Nostalgia for Big Hair

Calypso, Stablemate customized by Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig in the 1990s

I found the picture of Calypso (above) while I was unpacking boxes for the new studio. 

He had come to Alabama in 1993 with the rest of Sarah's show string. I had seen one of her Classic-scale horses in person and was in awe of the small details like wrinkles and veins. It was pretty revolutionary at the time. I had heard she did the same with smaller scales. I wrote and asked if she had close-ups of her Stablemates. She didn't have pictures, so she sent the models in the mail so I could see them for myself. 

There is a lot of nostalgia wrapped up in the picture. I didn't know Sarah well at the time, so the letter and Calypso (and his box-mates) were how I met one of my dearest friends. The photo itself was taken at our first home, the original Blackberry Lane. It was easy to get a clear blue sky—something 'proper' show photos had back in the day!—because our farm was surrounded by acres of cotton fields. Within a few years, those fields sprouted subdivisions instead. Last year, the little blue farmhouse was demolished to make way for a neighborhood park. 

Like our old farm, the hobby has changed dramatically since that picture was taken. I didn't know it then, but the two things that would have the most significant impact on the community, resin-casting and the internet, were ready to take off. Casting our own horses was a long-held dream, but there is a part of me that misses the time when we were all making one-of-a-kind customs. 

National Retro Vintage Month

Six years ago, Sarah encouraged everyone to get nostalgic and create a vintage-style custom model in August. Patterned after Jennifer Buxton's popular National Model Painting Month, she created National Retro Vintage Month. Almost every year since, she has created multiple models for the event. Tomorrow I'll be debuting one of her 2025 horses in a post about retro-style splattering. In the meantime, here are some of her pieces from years past. 

This is Rafiq, an Amazigh horse from the first year's event in 2020. Sarah stressed that NaReViMo horses were about rediscovering 'play' in model horse artistry. Rafiq and the other horses made in 2020 set the tone. 

Rafiq, an Amazigh stallion customized by Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig from the Breyer Proud Arabian Stallion and Black Foundation Stallion

Here are two from 2022. The first one, Permian, was another Proud Arabian Stallion custom. As hard as it might be for younger collectors to imagine, that mold was once the epitome of Arabian type in the show ring!

Permian, Arabian stallion customized by Sarah from the Breyer Proud Arabian Stallion and the San Domingo

Nurmyrat, an Akhal-Teke stallion customized by Sarah from the Kelso and Man O'War

Sarah did this Proud Arabian Mare custom for the event in 2023.

Bint Alfajr, an Arabian mare

The next two are from NaReViMo 2024.

Bint Alfidat Alsawda, another Arabian mare from the Proud Arabian Mare mold

Farzad, Persian Arabian customized by Sarah from the Classic Arabian Stallion and the Man O'War

What all of Sarah's NaReViMo horses have in common is that they are haired. For me, that is probably the thing I most associate with the "golden era" of customizing. With only a few exceptions, my customs almost always had fiber manes and tails. 

Snow Angel, customized by Lesli Kathman (then Jeffreys) from the Stablemate Morgan Stallion in 1990

Knowing my weakness for big hair, Sarah sent temptation my way for this year's event. As I will show in a future post, there is no way I will finish my horses in the one-month time for the event. But Sarah ensured that the poor beasts weren't keeping their plastic manes and tails. Just look at all that hair! 

Samples of ramie, alpaca, and viscose for hairing model horses

I was especially taken with the ombre and mixed colors shown in the foreground. If you look at Rafiq, Sarah's first Retro Vintage, you can see the subtle mix of colors that modern fibers have. The two Proud Arabian Mare customs show the kind of drape that we just couldn't easily obtain back then. We might be "going retro," but we'll have better hair! 

Now I just have to finish some horses so I can experiment with it.