My first ever tobiano (and one of my first ever customs) placed next to my latest, and a perfect illustration of why you stick to your passions. If you've ever felt like your work will never amount to those created by more established or professional artists, then you need to read this.

My followers on Instagram requested this video and now it is finally here! How to paint eyes, hooves and chestnuts on a model horse custom, with special emphasis on the Breyer Stablemates scale.

A visual story of how I transformed the old Breyer Lady Phase into a floating trot Criollo mare.

Apoxie Sculpt and other brands of two-part epoxy "clay" is the heart and soul of model horse customizing and a greatno-bake solution. For this post, I'm featuring a great tutorial video by Darynn Bednarczyk of DeeJayBe model horse customs to get you started in all things apoxie. Be sure to visit the video on YouTube and click on the description since she has a TON of great resources and tools listed there.

Everyone is going nuts over Breyer shrinking the popular Alborozo mold for the Stablemate line. As a fan of everything mini, I am 100% behind this trend, although maybe not so much for the unicorn approach.

But that's okay; I'm a customizer. The horn easily came off.

It's a hot spring in here...the birds are signing, the sun is blazing, and I can now wear shorts while airbrushing. With the warmer weather has come an assortment of projects, from judging photo shows, to creating my first traditional custom for the Model Equine Photo Showers Association (MEPSA), my to-do list is not wanting.

#NaMoPaiMo is National Model Painting Month, an international painting challenge in February between model horse hobbyists. It was founded and is run by Jennifer Buxton and is a fun online (and sometimes in-person) gathering of sharing progress, tips and fun.

Now in its second year, I will be participating again with another stablemate custom. I've chosen a Breyer G1 Thoroughbred mare who I am transforming into an Arabian mare. My January month will be spent finishing her sculpting and prepping her for next month's painting.

While I'm at it, I thought I'd walk you through her major changes, which I also thought would be a great insight for those wanting to know how to make stablemate customs.

After the prior article on craftsmanship, I thought it would be great to have a super short and illustrated look into why craftsmanship is so important to prepping. 

Before I sprayed my NaMoPaiMo mare with primer, I honestly thought this girl was super smooth. But look! The first coat of primer showed that I couldn't have been more wrong. While not bad for the first pass of primer, clearly she needs more sanding, especially around the areas where I added epoxy.