Since at least 2008 (perhaps before that, too?), Breyer has included a diorama contest as part of BreyerFest. There’s a theme for the contest that aligns with the overall BreyerFest theme, and there are a few rules - at least one Breyer model must be used, and the whole thing has to fit within a 12x12x12 inch cube. Twenty-eight are selected as winners from four different age categories; there is only one category for adults 18 and up, so only 7 prizes go to adults. The vast majority of entrants are adults, so it’s really tough to win.
I did the diorama contest in 2013, 2014, and 2017. Because these are technically models in my collection, here are pictures of my three dioramas. None were winners, but I had fun making them all.
I did the diorama contest in 2013, 2014, and 2017. Because these are technically models in my collection, here are pictures of my three dioramas. None were winners, but I had fun making them all.
In 2013, the BreyerFest theme was Denim and Diamonds, and the diorama contest theme was the Music City Mashup, where entrants were to transform a Breyer model into a famous Country music legend. I did a diorama of Patsy Cline singing at the Grand Ole Opry. This picture was on the Wikipedia page for the Grand Ole Opry and I used it as my inspiration:
In preparing this diorama, I walked into a local hobby store and asked the person at the front if they had any doll clothing that I could reasonably slice and dice to fit on a model horse. They didn’t even bat an eyelash and pointed me to the right aisle. I didn’t find anything that would work, so I bought a Barbie outfit on eBay. I did experience a little pang as I started mangling the Barbie outfit, hoping I wasn’t destroying something rare and collectible from that realm. But the eBay listing wasn’t new nor was it expensive, so I figured I was okay. The boots, hay bales, and pitchfork were loaned to me by a friend, and I had the Ruffian body on hand. Everything else in the diorama was made by me.
BreyerFest 2014 was the Silver Jubilee - the 25th anniversary of BreyerFest. Many of the exclusive models had party-themed names: Pop the Cork, Champagne Toast, Jubilee, Celebration. Accordingly, the diorama contest theme was Party Time, and entrants were encouraged to share one of their favorite Breyer-related memories. I loved going into toy stores as a kid and wondering what Breyers I might find there. Walking into the Vendor Fair for the first time at BreyerFest 2010 was that same excited feeling, magnified by ten. There were SO MANY models. In honor of that feeling, I made a miniature Breyer store at the Vendor Fair, complete with the blue and yellow dividers Breyer used to separate the vendor spaces.
I had a little bit of help with this one - my Dad sized and printed out the Breyer logos and model names for the little plastic boxes. I made the boxes myself; I took the clear plastic from the front of a Breyer box, cut it slightly larger than the yellow box backing, and then scored it so I could fold it up and fit into the front of the little yellow boxes. The boxes were the most challenging part to make. I had a great time with this one.
The theme for BreyerFest 2017 was Gateway to India, and the diorama contest had the same name. I had a PAM body I’d inherited from a friend - the poor gal had been stripped with bleach at some point (not by my friend) and had all kinds of interesting cracks all over her body. She wasn’t ever going to be stable enough to do anything with as far as a legit custom, so she got primered in black chalkboard paint, which was thick enough to hide most of the damage, and used in my diorama. I knew right away that I wanted to do something with rangoli, a form of art displayed during festivals and ceremonies where designs are drawn on the floor using colored rice, colored sand, flour, charcoal, dry pigments, or flower petals. The designs are often augmented by candles.
I printed out some rangoli designs I found on the internet and bought a bunch of colored sand. Using the sand and some good old-fashioned Elmers glue, I replicated the rangoli designs on the PAM, putting on the glue and then dropping the sand over her, one little section at a time. Since chalkboard paint was her base, and thus easy to color on, I used colored pencil for her stockings, stripe, mane, tail, hooves, and eyes. She was also a lot of fun to make. She’s still hanging out in my basement.
The story doesn’t end here - though I haven’t ever won one directly, I do have two diorama contest prize models in my collection. One is an “I can’t believe I actually own this model” and the other is the result of one of my favorite BreyerFest stories of all time.
I’m gonna start with the first one.
I printed out some rangoli designs I found on the internet and bought a bunch of colored sand. Using the sand and some good old-fashioned Elmers glue, I replicated the rangoli designs on the PAM, putting on the glue and then dropping the sand over her, one little section at a time. Since chalkboard paint was her base, and thus easy to color on, I used colored pencil for her stockings, stripe, mane, tail, hooves, and eyes. She was also a lot of fun to make. She’s still hanging out in my basement.
The story doesn’t end here - though I haven’t ever won one directly, I do have two diorama contest prize models in my collection. One is an “I can’t believe I actually own this model” and the other is the result of one of my favorite BreyerFest stories of all time.
I’m gonna start with the first one.
This horse, #711443 Walk of Fame, is the sole reason I started entering diorama contests to begin with. He was the prize model for the 2013 Denim & Diamonds BreyerFest, where I made Patsy Cline. I was sad not to have won him, though not surprised, given the competition and relative scarcity of prize models for adults.
On March 10, 2020, right before everything shut down with the pandemic, my friend Beth E messaged our hobby friends group chat and asked if anyone was interested in her Walk of Fame. I was like ME ME ME BETH ME ME ME!!!! She told me all she wanted for him was the value of the trade she’d done to acquire him a few years ago, and that she’d take time payments. I was like, “Beth, are you sure? Are you really sure?” Because the trade value back when she got him was nowhere near what he was worth in 2020. Beth said, “I’m sure. I’d rather he be kept in the family.”
To this day, every time I look at him, I still think to myself, I can’t believe I own this horse.
He does great in collectibility (no surprise there) and has NAN’d all but two times he’s been on the table. One of those was a justified third place given what else was on the table, and the other … well, to put it nicely, the judge really didn’t know much about Breyer collectibility and pinned a lot of not-rare things over rare things that day.
His show name is the one Beth gave him, Act Naturally.
On March 10, 2020, right before everything shut down with the pandemic, my friend Beth E messaged our hobby friends group chat and asked if anyone was interested in her Walk of Fame. I was like ME ME ME BETH ME ME ME!!!! She told me all she wanted for him was the value of the trade she’d done to acquire him a few years ago, and that she’d take time payments. I was like, “Beth, are you sure? Are you really sure?” Because the trade value back when she got him was nowhere near what he was worth in 2020. Beth said, “I’m sure. I’d rather he be kept in the family.”
To this day, every time I look at him, I still think to myself, I can’t believe I own this horse.
He does great in collectibility (no surprise there) and has NAN’d all but two times he’s been on the table. One of those was a justified third place given what else was on the table, and the other … well, to put it nicely, the judge really didn’t know much about Breyer collectibility and pinned a lot of not-rare things over rare things that day.
His show name is the one Beth gave him, Act Naturally.
***********
Now onto one of my favorite BreyerFest stories of all time.
So most people reading this blog probably know about the Ninja Pit of Death (NPOD). For the sake of my parents (who I know tune in here regularly and aren’t as well-versed in the more niche aspects of the hobby), the NPOD is the Breyer store first thing on Friday morning at BreyerFest. Breyer was known for putting many Rare and Valuable Things in the NPOD. The NPOD got its name due to the flying elbows, shoving, and other general not-coolness amongst rabid hobbyists trying for a big score.
By 2014, Breyer said, “Enough of this nonsense behavior,” and started handing out numbers to shoppers waiting in line. Back then, people started lining up on Thursday; now it’s like Tuesday, or something equally as eyebrow-raising. The line numbers helped cut back on the chaos a little. Breyer also announced that year that they would be “spreading the wealth” and distributing the rarities at random throughout the weekend, not just putting them all in the NPOD for Friday morning. Many hobbyists were skeptical.
I’ve never participated in the NPOD. I enjoy sleeping, and my hips and spine don’t enjoy prolonged contact with pavement, and there really isn’t any Breyer I would deem worth potential bodily injury to obtain. (Even a Sham.) I find the phenomenon fascinating, and there are definitely things I’ve been sad to miss out on - the volunteer chestnut 2010 WEG Esprit that found its way into the pit in 2011, for example - but it’s never been something I wanted to do.
Thus, I don’t go into the Breyer store until much, much later in the day on Friday, and if there’s not a Limited Edition I’m interested in, sometimes I don’t get there til Saturday or Sunday.
So most people reading this blog probably know about the Ninja Pit of Death (NPOD). For the sake of my parents (who I know tune in here regularly and aren’t as well-versed in the more niche aspects of the hobby), the NPOD is the Breyer store first thing on Friday morning at BreyerFest. Breyer was known for putting many Rare and Valuable Things in the NPOD. The NPOD got its name due to the flying elbows, shoving, and other general not-coolness amongst rabid hobbyists trying for a big score.
By 2014, Breyer said, “Enough of this nonsense behavior,” and started handing out numbers to shoppers waiting in line. Back then, people started lining up on Thursday; now it’s like Tuesday, or something equally as eyebrow-raising. The line numbers helped cut back on the chaos a little. Breyer also announced that year that they would be “spreading the wealth” and distributing the rarities at random throughout the weekend, not just putting them all in the NPOD for Friday morning. Many hobbyists were skeptical.
I’ve never participated in the NPOD. I enjoy sleeping, and my hips and spine don’t enjoy prolonged contact with pavement, and there really isn’t any Breyer I would deem worth potential bodily injury to obtain. (Even a Sham.) I find the phenomenon fascinating, and there are definitely things I’ve been sad to miss out on - the volunteer chestnut 2010 WEG Esprit that found its way into the pit in 2011, for example - but it’s never been something I wanted to do.
Thus, I don’t go into the Breyer store until much, much later in the day on Friday, and if there’s not a Limited Edition I’m interested in, sometimes I don’t get there til Saturday or Sunday.
On Friday, July 17, 2015, I wandered into the Breyer store at 3:15 p.m.
On one of the tables closest to the roll-up doors was this.
On one of the tables closest to the roll-up doors was this.
I did a double take, then a triple take, and went wait, wasn’t she the diorama contest prize model last year?
I snatched her up so fast, I’m shocked I didn’t accidentally drop her or launch her into the air and across the store. I made a beeline for the checkout, clutching her to my bosom, scared someone would ascertain what I had in my hands and I’d be a victim of those flying elbows everyone always talked about.
I checked out without issue and my brain promptly turned into nothing but a series of exclamation points.
When I unwrapped her at the CHIN, I noticed a partially scratched-off signature on her belly that said "CC 11/7/13." I took her upstairs to my friends Kelly and Kelly and said, “What could that be, and is she worth less because someone signed it and then poorly attempted to remove it?” They immediately recognized it as what is typically signed on the model when it's approved as a prototype - the approver's initials and the date. [Why they'd try to remove that before putting her in the store is beyond me.]
I snatched her up so fast, I’m shocked I didn’t accidentally drop her or launch her into the air and across the store. I made a beeline for the checkout, clutching her to my bosom, scared someone would ascertain what I had in my hands and I’d be a victim of those flying elbows everyone always talked about.
I checked out without issue and my brain promptly turned into nothing but a series of exclamation points.
When I unwrapped her at the CHIN, I noticed a partially scratched-off signature on her belly that said "CC 11/7/13." I took her upstairs to my friends Kelly and Kelly and said, “What could that be, and is she worth less because someone signed it and then poorly attempted to remove it?” They immediately recognized it as what is typically signed on the model when it's approved as a prototype - the approver's initials and the date. [Why they'd try to remove that before putting her in the store is beyond me.]
So not only is she something rare - she’s the prototype from which all the rest were made, and she was just lying on the table in the Breyer store at 3:15 on a Friday, waiting for someone to discover her.
Spread the wealth, indeed!
She is by far the coolest thing I’ve ever found in the Breyer store.
Her show name is Rose Blossom.
Spread the wealth, indeed!
She is by far the coolest thing I’ve ever found in the Breyer store.
Her show name is Rose Blossom.
From the first half (2014 Party Time): That is so cool: I finally realized those are the horses themselves shopping! The look on the foal's face, eagerly craning upwards... What a lovely idea.
ReplyDeleteFrom the second half (Make Me Blush): Neato story. Where would we be without the Kellys?!! Sometimes a chance encounter just happens and makes the greatest story.