Mix 'n' Match

 

Yesterday, I had a photoshoot with the arena panel for both an upcoming MEPSA show and A Field of Dolls Photo Show. I got through most of them before the sun started casting long shadows. I also was reminded that super dark horses (like Black) photograph better in bright sunshine. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get to Elvis Presley's Bear before the sun set too far below the trees. Thankfully, today my mom, sister, and I are going to our friend's house up in Idaho, so that my mom could make the videos she needs to become certified in equine cranial sacral therapy (it's kind of like chiropractic stuff). The cool things about this friend's place is that one: they have a lot of land, and two: it's rural with a dirt road. In other words, I am bringing some of my Breyers to photograph in a different scenery. I may not get everyone photographed today, but if I do, that'll be awesome! If not, I still have the field up by my house once I finish making these fall bushes prop for breaking up the hard edges between the table and the background.

We'll see how everything goes.

Now to what I really want to talk about!

Mixing and matching bases!

As usual, I had one of my curiosity moments. This is something I have done in the past with just about anything from Lego minifigures to Barbies to American Girl Dolls to the Polly Pocket dolls (remember those? With their rubber clothing?) to any other kind of doll. It revolves around mixing and matching clothing from the original clothes on that "doll." Well, Breyers don't really have that kind of clothing....but they do have those bases for the one-legger. Here's Blue-Eyed Bandit on Ballynoe's stand. Since the stands are modeled specifically to counterbalance the mold's needs, switching them up - especially if the model's touch-down is opposite from the owner of the stand - can be interesting. So far, both Bandit....

...and Ballynoe are a little unstable in each other's shoes. (I didn't test them on American Pharoah's stand since the results are too obvious).

I did, however, test American Pharoah on both Bandit....

...and Ballynoe's stands. He was more stable in Bandit's. The front of Ballynoe's was rocking upward, but the overall stand stayed surprisingly stable while American Pharoah was sporting it.

Oddly enough, between last year and this year, I have acquired 3 Breyers that require a stand. These guys are my ONLY Breyers that are stand sporters. I remember when I was a kid looking through the Breyer mini catalogs, wondering what was the point of a horse that requires a stand, a grazing horse, and a lying down horse. I guess I thought that the stands were permanently attached to the horse - in turn, you couldn't "gallop" the horse over the furniture or the floor.

I do plan on sculpting new stands for all three of these guys to cast in resin. I plan on having multiple to match the environment/season. Then photographing them would come to a whole new level!