, Breyer.
Aquarius, #8175, $18, 2015, 11/2015, Breyer.

Autism Horse

This piece has not been well accepted by the hobby. It is unusual, I'll grant you that! But... those are the pieces that go up in value down the road. But I didn't by this piece for that reason.

I bought it because I have taught several autistic students and I would not be surprised if someday one of my own grandchildren are diagnosed - the odds favor that happening.

Hope - Benefit Autism Horse, #1736, 2015 only, gift from Craig, Christmas 2015.

UPS Fiasco

Christmas Day, I ordered Breyer's holiday special, Holly and Ivy. The following day, I ordered the Zodiac horses. I got a shipping notice for both, and they were scheduled to arrive the same day.

Only Holly or Ivy didn't.  Someone at UPS goofed. Big time. Just look at this tracking information!!

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN, US	01/06/2016	12:12 P.M.	Delivered
Lafayette, IN, United States	01/06/2016	4:06 A.M.	Out For Delivery
	01/06/2016	1:27 A.M.	Arrival Scan
Indianapolis, IN, United States	01/06/2016	12:17 A.M.	Departure Scan
Indianapolis, IN, United States	01/05/2016	7:16 A.M.	Arrival Scan
Terre Haute, IN, United States	01/05/2016	5:40 A.M.	Departure Scan
	01/05/2016	2:48 A.M.	Arrival Scan
Earth City, MO, United States	01/04/2016	9:45 P.M.	Departure Scan
Earth City, MO, United States	01/03/2016	1:06 A.M.	Arrival Scan
Mesquite, TX, United States	01/02/2016	2:27 P.M.	Departure Scan
Lafayette, IN, United States	12/30/2015	1:00 A.M.	Arrival Scan
Indianapolis, IN, United States	12/30/2015	12:01 A.M.	Departure Scan
Obetz, OH, United States	12/29/2015	4:10 P.M.	Arrival Scan
Parsippany, NJ, United States	12/29/2015	5:10 A.M.	Departure Scan
	12/29/2015	1:03 A.M.	Arrival Scan
Saddle Brook, NJ, United States	12/29/2015	12:24 A.M.	Departure Scan
Saddle Brook, NJ, United States	12/28/2015	10:33 P.M.	Origin Scan
United States	12/28/2015	3:46 P.M.	Order Processed: Ready for UPS

My Ivy arrived today with a battered box whose end had popped open. Luckily Breyer had wrapped the model really well and it was not damaged.

Mini Book Tutorial

From Nichelle of Desktop Stables (October 15, 2015)

Some) Tips for Making Printable Minis

October 18, 2015 by Nichelle

This is a post I’ve been trying to write for a long time now, but it’s been difficult, as it’s one of those topics that can quickly become very complicated. This is not exactlya miniature printing tutorial and it’s definitely not a Photoshop tutorial. I can try to answer any specific Photoshop related questions, but if you’re new to it you’d probably be better off searching for more in-depth tutorials online. It’s a complex program. I’ve got 10+ years experience with it and still don’t know how to do everything.

Also, just because this is how I do things does not mean that it’s the ONLY way. I’m no expert and am continually learning and trying new things.

For miniature making and printing, I almost always use Photoshop CS6 or Photoshop Elements 6.0, depending on the project. Elements is basically a smaller version of Photoshop… it lacks some features the other has (like Actions, which I use to quickly resize a bunch of images at once, which is nice for sales posts… goodness I’m already trailing off topic here…) but I’m still able to do a lot with it.

I use these programs most often because many of the minis I’ve made have had to be edited, rebuilt or repainted in some way. (I’m picky about micro stuff you can’t even see half the time)
Adobe offers a free 30 day trial for their software, as well as a subscription program. Another alternative (and it’s free!) is GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/) but I have absolutely no experience with this program.

Having photo-editing software really comes in handy, but honestly, it’s not something you NEED if you want to print up something simple. If you just want to re-size something, Microsoft Word will work, and maybe Paint. (kudos to you if you can do ANYTHING in paint) You just need to be able to see rulers around the edge of your document. (be sure to check settings to make sure they’re enabled) Just because something looks like it’s the right size on the screen does NOT mean that it will print up that way.

For this post, however, I’m going to assume that you have some sort of photo editing software, and have a basic knowledge of how to use it.

The two things I pay attention to when shrinking stuff is resolution and scale. For high-quality minis you’re going to want your images at a high resolution.

When creating a document I know I’ll be printing, I set the DPI (or digital pixels per inch) to 300. This is a good number for any image you want to print up. If I’m just making things for the web (such as my blog’s banner image) I’ll keep that number much, much lower. (72, usually) Those types of images can still be printed of course but the quality won’t be as good.
Basically, the higher the dpi number, the higher the quality. The lower the number, the “fuzzier” the image will become when printed.

Here’s an example. The book on the right was most likely printed with a 72 dpi resolution, while the one on the left was printed with a 300 resolution.

Since it’s a lot easier for me to show this process rather than talk about it, I’m going to make a tiny version of one of my Just About Horses magazines. (I miss this magazine so much)

The first thing I did was scan both the front and back cover, then open them up in Photoshop.

Next I’m going to create a new document. My personal preference is to set the size at 8 ½ X 11 inches (standard printer paper here, it will vary elsewhere) with a 300 DPI resolution. Color mode is CMYK. (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) PS Elements only allows me to choose RGB, (red, green, blue) but either setting will work. Ideally you want CMYK for images to be printed, as RGB images are much better suited for the web.

I have a confession to make: half the time I guesstimate when scaling stuff down. 1:9 is a weird scale, what can I say. Also, math. So much of miniatures is creating the illusion of the real thing… so that’s my excuse.

My JAH magazine is 8 ¼ inches wide by 11 inches tall. To scale this down, I’m going to cheat and use a conversion calculator. http://jbwid.com/scalcalc.htm

It looks like my mini magazine should be 0.916666… inches wide by 1.222222… inches tall. These are lovely numbers to work with, right? (*cough*whyIguesstimate*cough*) I’m going to adjust this to 1 inch wide by 1 ¼ inch tall. Usually I take these measurements and sketch them out on a piece of scratch paper, then compare that to a doll or model to see if I’m happy with the size, making adjustments as necessary.

Back to the document.

There are multiple ways to do this, but my preference is to start with a solid color shape in the size I need. This is where rulers come in handy… here I’ve made a selection in the very top corner of my document, using the rulers on the side as a guide. This can be filled with any color.

Another (and more exact) way is to create a new shape in the right size.

I’ll use this as a guide when adding the JAH images. You could skip this step of course, and just re-size the images themselves using the rulers.

When I’ve got all the images re-sized, I’ll arrange them in the way I want them to be printed:

I went ahead and scanned in a few spreads from the magazine, and re-sized them as well:

To prepare for printing, I first arrange everything towards the middle of the document. You don’t want anything right against the edges, or they will be cut off when printed.
If I’m putting something up for download, I’ll usually save it as a PDF file, to make printing easier. For personal use I normally print straight through Photoshop. I never check the “scale to fit media” box, as it will shrink the entire document and make the images smaller than they already are. I always double check my printer settings as well.

Printed!

Now all that’s left to do is cut and assemble all the pieces. Here’s my mini JAH all finished:

And that’s (basically) it! If you have any specific questions feel free to ask. :)

Posted in Tips, Tutorials | Tagged miniatures, printables, tips, tutorial | 6 Comments