Robyn's BCC entry

Fantasy is usually one of the biggest and deepest divisions in the BreyerFest Best Customs Contest, but this year, I've only seen three entries. Two - Grace Bisnath's and Celsie Rae Abelt's - are resubmissions of their excellent 2024 entries.

And then there's this.

Created by Robyn White of StarMare Studios, this is one of the most exciting  and ambitious Fantasy entries I have ever seen.

Here's the story behind the entry, in the artist's own words.

The Making of The Thunder of Hooves aka The Horses

by Robyn White

What is that I hear?  Is it thunder? Or hooves?  Storm horses are charging through the sky!  Lightning strikes with every step and flashes in their eyes as they throw their heads in wild abandon.  Thunder and rain trail in their wake.  A band of wild horses races with the wind before the storm.

I am so excited to share with everyone my Breyerfest Best Customs Contest entry! I decided at the end of last year’s Breyerfest that I wanted to go in person this year. So, of course, I immediately started thinking about what I would like to do for the Best Customs Contest. In the end I was inspired by one of my most recent customs, Storm Front. I took the concept from him and expanded it into three storm horses made of cloud. 

When I was working on the concept for this piece, I knew that I wanted there to be lightning and for it to light up, but I wasn’t certain about how to accomplish this. I started by googling how to sculpt lightning and found several examples in the miniature figure community. Unfortunately, all the examples I found were bulky things where the lightning was very visible at all times. Was there a way for the lightning to be invisible except when flashing? Well, I got inspired by some lamps. You know those lamps that are a clear piece of acrylic plastic with an image etched in it? I took my inspiration from those and drew my own lightning using a dremel.  

The light is in the bottom of the storm horses’ hooves so that the “lightning” flashes when the lights do. Additionally, I drilled out the horses’s eyes, inserted translucent beads and lights and then resculpted the horses’s heads. To add the last finishing touch, there is also thunder sound effects.

Wiring this sculpture was one of the most challenging things I have done, mostly because it was all new to me. I had several set backs. I blew out lights and had to order new ones. Multiple times! Sadly, at one point, I blew out multiple lights and had to drill back into areas I thought I had finished sculpting. This was a real down point, and I was feeling really disappointed and discouraged. Thankfully, I have a really supportive family and they encouraged me through it, along with a certain amount of stubbornness on my part.  

In the end, I did end up losing the light in the head of the farthest horse, so her eyes do not light up. But all of the other lights work and I am considering that a win!

It took me a while to figure out the perspective for the photos. Getting the big horses in the sky while still having the little horses in frame while also lined up with the horizon was a challenge. I had to keep finding ways to lift it up higher. I ended up with a scary and precarious setup of stacking one tv tray table on top of another so that it was four feet off the ground!

I went out several evenings to get photos under a number of different light conditions and backgrounds.  The first evening I went out, there happened to be a storm blowing in at sunset which made for a variety of great cloud shots. Which one is your favorite?

I was also fortunate enough to find lighting and sound effects to really make my concept come to life.  I am definitely not a professional videographer so my apologies for the shaky camera work.

Outside of real life work and projects, this is the only custom I have been working on for months. There were a number of set backs (mostly involving the electronic components) and I ended up running this down to the wire. Despite all of the sweat, tears and frustration, I had a great time working on this piece, and I have learned a lot that I hope to carry forward with my customizing.   

Congratulations, StarMare Studios. This is truly one of the best and most memorable BCC entries ever. Although I am quite sure you won't need it, good luck in Kentucky!