Carolyn's BCC entry

The old, traditional scale Man O' War by Chris Hess was ripe for a Glow Up - honestly, I'm surprised it hadn't happened before - but did you know that mold was also a perfect base model for a hairy footed school horse sitting on a bean bag with a unicorn horn and a cat on its head? I bet you never saw that coming!

The Making of Princess Neigha

by Carolyn Moir 

For this year's Best Customs Contest, I wanted to try sculpting a pose that I'd never done before and would spark fond memories in folks of fun summer days as a kid spent at horse camp. I immediately thought of creating a sitting pony like a Shetland but somehow a Vanner cross morphed into existence - what can I say, I love floofy feets! Sitting on a bean bag, having a unicorn horn and a barn cat buddy seemed to be the perfect additions to tell her story of being at summer camp with kiddos.

My project started out as the model #47 Man O' War. 

I used Free Form Air for the beanbag. It was my first time using it, and it was a fluffy marshmallow mess! I learned that mixing up a large quantity of it causes it to heat up...a lot! It got to almost 200°F! I did some scrambling to move it off my desk as soon as I realized it was heating up...oh, and it expanded! So I had to go back and redo some of my work!

It was also a first for me sculpting teeth and for a while, my model totally looked like a goofy dinosaur lol! Once I had her curling lip sculpted, her character really started to come together.

And then it was time to think of names! I've been a Star Wars fan since I was kid and I love how creative people can be when naming their ponies (i.e. Mischief Managed, Captain Crunch) so I thought I'd try to think of something along those lines but Star Wars themed. That's when I thought of Princess Neigha! And who hasn't met an orange cat named Tigger!? Like The Force, "The Orange" is strong in this one - it's perfectly normal to hang out on top of a horse's head, right?! 

Here's the cute narrative I wrote about them for my official submission: Her name is Princess Neigha because she is out of this world! She loves doing tricks with her best kitty buddy, Tigger, and she is every kids' favorite horse at the barn. She especially loves horse camps when all the kiddos dote on her, dye her mane fun colors, paint her hooves, clip a unicorn horn in her forelock and paint stars on her because of the superstar she is. Princess Neigha wins hearts everywhere she goes! 

Congratulations, Carolyn. In a million years, I would have never thought to do that with a Man O' War, but it worked out perfectly. Good luck in Kentucky!