Third doll!

Today it happened... I got a third rider doll in scale 1:9. But this is a bit different from the typical, because this is not a Breyer doll. I didn't buy it or custom it - I made it by myself!

I know, he's not that good, and I even didn't wait it to be good. I only wanted to see if I really can make a doll. I think I could; after making this one for test, I know a bit more how to do and what. It's possible, at least, that I do not later use any tape to base a sculpt.

His materials are simple: metal wire, tape and black silk clay. I taped the wire armature just because I had nothing clever for that, and I don't understand humane anatomy that well yet that I could just splat the clay pieces and make shapes... I also can't wait, I have never that magical thing called patience, so I decided to do that way. Also the silk clay is not similar to anything else what people really use, so that explains the messy look.

After leaving him dry some hours, I glued some fabric to his limbs and tail to give him moving paws but no too difficult sculptings. That also made it possible to position the tail how I like! After gluing the limbs, I added him pawpads and nose color with a dark brown acrylic paint; inner ears I painted with some skin color only because I didn't want them to be one and same everywhere. And as this is a test doll only, yet, I didn't care that much how well he is made.

For eyes I had beads, what I painted. It was horrific as always, because I wanted them to move, but after some finishing I decided to glue them to their place.

After that, he was ready for some test ride with Sam (Cigar mold). (The photos I took about that ride are so deadly horrific in quality that I don't want to torture anyone's retinas with them. Enjoy.)

The doll really has wires in limbs, so they move and do not stay in one position forever, but I just didn't photograph him with hands open. 

He's a black Finnish farm cat. And I called him Juoru (rumor), now, although I had thought a name Walter too... But as he is Finnish, and one of the rider rats (Breyer CM doll) has a middle name Walther, I decided not to call him that then.

Waiting for eyes to dry.

Yet waiting for eyes to dry... And possibly waiting for pawpads to get painted.

Not the most cat-like cat of me, but for a first doll it's almost OK.

He holds reins better than the Breyer CM dolls I have.

The cheek fur is meant to look similar to fluffy cat cheeks I see often at home.

Lauha has very fluffy, round cheeks todays.

As you see from the photos, I made him a scarf... Quickly and badly, but that's better than seeing his clay-less neck. I also do not like what his eyes look, because of the less well planned creating (meant to be moving, and then decided to glue), BUT I think that if I stay gluing eyes with the future dolls, then I have no problem with that anymore. One doll with ugly eyes is OK, if others are better.

I'm a cat person. That is why I made a cat. Another reason was my childhood, because I have yet my childhood toy horses here, and we always played (and drew) their handlers to be cats. Juoru was meant to be in 1:12 scale, but he got to be too tall and large at all, so he's traditional scale. Not bad still, one cat with rats is just nice for me. And now I know yet better that I CAN make a rider doll for my classics too. A cat doll. Because I have some nicer horses and tack to photograph.

And oh dääämn how long time ago I sculpted a cat! Nothing easy this time, I almost gave him a rat head... Thehe. Have planned to sculpt just normal cats from some clay (not silk clay) for a while now, but I haven't started. I should. Also customizing Schleich cats seems to be a nice idea.

Juoru is yet a bit unfinished, but as he is already that well and has face and working body, I am not going to hurry. He needs quickly something to hide his torso, and I wish he could also get more meat to there as he looks too anorectic to me yet (I don't want cats to be thin! They need muscle!). And to hide that lack of body, and my mistakes (...), I tried to make a stupid little red cloth for him BECAUSE I have no idea of how clothes are made... Blll. It didn't work, but well, now he wears it before getting anything clever, and because as a cat he 'has' a fur coat... And for the most important, he is at stables with my rider rats, who DO have clothes. Why one should not have, then? Cats do not belong alone to Finnish nature at wintertime although they have coat, the weather can be simply too cold. (It's illegal to leave your cat run freely!)

Anyway, get some photos of these three being together! Asko and Juoru seemingly have already good moment, they discuss about riding. Omar then feels that he is not welcomed to the talk and just rolls eyes and moves randomly his legs as he has yet energy to use, after too less riding.

From left: Omar, Asko, Juoru.

My dolls surely are not the most well made or the most beautiful at all, but I think they are still personalities and live their own life... Like seen in those photos: After testing his riding skills, I just wanted to put Juoru to sit to the photography studio's edge before coming here to my computer, but then I got an idea to set Asko and Omar there too. And I didn't bother to move Omar's eyes, so he didn't talk with the others then. Asko had his hands nicely positioned, and I had carefully moved Juoru's face that he could talk to the dumbo guy. For me the result looks just nice enough not to photograph.

Hmm, my work room is mostly cat-free area, and I keep the door closed. That's how my dolls can sit and lay everywhere they want, and I can leave my projects to the table that I can easily continue to them when the time is right. If the door could be always open... Then the 1:1 cats could love to roam there and taste everything - everything dangerous - and ruin my dolls, custom models, tack and so on. And just throw things down from the tables and shelves, aagh! I'm always scared that cats harm themselves.

But yea, that's it now! I have been in some model horse cloud recently, resculpted a lot, so I really have things to publish here too, but for first I should write them and and... Yee.

Sculpture ideas and attempts

I have sketched possible sculpting ideas a lot, and of course some of them are horses. I have even tried sculpting them, but never made a wire armature and added clay on; I know I have no enough skill for a horse sculpt. Especially when talkin about realistic wholebody sculpt.

Still, just right now I have one traditional scale horse head sculpture waiting to get nose. He's going to be just a head I can put bridles and halters on. And his mouth should be open, what's another problem and reason why I have a pause with that. I haven't photographed him after making a poor armature from wire, but when I write this, he needs only nose and inner mouth parts yet. The sketches seen in the photos are for the sculpt, of course.

I didn't bother to retouch the photos digitally so well, sorry. I personally see things well enough from these. Aaaand... My armature is nothing good to see, just a horse head shaped stack of wire, so, ehm. 

An armature with a sketch I use to make sure I do things rightly.

Another sketch, not yet sure if I sculpt him too.

And my twin, who had sculpted some demons, wanted me to sculpt a demon from this...

...yea, I'm not going to sculpt a demon yet, because this is meant to be just a tack head.

Another sculpt idea, and really only an idea yet, is this galloping akhal-tekke. I wasn't planning it to be a tekke, but later I saw it looks like one. I also made a version of it as the paper I used was so thin and the ballpoint ben doodles were easily seen through it... And now I say that the second result was not the better one, although it should be. The pictures look weird because I photographed them instead of scanning, and that's why I was forced to retouch them in Paint Shop Pro 7 so much to get them look even somewhat nicer. Well. I see, there is a lot of anatomy mistakes what I surely do not want to see in a sculpture if I make one, but they are possible to throw away with better sketching and planning later.

Luckily I have photographed a lot of horse limbs as I have visited one harness race stable (a family member's work), and I then carry a camera everywhere with me. Just for art. Yet if I once decide to print some of my photos and digital redlinings of them, it could be useful with the work room where I custom, make tack and photograph my models.

First sketch. Also made the background pic from this.

Second sketch.

There are the papers from where I photographed differently that tekke sketch. The upper paper is filled with sculpt ideas and sketches alone, and I also tried to plan how to make an armature what works. I have nevrr made one but I should, because if not, I continue to sketch armatures again and again, without never knowing surely what of them could work well enough for me. And what scale... In the right lower corner is an armature plan I drew to fit to the tekke sketch.

The texts are in Finnish there, also, so no wonder if anyone can't understand them. They're nothing interesting; the rearing horse just has the tail sculpted to be a stand for him and at the tekke armature I am pondering how a horse head should be before sculpting, to make it easier to do right with clay then.  

This is the quality of badly photographed white paper. Without much digital retouching.

One armature sketch, skulls, tekke... And I tried to draw Schleich -style muzzle. Failed.

It asks so much sense of anatomy and knowledge about clays to sculpt anything. I have sculpted horse sonly in custom models, so a wholebody things are really unknown idea for me. I still like checking other modeller's tutorials and sculpt project photos, as I really am interested of being a sculptor - and being good with it.

From all real animals, I have sculpted wholebody only cats and rats. Because rats feel too easy, and still hard so make from typical airdry clays like DAS and others, I am planning to start sculpting more believable cats now. Silk clay didn't work with cats well enough since I can't say the cats I made are any kind of realistically cute, and the anatomy was a problem since silk clay isn't so fadeable like other clays usually... And the best, I have real cats here, so I have no lack of reference material!

But back to horses... I now understood that I should once create a blogtext who just shows my doodles, but I am not going to fill this with them, no no no. Just one text here and there, all else is drowning to model horse stuff, as I want this blog to.

Also someones can possibly see from my sketches where I have got influences ages ago from, when I was yet a brat, and found model horse hobby. The ones I mean are Finnish model horsiers, what I can call to be masters in this hobby and sculpting, so no wonder that they are quite role models for me too.

"I didn't get any help for this!"

An idea for a blogtext came from a random mumble... The theme is helping other hobbyists with tackmaking problems.

When we see someone's homemade model horse tack, we of course often ask how it's made. Many people like sharing their knowledge, but some others tell that they do not explain it. Why? "Because I didn't get any help neither." they answer.

So they refuse from helping others with problems because no one helped them, they got forced to practice and solve all problems alone. They can feel like winners in that, and it's true because learning a new trick is winning.

For long time I made sliding buckles from staples, until I bought metal wire.

But really, why the toe we should just continue to roll the squirrel wheel as we could simply stop it and help others, so they can't get the same situation?

Someones also refuse from helping because they do not want their techniques or styles to get copied or stolen. That is quite understandable, as an artist I can feel that and know why. But still, this is not a reason to refuse from helping others neither.

The key is just to understand that anyone can't really steal or copy your way to do things. better we could recommend to do things in some way, practice and especially recommend to learn what the 1:1 thing is, how it is used and made, how we can make a mini version from it. And honestly, all well made English style horse tack IS really similar to each other, so what the toe is the problem with "copying"? Because in fact, when you make a mini version of a 1:1 bridle, you copy the style of the maker of that bridle too! And no one is punishing from that. Weird?

Yes?

No?

I can honestly tell that I like when anyone asks me how to do things in miniatures. Mostly the questions have been about customizing, and that's also a reason why I really made a tutorial to my main blog (in Finnish). If I didn't want anyone to 'steal my way to do things', I could never publish it. Now I also just wait the moment when it is publishable, qualitied enough for starter custom modellers.

Because, if I do things rightly and see mistakes by others, I so much want to fix the mistakes. That can't be possible if I don't help the another hobbyist. And what kind of craft hobby it is where others do not share their ways to do things? For me the checking other's tutorials and tips is one salt in model horse hobby! Without help from others I couldn't be on this level I am now.

I use (make) hooks instead of buckles for many bridle parts. Makes living easier, no matter is it how believable. (I have retouched the bridles already because the overlong straps disturbed me.)

Only nice photos of great mini tack is not enough for me. I see them easily from everywhere around internet. But, thanks to the sharing hobbyists, I even read some blogs.

And I hope that my blogs could be interesting via similar effect too.

Every blog needs the first text

I once already wrote that I am not going to create yet one blog. I have too much of them. It's not about the time I have to use for blogs but just personal things; I have only two or more blogs what I really want to live with, those others are mostly for... something not to remember too often.

But anyway. I pondered so long time how nice it could be to have a model horse blog in English... Model horses are a huge part of my life, they are not "just a habit" but a piece of life, as said. This 'hobby', when I found it years ago, was the reason why I want to be a sculptor and miniature scale artist todays.

Uuh. Warning! English is not my language, but Finnish. I am a Finn, I live in Finland, Europe. This does not mean that I could not write or read English. In here it's just commonly weird if someone does NOT understand ANY English, from my age, about. I am less good as I maybe could be, but - yea - model horse hobby is another reason why I have learned so much.

I read a lot of blogs and they seem to be a daily thing in my life. I often also wonder why and how I yet write blogs myself, although I get no much from it. Most of things I do I just keep here at home with and for myself only.

To say shortly something about me, as it is important, I am a random visual artist and model horse hobbyist. I am mad about horses, cats and rats. I collect and customize horses and make tack like crazy. Or, hm, not like crazy in fact, but I still do. Not once a year, not every day, but only when I feel right for tackmaking. (I destroy your dreams now with saying that I haven't made saddles, because I don't know their anatomy. I wish I could understand how it is, but yet now I can't create belevable model saddles.) Most of the tack I create are halters, bridles, ropes and others what a horse can wear around it's head. I also often try to invent weird bits and other things who do not walk on the street everyday. Many of them are not seen on 1:1 horses, what I find interesting. More than copying real things to mini scale I like to invent something very new in mini scale, what could still possibly work in 1:1.

Schleich trotting lipizzaner mare going to be a finnhorse mare, wearing homemade bridles already.

Once I tried to write something in English to my 'main blog' The Tuherrus, what's in Finnish officially. Because I want to a) write about model horses for Finns with out own language and b) I still want to write and discuss about model horses with people who are not Finnish. And I don't know why and how but many views for The Tuherrus come from USA. I don't understand? But I find it interesting. 

Creating a name for this blog was hard, hardest ever. I want to do things perfectly as possible, so I plan and plan and plan. I have some lists and places (in internet) to check possible name ideas for using somewhere (blogs, model horse/rat names etc)... For this blog I tried to create something what clearly tells that I am from Finland and a model horsier. At the same time I didn't want it to be too difficult or stupid to see for a non-Finn, because, eh, Finnish is a deadly difficult and unknown language in the big world.

Then I again remembered how so surprisingly many horsemodellers have rats. I am one damn rat freak as well as a model horse freak, so why not to mix them? I am also a visual human, a visual artist who lives through two things: animals and creating art. Right now my biggest things to draw are horses and rats, but it doesn't mean that I don't draw anything else. They just are the most overriding themes.

So I thought what I am. A visual rat... person. Of course I'm not a rat but just a human, but I still feel empathy to them a lot, and they mean a lot to me. I also know that although this is a model horse blog, I put some rat things here too, because - surprise - I sculpt rats too. Still the blog's name should always tell about what it contains, so now this is Visual Rat & Model Horses. I don't care if anyone tries to find the word rat to be somewhat bad idea in the title. My blog this is, and if I like something, I want to show it. I dare to.   

Jämä, one thumb rat.

I still want that if anyone roams here to read this blog (although this is yet a first text - first texts never are very great), could keep in mind that English is not my language and I am not the best ever to write it. I apologize if anyone does not understand or finds this ridiculous to read (in fact that does not bother me, I often laugh for languages and puns) because of my lack of skill with English!

This is my first (and only, I hope) blog to be written in English, but not the first place to show and write about my art in that language. I am in deviantART and some other art sites too: http://afuze.deviantart.com/

I can't tell how active I am with this blog yet, but I have planned this so long time now that I guess I am not going to abandon this. For a while... Although I haven't abandoned any of my blogs in fact; they just stay still, although I read and write them.

Let's see.