This sinus infection is totally kicking my butt, so here’s a picture of that Shrinky Misty to entertain you in ways I cannot:
When I am not pondering the mysteries of model horse history, I design and (not as expediently as I wish) sew quilts. It’s my philosophy that with the right combination of pattern, texture and design you can get literally any two colors to work together in a quilt.
This model is making me rethink this philosophy. Highlighter Orange and Tan? I don’t think so.
Like Chalkies, Shrinkies are not necessarily limited to or defined by a specific time period. You can find Breyer models that have shrunk, warped and turned a peculiar shade of something else from just any time in Breyer’s past. It’s just that the ones from the late 1980s are more abundant, more readily available, and turned weirder faster than the rest.
In fact, all Breyer models – be it five years from now, or 150 years from now – will eventually shrink, warp and discolor.
There are plenty of models from the 1950s and early 1960s that still look as good as they did when they were manufactured, so don’t freak out just yet. The speed is dependent not just on the chemical composition of the plastic, but on the environment they are kept in.
There was definitely something that went wrong during the “Shrinky Era” of the late 1980s: this was shortly after manufacturing moved from Chicago to New Jersey, and a lot of “institutional memory” was lost in the transition. I suspect it was either a bad batch of raw Cellulose Acetate, or something went slightly awry with the plastic mix that did not get caught immediately because the old pros weren’t around to do periodic quality checks.
I still haven’t decided whether or not to keep her. She seems pretty stable for Shrinky (no active oozing, doesn’t smell that bad), but I really don’t need another crazy Misty variation. If anyone wants to make an offer and make this decision easier for me, feel free!
5 comments:
She is oddly adorable! I love her "surprised" eye---perhaps it stands out against the yellow and tan more than usual? She doesn't even look that badly warped . . . yet. Thanks for sharing her with us!
Interesting how shrinking has emphasized the texture of her mane... Oddly enough, while my childhood late-80s models are still the right color, the early G2 Stablemates I got are all yellowing in spite of not being in direct sunlight, and unlike all other plastic, they turn greenish when exposed to 'retrobrite' (hydrogen peroxide + sun) instead of losing their yellow tint. :-/
At least Breyers are biodegradable! I spent at least 6 hours turning over soil where I'd buried a broken-legged Stablemate over 30 years ago...not a trace. It is hard to accept that even our most prized possessions will break down into something else. Maybe part of their appeal is their seeming agelessness.
Or does it make them a bit more lifelike, having lifespans?
I was also thinking the mane looked good- too bad about her color!
Your G2 Stablemates are probably ABS (styrene), and that behaves differently than Tenite. Excessive sunlight is actually bad for them!
"It’s my philosophy that with the right combination of pattern, texture and design you can get literally any two colors to work together in a quilt."
Second this. I also quilt, not very expediently. My goal is to finish one quilt per year. Just finish, though; it doesn't have to be from start to end, so quilting a top I made previously counts. I was quilting an enormous top I made during Hurricane Harvey but then my awesome boss announced his retirement so I squeezed in a large lap quilt as a gift; I just have to finish binding it. Turns out quilts are a lot easier when they aren't huge, but I never remember that when I'm putting them together.
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