Maggie Bennett Sculpture

Superlumina is now available!

2011-12-21T20:06:00.000-05:00

I just realized I haven't posted here since October--bad Maggie! I have just been unbelievably busy with a number of project--from paint work commissions, to finishing Superlumina, to a number of other commissions.

One of those other projects is now available for purchase: a Bantam scale Secretariat edition, sculpted by me and each painted by Caroline Boydston! They're pretty darn neat, if I say so myself, and available at http://secretariatcom.stores.yahoo.net/little-big-red-figurine.html There's going to be a Zenyatta one too, in the same scale, and they are pretty awesome as well. I'm not sure when those will be available for sale to the public, but the first few were released at Zenyatta's Breeder's Cup party.

My biggest thing lately, though, has been Superlumina: http://www.maggiebennett.com/superlumina.htm. I released her (first to Supernova purchasers, and then to everyone) and just got the first resins in, cleaned up, and ready to ship out (yep, the first eight should be shipping to their owners tomorrow, if all goes well). And I have to say, the response to her has been phenomenal. She's already about half sold out. Personally I can't wait until I have a bit of time so I can paint one for myself, though I don't know if that time is ever going to come! I'm going to be painting a number of them as commissions as well, so that will be fun.

Back to working on a base to put Supernova at the same level as Superlumina!

Just keep working...

2011-10-07T09:13:00.000-04:00

I've been sort of obsessing over Superlumina here--just dragging myself away to work on other projects! I have a number of commissions that need to get finished, so they are top priority, but in between I just keep poking at her and adjusting things. I fixed some of the muscling in her neck, changed her nose, and pinned her ears back. I also made a lot of changes to her tail over the weekend, though neither tail nor mane are nearly finished. I've got plenty of detailing to do, too--right now, areas like her hindquarters have texture, but it's not the final finish, just something to work over the top of.

Superlumina

2011-09-27T15:26:00.001-04:00

BreyerFest has come and gone, and now months later I'm finally making another blog post! I have been incredibly busy, mostly with a variety of painting and sculpting commissions, but also with pretty Miss Superlumina! I made this neat little interactive video thing with her as she is right now: http://www.shoogleit.com/1250-0_Superlumina-In-Progress

I've been making a lot of little changes to her--her mane and tail changed totally, but I also adjusted her position, refined her legs, adjusted some proportions, etc. A lot of that has been done in the last week, and everything that isn't grey on her was among those changes this week. She's certainly not finished, but I do think she really is getting there.

On top of that I have been painting (all commissions, no sales pieces right now) and sculpting (customs and original sculptures, but again--all commissions!), so there hasn't been much time or energy for posting. But a lot of my deadlines for various projects are coming up in the next month, so hopefully once all are done I will have a bit of breathing room. I love being busy, but sometimes it gets to be a bit much!

And, in case the Shoogleit interactive video doesn't work, here's Superlumina!

BreyerFest!

2011-07-13T19:28:00.000-04:00

Last minute plans being what they are, I am now going to BreyerFest! And I have a table in the Artisan's Gallery (in the Clarion/Holiday Inn North ballroom)! I myself will not be arriving until Friday, so Thursday night my table will be manned by a helper. She will have some items there Thursday and I will have some more to add on Friday.

I have some really awesome new items to release, including two new small-scale pieces (one of which is pictured above)! I'll also have painted and unpainted resins and all the available micro minis. I'll even have a few brand new pewter pins--a new venture for me! I only have eight right now (four each of two different sculptures), so if you're interested in checking those out come by Friday!

One of the pieces I'll be releasing is a awesome project that's been in the works for a year. It's a *painted* edition of 60 pieces, about 2" tall, and let's just say it's a very famous horse. Stop by my table to check it out--starting Thursday.

I'll have my newest sculpture in the works there as well! Lots of goodies to check out. Again, she'll be arriving with me on Friday, so do try to stop by Friday or Saturday if you can!

Artan: New Release!

2011-05-20T17:12:00.000-04:00

I am just exhausted today, so I don't have too much to say beyond what's on his page, but the little cob is finished, in the mail to the caster, and ready to order! More info at http://maggiebennett.com/artan.html

Superluminal Motion

2011-05-12T15:15:00.000-04:00

I was looking for a name for this new Arabian mare that would "fit" with Supernova, who she goes with. "Superluminal motion" is motion that appears to be faster than the speed of light, and I thought it works for her--though I think it will be just Superlumina, or Lumina. Anyhow...

Lumina is a traditional scale Arabian mare, made to accompany Supernova. She's rearing and twisting and just lots of fun. She is still very much in progress (she doesn't even have a base, much the less things like mane and tail detail, and there may be more major changes as well), but has been demanding a lot of my attention lately.

I can tell that she's going to be another one that's just impossible to get good photos of--the twist through her whole body means that something's going to get distorted by the camera!

Again, she's not nearly done, and I don't know what all will need to change before she is (if you see problems please do feel free to tell me about them, now is the time to change them)! But I plan to release her unpainted as well as paint a number for sale. Hopefully that won't be too far off, but it depends on how things go finishing her up!

Resin vs. Pewter

2011-04-19T18:08:00.000-04:00

As many of you know, most model horses produced by sculptors for the hobby are cast in resin--that's why we call them "Artist's Resins", after all! Resin is an amazing material and comes in many varieties. The resins used in the hobby vary slightly, but nearly all are a two part, self-hardening thermoset plastic. Thermoset means that once the plastic has set up, you can't just reheat it to melt it down and use it again. Cellulose acetate (what Breyers and Stones are made of) is a thermoplastic plastic, so heating it will make it soften and then melt. Heating a thermoset plastic like resin may soften it up to a point, but it will not melt nicely so you can use it again.

Producing a model in resin is quite expensive. Uncured or unmixed resin is toxic to varying degrees, and getting good castings really requires some expensive equipment. The silicone rubber molds used to make resins are pricey, both in materials and in the very skilled labor needed to make them. The molds don't last forever, either--depending on a variety of factors, perhaps 65 castings can be expected out of each mold.

Resin is not particularly fragile, but nor is it incredibly strong. Heavy bodies on thin legs (like horses!) can cause gradual warping of the legs over time. For this reason, as well as the comfort of painters and economical reasons, hollow-cast resins are popular and common. Wire reinforced legs are also common. Producing a hollow-cast, wire-reinforced resin horse with minimal seams and bubbles requires an immense amount of skill!

When I began creating micro minis, I considered producing them in resin but quickly chose pewter instead. Many people in the hobby are not particularly familiar with pewter, but I think it's a lovely material.

Pewter is an alloy of tin and other metals. It has a relatively low melting point, around 350-450° F. That low melting point means that it can be poured into rubber molds, unlike many other metals which would burn the rubber. Typically, a vulcanized rubber mold is used to produce small pewter pieces like my micro minis. The molds my caster uses can hold 6-7 horses at a time and are vulcanized using heat and pressure, in somewhat the same way that a car tire is produced! This makes for durable molds: instead of 65 horses, a mold can often make hundreds of castings of each horse. I believe that my new horses are going to be cast using different molds, which don't last so long but do allow for complex poses without distortion (due to the high pressures and temperatures involved a certain amount of distortion is inevitable in vulcanized rubber molds).

The more durable molds are far from the major cost savings of producing small horses in pewter, though--after all, I don't really need to be able to produce many hundreds or thousands of each horse. No, the real savings are in the per-casting price, the price I have to pay for each horse on top of the fixed mold cost. For a resin micro mini, the last time I checked that cost per piece was higher than the price at which I sell the pewter micro minis. I would need to significantly increase the price (think doubling or more) to produce them in resin. This is the most important reason I have for using pewter. Even though the price of tin and therefore the cost of pewter (and the cost to me of my little horses) has nearly doubled in the last year I have not yet had to increase my prices on the micro minis.

Pewter can be painted and finished just like resin. In fact, miniature makers have been using pewter for far longer than anyone has used resin! In many cases the pewter horses have fewer and cleaner seams than resins, and the seams they do have can be cleaned the same way as resins--small files, sandpaper, and carbide scrapers.

One of the issues raised about the pewter micro minis is the surface texture or porosity some exhibit. While this can be sanded or polished down, it does add an additional step and could lead to loss of detail. For the newest horses, I am going to be using a different caster who I have been told can do amazing things with pewter. I haven't sent anything to him before, so we will see, but I have very high hopes that these will be cleaner and smoother than ever before.

Another issue comes in repairing broken pewter minis. I honestly can't say I've repaired many myself, as I'd rather simply replace the horse than spend a lot of time fixing it. However, for a painted model, simply replacing it is not so simple! Breaks can be repaired by drilling, pinning, and gluing, but that is very tricky on the tiniest micro mini legs. Depending on the horse, it might be pretty hard to simply glue certain breaks, especially if it is a very delicate leg that needs to support weight. In those cases, I would remove the broken area up to the nearest place thick enough to be drilled and have a pin inserted, then resculpt the broken area over the pin. While the additional weight of the pewter does make this more difficult than in resin, the much greater strength of pewter also means far fewer breaks than would be likely to occur in tiny, delicate resin legs. Some micro minis are more prone to breakage than others, as I have been seeing now that sales of them are handled in-house, and I'm trying to design future releases to be even less fragile while still having refined legs and details.

So, hopefully that helps clarify some of the issues with using resin for such little horses! Please feel free to post questions or comments, I'd love to hear what you think!

New sculpture, new scale

2011-04-18T22:41:00.000-04:00

This fun little colored cob just wouldn't let me work on other things until he had his say! He was inspired by a conversation on models that balance on two hooves, without a base, like the CM FAS I did. With a CM, I can counterweight the horse internally, but with a hollow-cast resin I can't count on each piece having the same weight distribution. I therefore thought to work in a smaller scale, one in which we could produce solid casts without them being overwhelming, and to make a horse with plenty of feathering so that he would have a good stable footing--and this guy was the result!

He's a bit of a new scale for me. Larger than micro mini, but quite a bit smaller than stablemate, I've been finding this scale a blast to work in lately. I haven't publicly posted pictures of some of the other sculptures I've done in this size, as they are commissions and will be revealed in good time, but I found the size so much fun to work in I couldn't resist making a few more for myself.

This dude (man, I need to come up with a name for him!) is small, scarcely larger than a micro mini. He's really a pony, sculpted to the larger scale (which also needs a name, any ideas?). Other horses in this scale stand about 2" tall--it is approximately 1:50 scale, I believe.

These pictures are just about the same size that he is, on my screen (screens vary so much that there's no guarantee that that will be the same on yours), but click on any of them to see him many times actual size.

He isn't quite finished, actually. I still need to carve out his hooves and check on a few things before declaring him finished.

My fingers here might give you an idea of his magnitude--or lack thereof! But he's not lacking in details; those were fun to work on at such small size!

He will be cast in pewter. I'm not sure of price yet, but I do have some plans revolving around a painted edition!

And here he is with a stablemate, a micro mini, and another sculpture in the same scale--both of them are still in progress!

Any ideas for a name for this scale? Is anyone else doing stuff in a similar size?

Another drastic custom Arabian!

2011-03-27T22:23:00.000-04:00

Yes, I've made another drastic CM. I can't help it--they're such a fun thing to work on in between commissions! This one started out as a Breyer Smoky. I've put up a page with many (lots and lots of) photos at http://maggiebennett.com/gallery/maysa.htm, and her eBay auction is also up this week at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120704199143

Here you can see how drastic she is--the purple is Apoxie Sculpt and the white is carved-down plastic. This picture was taken before final detailing, and of course before she was primed and painted. I like to wait as long as possible before priming, to avoid having Apoxie-primer-Apoxie-primer layers. It seem like they will have better longevity when there are fewer interfaces between dissimilar materials.

Longevity is always something to keep in mind with customs. I don't think anyone is honestly sure how well they'll hold up over the course of tens or hundreds to years, but I do know there are certain things we can do to help them last. Some, such as maintaining them in a climate-controlled environment as much as possible and avoiding sudden temperature extremes are the responsibility of the collector. But others are the responsibility of the artist! These include things like roughing up plastic areas before applying epoxy to them, so that the epoxy is able to make a firm bond, and drilling a small air hole to reduce the possibility of bloating if the piece is exposed to high temperatures. I have heard that customs in which these few simple guidelines have been followed are much more likely to hold up and bring joy for many years to come!

In Maysa's case, I scratched up the plastic all over the original (after I repositioned him) with an Exacto knife, making hatchmarks and deep scratches to give good adhesion. Her air hole is tucked discretely in her groin--much less noticeable than the corner of the mouth or the nostril, where many original finish plastics have their hole!

Smooth whites

2011-03-07T09:12:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, I don't have any magic tricks for getting nice, smooth, even white markings when painting. As far as I know, there isn't a trick to it beyond lots and lots of very thin layers to eliminate brushstrokes. I do like to seal the entire horse very well with Dull Cote, then airbrush in a thin (not fully opaque) layer of white over the markings, then clean the edges up using a bit of water, airbrush cleaner, or Windex on a q-tip or toothpick, but it's still a tedious process. I always want to rush it and then have to go back and fix things that I messed up in my rushing!

So, I'm sorry this is not a time-saver! It seems like there's no way around it if you want lovely smooth white markings!

Drastic Custom FAS

2011-02-04T13:42:00.000-05:00

Here's the auction for that drastic custom visible in my previous post: eBay, and a picture of him too! I've very happy with him. More pictures at his eBay auction or at his page.

Painting Desk

2011-01-14T12:35:00.000-05:00

I have two desks that I work at--one is used for painting, the other for, well, just about everything else! I do take photos at the painting desk as it has better light and is easier to clean off. The computer is at the sculpting desk, along with piles of other stuff. Only painting stuff stays on the painting desk...

This is said desk as it normally appears. It actually looks more of a mess than it is. Nearly everything on there is in use (the can of primer on the left doesn't really need to be there, though, and neither does some of the stuff on top of the storage containers--the Visible Horse model probably belongs on the sculpting desk, for instance). From the left:

Paints--they're in craft paint containers, but they are excellent artist quality acrylics. The little bottles are cheaper to buy with paint in them, so I empty the cheap paint out and clean the containers before putting my good paint mixes in them.
Paintbrushes--in an old mug, stored points up and kept clean. They last much better this way! And I can always find the one I need.
White drawers (in the back)--each drawer is a tray containing pure pigments. I work over the trays when I use pigments, so the dust that falls off the horse ends up back in the tray instead of on me, the floor, the walls...
Lights--three of them. Daylight fluorescent, the more, the better!
On the base of the light--a horse (color master for an edition I recently painted) and a pencil sharpener
Various papers--I save some paper from going in the recycling. I use it to check colors and the airbrush flow--much better to find out that a mix is too thick and is going to spatter on a bit of scrap paper than on the horse!
Paper towels--always useful. I tend to spray water through my airbrush onto paper towels as I clean it.
The horse--this one is a drastic CM. He has three colors on him now--a golden tone underneath, brown, and black on his points only (oh, and some grey on his face). Next step will be adding additional colors into his brown tones. Other horses that I am working on are on shelves above the desk, safely out of reach of any overspray from the airbrush.
Underneath the horse--paintbrushes, Q-tips (useful for cleaning the airbrush), and a lid that I mixed some black paint in. And some colored pencils--they normally live in the white tray just to the left of the computer monitor.
Behind the horse--jar of clean-ish water for rinsing brushed in. More paints.
Between horse and lamp on right--small containers for mixing paint in. Bottle of ink.
Behind lamp on right--jar of dirty water. I rinse my airbrush into this one.
Edge of desk--my airbrush, on two hooks that keep it upright. Blue painter's tape for delicate surfaces--useful for masking, and I tend to reuse it a few times.
Above the airbrush--paints, bottle of airbrush cleaner, small squirt bottle of water. I love that squirt bottle--I use to to clean out the airbrush, to add a drop of water to a paint mix--any time I need a controllable amount of clean water that bottle is right there.
Computer monitor--it's hooked up to my laptop on the other desk. I use it for reference photos. This one is a photo I took a number of years ago, but sometimes I will have three or four different images up there at once.
Back of the desk--storage for paints and pigments.
Cotton balls--occasionally useful.
Below desk--drawers which contain all my regularly used paints and mediums, all at my fingertips. Also, a power strip with the lights on this desk, the monitor, and my air compressor plugged into it. I can turn everything on or off with the flip of a switch.

My air compressor lives in the closet, which helps to muffle the sound a bit. It's not specifically an airbrush compressor, so it is a bit loud.

I know it looks like a mess, and honestly it could probably be a touch neater, but I kind of like it this way--everything is right where I need it, and when I want to clean off the desk everything tucks away very easily.

Packaging tip

2010-12-22T14:27:00.000-05:00

This is going to be a quick one as I'm actually with my family now, but--

When packaging a model to mail, I think one of the most important things is to make sure there is enough packing material to fill the box. I use packing peanuts (I bought 120 cubic feet of them at once, that's a LOT of packing peanuts) and bubble wrap over toilet paper. I wrap ears and other protruding parts with the tissue. I wrap around the dock, for instance, in a way that will provide support rather than adding to the stress on the piece. Then a good layer of bubble wrap, then into a box big enough to have at least 2-3" of room all the way around the bubble wrapped horse. More space is better, but you don't want the box to be so big that you need a fortune in packing peanuts to fill it.

I put a good 2" or more of peanuts in the box, then put in the bubble wrapped horse, then fill the box with peanuts, tucking them in around the sides of the horse. When you close the box, before taping the top pick it up and shake it gently. If there is any shifting at all, you need more peanuts. Shifting is a danger sign--it means you model will be able to work its way to the edge of the box and get broken. So use lots of packing material so there is no danger of shifting. I tend to fill the box to slightly over the edge, then gently push the peanuts down when I close the box. You don't want there to be so much pressure on the horse that it is in danger of breaking, but you don't want it to move around either!

Microfiber Towels

2010-12-20T13:52:00.000-05:00

Above: "Almanzor" resin, sculpted by Brigitte Eberl, finished by me. Private collection.

Continuing on the subject of useful things in the studio, I love microfiber towels. I get a big bag of the yellow ones from Costco every so often as they're useful in the studio as well as around the house. Mine generally start off being used to gently dust horses. My studio tends to be more than a little dusty, and that can be a problem when painting. I carefully remove dust and fuzzies from each horse using a microfiber towel before spraying the horse with Dull Cote.

The microfiber holds dust and dirt in, so it's not as likely to just spread the dust around as other towels will. And it's nice and soft, so it doesn't tend to scratch that delicate finishwork before sealing.

When I need to lay horses down, I'll often put down a microfiber towel to protect them from hard surfaces. I'm currently painting a group of 60 small-scale horses (larger than micro mini, smaller than stablemate), and I have found it useful to lay half of them down on a towel on a tray, lay another towel over them, and then lay the other half on top. Saves me a few trips up and down the stairs to spray all these little horses!

I also wrap horses in towels when transporting them to shows. It protects the paint and adds just a little bit of cushioning. And, if I happen to spill something either at a show or in the studio, I always have a towel handy! They're washable, though I try to wash all microfiber together to stop it picking up lint from other fabrics.

Apoxie Sculpt and Rubbing Alcohol

2010-12-17T12:00:00.000-05:00

I mentioned mixing Apoxie Sculpt (AS) and rubbing alcohol yesterday. This is a technique that I use at the very end of finishing a piece to add texture and veining. It's a bit difficult to convince AS to mix smoothly with a liquid, so this takes a bit of patience. I know Aves makes other variants on AS and one of them may be a liquid or paste that would work well for this, but I just use AS. I'm going to call my mixture a paste, though it's often more of a thick liquid.

I mix up a small batch of AS as usual. I then put it in one of my handy lids, ideally a fairly large one with decent sides. I then add some denatured alcohol, with the amount depending on how thick I want my paste and how much AS I have. Better to start with a bit less and add more later, but it does evaporate fairly quickly. Then comes the hard part: I use my gloved fingers to mash the AS into the alcohol. It takes a lot of mashing and squishing and rubbing, and it's important to get it as smooth as possible. Any lumps will be quite annoying when you go to use the paste.

The paste needs to be used immediately. It will dry out and the AS will begin curing, so I make sure I have a good hour or two set aside to use it before I begin making it.

I brush the paste on to areas where I want fine wrinkles, use it to paint on delicate veins, texture hair with it--anything that needs a very delicate bit of texture. I use brushes set aside specifically for this. Even though the AS paste does wash out I don't want to destroy my good brushes with it.

You can further smooth the mixture using additional alcohol, just as you can smooth any AS with alcohol. It will get grainy if overworked, and if that happens sometimes it's best to just wipe it off and start over.

Since this technique is for the surface detailing, make sure that everything else is finished before you do it--it should be the very last step before priming and painting.

Recycling

2010-12-16T10:39:00.000-05:00

In my last post I showed a horse standing on a lid. Here he is again--his little legs are pretty rough still!

I save most of the lids that come on food containers here, run them through the dishwasher, and use them in the studio. There are lots of potential uses: a palette for small amounts of paint, a mixing tray for squashing together Apoxie Sculpt and rubbing alcohol to make a paste, bases for horses like Cooper who need something to stand on while being painted, and temporary holders for small sculptures like this one. I'll also put a bit of baking soda in one so it's easier to dip parts into when doing the soda-glue method with super glue. When they get dirty it's easy to just toss them, since it's what would have happened to them anyhow!

Sculpting Lights

2010-12-15T15:09:00.000-05:00

No, I haven't branched out into the design of lamps--rather, these are the lights that I use when sculpting. They are a pair of "Espressivo" desk lights from IKEA (unfortunately they seem to be discontinued, though I'm sure they still have something similar). They are nice, bright, and hot little lights--halogen, I think--and that heat is a lot of their appeal for me!

I use my little lights to cure epoxy. Heat causes the epoxy to cure far faster--a matter of minutes for a full cure instead of 24 hours. That means less time waiting and more time sculpting! Usually I work on a few horses at once, and one or two will be under the lamp curing while I work on another one. In those cases I use the second light as a light rather than as a heat source!

In this case both the horses I am sculpting on today are under the lamps right now. The Arab on top has his leg wires jammed through a pair of holes in a lid (which doesn't actually quite fit that jar) so he can stand until I make him a base. Note that this lamp is missing the plastic rod that the other one has--that's actually nice, as it means I can position the lamp in more ways. The PRE sculpture below him is laid down so I don't knock him over again!

These lights can get quite hot so it's important not to get them too close to the sculpture. It's especially important when working on customs as the plastic will melt or deform at a much lower temperature than Apoxy Sculpt can stand. I will put my lights as close as 1/2" for small sculptures like these but no closer than about 1 1/2" for a custom. It is possible to burn epoxy too, so keep an eye on things! And remember, the pieces will be quite hot after being under that light, so be careful!

Sanding Twigs

2010-12-14T12:46:00.000-05:00

I just received a container of these sanding twigs (link should be to their page on Micro-Mark, a good supplier of small tools) and they are very handy! They come in an assortment of grits, color-coded by coarseness. The finer ones have four different grits on each twig. These had been recommended to me by someone--Lesli?--and I had put off getting them because sandpaper seemed cheaper.

I wish I had gotten them much earlier! They work wonderfully for removing seams on pewter horses, and I'm sure they will work just as well on resin and plastic. It's much easier to use a twig than my normal folded bit of sandpaper for getting between legs and other difficult to reach areas. If you do a lot of prepping, give them a try.

Micro Minis!

2010-11-26T21:33:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving (or for those who don't feel the need to spend a day stuffing themselves with turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and pie and..., a nice week)! Mine was full of family and friends and food, and so was today. Good times.

I don't know that I posted about them here, but the micro minis that I sculpt are currently available through my website at http://maggiebennett.com/micropage.htm . They're all in stock now and ship usually within a day or two, so they can generally make it to locations in the USA within a week or so. That means that if you're looking for some reasonably priced artist's resins (even though they're pewter I do consider them ARs) for gifts or for yourself please consider them--they look great painted or in their unpainted pewter state! And there are some fun new-ish sculpts up there.

I've been working on a project that involves slightly larger than micro mini scale horses--these guys are closer to 2" instead of the 1-1.5" of the micros. And I really like the scale--it's enough bigger to fit in lots more detail, but small enough to still be pretty affordable and to cast in pewter. The finished pieces are a blast to paint and have a wonderful weight to them. So I'm planning to sculpt a few to be released when I finish them. I hope to paint a small run of them as well, possibly as a pseudo-OF edition. I just have to find some time to work on them in between the other work I'm doing!

Drastic CM

2010-10-28T13:40:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I know. I'm terrible about updating my blog! Things have been happening here in the studio, and I haven't dropped off the face of the earth...yet. I've been quite busy in fact, almost entirely with commissions. But here's something that was not a commission, and will in fact be for sale:

More photos are up at http://maggiebennett.com/buckleg.html and as usual, click on any of them to enlarge!

Tools of the trade--sculpting

2010-08-20T18:11:00.000-04:00

I've been very busy with some commissioned sculptures lately--mini scale (between micro mini and stablemate), so all my sculpting tools are out on my desk. I'm often asked what tools I use to sculpt in such small scales, and so here they are!

All the tools, including the important fingers:

This includes everything that I use frequently, except sandpaper. I have a few other tools that I use rarely, but with just these I can do everything I need to!

Above are Colour Shapers and Clay Shapers. These are the small ones--I have larger ones that I use on larger sculptures too! These little guys are invaluable. They come in several hardnesses (the white ones are softest while the black ones are hardest) and a number of different shapes. I prefer the Angle Chisels and Taper Points--most of the ones I have are Angle Chisels.

I generally prefer to pick all my tools out in person, but I feel that the clay shapers are a case where this is especially helpful. I went to pick up new ones last week (they do wear out, either from allowing clay to harden on them or from the rubber naturally hardening--they start to develop small cracks and rough spots). I was able to select an especially blunt example of the cone-shaped Taper Point size 0, second from the let above. It's perfect for defining large areas of muscle without leaving a hard line between them--just what I needed! The black Angle Chisel, also in size 0, on the far left I selected specifically for it's very fine point--great for sculpting small details, and on micro minis those small details are small!

Clay Shapers are some of my favorite tools. The rubber tips give a softer line than metal tools, and allow you to move material around in a different way. But they aren't the most pointy things out there, for that you need...

Pointy tools! This is a needle tool and a dental tool. Needle tools like this one can be found at most craft stores. I'd suggest several--keep the points straight on some and bend others a bit. Or go for the dental tools, found in this case at the flea market! I use these mostly, but not exclusively, for working in soft material--epoxy before it has cured. What about after it's cured?

Well, then you need...tools for working in hard stuff! They include carbide scrapers (the full set from Rio Rondo comes with a couple more tips that I seem to be missing), needle files, and an exacto-type craft knife. I also have a small saw that is currently rather broken. With these tools I can carve, slice, file, and generally rearrange hardened material (mostly by removing it). A good stock of blades for the exacto knife is a good idea--don't bother fighting with dull blades when you can buy fresh ones by the hundred from places like Micro-Mark.

These two tools are very important: calipers! Actually, I believe both of these would be considered dividers, but they work the same. The one on top I got from an office supply store some years ago. It adjusts easily, and gets big enough to be used for more larger horses as well as the little guys. The small one I just got recently, though it's probably older than any of the other tools here--another flea market find. I don't know if this is its intended use, but it works! You need some form of dividers to check measurements--things like making sure both sides are symmetrical.

Needlenose pliers. I have several pairs, in varying degrees of repair. The black-handled ones are rusty but have wire cutters, the orange-handled ones have smooth jaws. Both are very useful for bending wire, creating and positioning armatures, and even for removing cured epoxy (by crushing it).

Last, but not least, is a good light source. I have two of these little lamps, picked up from IKEA for a song some years ago. They have a bright bulb (halogen, maybe?) and put off rather a lot of heat for their size. This is actually a good thing! I use one light for my light source when sculpting, and the other I use as a heat source to speed the curing of epoxy. I can fully cure epoxy in about 15 minutes instead of 3+ hours, which means far less time spent sitting around waiting.

For sculpting, I prefer a light source that is nearer to being a "point" source, rather than a diffuse source like a fluorescent bulb. I do prefer fluorescents and other diffuse light when painting, but the hard, sharp light from a point source makes it easier to see the detail of a sculpture for me. Lots of light is very important to small-scale sculpting--the more light you have, the better your eyes can focus, and the better you can see--and seeing is half the battle! It's a physics thing: the smaller the aperture, the sharper the focus.

Note that I don't use any sort of magnifying devices. I've tried those nifty headband-type magnifiers and just had too many problems with depth perception and with holding the sculpture in just the right place so it remained in focus. I know they work for lots of other people, jut not for me!

I won't say that any one of these tools is a magic bullet, or even that anyone needs any of them. They're just what work for me right now! Different people use different tools, and differences in sculpting style may translate into different preferences in tools.

Breyerfest and NAN!

2010-07-18T22:15:00.000-04:00

I'm heading off in the morning to Lexington for NAN and Breyerfest! I hope to see some of you there, please come up and say hi (and since I'm already somewhat fried feel free to remind me of names, I'm terrible about them at the best of times!). I'll be wandering around at NAN (I'm helping another shower, but not showing myself) and I have a table at the Artisans' Gallery on Friday and Saturday nights. Should be fun!

Painting is fun!

2010-06-25T18:08:00.000-04:00

I do like painting, and some sculptures are just a delight to paint. I'm happy to report that Supernova seems to be one of those!

These three are all very much in progress.

I'm planning to keep the bay...

But the grey and the chestnut will be for sale at some point.

Nova's coming!

2010-06-14T23:26:00.000-04:00

I just got the notification from MVS that my Supernovas are on the way, which means that the pre-order ones will be on their ways soon and that it is time for me to begin taking orders in earnest! I will be notifying the wait list folks first and then opening it up to everyone. I'm so excited about getting him in--can't wait to paint him!

Supernova--done and available for preorder!

2010-05-04T19:02:00.000-04:00

Well, after a long time, a lot of work, and just a little cursing, Supernova is finally finished and in the mail to Tennessee, where Mountain View Studios will be casting him! It's always a bit of a relief to get them in the mail, as I generally keep adjusting things right up until I send them off! In Nova's case, I was smoothing out some imperfections and had just set him down after a coat of primer when I knocked him over onto the concrete--DOH! But I *almost* managed to catch him, so the only damage was a ding on his hip and a cracked tail, both easily repaired. And then I took final pictures (these pictures) and he was packed and almost ready to go...when the mailman came! I had to run down the street after him to give him the package, but he did make it!

I love the shot of his head (above). I think it does a good job of showing the facial detailing! He's a bit hard to photograph because of how much his head is turned.

Supernova is available for preorder now. I'm offering 15 resins for preorder and will sell the remainder of the two-to-three mold run once the first mold has been made, which should be within 6-8 weeks. He is $240+$15 shipping/handling within the USA or $30 s/h internationally. Please email me at maggie@maggiebennett.com if you'd like to order yours!

Oh, and there are lots more photos up at http://maggiebennett.com/supernova.htm

Supernova--nearing completion!

2010-04-23T12:10:00.000-04:00

At long last I think Nova is getting very close to being finished. I spent quite a lot of time lately working on corrections after the massive critique that Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig did for the Wind Ward column of the RESS publication, The Boat (and for any other equine artists reading this I highly recommend joining RESS, http://ress.org/). It won't appear in the magazine for a while since there were other pieces in line ahead of Supernova, but it will be showing up there eventually, and in the meantime I was able to use it to fix him up!

I still have most of his "skin" to do--wrinkles, veins, little stretchy bits of skin--although I've started on some of each (facial veins, some neck wrinkles, stretchy skin on his butt).

And some of his hooves still need a touch of reshaping...

And there are some nicks and such that needs filling and smoothing...

But he's definitely getting close! Funny mouth and all (top lip going to his right, bottom to the left):

More pictures at http://maggiebennett.com/supernova.htm.

I'm not taking pre-orders on him just yet but I will take some once he is finished (which hopefully will be within a week or so)! I need to discuss him with the casters and run some more numbers before I can commit to a price but he will probably be less expensive than Zim (who is $315) and more expensive than Cooper ($195).

I have some finishwork that I'm wrapping up too, but I want the horses' owners to see them first so that shall be another post!

Khonsu's Auction

2010-03-19T10:53:00.002-04:00

Gah! I totally forgot to post the link to his auction here, sorry about that! It's here. He's ending Sunday night.

Also...

2010-03-14T22:33:00.000-04:00

I just changed my eBay ID. If I had known it was so easy I would have done it ages ago! It's now Maggie_Bennett. I'll post a link to Khonsu's auction when it goes live!

Computer problems

2010-03-14T22:28:00.000-04:00

This evening my computer was giving me a "hard drive not found"-type of error. Tech support wasn't able to help since it's a hardware problem, but after I got off the phone with them I kept messing with it and was able to get it to work again. But I have a feeling it could fail any minute, so just in case it does please be aware that I'm not intentionally ignoring anything! I will do my best to keep up with email etc. if it does go out again. Khonsu's auction is already scheduled for Tuesday night so that should go live regardless of my computer issues. Hopefully when I talk to tech support again tomorrow they will help me get the computer fixed so this won't happen again!

"Khonsu"--CM Sham

2010-03-09T12:30:00.000-05:00

That custom Sham from my last post is finally finished and named! He is "Khonsu", and I am quite pleased with him. I'm going to put the information from the page I'm working on for him here. He'll be going up on eBay next week--starting March 16.

Introducing "Khonsu"

Khonsu is a customized Breyer "Sham". Every inch of this sculpture has been resculpted by me, Maggie Bennett, leaving him entirely new--a true drastic custom. While he still maintains Sham's original pose, I have corrected flaws such as Sham's wildly differing leg lengths and odd proportions. I've also made him into a gelding, which I felt better fit his feel.

After completing the sculpture I have finished him to a softly dappled rose grey (bay gone grey). He is delicately detailed all over with his dapples following hair patterns. Also note his detailed mane and tail, showing the long lines of individual hairs. His finishwork includes acrylics (airbrushed and handpainted), archival ink, and colored pencil. He has been thoroughly sealed for durability.

Since he is a customized Breyer he is eligible to show at Breyer-only shows such BreyerFest Live. I would consider him LSQ (live show quality), but he has not been shown.

I have included many pictures of him; click on any of them to view them larger. If you'd like more pictures just contact me!

Supernova, and general "stuff"

2010-02-23T21:58:00.001-05:00

Most of my time lately has been spent working on commissions, and I need to organize those photos and post them, but tonight is not going to be the night for that. In between I've been working on a few other projects--Supernova and a couple of customs. Nova is approaching completion and I'm currently waiting for a critique on him.

On the CM front... I am working on a drastic CM Sham and a CM PAM. The PAM is my NAN donation (enough acronyms?) and is still in the early stages; the Sham is finished being resculpted and is in the painting stage. He's going to be some shade of gray but I'm going with the flow and seeing what he says he wants to be.

I have been posting smaller and more frequent updates on my new Facebook page, which you should be able to get to here, assuming I can manage a link. You can subscribe to that page and see my little updates!

Haidar's Auction Now Live

2010-01-20T09:05:00.000-05:00

Haidar is up on eBay right now. That is all.

Deputed Duke

2010-01-12T15:44:00.000-05:00

I painted this Duke (sculpted by Morgen Kilbourn) several years ago and recently pulled him out and re-did him in preparation for sale (he is sold). I was especially pleased with his hooves:

His new owner had asked me to add nail marks as she is going to be giving him shoes herself. For more pictures, please click here.

Supernova...again (take four?): the importance of primer

2010-01-02T10:33:00.000-05:00

There's a certain danger in posting in-progress shots, particularly early ones--the piece may change so much that the early shots no longer have any relation to the later ones. I think this is what's happened with 'Nova--he no longer looks very much like those early shots at all!

No changes were made between these two pictures except the addition of primer (although the angle is a bit different). Apoxie® Sculpt, particularly in what they call the "Natural" color, is somewhat translucent--which makes it quite difficult to see details. I needed to give him a coat of primer on this side of his head so that it would photograph better--I now need to match the other side of his head to this one, and it's easier with a flipped photograph, and a mirror as well! You can see that his head is still pretty rough, with visible tool marks and other defects. This guy still has a long way to go--only one of his legs has any detail sculpted in at all right now! His ears are solid because I know I will break them while sculpting if I carve them out now (also why he doesn't have a forelock); his chest is quite rough... just a lot to do! I only work on him evenings and weekends, so it does take longer as well (workdays are spent painting).

Supernova...take three

2009-12-23T13:36:00.000-05:00

Well... Supernova needed more than I had thought! His new head (shown in "Supernova...take two") was too large by about 1/4". That doesn't sound like a lot, but it made a huge difference. And once I had sculpted him a new head to the correct scale, I realized that his neck was much too thick and large. And once I fixed his neck, I realized that the rest of his body was also much too wide. So I removed a ton of Apoxie (resulting in an incredibly dusty studio!) and resculpted nearly the whole thing. Again.

I also had to move his right foreleg back, which finally sorted out a number of issues I had been having (back appeared too long but measured OK, chest was messed up, etc.) And I had to cut all his legs up and correct the lengths and angles. At least he's back in one piece now! His legs still need a ton of resculpting as the muscles and tendons aren't correct right now.

I gave him a new tail, this one is all flippy and fun! I will still need to fill in some areas as it will be extremely difficult to cast as it is now. He has a new mane that I want to add some more flippy-ness to as well.

As you can see I got blue apoxie this time around! I also got pinkish, but I like the blue better. These colors were on sale, so I figured I would give them a try. They seem pretty similar to the normal "natural" Apoxie, but maybe with slightly less of a tendency to "pull", which is definitely a good thing. I was trying to use the blue on his mane/tail/eyes (and eyelashes!) but I didn't remember to bring the natural with me on vacation, so if I want to work on him now he will have to lose his fancy color scheme!

Supernova does have a web page now, although it's rather bare. It is at http://maggiebennett.com/supernova.htm

Oh, one more thing--Happy Holidays!

Finishwork update

2009-12-09T15:35:00.000-05:00

I've been doing a lot of painting recently and I thought I ought to share some of it with you! Bear with me if the formatting is a little odd here, Blogger seems to have changed since my last post!

This is a commissioned Zim to black tobiano who went off to Australia yesterday; this one took a lot longer than I had expected because every time I thought I was finished I would see something that looked a bit too "flat" or otherwise off. He has many, many layers of shading that unfortunately don't really show up well in photos.

This Zim, in silver dapple sabino, was immense fun to paint and I am enormously satisfied with him. He has a very deep, rich color which the light mane and tail and the sabino markings really set off. He has already made it home to his owner!

This palomino Cooper I painted as a sales piece (he is available now, $425 ppd, please email me at maggie@maggiebennett.com to purchase!). I have historically had difficulty with palominos when I was using pure pigments. I used a combination of airbrush, hand painting, and pigments on this guy and he turned out beautifully. He has layers of metallics through his coat that give him a gorgeous shimmering depth that changes as you move him. He also has very subtle dapples on his barrel.

Stuff on my workbenches

2009-11-23T09:48:00.004-05:00

And yes, it is just "stuff"! Today you get to see a bit of how messy my workbenches are. This is pretty much the normal state of things, unfortunately. About once a month I clear everything off and start again, especially on the painting desk (the sculpting one tends to accumulate more papers, and I only have to worry about dust on the sculpting one, not overspray from the airbrush).

This is my sculpting desk. It's also where my computer normally lives, so this is where I do email, find reference photos, update this blog, etc. See that small semi-cleared space in front of the computer? That's where sculptures in progress go while I'm working on them!

This is exactly how the desk looks right now, I didn't clear anything off it for the photo. Supernova is off to the right, having been beheaded last night (his head was too large; I'm going to discuss that in another post). The roll of toilet paper is used for packing models for shipping. You can see my two lamps; the fluorescent one on the left gets moved over to the painting table when I'm painting. The painting table is off to the left, and the curly red hose underneath the desk runs from my compressor in the closet to the airbrush.

This is my painting bench. I didn't do any painting over the weekend, but I did pull some horses down to check them over. That's why there are three horses on the bench--normally only the one that I am working on is there and the rest are up high on shelves. I'll also have to clean this bench up before I get back to painting today, as it's simply too crowded with all the paints and stuff. The two horses that are actually on the desk are Haidar (who I repainted a large portion of and is almost ready to go) and a commissioned Zim (also almost done!).

You can also see my extra monitor, which I use for reference photos while I'm painting, and my two lights (the third is on my sculpting desk right now). The shelf thing on the right rear usually holds paints but is currently mostly empty because I need to clean stuff up; the bins under the desk also hold paints as well as some sculpting supplies like sandpaper and some other random stuff. The shallow bins on top of the desk (back left) hold powdered pigments.

Oddly (or maybe not) the rest of the house is far neater. I try to keep all my mess in the studio with varying degrees of success!

Supernova...take two

2009-11-13T22:17:00.002-05:00

I have been pretty busy lately, between commissions and some sculpting, that I just haven't managed to get photos up here! This week was so rainy that I couldn't really paint--the paint just wouldn't dry and I was getting frustrated, plus with the blowing wind I couldn't spray outside. So, I sculpted! Last week I finished and sent off a bunch of micro minis, this week I started working on a traditional who you've seen before if you read this blog (or maybe at Breyerfest).

Supernova, in his non-hardening clay form, had gotten to the adding details point. He is/was very near the point where I need to make a mold and cast him so that I can continue refining him and finish him up. However, when I moved I had to throw out my resin because the bucket broke and one part spilled, so making a mold would require ordering more resin (and probably more rubber as well). Then once the mold is made, it's a tedious process cleaning up the resin casting just to get it back to where I was before making the mold. This is why I pay someone else to do my molds and castings for the production runs--I am perfectly capable of making a mold that will work, but without equipment like a spin-caster it's difficult to get good castings.

Since I was reluctant to make a mold, I decided to do the next best thing. I resculpted Supernova from scratch in Apoxie Sculpt.

This hasn't been as difficult as you might think--since I already have the plasticine version here, I can take measurements off of that and use it as a model. This helps to eliminate some of the major problems with working directly in epoxy, and I am hoping that I will be able to keep the cutting or grinding off and resculpting of major body parts to a minimum. So far I've pretty much just got Apoxie globbed on; there will be much sanding and building back up yet to do. It's still time consuming, but I'm not sure that it's any more time consuming than making a mold and it does cost much less in materials!

A drastic custom

2009-09-30T09:01:00.003-04:00

Meet "Haidar"!

I haven't done too terribly many CMs, but I recently acquired even more bodies than I already have, and I suppose it's time to do something with them! This guy I got in a trade a few weeks ago, and the original model immediately caught my eye as one with much potential.

I resculpted every surface--nothing of the original contours remains.

He's not quite finished in these photos; I need to finish his hooves and mouth.

His head is all Apoxie--there wasn't really much to work with in the original!

Can you guess who he started out as?

Bay rabicano Cooper for sale

2009-08-26T13:18:00.003-04:00

This handsome boy is up for sale now! Photos are up at http://maggiebennett.com/gallery/Bay_Rabicano_Cooper.htm. He's $500 including postage.

Yesterday and today have been spent mostly in sculpting, with only a bit of painting thrown in. I'm working on Twist and Shout ("Mr. Drama" from before) and micro minis, mainly, with a tiny bit done on Zap as well. It's just about time for Twist and Shout to get critiqued, and I'm sure I'll have plenty more to do on him once some more eyes have looked at him.

Completed commissions

2009-08-21T13:35:00.003-04:00

Woo! I am finally moved in to the new house, although I'll probably be unpacking and finding stuff for years to come. I now have a room dedicated as the studio, which has been wonderful--at last, I have a desk just for painting! And shelf space to get in-progress stuff up off the desk and out of the way! It is delightful.

I also finally bought an airbrush last week, which has been quite an eye-opener. It makes some effects that I had been struggling with much easier, and I can tell it's going to be an immense help. Of course, it can't do everything--and I wouldn't try to make it--but for what it does do it's pretty cool. When I first picked it up it was like learning to write all over--it's a very different feel from a paint brush, and requires different muscles and techniques to use it.

I just finished and mailed out two commissions, both portraits and both bay although quite different in their own ways--an Abel and a Cooper (pictured above). I am very pleased with both of them and hope their new owners are as well!

That brings me to another point--I am now accepting commissions for finishwork! I've put some details up at http://maggiebennett.com/finishwork.htm. As you can see from the two horses here I am happy to do portraits! I do still have a few Shah Azims and Abels, as well as Cooper, so if you're looking to get any of those painted I can supply the resin as well. Just drop me a note and let me know what you'd like!

Breyerfest goodies!

2009-07-14T15:38:00.004-04:00

Well, Breyerfest is approaching alarmingly fast (as always), and I've got a few things to bring along! Not all of these are for sale--some are already sold or are commissions, but I will have them at my table in the Artisans' Gallery at the HIN to look at. I've included just a bit about each one below. If you will not be attending BF but are interested in one of them email me and we can try and work something out.

This Appaloosa Cooper is for sale, $550.

This bay pinto Cooper is already sold.

This bay Abel is a commissioned portrait and will not be for sale.

This rabicano Cooper (see detail shot below) will be $500; his hair still needs a bit of taming!

The dark bay Cooper will be $450. He currently has no markings but I can add a small facial marking if the buyer would like one.

This dapple grey Depeche (sculpted by Jennifer Irwin) is still very much in progress, but will be for sale once he is finished!

Work has been a little broken up right now, since we just bought a house and are moving to Durham NC! I will be going straight from BF to the new place, so I've been trying to pack and everything in between working on horses. I will have a room dedicated as my studio there, which will be a first for me; I will also be doing model horses/artwork full time! Therefore, I will be accepting commissions for finishwork and customization. I still need to work up a rate chart and will be putting that up on my website when I do.

Mr. Steady and Mr. Drama

2009-06-22T20:58:00.000-04:00

Mr. Steady, "Zap":

and Mr. Drama (who still is in need of a name):

The pair together:

Zap is a portrait of a real Quarter Horse gelding. The other guy is an Arabian stallion, and is still in need of much work--like hind hooves, as well as the obvious mane/tail/overall work/facial detailing! They are both in LB scale--it's a fun scale to work in, being big enough to be detailed but small enough to be easy to handle. I've been working on them in between painting, prepping, and resculpting other horses for Breyerfest, which is only a few weeks away!

I am moving several states away between now and Breyerfest, as well. It's going to be an extremely busy month. I'm hoping to have 4-5 Coopers finished and for sale at the Artisan's Gallery; if you are interested in a specific color and would like to reserve one let me know. As of now I am planning: chestnut appaloosa (nearly finished), bay with mohair, bay, palomino, gray, and perhaps pinto or something else. It's hard for me to remember to post updates when I'm workign so much. I'm looking forward to quitting my current full-time day job and just doing model horses full time.

Finished NAN donation!

2009-05-28T19:05:00.000-04:00

He is finished, and already in the mail! I'm quite pleased with how he came out; it took at least a dozen times of braiding, unbraiding, and re-braiding his mane to get it right! I believe the auction will be starting with proxy bids in a few days; information will be posted here.

You should be able to click on the images in this post to see them much larger. As you can see I have also made him a custom base, which makes him quite stable.

Micros...

2009-04-27T18:03:00.000-04:00

Here are some more photos of the micros I'm working on. These guys are the closest to being done; there are a few more that need a bit more work before I take pictures of them. These still need some things done, too, but at least they have a full complement of legs and heads!

NAN Auction Cooper

2009-04-01T20:06:00.000-04:00

Here's a headshot (photo by my brother, who likes to get artsy). His hair is totally untamed and fuzzy right now!

A Couple of Coopers

2009-03-29T20:05:00.000-04:00

I'm painting several Coopers; these two are the furthest along! The first one, in chestnut and with hair, is my NAN donation. His hair still needs styling and trimming, and his hooves need some more work, but otherwise he's nearly done. I'll be braiding his mane and tail, in a way that they can be un-braided if his new owner would prefer them loose. Should be neat.

The second one, in bay tobiano, is going to be for sale when he is finished. Sorry about the silly base--I use this while painting to avoid getting paint on the clear bases. He's not quite so far along as the other one; I need to paint his hooves, tail, probably more coats of white and do shading in the white. Drop me a line if you're interested in this guy!

In progress sculptures

2009-03-18T20:41:00.001-04:00

I'm betting most equine artists don't misplace their original sculptures and have to go searching for them. Then again, most sculptors don't work in micro mini scale! I, on the other hand, do work in MM scale, and fairly regularly misplace sculptures and find them months later. Most of these guys have been sitting around forgotten for months if not years! The two at the bottom right are closest to being done, and they're also probably the most likely to actually get done at some point in the future (you may have to click the photo to see the whole thing so you can see them).

Micros don't take too much effort or materials to start, so I usually start a bunch and see what works out and what doesn't. As you can see some of these definitely haven't worked out!

Traditionals, on the other hand, take quite a bit more effort. That doesn't mean that I don't start and discard them too, but I do put quite a bit more thought into what I'm planning with one before I start. And, since I went out and got some reference photos and video this past weekend, I was able to get some work done on Supernova:

I've just started roughing in his entire hind end, and something is going on with his back that I can't put my finger on just yet. It probably doesn't help that my video references are of a lovely QH, and Supernova is meant to be an Arabian! It's going to be an adventure seeing how he develops.

Here's a screenshot from my video! Check out how deeply he's digging in with those hind legs--really pushing off hard.

Woo hoo! New website!

2009-03-04T23:39:00.000-05:00

I am so proud of myself! I managed to totally re-do my website, by myself. It's not quite so fancy as it was before (previously, I hired a professional to do it, angeldancehill.com--and while the site really was nice, I couldn't update it myself, which was getting to be a problem). I decided to re-do it myself so that I could understand how it worked and keep it simple enough to add onto it by myself.

Feel free to go check it out at http://www.maggiebennett.com/ I'm still working on some of the pages!

My NAN Donation in progress--Cooper!

2009-03-01T20:27:00.000-05:00

Well, the camera really wasn't cooperating, and of course he's in progress (he has no hair!), but I've been working on this guy a lot! He'll be flaxen chestnut--not sure how light I'm going to go on his mane and tail, but they'll be at least a bit lighter than his body.

I can't wait to hair him, since I love hairing and I'm going to try something new and different: first properly hair him and then braid him--so if his future owner wants they can actually unbraid him. Hopefully it will work out properly; I did a little test run on another model and it worked out fine!

Cooper IS done!

2008-12-21T18:29:00.000-05:00

Woo hoo! At last Cooper is finished! You should be able to click on the picture above to see him much larger. Unfortunately my computer is completely dead right now (I'm on a borrowed one), so until my new one makes it here I am not able to properly edit photos, update my website, etc.

Cooper will be headed off to MVS to be cast very soon. I'm not sure exactly when the first resins will come but hopefully within the next month or two! Please email me at maggie@maggiebennett.com if you would like to purchase one; the price is $195 including postage anywhere in the world. He's a limited edition of approximately 130 pieces; I am selling 100 of them now and reserving the last 30 for later sale/me to paint/etc.

Cooper is almost done!

2008-11-21T20:45:00.000-05:00

Cooper is incredibly close to being done. I think I just have to finish one side of one leg (I've been battling this leg for a while!) and give him some sort of base(s).I'm really very pleased by how he has come together--I think he's by far my best sculpture yet, and I hope others will agree!

I have discovered (OK, I really already knew this, but it has been reaffirmed) that I very much enjoy doing portraits. There's something about making the model look not just like a horse, but like a particular horse that appeals to me. And there's nothing like having a great big pile (file!) of photos of said horse to make things go well--Carra (Cooper's owner) had sent me over 800 photos, and I used so many of them! It was and is wonderful to need a photo of, say, the wrinkles on that leg in this position and just flip through the photos until I come to the photo,. While this can be done to a certain degree with generic photos, different horses do have different ways of moving, skin elasticity, fitness, etc., so having all the references be of the same horse is a big help.

I've been working on Cooper in between working on painting commissions. I find that if I do either thing for too long I have a hard time concentrating, so switching back and forth works well. Speaking of which...back to work for me!

Also, GAH! I don't know why Blogger has taken to just cutting off half the image instead of resizing it. The image here should include Cooper's head and part of his shoulders--not just his neck like it did last night!

My [relative] internet silence

2008-10-30T22:38:00.000-04:00

I know I've been kind of MIA from this blog, updating my website, etc. Everything is fine here, no worries there! I got a full-time job, which is both less stressful and pays rather better than being a full-time artist. I'm still sculpting and painting! It's just a lot harder to make time to update the blog, re-write stuff for the website, etc. than it used to be. Not to mention that everything seems to happen in the fall! Renaissance festivals, horseback riding for the first time in well over a year, and I finally got my dream car (thanks to working two jobs--the model horses and the day job)--all these things eat up time, and I find that if I pass on these enjoyable things I end up incredibly stressed and no work gets done anyhow. Happy Maggie is much more likely to get stuff done than grumpy Maggie. Don't get me wrong--I love sculpting. I wouldn't do it if I didn't. But it's hard to sit inside sculpting on a cool sunny day when the road and the forest are calling.

Evenings are much easier to work in, and yet they seem so short. I've always worked better at night; too bad I now need to get to bed by about 11:30 if I want to have any hope of being coherent in the morning! Speaking of which...

Will update with photos of recently completed finish work when said photos have been a) taken and b) edited. May be a while.

Cooper update

2008-08-17T17:21:00.000-04:00

I have been putting in a lot of time on Cooper recently. I just compared him as he is now to the very first pictures--it's amazing how much has changed!

This week I worked intensively on his legs. I can still see a few things that need tweaking (his left hind is still a bit off in positioning--I think it's just a heat-and-bend fix), and there's still smoothing and filling to be done in a few places. Then it will be time for fine detailing, like veining.

This stage always seems to take me the longest. It might be because it never seems to result in immediate progress--filling one area only seems to show up three more that need work! I tend to get a bit discouraged around this stage, because it just feels like it takes forever. I always wish I had done more smoothing earlier on, when he was in soft clay, but of course when I'm working in clay I forget how difficult this part is and am in a hurry to see the horse in resin.

I was surprised by how much work needed to be done to his legs. I essentially resculpted each of them from scratch, maintaining the same lengths and such but re-detailing them.

I'm afraid these pictures are rather terrible, being taken in harsh sunlight since they're just quick in-progress shots. I've also noticed that his right hind leg (the supporting one) wants to flex ever so slightly with the full weight of the resin on it. The resin is sold cast and quite heavy, and that leg doesn't have wire running it's full length (I tried to put wire in, but as I think I've mentioned before my resin casting skills are not yet top-notch, seeing as I cast perhaps two castings a year! This won't be a problem in the finished resins, as they will be professionally hollow-cast with properly reinforced legs.

He currently has those two tiny bases--I plan to have similar bases cast in clear resin--very unobtrusive. I am also hoping to manage a "normal" base with a peg that goes into that right hind leg, so that he can be on either the small clear bases or the larger base.

Problems...

2008-08-12T17:36:00.000-04:00

I am currently experiencing severe computer problems, so this update is not going to be an exciting one with lots of pictures and such! I am working on Cooper, and he was laying down on my desk. Also on my desk was a cup full of paint-water that I had been washing brushes in. Well, I turned my chair, which caught on Cooper's leg, causing him to spin around and knock the cup off the desk...right into my laptop. Which promptly went off. I'm going to let it dry out for a while but I don't have much home of it being redeemable, unfortunately. I can only hope that I can get most of my data off of it. Thankfully I had done a major backup shortly before BreyerFest, so I won't lose too much stuff--but I would be very sad to lose all my photos from BreyerFest! I also have my sales information on there, but it is backed up elsewhere and if I have to get a new computer I will be able to recover it.

Cooper had more to be done on him than I thought! I am currently resculpting all his legs to make them really clean and detailed. That's the most major thing I'm working on--that and filling the thousands of pinholes that my rather poor resin casting produced!

A very quick update!

2008-07-09T17:17:00.001-04:00

Cooper is getting close to being done! I cast the resin copy yesterday; now I'll have to detail this copy off before sending it off for the production molds to be made.

This step is necessary when working in non-hardening oil clays. It adds some expense, since the silicone rubber, PlastiPaste (hard-curing material used to make a supportive outer mold) and resin are a bit pricey, but it makes the process much easier.

Sculpting in soft clay (or even relatively hard clay!) is quite different than working in hardening material like Apoxie Sculpt. Errors can be fixed by pushing the clay around instead of having to cut or grind off sections and resculpt them.

I find that working in non-permanent materials also tends to change my sculpting style. Different techniques work better in oil clays, and different media must be used; for example, I use oderless mineral spirits to thin clay and to smooth, while I use water or saliva to smooth Apoxie Sculpt.

The next step is finishing this resin. There will be lots of prep-type work to do, filling the many tiny bubbles, smoothing imperfections, and rebuilding a few slipped seams and the one missing hoof. I also will detail him out, adding veins, rebuilding the wrinkles that may have been lost in the molding process, and otherwise adjusting details. I also must figure out the stand situation, as he has only his right hind touching the ground.

Once all this is sorted, it will be off to the casters! I need to get a quote on him, but if everything works as I hope I would like to offer him at about $195 unpainted.

Cooper!

2008-05-26T19:24:00.001-04:00

This is Cooper. He's a real Arabian, as well as my latest Traditional scale sculpture!

Cooper's owner, Carra McClelland, has sent me about 800 photos of him. No problem with references! I'm really enjoying working on him.

A sneak peak

2008-04-21T17:20:00.001-04:00

These two quite different horses are some of what I'm working on. The CM Abel in back is my NAN auction donation piece. Still got a good ways to go on him--I haven't even gotten any primer on him yet. And I suppose I need to work out his forelock as well. What you can't see is that his mane and tail are removable. I plan to give him a hair mane and tail as well--so if you like hair, or for performance classes, you can have mohair, if you prefer sculpted--no problem there! I've done some parts a bit differently than I've seen them done before. There shouldn't be any visible join once he's finished.

The little guy (Little Bits scale) is my latest sculpture. He's (obviously) an Andalusian/PRE stallion, in a forward Spanish trot. I still have a ways to go on him what with smoothing and correcting musculature and overall detailing, but he's getting there. I just shot him with his first coat of primer, so now I can see all sorts of things to fix! I plan to have him ready for sale by Breyerfest. He does need a name...

Some works in progress

2008-04-13T16:13:00.000-04:00

So: some things I've been working on! All these pictures are rather poor, I'm afraid--not great lighting today. Ah well, you can get the idea. Just note that my camera has introduced some graininess that is not in the finish work!

First up is a red bay Willoughby, a commission. I'm waiting to hear back from his owner before finishing him up. He still needs a star at least, and some more hoof and facial detailing, and I haven't even started on his base.

Next is a bay Zim, also a commission. He's going to be a pinto of some sort--just waiting until I hear back from his owner before adding any more markings, since I'm not sure if he needs to be a sabino or a tobiano! He also needs his hooves and other details finished.

And then we having the Rearing Abel. He's the first of ten similar piece I have planned, each customized from an Abel resin to a rearing pose. Each will be slightly different. This one is a liver chestnut, and he's nearing completion--needs hooves and some other details done! He is/will be for sale--$800.

And another custom Silver!

2008-03-05T16:12:00.001-05:00

This one is a bit more drastic, although I would still consider her a "moderate" custom--I feel the word drastic is overused for CMs, and since there's still plenty of ol' Silver left in her she's just moderate! New head, neck, and barrel, and her hind end was resculpted too. I tried to keep the muscling and sculpting style similar to the original, and I think her new hindquarters still flow nicely with the sculpting style of her shoulders.

She is finished in acrylics and pure pigments; her mane and tail are mohair (multiple colors in both white and chestnut to give depth and variation).

She, too, will be for sale.

A completed custom

2008-03-03T19:59:00.000-05:00

One down, who knows how many to go!

I may have said this before, but I'm finding I really enjoy customs. I love learning the process of adding mohair, which is something new to me, and I love the realism it can give. It's hard to be fooled by a model with a sculpted mane and tail into thinking you're looking at a photo of a real horse, but it's just about possible with the haired models. This guy, "Ekhlypse", is a customized Breyer Silver with an Abel head (Silver's original head is quite crooked!). Ekhlypse is so named because most of the work on him was completed during the week of the lunar eclipse, and his color reminds me of the darkened moon. Ekhlypse is/will be for sale, although I'm still not 100% sure on sales method yet.

Here are some of the other horses I'm working on now: another CM Silver to chestnut paint (just about done, I'm styling her hair now and she needs some details finished), a Depeche resin to dapple grey, a resculpted Salinero to fleabitten grey (just needs a few more tiny details), an Abel with his head raised and a tummy tuck (still needs work on his neck, will be a dapple grey), and a CM PS draft (will be a napping mare).

What's going on

2008-02-22T18:50:00.001-05:00

I've been quite busy lately--thus the lack of posting. I'm doing some CMs--several Breyer Silvers for starters! I'm also taking on some commissions, which will be fun. I've opened up the Shah Azim edition ($350 each unpainted), and I'm selling Abel resins as well.

I've been having too much fun customizing both plastics and resins to work much on any new sculptures, although I did rough out a little Caspian stallion (traditional scale but classic size). I have tons of references from my October trip to the National Drive of a team of Caspians, and I'm excited about doing a sculpture of one eventually.

Painting painting painting

2008-01-31T15:47:00.001-05:00

I've been enjoying painting lately. I've painted a couple of Bartimaeus resins (one dapple grey, one chestnut with hair--which still needs a bit of work, turns out the reason there aren't many haired minis is because they're hard to do), and the first painted Abel resin.

The Bartimaeus resin came out really well, I think--the dapple grey one at left. I'm very pleased with him. He will be for sale; I'm not sure if I should do eBay or private offers or what. With eBay's changes to pricing and feedback structures I'm not sure I'm interested in selling as much there as before.

I also am working on an Abel to buckskin. I'm delighted with how this guy is coming out as well. He's done in a combination of media--acrylics as a base, then powder pigments followed by colored pencils and more powder pigments. I was excited to try this color, because I saw a gorgeous (real) horse in this color that I had taken several photographs of. I think that my rendition of it came out pretty close to how the real horse looked.

The powder pigments are interesting. I had to add a lot of black and white (grey) to my mixes to keep the color from being far too intense for the softness of a buckskin. This is opposite to my experience with normal pastels, which tend to have very soft colors, not intense at all. I like it--better too intense and needing to be toned down than not intense enough!

Working hard!

2008-01-18T12:11:00.000-05:00

I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, I've just been working hard! Lately I've been doing much more painting and less sculpting, mostly because I have two horses that I am waiting to receive back from the caster's. I'm expecting to get the first batch of Abels in today--I'm really looking forward to that!

In the meantime, I've painted a Bartimaeus to dapple grey--I'm very happy with him-- finished repairing/improving the yawning PS Draft CM, and I'm working on a haired chestnut Bartimaeus. This is only my second (third if you count how I had to hair the Drafter twice due to the repairs) time hairing, and I'm not sure how well it's going to work in SM scale, but I want to give it a try! I have some nice fine hair, so hopefully it'll work!

I'm also finishing up a CM Salinero to a super-complex fleabitten grey--he's resculpted as well, to an Andalusian stallion, in a bullfighting pose that I based on a photo I took of a polo pony. I was going to make him into a polo pony, but Salinero's body type is just too far away from that.

some days are productive

2007-12-06T17:14:00.000-05:00

Some days are more obviously productive than others. Despite being sick (coughed all night instead of sleeping, ugh) today was a productive one. I finished one sculpture and started a new one.

The finished sculpture: Eduardo, a SM scale PRE stallion.

He's on his way to be cast now. He'll be a limited edition--a one to two mold run of 65-140 pieces or so. Price will be $50 ppd anywhere in the world. Quite a deal, I think.

The new sculpture: a traditional scale standing Arabian. I know, just what we need, another standing Arab, right? Well, he/she/it is going to be a bit different, if my plans work out. Not a standard resin release, in other words (although he may be that as well)--I'm hoping to do him in bronze, CMed on commission as portraits of real Arabians. We'll see how this works out. I've put perhaps 3.5 hours in on him so far, so he's not far along at all. Just armature and the beginning stages of sculpting.

Micro Minis!

2007-12-01T13:16:00.001-05:00

Got a pile of new micros coming out! I just got the first pewters from the caster yesterday and I'm very happy with them. I couldn't resist painting one, in fact. It's been a really long time since I actually painted a micro mini! He's the walking Mustang to a liver chestnut appaloosa--pictures when he's finished. In the mean time, here are the new micros!

Mmm, turkey.

2007-11-22T16:38:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mmm, deep fried turkey. And we wonder why it's so hard to lose weight...

Aaaaargh.

2007-11-18T21:48:00.000-05:00

On the CM Draft: I put him in a precarious place. He took a nose dive and at first I thought there was very little damage. When I looked closer I realized he had significant damage. I have pulled his eBay auction. I am repairing the damage, and I'm going to do some more improvements while I'm at it, so he'll be better than ever! Then he'll be up for sale again.

On eBay

2007-11-13T23:38:00.002-05:00

The CM PS Drafter is up on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120183143729

I've been working on SM-scale sculptures lately: a trotting PRE stallion and a trotting Saddlebred mare. Also on MMs, a whole batch. They should be done really soon (like tomorrow for the micros, I hope). Pictures soon.

Oh, and I still have Bartimaeus resins for sale! I'm generally shipping them out the same day as I receive payment, so if you want one now's a good time to order. Email me at star_splinter@yahoo.com if you want one.

I'm bad at going to bed on time.

2007-11-07T00:07:00.000-05:00

Why is it that even when I'm tired I don't feel like going to bed?

Spent today doing advertising-related stuff and learning how to update my website (no, it's not up yet), and a little bit of actual finishwork. Not really all that productive of a day, I'm afraid, although I did learn some stuff.

It was windy and wet so I haven't been able to get final pictures of the CM PS drafter yet--maybe tomorrow (today!). I realized that the other drafter I'm working on won't be haired unless I change my plan for her a lot--she has feather on her legs that I wasn't planning to grind off and I don't like the combination of sculpted hair and real hair. But maybe the CM Breyer Cleveland Bay I have here will get hair once I'm further along on him (very minor CM, just correcting a few things).

A Haired Custom

2007-11-02T10:20:00.000-04:00

Never really haired a custom before. Haven't even done hardly any customs, to tell the truth. I've found I really like doing them. I probably spent way too much time on this one, but I'm But quite happy with him! I'm still finishing up his hair, making sure no glue is showing and such. I really like hairing, it's fun, more realistic than sculpted, and easier for me to do (I have such a hard time sculpting manes and tails). This guy (he needs a name!) even has leather on the underside of his tail bone, which is sort-of-poseable (I wouldn't move it too much, but it is!). He'll be on eBay soon--once I've 100% finished him! Hope he sells well so I can justify doing more CMs. It took forever to do all the tiny hair detail in his complex overo markings. I need a better way to get nice solid white than dozens and dozens of layers, but I'm not sure that such a thing exists.

I have another CM started--a Stone trotting draft to a galloping mare. I think I'll hair her too!

Abel is done!

2007-10-31T23:34:00.000-04:00

Abel is, I think, done. I wanted to paint him but it looks like that's not going to happen: I had some finish issues (since sorted out; I was trying to dull cote him while the under layers were still damp, although they LOOKED dry). So he's half-finished to a rather nice bay, and I don't think I'm going to finish it. I like painting the original sculptures because it means giving the horse a very thorough going-over, insuring that I spot any issues that might otherwise have been missed, and I did find some. Most notably, his eyes were not entirely symmetrical--a longstanding problem that I tend to have. I've fixed it now (by resculpting his left eye) and I'm happy with it now.

On the opposite side of the issue, I don't like painting OSs because I worry that layers and layers of fixative may obscure some of the finest details. While this might not be an issue in the resin edition (you can see through transparent layers of finish, for one!), for the original I want to preserve as much detail as possible. So I think I'll just have to wait and paint one of the first production castings!

Incidentally, this means that I will be ready to take orders for Abel resins. He'll be $250 + $15 postage to the USA, or $30 postage outside the USA. It will be at least a few weeks before resins are ready to ship, possibly longer. He's going to be an open edition, which basically means that I will continue selling him until a) there seems to be no further interest or b) I get tired of him. You can email me at star_splinter@yahoo.com for more information on how to order. I won't be accepting time payments on Abel.

On an unrelated note: I took yesterday off and drove all the way down Skyline Drive in Virginia. It was a gorgeous day, just on the edge of warm enough for comfortable top-down driving, and sunny. It made me realize that I really do like driving as much as I think I do, although 7-8 hours is about as long as I can go before I start getting tired. I've done as much as 11 in a day (alone), but that's really too much. I also hiked a shortish trail down to a waterfall, and found that I'm in pretty terrible shape--getting back up was a challenge. Who knew a 440-ft elevation drop would be so hard to climb back up!

Leaving

2007-10-05T08:51:00.000-04:00

I will be out of town starting today through Sunday, Oct. 14. I'll try and check email sometime in there but no promises. I'm going to Lexington, KY for horsie fun!

On the model horse side:

Abel is basically done. I'm painting him before sending him off to be cast.

I'm working on a big pile of micro minis (15 of them, although not all will be finished, ever). A nice variety, so keep an eye out for them, they'll be coming fairly soon.

I've still got Bartimaeus resins on hand, so if anyone orders while I'm gone I will ship them out when I return. They're $40 each ppd within the USA or $50 each outside the USA--just send the money via PayPal to star_splinter@yahoo.com, labeled Bartimaeus. You can see pictures at http://www.maggiebennett.com/photos/main.php?g2_itemId=455

I'm working on a CM Salinero to an Andalusian. I think he's cool! Pictures when I get back.

Feeling sick

2007-09-08T12:16:00.000-04:00

I've been feeling somewhat ill for the past week, so I haven't managed to get as much done as I would have liked. It's hard to think artistically with a sore throat and a drippy nose! I have managed a little bit though.

I've especially been working on Abel, trying to get him finished up. I've been working on adding his fine veining, using Sarah M-B's "messo". It's a mixture of modeling paste and gesso. I couldn't find my gesso, so I'm using white acrylic paint instead. I always find that gesso goes grainy on me in any case--maybe my bottle is bad or something. I struggled with this at first, until I discovered that the way to get smooth veins is to load up one side of the paintbrush (wiping the other side clean) and roll the messo off while pulling the paintbrush along. It takes some practice but works pretty well eventually. My first veins came out too big, so after they dried I sanded them off and tried again. In this picture I've slightly hit the veins with sandpaper, so they show up white against the red/brown primer. They were just a bit too big. I'll see when I put on another coat of primer if they're in scale now. I don't want to end up looking like he has worms or snakes under his skin! I'm using photos I have taken of some of the horses I know for reference--one of them has some very prominent veins/capillaries.

I've done a tiny bit of micro mini work, working on the mare
and fixing her shoulder and jaw. She needs some serious hoof and leg work (one of her hooves is missing entirely, although you can't see in this photo!), but I haven't felt up to mixing up some epoxy and doing it. I have to plan to sit down and work for at least an hour straight, and I just haven't managed that this week. It's easier to work on something like the veining, which can be set down at any time with just as much warning as it takes to rinse a brush.

This is my "studio" area as is it now. It's gotten a lot more crowded because my bed was moved in here and I got a table instead of a desk. The table is great-it's a peanut-shaped table from Ikea, with these really neat turn-out trays I put on the legs. I keep tools that I'm using in there so they're close at hand.
As you can see I work messy.

You can also see some of the aquariums in the background there. I have seven in here, ranging from 2.5 gallons to 55 gallons. Nice to look at when I should be working! The 55 gallon is right behind me when I'm taking the picture.

This is a small section of the 55 gallon aquarium. All my tanks are planted with live plants. The fish like 'em and so do I!

I had my last day working at the barn at school this week. They won't let me come and ride or work anymore since I'm no longer a student, having graduated this year. I'm really going to miss getting to work with horses twice a week, but it's really expensive to ride anywhere in this area that I've found.

Look at that ear flopping around! This is Hershey, a TB who I've grown very fond of in the last few months, as he was on stall rest and loved having plenty of time spent with him.

Micro Mini Update

2007-08-30T22:48:00.000-04:00

I've nearly finished a couple, and more are getting there! (like the three beasties above!)

You can kind of see my odd sculpting method when working in this small scale. I start by making an armature, and then sculpt in sections. I generally start with one or both front legs (including shoulders), then both back legs (and hindquarters), then head, then neck and body, then mane and tail. If I have a bit of extra Apoxie left from another horse, I might add it on to a belly if the material has set up too much to be easily detailed. Once all this has been done I go back around the horse, refining and fixing errors.

Hopefully it's not too obvious from the photos (since my goal is to make horses that look good, regardless of scale), but these are all micro mini scale. That is, they stand about 1 1/4 inches tall. The foal is 1" tall and the jumper will end up under 2" tall, including his/her base (haven't decided on gender for that one yet!). It does mean that they generally look much better in person than in these huge photos.

I've been productive!

2007-08-25T16:04:00.000-04:00

I've been working on micro minis lately. I hadn't done any for many months, due to school. But I finally have gotten back into them, and I think I had forgotten how much I enjoy the little guys.

So here they are: mostly unfinished, still plenty of work to do on almost all of them. Right now there are, clockwise from lower left:
walking Mustang stallion, extended trot WB (standing up, just a skeleton right now), cantering QH (also jst a skeleton), jumping horse (likewise), standing mare, standing foal, prancing Spanish horse, and galloping Arabian stallion.
The Mustang is the only one that's pretty close to being finished; all the rest need varying degrees of work. The Arabian balances on his hind legs and tail, and is turning slightly.

I work in a combination of Green Stuff (GS) and Apoxie Sculpt on the little guys. It's a good combination, and works well for what I like to do. I can't work very effectively when it's too hot in the house, as it is right now, because it tends to set up too fast.

I've also been working on a few other projects, including a Shah Azim painted black for a customer. No pictures just yet, though.

Work, moving...

2007-08-06T12:28:00.000-04:00

I am finally all moved out of my old apartment, yay! I'm not really properly moved into the new place yet--everything is here but it's in boxes, some of it's in the garage, etc.

I managed to get some work done on both Khayne and Abel yesterday. I'm trying on Abel to smooth out his mane and tail a little bit. After talking with Caroline Boydston at Breyerfest and thinking about both the painting process and how hair really flows, I realized that maybe I somewhat smoother, softer style is better for hair. I've always struggled with hair; it's just been one of those things that's hard for me to get right. I tend to make it too rough, which isn't really attractive and is hard to paint. Caroline does wonderful work, including detailing in the hair by hand in the finishwork, and I think the results from that type of treatment are far more realistic than trying to sculpt in the hair detail.

As a sculptor it's hard to let go of trying to fully detail out the hair, since there's no guarantee that the finishwork artist will do a good job. But I think I'm going to see how it goes with making it a bit softer.

Moving

2007-07-27T18:29:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm moving. Gotta be out of this apartment by August 6 at noon, but my roommate is moving out tomorrow so there's no point in me staying here much past that. My parents are only a little over half an hour away so it's not far, but I have a ton of stuff and a bunch of aquariums.

I spent the last two days setting up a 55 gallon aquarium, which I'm excited about. It's not my favorite size tank (too deep and narrow for plants, really), but it's what I've got. I built a light stand, which holds two shoplights for a total of 4 fluorescent bulbs running the length of the tank. It should be enough for plants with moderate light requirements--it doesn't look as bright as my smaller tanks, so I'm trying to include more low-light plants. Right now it has a bunch of Java fern, some Java moss, a sword, some H.C. (I hope it spreads!), an anubias (I've been wanting one forever and finally found one I could afford), and some interesting rotala which looks nothing like the rotala in my other tanks. Current livestock is one male red cherry shrimp (he hitchhiked on the wood and plants from another of my tanks). I plan to stock it with threadfin rainbowfish (I. werneri; I already have a dozen but I'll probably pick up some more eventually), shrimp, and some hybrid Endler's livebearers I got this week (they're absolutely stunning, sold as Tiger Endlers but I think of them as Flame Endlers; they're fancy guppy/Endler hybrids so I need to be sure to keep them separated from my pure strain of Endlers).

This all means there has been no model horse work and probably won't be for another week or so.

2007-07-24T23:14:00.001-04:00

Ok, I couldn't resist. Found the camera (couldn't leave it lost!) and took a few pictures. The costume is by Heather Downing and it's not in any way her fault that I have probably put it on wrong. The bridle is a bit too big for Abel (it fits Zim) and I think it's adjustable but I'm a bit afraid to mess with it, so it's not really on him properly. And since I cut out his eye to straighten it at Breyerfest and haven't had a chance to resculpt around it, there's a nice join between his eye and his face. Ah well.

I guess I can show off Khayne now too! She's Abel's companion (I know, I know...), a Morab mare. Still quite rough as I started her on Thursday night at the Artisans' Gallery, although I cheated and used Abel as a base (since I had the clay sculpture left after casting him), so work on her has gone quite quickly to this point. Still plenty left to do but I'm happy with how she's coming so far. I think she's going to get an entirely different tail but I'm not sure yet. This is an awful picture, complete with distortion since her head is turned slightly away from the camera.

Ok, enough for now, right?

My first blog post ever!

2007-07-24T23:01:00.000-04:00

Well, everyone else seems to be doing it so I guess I'll join in on the blogging too. I'm Maggie Bennett and I sculpt horses--mostly of the model variety, but I've done some others too.

I just got back from Breyerfest Monday morning and haven't managed to do anything resembling work yet. Khayne (galloping Morab mare) made it back safely with me, which I was a bit worried about. She seems to be developing some cracks in her barrel which are probably from where I cut her apart (back when she was Abel) to add some length--that's been a weak point ever since.

I started moving stuff into my "new" place (read: my parents' basement; yeah, I feel like a bit of a loser but it's what really makes sense right now and I think it's going to be a quite nice place once we get everything set up). Moved most of my resins back in and some clothing; several more trips to go. So work is probably going to be pretty much at a standstill until I'm all moved.

I dressed Abel up in his costume last night and I think he looks so incredibly cool in it. I'd take a picture but what with the whole moving thing I have no idea where my camera currently is. I am a long way away from being organized at all.

More posts to follow as events warrant!