Freewheeling it!

(it's a pretty big pic if you click on it - sorry about that!)

It’s pretty rare that I get this inspired up front about a sculpture.. so WOOT!

I kid you not – EIGHT hours and NO measuring. I’m not bragging about that tho -> in the long term I’ll be cursing a LOT about that actually. Even now the shoulder is a nightmare which is why I dragged it over to photoshop… but as I was looking through those arab photos and kept digging up more and more websites, this POSE just BEGGED me to come out. In fact I couldn’t find one particular photo that had this particular pose specifically (some headshots were similar). Sooooo I sat down and drew it up – then went off to the resin directory to see if any arab had been sculpted in this pose (you sometimes want to do something that turns out it’s already been done). I really do not *think* it’s been done before now.. gawd I hope not! Anyhow, sooooo I drew it over and over from a few angles and even though I had long full days and a holiday party this weekend.. LOOK what I cranked out! Eeee!!!


Here is a photo that shows just how "raw" he really is though. Oh well of course he's going to be a stallion yanno! ;) He's soooo fiesty! It's apoxie sculpt and wire.. solid too but those thin thin legs support themselves. The beauty of apoxie sculpt! :D Actually, ok, it's the wire gauge too -> it stood well just on wire alone but it looked a tad more uhmmmm... spider like? lol!

Actually, I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone if there is something like this out there and I’m kidding myself that it’s all that inspired. No, seriously. It happens sometimes when you just grab the tools and go! You feel all excited and creative and then later on go “phhhhhtbbbb” (deflated) when you realize it’s been done. So please do let me know guys if I’ve gone terribly astray.


Meanwhile, I’ll enjoy the burst of creativity! Classic scale (loosely anyhow). What fun!

More links I’d like to save and thus will share here too :)

http://slawik.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=83245

http://www.photobiz.com/portfolio/layouts/1/gallerym.cfm?PageNum_Recordset1=1&eventID=176742&galleryID=257944

http://raniaelsayed.com/index.php/component/option,com_expose/Itemid,51/

http://www.yegershira.com/pages/second-page.html

http://www.treesmedia.com/gallery.html

http://images.google.com/images?ndsp=18&um=1&hl=en&q=gigi+grasso&start=72&sa=N many of the above came from this search for Gigi whose name I learned of and half remembered from years back when I designed another Arabian photographer’s website. The search lead to this page; http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.arabianessence.com/uploads/caleidoscope/Gallery/Thumb/24_r1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.arabianessence.com/caleidoscope_elenco2.asp%3Fmp%3Dm8%26cat%3D8&usg=__tvWk_0aqIJhxAYwR9w40ZX8RVRI=&h=117&w=150&sz=6&hl=en&start=79&um=1&tbnid=K6i1lRSC2CxTkM:&tbnh=75&tbnw=96&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgigi%2Bgrasso%26start%3D72%26ndsp%3D18%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN for those who want infinite eye candy to enjoy! :)

AH! And here’s Jean Pierre’s web site of course too! http://www.jeanpierrephotography.com/ Wow.. it’s amazing how much my life has changed in the last 6 years. (blinks rather surprised to think how much.. mostly in great ways though!).

Well here's to an exciting next year to come!!! Cheers all! :D

Thank you guys!!! (hugs) :)

(click to read)

A photo bonanza!

I just felt inspired to surf a little for fun photos again.. mostly I was looking for colors, but I found some stuff that really needs to be shared!

First off - anyone looking for Hazel breed ideas & colors might enjoy this thread! :) http://www.ultimatedressage.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=148569

Mustang pics for color ideas; http://www.livingimagescjw.com/portfolios.php there’s hundreds under each of those “wild horses” links!

& Mustang hooves aren’t always perfect (it’s a myth!) here’s proof:

http://www.livingimagescjw.com/show.php?id=3&n=49

http://www.livingimagescjw.com/show.php?id=3&n=110

http://www.livingimagescjw.com/show.php?id=3&n=109

This guy is just fascinating and there must be at least a hundred photos of him alone too; http://www.livingimagescjw.com/show.php?id=1&n=18 he’s a grey apparently, but his scarring is sooooo extensive he looks like an appy!

http://www.livingimagescjw.com/show.php?id=1&n=40 http://www.livingimagescjw.com/show.php?id=1&n=98

On to another photo site… billions of Arabians! http://public.fotki.com/hypoint/

Anyone who hasn’t seen this man’s amazing photography is in for a real treat! http://www.timflach.com/

Here’s another with great detail photos and tons of them; http://www.toffi-images.de/index.php/foto/details

On a similar vein if you are looking for something VERY specific; http://database.arnd.nl/search/advanced.php?new=yes

Ahhh but this is the site I was looking for really at long last!!!

http://photo.net/photodb/user?user_id=1561226

The photography of Wojtek Kwiatkowski

… sublime! Woohoo off to do some photoshopping of my own now that I’m inspired! ☺ (gifts for friends)

Oh DEAR! Lookie what I woke up to!

If you click to enlarge you can see the awesome power of nature up close. It's a trickle of a stream usually!

A couple of years ago it rained for 9 days straight and we had flooding worse than this. This week it's been a very heavy/steady 3 tho... so I parked out front last night. Good thing. Woke up to hearing everyone move their car's out just before dawn. When it did this the last time that dumpster over in the corner??? It floated ALL the way to the other end of the parking lot! FLOATED! Ok, ok... I know they make metal ships too but still, even empty their hulls are submerged pretty deeply.

I really feel for that person & their nice newer truck there. The waters will likely get a tad bit higher still because the rain ONLY just stopped and that's typically how it goes for 12hrs afterwards.

Last night I saw no signs of flooding at my barn. I'm about to go find out what's what there tho. Ugh. Guess I get to don the Chippewa (how the heck do you spell that?) boots that weigh 6 pounds though. Wait wait... it's warm enough today for the fisherman style lightweight rubber mud ones.. nevermind! woot!

Not far north folks got ice instead of rain. For those of you, I am hoping and praying for warmer air for ya so it doesn't do too much damage before hte winds come. Hugs to the neighbors to the north!!!

PS -> just spied this on the Chronical Forums tho (COTH), yikes! http://jumping-percheron.blogspot.com/2008/12/unbeliveable.html
I just want to grab the dude away from the edge there and smack him for standing so near to something that could collapse! EEK!

The dance of joy!!! :)

I'm only going to share this photo for now. I've promised my yahoogroup that full galleries and ordering info sharing would be limited TO the yahoogroup so for those who've been following along here who don't do yahoogroups, sorry... you'll have to wait until January to see! By then I ought to be all caught up. :)

Ahhhh but it's a GREAT feeling to sit there and inspect every inch and inspect your final photos close up and see nothing at all that you want to change. Woohoo man!

Since I posted last the weekend kicked my butt. By Monday night I went home and fell asleep at 7 o'clock. My arms are still sore but I'm adapting to the increase in work weightload that accompanies the onset of winter and the super short days. With 12horses and a donkey to care for on the weekends I literally have to time everything down to the minute to get it all done in daylight hours. Especially if the ground is slippery and I don't want to be walking horses in at sunset when it might start to refreeze slicker than the am. It gets to be old-hat by Jan/Feb but at first it's a shocker to the system. Of course this week temps SORED back up the 50s/60's from the low 20s (low teens with wind chills!) from a few days ago. I used to think 30 degree temp swings were brutal but I guess 40 degree swings are my new norm to adjust to.

At least I have fun things to retreat to if I've got the energy! Honestly I've just adored doing these final stages of detail out... however it's just amazing to get into 'the zone' and then look up later and realize how much time has passed.

In college one time I was working on an abstract sculpture and was getting into 'the zone'. I looked up to find the whole class staring at me in (well I don't know what they were thinking but they'd all left their benches and gone over to the corner and were staring at me). If the instructor said my name to make me look up... well I didn't hear him. I definitely didn't hear his tell the classes (repeatedly) to wrap it up and come on over. Literally, 'the zone' totally tunes you out to the world. It's something athletes and emergency-working people I know can utterly relate to. You just a awed to find that bombs and parades went past and here you were just completely absorbed and oblivious.

So pulling my head from "the zone" now...! :D Wow. Lookit that, it's almost Christmas! lol! ;)

I'm really excited to paint up one of these bitty guys soon. I have NO clue what color but oooooh is he looking like fun to me. Eeeee! Happy dance happy dance!! :D

Aww heck, I'll share last week's picture again too;

Since I talked so much about that forelock you can see what became of it.

& Upon soul-searching analysis... one more cut needed...

I really thought I was done. I think lots of things that are wrong tho and aint afraid to admit it! :D

Ah well but yeah.. yesterday I'd set up the little fellow and started taking photos from all angles and lightings. Then I sat down with the intent of writing my yahoogroup a little note about anticipated times. I started to make a little named "cover image" like I've done with all my sculptures (http://www.artbymorgen.com/sculpture_gallery.asp) where I pick out a font & favorite image.

Anyhow, so as I'm choosing between two images my eye kept getting drawn over and over to this section of forelock. Mind you I've spent hours and hours alone just laying down 'hairs' on that section alone. However in the overall "picture" it was just standing out to me as clumpy and lacking the flow the rest of him had.

It's really hard to step back and say "no" and go in and hack with a dremel after all this work. Really really is. It's worth it to make those changes in the end I feel. So many artists approach this differently - some don't share anything towards the end and hold off after they feel it's complete for a bit too -> just to see if something leaps out at them eventually. We all at least hope to spy these things we REALLY don't like long before this point. lol!

Anyhow, here's one photo that will definitely be included in the final lot's gallery.

(if you click on it you will see something MUCH larger than my hand really is... I have big hands but they aren't THAT big - lol! & You'll even be able to ID my pinky prints!! lol!)

I'm really thrilled with 95% of him now (and dreading what I'm off to go do right now which is pick up a dremel at this point!)... at least I've photoshopped away until I know EXACTLY where I'm cutting to avoid wasting & redoing any more. & Yes, I"m just taking away, not rebuilding up so that is easier.


Wish me insights & inspiring moments please! :D
_____________________________

Postscript... :D I really like the "trim" so far and not to much to redo! Woohoo!! :D

My boots weigh SIX pounds!!

Life is not a journey to the grave
With the intention of
Arriving safely in a pretty
And well preserved body,
But rather to skid in broadside,
Thoroughly used up,
Totally worn out,
And loudly proclaiming,

WOW !!!! What a ride!

(I just spied that tonight... didn't write it but MAN it fits!) :D

And as I sit here recovering my butt pain from wearing them today (you'd think I'd suffer a little well earned butt LOSS) ;) I decided to fiddle around and have a lighting test. I failed the lighting test imo so it's just a smallish photo;



I printed out a sheet of just two-toned color that faded. It doesn't fade all nicey nice in the photo tho. lol! Ah well. Here it is in grayscale too for fun...


I really don't have much else to say/share. I am adding on the finest details at this point. I have the next 4 days mostly to myself and plan to make darn good use of all this cherished time... very excited!

Ps: the boots bit. Duh, who titles a post about something and then fails to complete the thought? I just couldn't wait until I was done with mud-wading chores today so I could slip back into some sneakers.... after I did so I was literally unable to stop myself from a goose-stepping silly walk... must've looked like a little prancy pony or something. It prompted me to tie the laces and hang em on the hay scale. Gads. No wonder my hip gets sore eh?

Must win lotto... I can't decide if I would merely hire a masseuse and continue the labor just for fun here and there tho!!! ;)

Road Rage starts at the DMV...

Alternatively titled: how I lost yet another day of sculpting to ongoing car hassles...

I'm amazingly calm for having spent 4.5hrs at the motor vehicle office in "line" today. I actually only stood in line for 20minutes... The remaining 4hrs were spent sitting next to some very interesting gentlemen. One showed me fascinating features on his cell phone after I tried to see what sort of games mine had (extremely obnoxiously noisy ones as it turns out). The other was an economics/history teacher. The time really did pass reasonably.

In the end I don't have my registration transfered however due to taxes from last century. No joke. And only $7.95 in fire-district taxes at that. For some reason they haven't shown up as an issue when I registered my last vehicle. Nor did they appear upon renewal or anything else (like maybe a letter letting me know they existed in this place I lived a decade ago). Nope. And even the motor vehicle personnel were shocked at the stodgy unwillingness of the woman at the tax office to take any sort of payment over the phone and fax the form to DMV (which they would've accepted). So yes, I got to drive back to my old region of residence to pay in person and hopefully I will succeed in registering my new (very used/old) truck tomorrow.

I even rented a car for this purpose (perhaps having to drive around unexpectedly to any additional place that turns up and pay these taxes)... in my neck of the woods you don't just pay town taxes, you pay fire taxes. I'm all for helping out the fire departments and I really respect and want them around. It would just be nice if there was a way to KNOW what you owe. I have lived in a lot of towns and districts of those since I became independent... waiting in line for nearly 5hrs is not the most productive way to learn. If anyone knows of a website that tells you of these (other than motor vehicle's magic skeleton-in-the-closet dredger-upper database), that would be some great info to pass along to everyone I know.

As for the town taxes in general.. that's a mystery to me too. I also went and paid more for my local town taxes today than my car (nearly undrivable now) is worth to most people. I did this first before even going to DMV because I knew they might object to any taxes owed but-not-yet billed... it's always a good idea to check with your tax depts before going to DMV. I know this! I am a good citizen and I got out there and did this (and have in past places of residence from the past 4-5 years too)... Anyhow, so my current town's assesor's office allows appeals 2x a year I learned. Since they have this crazy high value (and CT charges astonishingly high property tax rates).. this is actually worth my while to appeal apparently (like worth a hundred dollars to appeal!) . So I look forward to next March when I'm allowed to ask why they think my car is worth 3x the book value. In fact I may hold on to the car after I unregister it and try to sell it to the assessor...? What do you think? I mean who do you know who wants a car that can't drive far or for long without threatening to overheat, shouldn't drive up or down steep hills, and one that objects vehemently to turning left at slower speeds... If they think that's worth $5k, hey man -> take it PLEASE! lol! Heck, I'll happily sell it to them for a fraction of that....

So anyhow, I knew DMV would be at it's worst today, the shortest week for them of the year and historically known for being the worst time eva to go in there.... I really really considered trying to risk another week with the car but there's a lot going on that is worsening by the day. Some very major things need replacing and it's simply not worth it. I have a new/used truck. It's a very reliable vehicle that isn't likely to do random things with the wheels against my volition (the car's AWD function is malfunctioning along with everything else). I seriously don't want to experience what it will do on snow & ice which is in the near forcast... Since I have no option about driving to the farm no matter the weather, it's sorta shelved everything else to get this done this week since snow is on the way... nevermind the fun of having to refill coolant in minus temp wind chills... blarg!!

I spent 10-12hr days not leaving the farm these past 6 days despite the cold b/c I didn't want to drive it any unnecessary miles.. it's got that few left and cooling down the most between drives is best for it.

So yeah... I have no idea how I've lost all this studio time. I'm sorta in a time warp of stunned shock from it all really. Currently own two vehicles and am still rather hindered by the inability to travel anywhere. I rented a car for today's festivities. It's fun to drive. I *LIKE* to drive! lol! I even made a quick stop on my way to return the rental (and get a ride back to the farm from them), to do a quick shopping stint at Staples... my headset died in Sept and I haven't talked to anyone much on the phone since. ..lol! Because I'm alllllways doing stuff it seems and unless I have a headset I have to stop what I'm doing.

So here's to a glimmer of light in my future for productivity (the non-poop-shoveling kind). I spy the ability to travel (like to the art store 30min away from me - and get some paint brushes I really need to hand pick out)... the ability to gab with friends again (kinda necessary for one's sanity imo)... and safe travel in between that doesn't leave me stranded on the side of the road (cuz honestly that's like really really lame and I'm soooo getting tired of it).

Think good thoughts for me will ya? ;) Normally I haven't shared these stupid hoop-jumping sorta dreary real-life moments but this one takes the cake imo. That woman was something else. Thank you angry woman who adheres to those arbitrary rules for rules sake. Thank you old town fire-district tax office for taking however long it took you (it had to be over 5 years!) to process my $7.95 tax bill into a computer system so it could come back and haunt me! Enjoy your earnings there. Wow, huh?! lol!

And that's how I spend my half-days off I guess. Pretty exciting stuff. :-P

End Note / Story Conclusion From Wed:

Well I've just gotten back from the in-town trip to the local branch where everything was transfered and paid up in a matter of minutes... (ok, 20minutes but still!)

Meanwhile, apparently the car rental yesterday wasn't foolish at ALL. My car was billowing steam by the time I got home. Driving it's typical short trip to the barn, and THEN another few miles into town and back home (extra 5 total maybe?), caused her (I think of this Subaru as "Jezabelle" -sp?- fwiw!!) to spew coolant everywhere. Steam is still billowing out as I type... I think I should try to find a ride back tot he farm this afternoon with my plates in hand. I have a specific time I have to be there for the therapy program feedings. Cars. Psh. What a pita. :-/

& PS yes -> if I'd known Jezabelle would be this POed at it all I would've driven her straight over to her replacement instead. Oh well, who says cars don't have feelings! lol!

This man is MY HERO!!

http://www.maniacworld.com/art-in-the-eye-of-a-needle.html


I fully understand what he means about "misery" while he's working on it. lol! No seriously. It's a very strange ... obsession to want the smallest minutest detail to be perfect. I can fathom what he's doing (yes, not a typo - I can relate the weird feeling)... And I pity him!

I'm trying to fathom a doll the size of a blood cell tho... that I can't fathom. (8-o

Pass it on man. That's just incredible.

And I laughed myself silly about the bit about breathing in poor alice in wonderland.... I have lost more bitty hairs of late to light smears on my fingers and/or found them buried in the terry cloth of the towel I use as a pillow. I could see breathing one in too (course I would notice it and have a sneezing/choking fit or something).

I envy his microscope tho. That's a pretty sweet set up. Must get me one of those. Jeweler's glasses and magnifying lights distort annoyingly and are almost as hard on my eyes. I just need to look up frequently. At least with painting paint will flow off a brush faster and place itself right. Painting it is certainly easier than sculpting it... and now that's all I want to do. lol! :D

Anyhow, just sharing something I thought was totally amazing. Woohoo dude!

What the heck is taking so long!!! :D

Ok, well since I dragged him to RXR he's gotten a lot more detail... aaaaaand since I *know* people are wondering, I'll just explain some with a minor "tutorial" bent to this. I decided to go the REALLY hard route I took with the original in order to get the better hair detail that will be super crisp and lend itself to more detailed painting for the mane and tail.



I'd started at the tail in the fashion I'd done Godiva and Hazel with smooth on some epoxie and then carve and blend the detail into it.. however as I went along I realized that the carved in detail just didn't have the same effect as the rope-y mustang hair detail of the original El Embosco sculpture... sooooooooo I decided to go with giving him worms. Yes worms. lol!

If you can't imagine this, I did a mini-photo essay of it. Primarily b/c seeing the tools gives you an idea of what scale he's in (and thus why it takes so long!).

Start with a blob of expoxie the size of an asprin. Place on a very clean plastic surface (I like to use old packaging, the white and blue striped surface here is a paint brush sleeve for example).


Roll out some worms as thin as you can. Use a tool to trap em and prevent rolling back on themselves (you generally don't need too long, you need THIN)..


Dampen the area it's being added to, plop worm on, and work around until it looks nice and is "tacked" on...


You do need to "tack" it by blending the ends. THEN later, when it's hardened, I use primer and brush around to see how flowing the "hair ropes" are.... if they're flowing enough I just leave it be. Otherwise I blend in more very soft epoxie around it.

I can't even explain how time consuming it's become but I *REALLY REALLY* feel this makes him look JUST like his big brother (father?). lol! :)

A few other views;

That's a latex glove he's laying on... as if the above photos didn't give you an idea of scale.

You can click and enlarge ALL of these photos to see the mad detail even larger than life (I think even these are larger than life... his head is smaller than my thumb). This is by far my most detailed mini ever and I can't say I'll ever go this small or detailed ever again. It's SO much work. Seems worth it for all the thought I've put into him though not to cop out on those last stages.... it's fun. I have a great couple of books on tape I've been getting through lately.. ;)



Off to go tell my yahoogroup about these and give them info on price I've learned. :)

So stoked I just had to share...

Doesn't he look positively FIERCE!
(click to see even bigger than life!)

Finalist polls and tractors.. ;)

Well yesterday kicked my patootie with work!

However I was able to get the polls up when I got home. Just literally focused on nothing else making albums, making polls, submit em, brushed teeth and crashed… soooo please vote for the finalists!

***********************************************************************************

****Thread poll for Contest #1*******

http://tinyurl.com/5dv8wk

http://www.modelhorseblab.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77674

***********************************************************************************

****Thread poll for Contest #2*******

http://tinyurl.com/5sn6ye

http://www.modelhorseblab.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77676

***********************************************************************************

Remember, you don't need to be a paid member to vote! :)

I decided it would be better to post the photos in big albums to make viewing at full size easier. I’ve got to run for a while again today (bulk of my work week is Fri-Mon), but I’ll have more time later today to announce these and more to my yahoogroup and whereever else I can think of to try and gather votes tonight probably..

Making those had the added adrenaline rush of flickering lights from a big gusty storm that was blowing in adding to the pressure to get it done fast!

... On a side note, this year’s charity tractor pull went off without any bad hitches (that’s a terribly cheezy pun – sorry!). They aren’t sure of how much was raised yet but it was closer than not to 5 figures. This year was to benefit a local girl with Leukemia. Every year they pick a local family to help out somehow. One whole hay field on the farm was filled up with tractors, cars and trucks (they pulled trucks too since the local boys haven’t done so due to changes in local fair’s rules). They had a professional auctioneer who was a blast to chat with (I kept score some of the time in between my regular full day of farm work I have on weekends doing my farm and the one I share the property with). It was really worth it -> he would take any tibit of info and make it a funny announcement. Plus there was a small # of items auctioned off and he/they managed to get over $75 for a chocolate cake for instance. Fancy that! And the owners just kept redonating it and no one actually took it home in the end. Kudos to them all really! My job was terribly easy since we had the one and only weight sled in the country that has a digital readout (custom) so it was a matter of glancing over in the end. However the day ran well into the evening and pouring rain (because there’s a large shed for equipment so 40 or so people lingered around in there..)! I begged out early and got these done. For once (the rain certainly wouldn’t let the bonfire portion run easily), things wound down before midnight. I am SO thankful for that – lol!

Now I’m off to see what the winds and rain brought last night.

‘Twas the best of times! ‘Twas the worst of times!

Ok, this really isn’t quite that dramatic but I just had to make a post here to log some noteworthy things in my life…! :)

Gas is $2.45… the first time I saw that price was 3 years ago (2005) and around here I haven’t really seen it since. Definitely a woohoo for a # of reasons: everything in the horse business relies on gas and diesel. Mind you diesel is not nearly as low right now as gas. Still… it’s a bright spot.

What is NOT bright is this WEATHER! UGH!!! I don’t ever remember finding frozen water in pasture troughs this time of year before. Not before Halloween. And the WIND chill… course it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity here that gets ya (it’s a cold damp raaaaw wind – ugh!).

So I came home after the basics to get some more clothes (wool socks, gloves, ear coverage, scarf etc etc)… before dealing with that. –yuck!

In happier fun news, I should mention here too that the contest polls are up and running. This is really going to be tough for me to decide upon… how many entrants go to the round 2 finals over on Blab… I’m thinking the top 80%. And I can’t believe the first contest already has 234 votes!

I made fun images to click on for the contests last night…

Contest #1 Poll Going & sneak peak again @bitty!!

Ok well first off - VOTE NOW!!! :D

Actually.. as of this moment there's almost 125 votes and I haven't even gotten to posting to MH$P or anywhere but Blab about the blogs contest being open for it yet...! (wow!)

Secondly... Since everyone's asking and asking.. and I just primered him and am going over him with something smaller than a fine toothed comb.. before I add weeeee tiny hair tendrils! Here's bitty bosco and some friends.

It's a pretty big pic. Lesse if whne you click it if blogger allows for the full size... hmmm. YUP it worked!

That's an old mold Love SM arab mare in between the two boys. No one liked my set up for balancing or I'd have everyone lined up better for their photo. You get the gist I hope? I love doing hair. I use apoxie sculpt in red and it's just such a fun texture to work with. It's more rubbery and it smooths sharp but not as clumpy as natural or gag - white! I save the red for things I want to do once - it's almost as if it has more oil to it? Great stuff. Love it! My tools work really well to get fine smooth lines. And after that primer can fill those lines with 'powder' overspray simply because it doesn't land in the grooves as nice... SO, I do it last last last almost so there's no build up in grooves.

He's almost ready for his close up now. Just gotta go over and reemphasize a couple more things.

I'M SO EXCITED!!! Eeeeee!!!

What fun I'm having, really. Between that and giggling myself silly over the scene contest entries' way creative ideas (scene contest is here) I'm just havin a blast. :D

Tx for all the encouragement guys too! (hugs!!)

Both Contest Blogs up now and... (grr!)

I don't even want to repeat my "grrr" again. It's on the 2nd contest blog and I'll move it to the bottom as "notes" or something. I dunno. lol!

ANYhow, just sharing the contests 1st and foremost before I hit the sack. Very productive day even tho I worked more at the farm than usual. In the hour I was home I got all sorts of biz AND found some seriously helpful information on a Subaru forum. I really can't recommend any of these newer AWD cars with the various "brain" sensors and modules that normal mechanics and even some dealerships can't figure out. hrmph! My father has an 80's Subaru that wouldn't die. It rotted and still drove fine. Phtttt to these newfangled things.

Ok! FUN STUFF! :D

Contest #1 for artists!!!
Morgen's "People's Choice Finished Resins"

Contest #2 for everyone!!!
Morgen's "People's Choice Creative Resin Scenes" !!! (that's where I rant b/c I need to pretty it up to make it clearer what it is.. but instead was sidetracked by automotive mumbo jumbo!)

Well 'artists' and 'everyone' who owns one of my sculptures so that's not that many in the grand scheme but plenty for me to process!!!! ;)
________________

Also, lol! Diana wrote to tell me where Hazel spent last weekend (the HUSSY! <-"Hazel".. NOT Diana! omg I just had to throw tha t in!) (8-0
"Arkansas, Mid-Ark Model Horse Expo ....
Hazel's next show is Mid Kansas Live in Andover, KS on 11/1/08. "

Tx Diana! Since I know you read here now I'll take a risk and wait until later this weekend to write you back since Fri - Mon are sunup to sundown ++ days for me anyhow.

________________

& Now on a more serious note, I hope everyone is holding up ok-ish. Gas is going down I see. (phew!) The news (I have no choice but to watch the varied weather reports that sometimes all fail) is really alarming these days. Moreso is hearing from more than one former colleague I know who's lost a job of late . I am sincerely thinking of you and your families!! :( Hugs all around.

Ok, well I'd better get myself to sleep somehow (pizza invigorates me I guess?)... my 7:30 am Sat wake up won't happen & I'll be in trouble.. (I'm not a morning person as EVERYONE knows.) Thinking positive thoughts that things will turn around soon (prays and crosses fingers/toes and hopes).

Babble on me. G'nite!

I'll update this when I have more info but.. :)

"Hazel" (Janice's Hazel in bay there featured on my website), won another NAN card and blue ribbon this past weekend. I don't honestly know the name of the show or the location. lol! This is all I got (proxier busy!);
"I showed Hazel as a Percheron x TB Sport Horse in Other Mixed Breed. It was a really nice class but she took the blue ribbon!"

Uhhhh yeah. I'm that bad that I don't have the foggiest clue what state this horse is in at the moemnt (duh!). Congrats Janice! She's fufilled the "Halter" requirement of the Versatility award now and we gotta find her a performance proxy person now.. Diana P has her and is her proxier for a bit (Diana is the mad proxy woman and she even got her ear repaired again before the win because I really did a bad job on that case apparently.. coughs and blushes!). I'll update the sales page with this latest win. Eventually I'm going to map this out on a US map. She's done some serious campaigning around the country herself this year I guess!!

UPDATED Oct 18th: The show was in Arkansas, it was Mid-Ark Model Horse Expo, and I believe the judge was Tracy Rogalla. Man this mare has been around more than ME...! (8-o She's had 6 stops so far (one where she had a broken ear and didn't show).. Next stop is Kansas (I *have* been there...) and hopefully she'll get to show performance again then too... she's itching too yanno! :D I just wasn't great about lining up hand offs between halter and performance folks around her travel line up. I'm not really a good coordinator to such a well-traveled gal anyhow.... thanks Diana for proxying these last one here! ;)

Video fun!

Well I *knew* I had the tools on this “newer” machine (meaning 2-3 year old computer now?!!)… to make video clips (editing and dubbing and such)… I just haven’t had a camera that did digital video.

Let me back up first a bit and tell you what MOTIVATED me to do this first tho.. mmmm…. SO I’ve gotten some sheep as a “boarder’ (3 sheep – 1 ram, 2 ewes, one stall which is divided to prevent unwanted breeding -> they are show sheep). The ram needs to be by himself. He is LOOOOONELY and Baaa-aaa-aaa-aaas all day long. :( & anyhow, so I called poor Liesl Dalpe back yesterday finally while at the farm and yet (gee???) after only a few minutes on the phone (I don’t leave the farm basically from Friday thru Monday so I had no choice if I was ever going to get back to her...), Liesl went from being happy to hear from me at long last to... huh... suddenly remembering that she had some packages to mail. Yeaaaaaaaah…. Lol! Suuuuure Liesl!

Soooo I wanted to share the joy before he settles down (poor Liesl! Sorry babe!!).

As a side note that he is really starting to adjust and I suspect the baaaa-aaaaa-aaaaing will diminish soon enough I'm sure too (I still like em as boarders in other words!). Far less stressful than a horse equally upset. A lot less dangerous too. Anyhow, the point being that’s what I listen to all day long. ALLLLLL day long. Strangely my boarders haven’t been around so much either. Maybe it’s the weather there tho, ya think?

And while I was at it and my horse was feeling his oats some with the cold … soooooo I thought I’d try to get him being silly too since I had my boyfriend's digital camera iwth the ability at hand. He’s really pretty calm for how hot to trot he can get... When he’s really “tuned up” he’s a lot more fun to watch but this was about all I could handle anyhow in my skill set. I got several out-takes of my shoes whilst he trotted away from the donkey fwiw too - snorts and giggles. Since I was laughing (and I can’t stand my voice either!!), I decided to dub it with the one single audio file this computer seems to contain. Rather anticlimactic really compared to his only mild "reaction". Eh, well... it soooorta works at least. :)

Bonus points to the person spotting the issue with his upward gait transition that’s indicative of his anatomical asymmetry unsoundness and which is ultimately why he’s “retired”.

My video skills are lacking. So sorry... I think my future as a hand-held videographer are limited indeed, eh? Hehehe! Anyhow, nough sillies, I gotta go jot a note to my yahoogroup about something coming up. ;)

[editing to add in that Liesl just wrote back that;

"GASP! I would never ditch you because of screaming sheep.... that
would just be BAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHD...."

hahaha Liesl! and ...yes folks, I just corrected her last name here too because that's another forte of mine... spelin dontcha noe!]

Oh and look! Windows Movie Maker lets you grab frame photos... soooo check out Gleep aka "Joe Cool" throughout it all. He's so funny. We call him "Jedi Donkey". ;)

Oktoberfest off with a big bang! *blinks*

Well, for me it was sorta a typical day with some extra scrambling computer time thrown in... ;) but already one of my contests has gotten some entrants..woohoo! :) OH! ..mmm yeah... uh perhaps I should put the link to that blog here huh? (duh!)
Contest #1 Blog
(I'll go stick a more permanent-ish link to the side shortly I guess? I have a 2nd contest in the making atm)...

THEN there was some back and forth with Steph Michaud about her auction when I got home this evening... and then I was finally getting to dinner when the phone rang and Steph is like "uhm.. [all ominous sounding] uh, did you see the auction?". And all worried I go over and see that it's 'Closed'. [me thinking 'Closed' = bad... duh me again!] So Steph had to finally point out to me that it ended with a massive "Buy it Now".
So here is that auction (all 11 minutes worth of festing I suppose - lol!)
Annnd I know she won't mind if I steal a couple pics from it to post here for posterity (and saving her server some viewing drain to boot. ;)







I'm still in shock here. Seriously.

[adding on]
Btw, to the 10 other people who voted in my arbitrary test polls.. I'm not really sure what to do with that 1st one's 3 way tie.. but perhaps it's connected to the numeral 3 being a clear winner in the second. I'm at a loss about that too. But thank you for voting all the same. Your vote COUNTS MAN! (giggles) ;)

You guys are cracking me up! ;)

lol!

Sooooo I made those test polls over there down to the lower right hand side of this blog to see if I could really add as many poll choice options as possible... I left em there for ha ha's and lookie! People are voting! (giggles)

Ok. ;)

Well guyz.. there is a REAL blog now that you'll eventually vote for real on... For high stakes too!! (resiny goodness prizes!)... it's over here: http://kilbourn-contest1.blogspot.com/
There will be real polls there after entry submission closes on Oct 15th... Until then feel free carry on here I guess if you wish. hehehe! (how funny)

There's another blog coming too in honor of all this Oktoberfest madness.... Mums the word about that for now tho. ;)

Oh, and Steph Michaud posted the most lucious picture tease on MH$P: http://www.modelhorsesalespages.com/sales/view_details.asp?path=Gallery&id=598717

Ok, I can't stand it!!! Leaking a little excitement here! :D

Annnnnnnd that is all I'm going to say until Lisa and I work out some details... but eeeeee am I excited to spill! :D

(disclaiming of course that obviously the FULL disclosure will go to my yahoogroup on contest details etc etc.. as always. but there's no point in posting this there yet as it's just a TEASE!) ;)

Wasssuuuup! :)

1st: Butterfly update…

I will confirm it today but yesterday I noticed what definitely seemed to be a hole in the monarch butterfly chrysalis (how sad huh?!) :( … anyhow, Steph M had emailed me to say she got 3 in some sort of “kit” and 2 died… one because it couldn’t get free of the shell. Soooo yeah… I think that’s what happened. We had some super cold nights so I’d suspected that it was not likely to thrive in them (near frost nights).

2nd: BITTY update…

Lisa G mentioned in a phone conversation the other day that some folks were getting anxious and some thought it would be months longer. Not true! :) I tried to take some pics the other day but the camera I had at the time just wouldn’t focus on the wee spots I was trying to show. Essentially however it’s like working with wood. It’s porous and “grained” with lines because the material to create the mini 3D object from the digital data is built up in layers. These layers basically give you a final object that could be stained like wood. Which is why I primed and then have been using thinner to get the primer into the gaps. Anyhow, at first (I showed him to folks at a show) the “fuzzy” look (think balsa wood maybe?) hid a lot of detail however when I used solvents to flatten out the microscopic fuzz more detail than I expected popped out. Very pleased! I still have basically been smoothing out a material that works very similarly to balsa though through. I’ve been staying at the farm to save gas and working on him there… where I not be tempted by evil computer for the most part! Lol! On Friday thru the weekend it’s pandemonium there so this saves on gas… will get to car troubles too in a minute.

Anyhow, the bottom line with bitty bosco is that I’m really just smoothing out and touching up details here and there now. I will add on the mane and tail with thin epoxy (which is why I sanded them so flat) that will basically be a one-time effort to get right (it hardens in 3hrs but there’s really only a 1.5hr window to work in whatever your doing when it’s at a good consistency for hair). I expect by mid-October I should have him done. I’m pretty excited because I really dig him and honestly can’t wait to paint a few!

3rd Life intruding on art.. lol!

Let me just say (*#$@*(#&$ … cars.

The radiator sprung a sudden and serious leak last month which ultimately resulted in my car needing a ride itself (towed on a flatbed) back to the farm where my dear sweet boyfriend replaced the thing. The very next day this super special “AT Oil Temp” light started coming on when I was on a hill. To my boyfriend’s skill’s credit this is not uncommon apparently.. it could mean a # of things however…

I live in CT so it’s basically impossible for me to drive even the short 7miles to the farm without encountering 2 hills. By taking the flattest ones I’ve been able to avoid getting the warning light again though for the past few weeks. The service manual says (get this) if the light comes on simply avoid driving on steep grades or in stop and go traffic. … ! … Oh.. is that all? Ok, I ask you if you’ve ever been in a traffic jam. How exactly should you avoid this. Nevermind being stuck on a hill. You can’t coast these automatic transmission vehicles in neutral and have steering or brakes worth mentioning either…(small voice -> I’ve tried! It’s scary!!!). Soooo yeah. But I managed to avoid this until last night. I had to drop off a key across town and found myself in nighttime highway road work. No warning light though until I was returning home. However then it decided to come on in raging blinking flashing ominous screaming warning…!!!! Cargoingtoblowup!!! Cargoingtoblowup!!!

Sooooo it was a loooooong night trying to get home. Stopping. Engine off. Waiting. Distress. No one answering their phones… sigh… (at least there was no accompanying RPM or gear issues that I’ve heard of now after intensive googliation….). However I’ve just GOT to share the layman’s diagnostic I found on several sites on how to determine the exact meaning of this “AT oil temp” (AT stands for Automatic Transmission – not “at” as a normal human might assume…)… ready? This is funnier than finding buried “eggs” ( http://lifehacker.com/371083/top-10-software-easter-eggs ) in software..

In any event, the flashing AT Oil Temp light indicates that the Transmission Control Module (TCM) has detected a problem and is trying to tell you about it. Here's the procedure for interrogating the TCM for the 2002 Impreza (all variants). It's one of those secret handshake procedures reminiscent of the pre-OBD ECU days. I swear I'm not making this up.

1) Warm up the engine
2) Turn the ignition switch OFF
3) Turn the ignition switch ON
4) Start the engine
5) Drive the vehicle at speeds greater than 12 MPH
6) Stop the vehicle
7) Depress the brake pedal and move the gear selector to "1"
8) Turn the ignition switch to OFF
9) Turn the ignition switch to ON
10) Move the gear selector to "2"
11) Move the gear selector to "1"
12) Move the gear selector to "2"
13) Move the gear selector to "3"
14) Move the gear selector to "D"

Now examine the AT Oil Temp light again:

If the light's blinking 4 times a second, then the problem is most likely a power supply or ground problem.

If the light's blinking 2 times a second, then the TCM believes all is normal.

If the light's on solid or not on at all, then there's a problem with the light's circuit.

Since it came on the day after the radiator incident it’s pretty clear something is not connected right OR when the radiator got hot it clogged something. In any event… pray for me. I just bought hay and do NOT have a spare cent to donate to the dealership people who are typically the only ones who know these secret handshake’s meanings… and the last time I went they wanted $900 to replace the entire nozzle/tubing that you pump gas into -> for a “leak” that we determined was only in the gas cap. We saved $879 by simply buying a new gas cap. We did however have to remove the whole line and submerge it in a tank of water and pump air in… airtight.. ‘cept for the cap. (more language ->) (*#$#@$ dealership CROOKS!

Right, so this special issue here is probably something simple. I’m crossing fingers and toes all the same. I’m REALLY grateful I can tote my tiny bitty around to work on while my car is getting healed… and since I’m likely to be away from the computer while I get rides… I’m going to ask that Lisa tell whomever asked the timeline here for bitty. Since if it’s online I sure as heck haven’t had the time to search for that whilst looking up these fun secret code meanings to the mysterious Forester. :-/
!!!
Lol ;)

WIP and anticipated finish times! :)

I’m on my “lunch hour” here but I’m getting excited about some of these horses and wanted to share my in progress shelf of late… I just HAD to take a picture of where I left off last night..! :D

Plus poor Lisa has really hoped for some sort of clue as to when certain sales might happen and I'm rather flakey about these things so a visual really helps me...

Amanda and Maddie, yes those are your's! There are REALLY subtle details there on both resins that I'm over the moon about and you won't be disappointed... ;) For everyone else's benefit I've ID'ed the horses that actually will be for sale to the public:

The Indy has been in progress forever, eh? I really want him to be special though. He needs finishing details only now finally! :D Likewise for Vixen (like her wee feetsies need slightly less subtle stripes for example and her tail needs .. well help still - lol!). This Spinny here is a newish horse to me this summer but his color was a cinch as there is this pony I take care of who is that color and it was inspired! The dinky there is new too, he will be fleabitten like his large brother however I'm giving him less bites and some faded dappling. Right now the dappling only has been done. Bitty looks dreadful in his particolored coat there but he's smoother than I thought and I'm filling in spots by carefully washing off the primer with turpentine. The highly porous Objet resin is like working in balsa wood really. I'm thrilled that his detail is coming out so precise, I took a different approach with dinky and it took a LOT longer.

Righto, so anyhow I hope to have a painted horse or two for sale in the coming weeks.

And then another.. sooner rather than later... and so on.. ;)

I get strangely excited about silly things...! :)

Ok, ok, I know that after almost a MONTH (eek!) it's really time for a more legit update on stuff but this cool object has fascinated me for a couple of days now..


It's a Monarch Butterfly Chrysalis apparently!

I spied it as I was ducking under a fence one morning. I'm pretty sure I've shown it to everyone now... lol! It looks positively fantastical (faerie tale fantastical)... with these little beaded gold 'threads' running along it. :D

Aaaaaaaand in other news, aside from sunup to sundown mostly at the farm with short stints home for lunch if I can (and an hour in the studio).. I've been mostly toting around bitty and working on him where ever and whenever possible. When I break from that it's to get some paint layers down on other resins. Sporadic working like this is rather frustrating unfortunately but I really am getting somewhere. In the meantime it's wee things like this that bring tickle me silly! :D

Oh, and fair season has started so I've gotten out of a house a few nights. As well as having had a few nice bbq's at the farm. I'm loosing some weight but I don't want to jinx myself by talking about that. & I actually rode a horse the other day too in a really idiotic (overconfident) effort to get him to do the lead changes that his owner wasn't getting. I only got front end changes too (which is why she came to me for help - at least now tho I know what she's up against.. it does help to feel what's going on although mostly I am not the type who trains by doing it myself first). It makes me laugh b/c it really was idiotic of me ... I'm not really sure what mad skills I thought I had to do this after only riding a donkey in the past 2 years (I soo soo miss riding now) but it's always fun to be optimistic. ;) Seriously... I'm really daft these days but I'm having fun at least out there!! Aaaaand laughing at myself clearly! ;) I will add tho that it was disconcerting to have immediate hip soreness after getting off. I hope that mere stretching more will help. I kinda fear that I'm going to need my (10-20 years from now?) next horse to be a gaited horse with all gaits being really smooth... -sighs- Getting old sucks! :-/

More sculpting updates soon hopefully. Sorry to be offline so much but there really isn't much of anything for me to share yet!

Some close ups and status :)

Well I have gotten farther than I’d hoped but sadly I’m going to be really busy with outside work for the next 2 weeks. I hope to accomplish more now that I’ve got ‘the hang’ of the material better than when I worked on dinky duke. It’s a porous material and I’m only working on the right side at the moment. The mane and tail will come last. :) I managed to drop in to Baystate Live yesterday (I had some resins to pick up and drop off), but several people asked about the tail being so narrow, it won’t be in the end. I don’t plan to have it “fluffy” but somewhere in between (not as thick nor as hard to prep as large Bosco was...yes, I've heard your feedback!!). ;) The mane and tail will be done in epoxy and by then the horse will probably be primered at least once to ensure he’s smooth. (I will also probably take more close up photos because I'll need the camera's macros' to help me find flaws!).. Suffice to say he needs to be smoother and MUCH more crisp in detail (I’m sure the photos will tell you as much!) before I have hair details I might sand/chip off and have to redo? Hope that makes sense! Lol!


Wet sanding (solvent actually) helps see where the staggered Objet print lines remain.(Objet is the laser reproduction method used.. believe it or not it's one of the best methods available... currently... hrmph! lol!)


The main body is easy enough to smooth but even there there’s detail in larger contour emphasis that needs to come back in my estimation


Some crispness on the face now and I’ve hollowed out ONE nostril – lol!


Check out what I get to work with to start at this size!!


(and speaking of, I went to LARGE stablemate, or small Little Bit size. I’ve seen it called both frankly and haven’t had the time to go look up what 3.2” is in hobby scale terms.. he’s a shade smaller than dinky though and a lot less long of course!) ;)


And this last shows crisp detail but how the porous material needs a lot of filling in with primer/sanding/primer etc in order to get a piece worthy of casting. You can also see on his braciocephalis how those staggered lines are.. what a battle eh?! Tons of smoothing AND detailing clearly left to do!

Hot off the press!!! :)

eeee!!!!! :D

Soooo much work to do now though... trots off to studio. ;)
(he did wind up being large SM size - I'll give real ratios later on..!)

Virtual Bosco! :)

This just in...





There are more angles of course. This is how I get to "approve" of the digital files before they are printed out. Of course it'll be virtually flipped too:


They just look so nifty, eh? Mind you I am actually groaning about the TON of detail I'll have to recreate (resculpt with smaller tools). The hair I decided need to be smoothed before scanning so I could just resculpt it on anew with Apoxie Sculpt (or etch it... I want it to be REALLY fine lines and the scanning just won't produce that so there was no point in creating it fine before scanning). Things like feathers, eye details (like lids? yeah.. those are too fine for the scanning to reproduce too) etc etc.. with those nothing but good old fashioned wittling away and tiny work as you would with any mini is needed on the miniaturized version. And when all the detail is added THEN it goes off to a caster like Mountain View Studios to be cast as any other sculpture to resin would be.

Hope that made sense. I was bursting to share the screen shots!

Added on Sat afternoon for to answer Alicia and a few other's questions.. :)

(big files worth viewing to see how rough they are)

Duke's scan for "dinky duke":


What I'll get back with bitty too:



and what I'll have to get it to in terms of smoothness and detail before it's ready to send out:


Actually, I'd like to pack in even more detail or emphasize it more this time. Always trying to improve on things ya know.. :) Anyhow, since a bazillion dinky dukes are out there you can see that the lines are crisp in spots, it just takes time (almost like resculpting the whole final stages!) to smooth and then add crisp details obviously. :)

So far so good! :D

I * LOVE * THIS * SCULPTURE. :D


Sarah Mink really outdid herself with this gal's face imo... color just flows on so nice and real and you hardly have to do anything as a painter imo to draw out life. Just pick a shade and apply and viola! A little wee horsie!


So far I've only applied one coat of oils here. The shine is partly because I've used a slow aperture flash setting. I have no idea how to use that thing after 9 years. Isn't that sad? lol! Anyhow, it's in the painting case drying and I wasn't about to bust out with the real lights and move her too much.

I'm making a base too. I won't permanently attach her but she is so small and fine that tipping is easy. If her someday owner wants to, a tiny dab of sticky wax would help prevent it. Plus she just *needs* a dramatic stand imo. :D

Now I need to wait forever for her to dry more before I can get to the second coat of oils. -sighs- :(
She is SO much fun to paint... the torture of oils! argh!!

Work smarter..

Have you watched the move “Office Space”? There’s this saying repeated throughout the movie about having a “case of the Monday’s” that’s pretty entertaining. In a related vein, try telling someone with perfectionist tendencies like me to “work smarter not harder”. ;) Really. Try it with your favorite overly self-critical artist friends. Duck after you say this. :D

Seriously though, when you do this sort of thing for a living you really seriously MUST work smarter. Each work is an endeavor to balance the airy-fairy idealism of what most perceive fine art to be.. with the brutal cold fact that we are striving to make improvements and yet not invest our lifetimes on one piece in fiddling ad infinitum. I can forever fiddle with the best of em. My artist friends and I all remind each other not to get sucked into the vortex time warp of the never ending work. It’s one thing with a sculpture to put that extra month (or year – coughcough) in. The sales for castings will only pick up the pace as time goes on and the work gets out if all that extra time was well spent (and the converse of that is dire to sculptor to overcome in future sales if a sloppy sculpt escapes the studio). However with individual painted pieces this isn’t so. Sometimes they never get viewed at shows and yet they are a precious addition to a prized coveted collection. I’m not talking about prices. I’m talking about the portfolio that is what gets to shows around the world. So it’s a far bigger gamble for the painting artist to be low-output. (tiny voice -> like me!).

Do I wish I could create amazingly detailed works faster and faster and still maintain my personal hyper-detailing style? Sure. Not entirely realistic unless I’m getting the hang of the media. THIS said however, (big sly grin), I am getting the hang of it in some respects. And for my wee tiny Vixen casting I’ve departed from a paint-over style to a blend-throughout all coats style. This is her in primer.

Red and white primers. So that the final work preserves the crazy insane detail this miniscule piece has. I’m simply stoked! :D

Already I’m not dealing with color blending issues typically seen with appy blankets. I loath the painted on white look and strive (succeed or fail) to really overcome it. And man do I love the silly miniscule hair details. There aren’t any of those yet. She’ll be given several oil layers over this. Ah but the macroscopic view is already inspiring to me and this only makes the crazy close ups (the ones like on that Mindy I’d done earlier this year that can only be seen by camera macros or magnifying glasses) just that much more fun to add in the end. Snoopy dance of joyjoy!

Chestnut mare beware! Heh heh.. (that’s not her name but that’s certainly her motto!)

ps I will (when done) sell her in the usual way. I give the heads up in advance only to my yahoogroup peeps. I haven't decided on the venue. I'm pretty sure I won't be using eBay for a long long time again. I was looking for something for sale there the other day and searching even by it's name and keywords in the auction wouldn't bring it up. Nor would sorting by the price it was currently at. Bad times with the DSR rating system. Not a fan over here.