Happy Birthday!

Today "Miss America" was officially born into resin! Now that I have a resin casting I will be doing more smoothing and adding little details like veins and whisker bumps. Typically I spend another 2-3 weeks on this phase. After that the production molds are made, which is a whole 'nuther time consuming process. Depending on how long this all takes we should be ready to sell "Miss Americas" by mid-August.

Here's how she looked encased in a block of mold rubber:

And here's what happens to the clay sculpture as I cut the mold open and pull out parts as I go:

Doesn't she look nice all in white?

Trail videos!

I finally figured out how to do short videos with my digital camera. And, yes, a 'real' video camera is at the very top of my wish list. But, for now, here are two short but sweet videos of some of the worst sections of two of my favorite trails:

Weminuche Wilderness pack trip

Our first pack trip of the season was wonderful with gorgeous weather, good company, great horses (and one donkey) and fabulous views. We went up the Pine River which is east of Vallecito Reservior in the Bayfield/Durango Colorado area.



My husband Todd packing our huge 16 hand 3 year old TWH Brush (our baby! And, yes, he actually is related to Trigger):







A baby bighorn sheep:






Our horses at camp:





A baby elk that was on the trail in a narrow section (we had to herd it along until we could go around it):

One of our day rides up the Pine River to Flint Creek:

Heading back from Flint Creek:

Leaving camp for home with Jerry leading the string:

work continues.....

For those who might be wondering, yes, I am still working on my ASB mare. My intent is to capture an ASB mare galloping in her pasture. Most ASB resins out there have been done with performance in mind, but this girl isn't thinking about that at all. She's eyeing that photographer along the fence and giving him a show!

I'm changing some stuff about the mane/forelock/tail that aren't shown in these photos. The first two photos are taken from the sides, with the hopes that some of you ASB people out there might have some suggestions to make her even better. Afterall, this is my job and I hope to create a lovely resin that appeals to as many hobbyists as possible (within the limits of an at liberty pose).

So, if you see something that doesn't look quite right to you, PLEASE email me and let me know. I often get bombarded with email after soliciting feedback, so if you don't hear from me it just means I am swamped. I appreciate all the feedback I get, and try to put it to good use. This horse is for you all out there, so help me make her the best she can be! Sarah@rosehorse.com. Photos are always a great help, too.

Here she comes.......

I've been working away at finishing my new ASB mare. For me this is the slowest part of the sculpting process. I can easily spend an entire day working on the left side of the muzzle. And then a few more days. It takes time to make both sides of the head symetrical...lots of time. Lots of achey eyeballs. And then you hit it, you begin to smell 'horseness' and you know to leave that muzzle alone, it's there.

I'm hoping she will be ready to mold by the end of May. Then it's another week or two of sanding the master casting, adding veins and whisker bumps, then setting up the production molds.

After we get the next batch of paid for resins shipped we are heading out to Utah for a well deserved riding and camping trip. Those of you who followed my posts about the horrid winter will understand our need to get to the warm desert and get some more miles in the saddle. After that break I will have fresh eyes to scrutinize my ASB with and wrap things up with her.

We are giving a lot of thought to how we are going to handle her sales. We realize that our price needs to reflect the downturn in the economy. With that in mind we are leaning towards a reasonable fixed price and selling them first come, first serve in batches. More information will be made available as the time nears.

The offical resin tally list

Being another snowy day here in Colorado, sitting down and compiling an official resin edition tally list seemed like a good idea. People ask me all the time how many Nevadas/Khemos/Nahars/etc were cast, so now there is a page with all that info:

The official resin tally list!

Most of the editions show some unsold horses, which are mostly my artist copies that (mostly) have not been cast. Some are cast and are in my resin closet with their futures undecided. Some still have a few that could be cast and sold, but the molds are too worn and I haven't gotten around to making a new one. The horses we are currently casting and offering for sale are Lonestar, Caldero, Rasam, and Mini Indy.

You'll see on the tally list that I finally settled on a number for both Lonestar and Rasam's edition sizes. Lonestar will be 225 plus 20 artist copies, and Rasam will be 180 with 20 artist copies.

The new ASB mare will be somewhere around 200-250. We haven't decided yet.

Thawing out

It's been a long and difficult winter, but it appears to be over. The snow is melting and the days getting warmer.....ahhhhh, the warm sun! We were finally able to get our trailer out of the snow to get in our first trail ride of the year in New Mexico (45 minutes away)

The new ASB mare is coming along well, and I have hopes of completion by early May.