Revisiting Goals

Back towards the end of January, I did a post on my goals for the year.  I thought that I'd revisit that list, see how I'm doing, and decide what to work on for the last two months of the year.  (yes, it is flying by, isn't it?)

Here's the list of goals I had set and my notes on where I'm at with them now:


--- Keep up my blogging momentum
I've done pretty well with this I think, overseas move and all!  I was able to do daily posts for a few months before the move and thing were a little sporadic over the summer.  But I'm on track to finish strong for the year.  Hoping to do daily, or near daily posts this month and for December.


--- Organize my collection of horses
Well... not so good here, especially since my OF collection is all still (safely) packed away.  I need to finish figuring out my earthquake proofing before they come out.

Recently I did see this post on Rachel Fail's blog about organizing her show string and it got me excited about some options to organize my herd.


--- Finish my Rio Rondo saddle and build more tack
Hmm...  not so good here either.  I did get some parts of it out not too long ago to show a local crafty person, when I was trying to explain more about model horse stuff.  That did make me want to get back to work on it.  I'm hopeful that maybe I will finish it this year.  Added bonus: I now have pounce wheels to do the stitch marks before I put it all together.  Maybe, sometimes, procrastinating is not so awful...  ;)


--- Make progress on the Stagecoach
The stagecoach has not even seen the light of day since arriving in Japan.  The box is sitting on a shelf in the studio, waiting for me to get back to work.


--- Create several new custom horses
I did finish 5 new horses for the show that I went to back in early March... although it dawns on me now that I don't think I ever properly photographed them afterwards.  It appears that I did do a tiny post about them the night before the show, but I never did take those pictures.

Here's a picture of the table in the motel room when I was working on them, and others.  ;)

--- Attend a couple of live shows
I did this!  One at the end of February and another one (or two) - a double show, in early March.


--- Work on some performance entries
Didn't do this...  It's an ongoing long-term goal of mine to assemble some really nice performance entries during my time in Japan.  Then hopefully I can finally take the plunge into performance showing when we go back to the States.


--- Thin out my crafting stash
Nor did I really do this.  I did get rid of some stuff, but once I found out I would have my own studio room again, I, uh, sorta just brought everything else with me.  This is something I should still probably do, since I just don't have time to make ALL the things that I'd like to.


--- Get all finished work posted
Eh, not so much.  However, I did finally get some of my cross-stitch saddle pads listed on Etsy for the very first time.


--- Do more giveaways/donations
I did donate a couple of saddle pads to be raffle prizes at one of the live shows.  Also, I'm cooking up some more giveaways right now to finish out the year.



Okay, so that's the recap!  I think I'm doing okay overall, but it was good to go over this list again and ponder the things that I had wanted to get done.  I'm hoping to finish out the year on a high note, having gotten even more of these goals crossed off the list.

Gearing Up For A Giveaway (or two)

Not much to report on the studio front, except that my approval came in last week allowing me to operate a business here on base!  I'm pretty excited about that and I finally made my introductory post in one of the local Crafter's Facebook groups.

More big news is that I'm planning to do another giveaway (or two) to celebrate.  It'll be open to everyone.  I saw another local business owner announce that she was doing a giveaway in which there'd be a winner for here on base, as well as a winner Stateside.  I like that idea.

One thing I'm struggling with a bit is that I had decided to shift my creative focus (back) to model horses and model horse stuff, but I'm not sure how well those things would sell here.  I do intend to try and get some interest in the hobby over here - wouldn't that be neat?  It turns out there are at least a few fellow horse lovers that I've come across.  Maybe while we are all here, mostly horseless, some of them would be interested in model horses.

Anyway, for the winter vendor event coming up, I am going to do some Stablemate ornaments, but other than that, I'm going to plan on making items such as: Christmas cards, tatted things, different types of ornaments, etc.  So a bit of a warning to my model horse world readers, you might be seeing some random posts about that sort of stuff, especially leading up to the vendor event, and Christmas..  ;)

(here's the slick flyer for the event, made up by one of the vendors who does graphic design)

I've also been working quite a bit on the laser recently, gearing up for the winter vendor show.  We will be there representing the laser business too.  This is one of my newest creations.  It is a small wooden box with pictures of bears engraved on the top, front, and sides.  I took the pictures several years ago and it is fun to see them now engraved into wood.

I have a few other picture boxes in progress, featuring foxes and, if the pictures play nice, elk too.

Motivation Monday - I Can

A short post this time.  I'm only going to share one picture today, but... it's a good one.

I hope everyone has a good week! 

Happy November

Just a quick update...

I've been feeling not so hot the past few days.  In the interest of keeping it from turning into something even worse, I've been sleeping... a lot.  I haven't felt up to doing much, so when I'm not sleeping I've been playing games on the computer, then back to bed.  There are rumors of some nasty things going around here and I'm bound and determined not to come down with them - ha!

I already feel better than my worst day, which was Halloween.  I woke up that day feeling like death (appropriate?) .  I don't think I would have needed much of a costume to venture out and pull off a zombie impression - especially how I was feeling, paired with the nifty, large, creepy heat gun burn on my arm from last week.  "Great makeup!",  I pictured people saying...

Anyhow, I'm hoping to be back in the studio this next week.  I've got too many irons in the fire to be down (any longer) with a bug!


Below is today's beautiful sunrise.  It occurred to me that I think it might be the first that I've seen since we arrived here back in May.  During the spring and summer here, the sun is up by 4am - no joke.  However, this picture was taken just after 6am this morning.  It's a much better time of year for sunrise viewing.

Ready To Pounce

These arrived today...

Yay!  :D

Studio Day

I spent at least a few hours in the studio yesterday, doing fun horsey stuff!

After reading a motivating article, I was inspired to finally get started on a big, scary- terrifying - project.  It will involve a LOT of epoxy.

I think this may be the first time I've mixed a ball this big (the next one I did was even bigger).  I've almost always worked on minis...

Here is the project.  He was constructed from scratch to this point during my day in the studio with Candace Liddy, back in March.  And this is how he has been ever since.  (with the addition of a few small globs of epoxy around his tail.  

I had thought I'd just use him as an epoxy dump, since I was feeling intimidated to do much more than that.  Yesterday I decided it was time to get serious.

Here's how he looked at the end of the session.  I'm taking her advice and starting with the outline, to match my reference picture.   So he now has the beginnings of a topline, neck, chest, points of shoulders, and belly.

I had thought he was classic scale, but it turns out he is bigger than that.  Large classic or small traditional?  He is modeled after a Thoroughbred stallion, so I might be able to call him a large classic?  I'm not sure, there's plenty of time to decide all of that later on.  There is obviously still a ridiculous amount of work to do on him.

Stunt double horse seems to be saying, "What the heck is that??!"

Inspired by my post on the state of the gift shop Pegasus figures, I decided to make some solid plans for their wings.

I have a bunch of these french fry cups, maybe they are called..?  I've used them mainly for paint mixing, but yesterday I discovered they make perfect small project parts holders.

This little guy will be running, just before take off.

And this foal will be standing, stretching, I think.

I've got some bad news, bat.

Here's all 3 baby Pegasus to be.  Including future bat foal (who kinda looks like he's being eaten by the bat at the moment).

Another set of wings that I've acquired here came in a bagged figurine from my favorite figurine store, where I've been finding the horses, donkeys, and puppies.

The contents of the bag.

Ta-da!  Figure assembled.

Of course, I bought him for his wings, which - luckily for him - didn't have to be hacked off.

They are so pretty!

But what about the dashing dude that came with them?  Could I use him with a horse somehow?

Interpretive dance?

I thought about doing some work on him to make him into a prop person - and yes, I will probably do that.  He appears to be too big for SM scale, but he might work for LB.  My LBs are still packed away, so for now I've stowed him away in my "doll drawer".

What about his wings?  Well, I'm having a bit of trouble deciding.
  

So far I have 5 candidates for the pretty, pearly wings.  I may even do a poll on here or on Facebook, that sounds like fun.

Also, I did a first painting session on an ornament horse, bringing the current herd to two.  I think the blue pony with have painted snowflakes and the red Morgan will have peppermint/candy cane stripes.

I did a bit of dremel work on two other Morgans who will most likely join the ornament herd.  They're both hair prepped now and I have some fun ideas for their holiday manes and tails.  One needs a broken leg repair, so I drilled the holes for that as well.

Lastly, I did a quick etching test to see if I could scratch out something that looked like tiny snowflakes.  They aren't perfect - but, *deep breath* that's okay.  I like the look and I think one (or two) of the ornament herd will end up being etched.  (something else I've never actually done)

It was a good day.  :)

Nananananananananananananananana Bat Foooooal

I've got some bad news, bat.