Kinetic Sand

A few weeks ago I talked to my mom about kinetic sand and how awesome it was to use in model horse photos. Well, guess what was in my Easter basket this year... kinetic sand! This stuff is so much fun to play with! Its like regular sand, but it sticks together so you can mold it into shapes and clean it up really easily.

It holds the shape of hoofs really well, and it doesn't stick to my model horses. Right now it's sitting on my shelf in a plastic container, but I plan to use it with my fence that I just finished. I can't wait!

Oh, and I've been experimenting with using leather and ribbon in my halters. In real life horse halters have leather behind their ears to break away if they get caught. I thought that this was an awesome detail so I decided to recreate it into 1:9th scale.

I'm working so hard on model horse tack because I want to be ready for Breyerfest!

 

Valentine’s Day Halters

Valentine’s Day halters are here! These halters are Valentine’s Day themed, with a striped lead rope!

You can see them on my Etsy page here.

 

Quick Tip: Burning the Edges of Lead Ropes.

If you notice that the ends of your lead ropes are unraveling, I have a quick and easy way to seal the edges. You can use some tacky glue to seal the edges, but I find that to be a sticky mess. 

I use a fire to burn the edges. I know that this may seem crazy, but it works! I used the stove, but you can also use a candle, or a lighter. I asked my mom to help with the fire, so make sure that you are doing this safely. 

So basically what I do is hold the edge up to the flame for only two seconds, and it gives the ribbon this nice and neat finish! 

Make sure not to hold it in the fire for too long, or you might start burning the end. If that happens your tip might be black! I recommend practicing this with a piece of scrap ribbon to get the hang of it, before you try it on your lead ropes.

 

Some Sad News

So this week has been a sad one. Our lovely gerbil, Latte, has died. She was only a few months old, but she had a stroke and passed away in the night. It’s so sad, she was a great gerbil and I will always remember her.

So on the positive side, we welcomed two new gerbils! Meet Toasty and Cookie. Apparently gerbils always need to have a friend, so we got these two girls to keep Mocha company.

Toasty

Cookie

Mocha

The three are getting along perfectly! At first we did a split cage, but today they have been getting along really well.

By the way, Valentine’s Day halters are coming!

 

Halters and Lead ropes

Hello! I’m sorry for not posting, I’ve been really busy. So yesterday I was at Michels (a craft store) and I found this string in the clearance section. It was originally 17 dollars, but I bought it for only 1! The thickness is perfect for lead ropes.

Since NaMoPaiMo is coming up, I’ve been busy crafting halters for donations. 

For the model that I’m going to paint, I’m still not completely sure... but I’m probably going to paint this mustang model. The mane and tail is really long, and it also has scratches all over it. For the color I’m thinking dun?