**UPDATE:** I AM OFFERING A *LIMITED* NUMBER OF CUSTOM SLOTS WITH SALES PIECES ONLY, AT THIS TIME.
MY WORK:
Welcome to the "Model Horse Spa" section of WHS, where your horse will be pampered and leave transformed to their most beautiful selves ;)
I typically work in oils which have a beautiful color-pop and "glow", unmatched by other mediums due to their pigment load. This means that my work will take longer to dry in *between* coats; usually in one to three days. They also need extra time to not only dry but to "cure" prior to being sprayed with dull-cote or varnish spray. The average time needed is about a week.
I am painting by hand and I do minuscule detailing. I am *very* picky about prepping, and the nature of painting model horses is such that, despite having sprayed with primer, prepping flaws are not always obvious until you start getting color on! That means going back and fixing little fidgety issues. Also, my process is very back and forth to build both color and blending without graininess. I use high quality oils, brushes, etc...what all of this means for you is that your model is going to take a minimum of 3-4 months for me to complete, with up to six months, depending on the extent of your order. It requires a lot of patience! It is worth the wait and the prices I charge. I put hours and hours into each piece and have very high standards for every piece before it leaves my studio.
There are some resins I do not paint, and there are resins that I would LOVE to paint (pssst...any Spellbound owners? Kylee Park's Jacobus? Lucius?!)! Please contact me with your project and let's talk!
**I am not taking sculptural custom orders at this time; not even on my sales pieces, unless they are minor changes; if buying a resin from me with custom slot, we can discuss what you have in mind.** The same goes for sculptural work, which requires a LOT of sanding and corrections as needed to adjust for a given change in position. Often, a hind leg change requires not only new haunch musculature, but a dropping or raising of the hip, and certainly will require new bone structure, such as you will see with the stifle. The angles can be tricky, and this takes a lot of time and study to get it right. Please contact me with what you have in mind :)
****PLEASE READ MY POLICIES CAREFULLY!**** I love love LOVE what I do. I want to continue to love it, to be immersed in creation. Opening custom slots is not something I regularly do, as it can be fraught with transactional disagreements. This really burns through my creative spirit and energy. Not being paid for the time put into pieces actually jeopardizes my ability to do what I do in a practical manner. So it's really important for both our peace of mind that you understand fully my policies.
Policies
REFERENCES: If you have reds/yellows/mixed lights on the Model Horse Transaction Board (Facebook), I will NOT accept a custom order from you. Please be aware of this prior to contacting me. Also, my time, just as though I were working for you as a paid-by-the-hour employee, has monetary value. Please do not contact me with a project in mind without being financially and intentionally ready to send your model to me and pay the custom slot price. I do report tire-kickers, scammers, and difficult customers (demanding super-fast-turnarounds, complaining at every turn, etc) to the transaction board as unfortunately there are a lot of them out there and they can really waste an artist's/seller's time. The same goes for customers who are difficult to work with because they have rediculous, unfair demands, and/or demand discounts or do charge-backs after receiving their model (I will send you detailed photos prior to shipping you model home, for your final approval-I want more than anything for you to love your horse!), etc. I sound "anti-people" here, I know :/ I really love our hobby and am truly easy to work with, but I have read about several transactions-gone-sour on the Model Horse Transaction Board and I really want to avoid being a part of this scenario, so I have no choice but to address these issues.
PAYMENT: I require 50% of the custom slot price up front, with 50% upon completion. I take PP Goods & Services or Venmo. If you are unable to pay, or change your mind, the payment is absolutely nonrefundable, so please be prepared before contracting a custom slot. My rates are non-negotiable, and I do not accept trades at this time. If you are unable to pay in the agreed-upon time frame, I have the option to sell your model and pay you the market rate for that model as a blank resin, and I will keep any remaining money I get from that sale (as that is me recovering my time and paint supplies). Please realize you are agreeing to this and my other policies before contracting a customizing slot with me. This is not a scenario either of us want, but these days, it's a necessary policy to have in place.
SHIPPING: You will be responsible for shipping costs as you send your horse to me and when you return it. I will get a quote and include this in your final payment bill. I send photos of my packing process to each customer for approval prior to sending their horses out. I cannot be held responsible for what the shipping carrier does with the horse as it's on its way to or from me. I am not shipping overseas at this time, with a few exceptions. Please contact me to discuss this.
COMMUNICATION: I am a pretty frequent communicator. I send photo updates at major milestones, with a maximum of one month passing between updates. Typically my updates are more frequent. I do not do weekly updates when there are multiple custom orders in the studio, or when I am at the last phase of a complex piece (eg, adding individual hairs on an appaloosa, roan, or dapple grey, which won't really show up in photos and is a slow, tedious process).
PREPPING: Your horse must be prepped. If I find a few small issues, as I typically do, I don't mind taking care of them. If your horse has a lot of issues, however, or one extensive issue, I will charge a prepping fee, from $100-$400, depending on the horse's size and severity of work needed. Please check your horse over carefully prior to shipping it to me. An extreme amount of prepping would be Eberl horses, for example, with loads of pinholes, or super rough seams, or missing details. A moderate amount of prepping would be a fairly smooth resin with seams not or poorly removed, and a minor amount of prepping would be a horse that was prepped with a few small missed spots here and there.
I do not mind customizing a previously painted horse if it has been stripped. However, I do require the horse is fully stripped/prepped before I receive it if you do not want to pay for prepping fees (see below). I will not adjust another artist's work without their express permission, such as adding white markings. I do not take restoration orders unless the work is minimal; this is a case-by-case basis. Colors/artists' styles can be hard to match, even my own previous work!
PORTRAITS/SPECIFIC PAINT REQUESTS/CHANGING DETAILS: With the exception of a rare portrait slot, I need at least some artistic freedom to give you my best work. It is soul-crushing for many of us artists to follow super-exacting orders or constantly changing details. I will not take orders such as this. There is nothing wrong with wanting a horse an exact way, but I'm not the artist for that. I will take orders as to how many socks, what type of blaze, which base/mane/tail color, dapples or not, etc...but extremely specific requests...this isn't something I do.
I charge a $200 surcharge if you change your mind on details after a detail has been added and will now require removal (such as "I changed my mind; I want 3 stockings, not 4") for paintwork, and a $200-$400 surcharge, at my discretion, on sculptural changes after that work has been completed (it depends on the extent of work already completed which I have to remove/redo and the extent of the new work). As stated above, I put hours and hours into each horse, and you are paying for my time and materials, which can be costly. Also, changing details almost always requires fixing texture created by removal, or sanding (eg, white markings will have some texture. Removing a white marking will require sanding that texture to repaint...and this goes triple for rescue-ting, of course).
TURNAROUND: Finally, as I can't stress enough the time required to complete work. I am really good about updating my clients and I'm pretty easy to work with beyond these policies - but I hear so many stories about transactions gone bad due to customers expecting horses in a quicker time frame than an artist can reasonably provide, changing things which requires the artist to go back and sand, rebuild color layering, etc. I don't want that for me, or for you. I will not take a year to complete your project, but depending on the extent of your project, 4-6 months isn't unreasonable. That's a long time, I know, I'm not a fast artist. I'm also not one of those who will give you excuses and delay your project, but I do have a family with kids in school and the way I work, to this level of quality, takes a LONG time. Please be patient with me. I will communicate with you as your horse moves through phases of completion.
Thank you for taking the time to read through my policies. I know it's long and dull to read through all those details. I truly appreciate your time and attention to this important part of this page! If you have any questions about the Policies section, I'm easy-going when it comes to listening to feedback/concerns, just send me an email ([email protected]).
PRICING:
Traditional Paint Prices
Portraits: I do not do complex portrait pieces such as an appaloosa or paint pattern.
Portraits: See prices below, add $60 unless no white or very minimal white markings are present...
Solids (non-silver dapple/dapple grey): **Sale!:$500 with purchase of traditional sized resin from my saleslist!** (Normally $650)
Dapple Greys/Silver Dapple/Highly dappled w/high contrast: **I am not taking these types of orders at this time**
Appaloosa, Complex/Extensive/Varnish: **I am not accepting extensive Appaloosa orders at this time** Roan/Varnish Roan: $1,050+
Classic Scale Paint Pricing **(The sales rates are currently not applicable for this scale as I do not have classic scale pieces I'm offering for sale with custom orders, at this time)**
Solids: $550
Dapple greys/silver dapple/highly dappled w/ high contrast: ***I am not taking these types of orders at this time*** $850+
Minimal Pinto (high whites, wide blazes, 1-2 white markings on body): $650
Micro Minis These guys would be the death of me lol! My eyes cannot handle them and I really don't like the extremely delicate nature of many micros, so I don't paint them! Sorry guys!'
RESCULPTING/REPAIRS These are rough estimates, and just examples to give you some idea. These prices are based on a Traditional sized horse. Prices are the same for Breyers/Peter Stones/Artist Resins. Please contact me with your project for an exact quote. *I don't typically accept repair/restoration orders*. Repair prices are listed as sometimes horses arrive with shipping damage, due to packing issues or because their journey here was exceptionally rough. You will of course have the option to send them to a repair artist of your choice, or I can repair them in the studio before starting your requested work.
Eartip Repair $30 Leg or Tail Repair, including wire support $50-$75
Franken-horse (has several breaks, and if it was real, it would have been dead, I will be mad-science-reviving your horse ;) Highly individualized basis depending on level of damage needing repair/supports. If this sad state of affairs we can: A) Hold a funeral for your horse, and I will return its body to you (you pay postage) B) I will repair your horse as discussed above, but will charge accordingly **It goes without saying but I'll say it anyways; please pack carefully! Hopefully we can avoid your horse becoming ... un-horsed...on its way to me!
Short Simple Mane/Moderate Tail (includes removal/smoothing of prior detail) $300
Braided/Banded Mane-Only (includes removal/smoothing of prior detail) $400
Braided/Banded Mane +Tail, hunter style (includes removal/smoothing of prior detail) $600
New, Long, Blowing Mane/Tail $500
Neck position change, including removal of old neck, new armature, sculpting, sanding $400
Neck Position Change with new mane/tail $600/$700-$800 braided mane/tail
Leg Position Change (includes shoulder or haunch cutting/resculpting and sanding as needed) This is highly individualized as the change will probably require removal and resculpting of a shoulder or haunch, and lots of sanding to get that area smoothed out. In some cases, however, it only requires a simple change, say, from the knee down. This would result in drastically different pricing) $100-$400 depending on work required, per leg
Facial Resculpting Muzzle, closed mouth - $250 Muzzle, open mouth - $350 (requires resculpting entire cheek area, and often includes teeth/tongue) Eyes - $300 Ears - $250 Total Face Resculpt,with or without forelock - $600