Goodie Bags

Not dead! Just exhausted and probably a little overscheduled. Throwing an ice storm and a health screening into the mix didn’t help things, either. 

(We didn’t lose power, but I could stand to lose 25 pounds.)

Anyway, since I’m short on time here and I’d like to get in a little extra sleep before the weekend (a full weekend off!) I’ll cover a few quick topics as I prepare something a little more substantial in a day or two.

First, I’ll jump right into it and join the chorus of people excited about the contents of this year’s BreyerFest VIP Swag. A Bento Box and an Insulated Lunch Bag? A Picnic Blanket and a Cooling Towel? 

https://www.breyerhorses.com/blogs/breyerfest-blog/vip-exclusive-swag

The only problem here, of course, is that I actually want to use all this stuff. Generally, the only swag I use on a regular basis are the tee-shirts, because I can turn them into quilts later. (I also make quilts to display my pins on, but I’m not sure that counts as something I “use”.)

Onto the next one…

I ditched all the reference photos I pulled for the two Diorama Contests. I decided I’d rather focus on my sewing instead, at least until the weather warms up and I can start customizing more. It was a little sad to give up on the Diorama dream so early, but my time is not infinitely expandable, and I really need to kick my multitasking habit.

And finally…

Maybe my confusion stems from the fact that this is the first year I am seriously considering entering the in-person live show, but is there some reason why there are two resin shows for BreyerFest? 

Although much of the antipathy between Breyer collectors and resin aficionados has dissipated, I come from a long line of people who have held grudges forever, so part of me is a little miffed that resin collectors/showers have both an online and in-person option, but Breyer collectors/showers don’t. Breyer Boot Camp is tailored to Novices only, and I am most definitely not a Novice! 

I know they wouldn’t necessarily want to have a photo show with the same number of classes as BreyerFest Live, but maybe a theme or specialty show with a pared down classlist would be more manageable: Mini Only, Custom Only, Specific Breeds Only, Collectibility Only. It could be a different every year, both for the challenge and to cover all the bases over time. And make it open to everybody!

If I don’t enter BreyerFest Live this year for whatever reason (sells out, I have other commitments, or I end up in traction and unable to travel due to my tragic lack of coordination), I’m definitely doing Breakables. I have enough decent chinas to be competitive but also not so many that I’d lose much more than a weekend preparing for it. 

And on that note, guess what I’ll be doing this weekend, probably… 

The Pause Button

Other than some fabric I bought Wednesday night – because it was 70 percent off and I needed it to finish that darn project – and paying for the Avoriaz, I haven’t done a lick or click of shopping over this extended weekend.

I haven’t had much time to myself over the past three months, so it seemed like a waste to spend any of it… out shopping with strangers!

It’s also been something of a relief that there hasn’t been anything new-rare-interesting added to the Breyer Horses web site either, other than more swag. I’ve been in the market for a new oversized pullover, so this Breyer Spirit Jersey is definitely going on my CC Appreciation shopping list.

With all the other holiday promotions looming on the horizon, I suppose it makes sense to hit the “pause” button for once. I am fine with that, just as long as they don’t drop anything significant on Cyber Monday: as someone who has hit the “pause” button on her life since Wednesday night, my Monday is going to be more occupied than average. 

Since I am still in the middle of this pause and not up for any actual work or research, I’ll just mention one other thing that hasn’t been getting the attention it deserves: per the BreyerFest blog, the “BreyerFest Attendee Guide” I suggested back in August is actually going to be a thing after all.

For the record, I didn’t have any actual input into this, other than making this suggestion in public. For all I know they might have been planning this all along, and I just being prescient again.

And that’s it for today.

Next time: I open the box. With that thing in it.

Holiday Things

Apparently there was some sort of mix up in Reeves’s database, so now everyone (well, almost everyone) who receives one of Breyer’s Holiday 2019 catalogs is getting the gift of … a new name!

This is hilarious and awesome, and I am totally wearing a “My Name Is” nametag at BreyerFest with my new Breyer Given Name “Dona” written on it.

(I was kind of surprised that it wasn’t Audrey, but that is a story best told in person....)

The only other thing worth noting about the catalog is that it includes all the Web Exclusive Holiday merchandise – the Unicorn Mare and Foal set Mira & Antares, the “Pony for Christmas” gift set featuring a Haflinger similar to Donner, his royal purpleness Zenith, and a lot of the new 70th Anniversary merchandise and other swag.

As someone who has made several t-shirts featuring old Breyer graphics and ephemera, I am definitely buying this at my earliest convenience (CC Appreciation Sale, cough cough…)

I wasn’t anywhere near my computer when Early Access to Breyer’s Black Friday sale dropped, so no Darwin for me. The only other items of mild to moderate interest were the Gettysburg (also sold out) and Celeste, a mold that I try to love and I am still not feeling it.

I seem to be in the minority of this opinion, but I like the PC Lipizzaner Mare and Foal a heck of a lot more than the PC Andalusian Mare and Foal. So it’s no surprise that I am also taking a pass on the Mira and Antares (in Chestnut and… purple?) and hitting the Enter Now button as much as legally possible for the Winter Web Special Avoriaz – the Lipizzaner Mare in a Gambler’s Choice of Rose Gold Florentine or Rose Gold Charm:

This is an entirely new Decorator color and it gets a big thumbs up from me. While I am not a fan of Rose Gold when it is used in jewelry, I love the color when it’s applied to other things – it’s even one of the few pastels I’ll actually wear!

I am a little hesitant about them applying the Gambler’s Choice option to a relatively limited (350 piece) Special Run, though: these Winter Web Decos are hard enough to win as it is. After what happened with Benasque last year, we really don’t need to encourage more people to enter the drawing with dreams of dropshipping them for some extra holiday cash.

Fine Apparel

I haven’t gotten around to these yet, I might as well now…

Yup, the Breyer socks that I coveted. I ordered them as an extra on top of an order I placed, but the rest of the order was canceled, so I ended up getting a box with just… socks.

Normally the arrival of new novelty socks in the house is something to be celebrated, but I’m actually a bit bummed because the whole point of my waiting to get the socks was to add them to an order to mitigate the postage costs.

In spite of my best efforts, I still ended up paying for postage on a box with nothing but socks in it. Fooey!

On the other hand, I suppose I could just wear them as an ensemble with one of my Volunteer T-shirts to offset the cost:

Let me tell you, I was probably just a little more excited about the t-shirts than was necessary. Gosh, this is what real conventions do! I haven’t gotten around to putting one into my regular t-shirt rotation at work, but I’m sure I will at some point.

The first Breyer “wearables”, of course, were the Bolo Ties of the 1970s, sculpted by Bob Scriver – yes, the same man who later brought us Buckshot. Incidentally, I recently I found the online listing of Scriver’s personal archive, and the references to Breyer materials related to the Bolo Ties intrigue me. If I ever make it out to that part of the country, I will have to plan a visit:

http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv34613

After that, there was that odd belt buckle offer in the Winter 1979 issue of Just About Horses that was more of a Peter Stone vanity/side project than a Breyer thing, and then… nothing much for years.

It has always surprised me that Breyer – even after the acquisition by Reeves – was not quick to capitalize on the hobbyist desire for branded apparel.

It even took them a while to get the ball really rolling on BreyerFest swag. I was unimpressed by the earliest BreyerFest shirts, and ended up making my own for a couple of years.

Aside from the design challenge it presented, I kind of wanted to make the point that it didn’t take all that much extra effort to come up with something special.

The problem has long since been solved, except for the sizing – in previous years they didn’t make enough of the larger sizes, and this year they probably made too many.

(FYI: I’m hoping to have a shop for the blog – with my own shirts and swag! – by the end of the year. But more on my plans for the rest of the year, next time.)