Affinity in Dapple Grey

Even though we were off to a slow start with some mold making issues, Affinity is now in full swing. A few painted copies have come up and it appears dapple grey will be very popular on her. Keep in mind that the ordering deadline is April 15th, for more info on that visit the Affinity webpage here.

Here is a lovely Affinity painted in pastel by the talented Mindy Berg, who also took these great photos:

In the next few weeks I'll be releasing a new medallion, and revealing the upcoming new mini (a brand new sculpt, not a shrinky!). I've also re-designed the Rose Studios Facebook page with the new timeline feature for you Facebookers :)

Affinity released!

Affinity is finally ready to offer for sale, and will be available to order until March 1st 2012. All sales information is available here on Affinity's webpage. Over the next 5-7 days the production molds will be made, and then castings will start to ship. I can't wait to see how she looks all painted up! Here are some photos of her in red primer, her veins and whisker bumps have not yet been added (that will be the last thing I do right before claying her up for the molds):

 

Labor and Delivery

I'm sure I am not the first to link mold cutting and the casting of the first resin to the birthing process. I have never given birth to a human, but somewhere deep inside a voice kept saying "breathe" and "is it almost out?" A picture is worth a thousand words, so without further adieu, here are the photos of the labor and delivery of Affinity:

That's one big block o' rubber! The 'holes' you see are the hooves, the armature pipe, and vents for the tail and head.

 

 Yes, a ratchet had to be involved!

 

It took most of a day to get this far. You are looking straight down to the belly, with the armature pipe removed.

  And....she's out! In pieces, but the mold is finally cut and ready to pour. At this point the only place she exists is in the negative space of the mold. 

Here we are this morning, getting ready for another day of refining details to get her ready for her photo session before the big release on Monday.

Looking back on last year

With the filly in the mold box waiting for a shipment of silicone, I've had a little bit of spare time catch up on other things. One of the things I've been wanting to do is reflect on everything that was good about last year. It is easy to forget that there were many things to be thankful for in a year that was so filled with sadness with the loss of two great friends, one being just a few weeks ago. It is snowing here, a good day to go through photos from the summer.

In July I got to attend the No Barriers summit in Winterpark, Colorado. I had so much fun! It is an outdoor sports retreat for people with disabilities, to give them the opportunity to try new activities and new equipment. Or in their own words No Barriers is a powerful community of modern day pioneers who use the experience of nature to promote innovation, education and assistive technologies that create transformative life experiences and inspire people with challenges to live full and active lives. Well, it certainly did that for me, a few weeks later we went on a pack trip and this time I put up the tent myself, having never put up a tent before in my life:

While attending the Summit I also for the first time climbed up a rope:

And rode an off-road handcycle:

I also got to kayak and canoe, but didn't take any photos as I wasn't sure about bringing my camera out on a lake. I *adored* kayaking, what a wonderful free feeling, and a good workout. Later in the summer Durango's Adaptive Sports Association held a four day women's sports program. I could only spare two days and got to kayak again, and tried waterskiing. Wow, that was something else! I liked flying over the water, but did not like crashing and rolling and having water forced up my nose.

Even though I was introduced to many new outdoor activities, I still prefer my horse for the ulimate outdoor experience. Here are a few of my favorite photos from this past summer:

Above Crater Lake, near Molas Pass

Rocky Mountain Columbines, Crater Lake trail

Above Crater Lake, looking north

Todd and Brush at Crater Lake

Late afternoon sun near Engineer Mountain

Mineral Creek from the top of the drainage near the Colorado Trail

Jypsi and I with Engineer Mountain

view from camp, Pine River trail near Sierra Vandera

Heading home

Sierra Vandera trail

There were a few other wonderful things that happened in 2011, like a great and much needed family reunion, making new friends and reconnecting with old friends, but this post is already getting pretty long so I will leave it at that. I already feel more hopeful about 2112 just by posting this. Now, off to enjoy the rest of my snow day!

Affinity phase one complete!

The clay phase of Affinity, the thoroughbred filly, is complete. She is happily waiting in the mold box for a shipment of silicone. Sometime next week I'll be cutting open a big block of rubber and 'birthing' a new resin! The first casting will be further refined, smoothed, and little details like veins and whisker bumps will be added. If all goes well she will be ready for ordering in a few short weeks, pretty exciting!

Here is how she looked moments before being placed in the mold box:

Thoroughbred body types

I'm learning a lot while working on my thoroughbred filly. One of those things is how varied the body types are even within horses of the same grading, age, and sex. I made this little animation of 4 year old G1 fillies to hopefully show what I mean (click to start):

Photos courtesy of Jessica Morgan

I picked these 5 fillies as they are very different from each other but are all 4 year olds and rated G1, the best of the best. If you look at one body part at a time the differences start to jump out at you. Necks...shoulders...legs...overall balance, etc. Of course the one vital part you can't see in the photos is the heart, the mystical properties of which can be poured into a less than perfect body resulting in a consistent winner. Interesting, isn't it?

Progress on the fily

Here is the newest pic of the thoroughbred filly:

She is finally starting to look like a racehorse and not just a thoroughbred. It has to be one of the most difficult subjects in equine art-dom. Not only should the sculpture be immediately recognizable as a specific breed, but a very specialized type within that breed.

I haven't done much with the off side yet, both off legs need to be reworked. At some point I focus on just one side, and when I am satisfied with it I take photos and flip them on my computer and use that as reference for the opposite side. The head is hard to judge from this angle, at some point I will get photos of just her head from the side. You can see all my scratch marks on her neck that are my way of taking notes as I work.

I feel her neck is a tad too long. Everyone keeps telling me 'longer neck, longer neck'. Is this what everyone was wanting? What I did was move the near shoulder back, which made the back look shorter and the neck longer. What I am learning with this girl is that what looks right to me might not be how a racehorse really looks. They don't look like 'normal' horses at all!