How To: Clean Breyer Horses

A common question I see on the model horse Facebook groups and web forums is how to clean Breyer horses, most commonly how to remove black marks. I thought I would document my process. I have used this on numerous models, and have been amazed by some of the results! I wish I had the photos from a Stablemate lot I recently cleaned!


Supplies:
Dirty Breyers
Dawn Dish Soap (original strength Blue, don't get the cheaper one, it's not as effective)
Soft toothbrush
Towel
Microfiber Cloth
Generic Magic Eraser *****USE with CAUTION*****



Step 1: Soapy Warm Water
Clean your sink. I scrub mine down with Dawn dish soap to get rid of any food or other residue. No sense trying to clean in a dirty sink! Add Dawn, and fill the sink with about 3" deep of warm (not hot!) water. You don't want the water too warm as it could cause legs to warp!

Step 2: Soak

Soaking in the tub

Soak horses. For this demo, I was primarily focused on the Pluto as he is the worst of my childhood herd. As Breyers float, I make sure to cover the exposed side in suds, and flip them over 1/2 way through so each side has a thorough soaking.
(Note to self: never try to use white out to color over black marks! Stupid kid {me}!), however the knockoff fighting stallion needed to be cleaned although he is going to be my first custom and the little Stablemate was quite dusty! In this case I soaked them while I browsed ModelHorseBlab.com for a little while. I'd soak 10-15 minutes if I were to time it.

Step 3: Scrub

Covered in suds

Put a little Dawn straight on to the soft toothbrush. Make sure it is a soft one, otherwise you may damage the paint. (Caution: use EXTREME CARE on the older Dapple Grey Models. Their paint is much more delicate and will come off very easy, so skip this step, or only scrub lightly on the marks you want to remove! Ask me how I found this out? Lol...poor Saddlebred Stablemate.) Generally I cover the entire horse wth suds, paying special attention to black marks, and the mane and tail (especially on dusty models). I use medium to hard pressure. As I scrub, I will occasionally rinse off the horse to check my progress on the marks as the suds can make it hard to see.

Step 3.5: Magic Eraser CAUTION, use very carefully!
In this case, Pluto was especially difficult to clean, so out comes the Magic Eraser. In case you don't know, Magic erasers are basically a super micro fine sandpaper. They will remove paint! Use with care and only on the marks you wish to remove. As I mentioned, stupid kid me decided to try and "fix" Plutos black marks with white out....so he needed some extra care. Thankfully he is white, so I was able to use the Magic Eraser to "erase" his marks. Most marks come off with very light pressure. Sadly, white out is stubborn and I had to scrub and scrub and it still didn't come off entirely, but it is a huge improvement.

***I did try out the magic eraser on a particularly marked Palomino Family Arabian Stallion. I very carefully and lightly stroked the Magic eraser over the marks quickly. Most came off easily without any damage to the underlaying paint! I still would suggest EXTREME CAUTION as too much would cause the paint to come off, but it does work on minor marks! Do not use in one spot too long or with too much pressure!



Step 4: Dry
When you are done scrubbing/cleaning, rinse off the horse with warm (not hot) water. I set the horse aside on a towel to dry while I work on the others. Towel dry.

Step 5. Buff
Once you are pleased with your models, I like to take a microfiber cloth and buff the horse to restore it's "shine". Even the matte models have a small amount of shine to them. As for shiny marks, I have heard a standard pencil eraser helps. I haven't spent much time with that.

I apologize for the poor quality pictures, sadly the black marks didn't show up very well on this model, but I swear there is a huge improvement after cleaning!

Before

Before

After

After

Packing Up Model Horses for Safe Shipment (Cheaply!)

You read the horror stories, model horses arrive with ears sticking out of the boxes, broken limbs, no padding....the list goes on and on. I wanted to make an easy to follow guide on how to pack a model horse such as a Breyer for safe travels with the least cost to you. This post is geared to model horses, however the techniques can be used for packing nearly anything for shipment!

Step 1: Pick The Right Box! Size does matter!

Make sure you don't accidentally pack up your feline assistant!

Remember me mentioning the horror of models with ears/tails/hooves poking through their shipping box a minute ago? Well that is easily prevented by choosing a box that is large enough to contain your model, with a nice cushion of 2+" around. That being said, the model doesn't have to sit square in the box. I have gotten by with placing the model in at an angle in a smaller box but still having that nice safety cushion. The box should be reasonably strong. You don't have to spring for heavy duty, but you should get something reasonably strong. Find free boxes, save boxes from the items you order online. It's ok to reuse a box provided it is not damaged! It can even have writing on it. Ask friends, neighbors, stores, anyone to save boxes for you! Storage an issue? Flatten the box and slide behind furniture, behind a door, under the bed...you get the picture.

Step 2: Mummify Your Horse. 
I start by wrapping the horse in a soft material. I have a nice box of thick soft  low lint paper towels by Scott (like the blue ones used by mechanics). I go for the white to avoid color transfer. Ideally you don't want the bubble wrap touching the horse, although from my understanding that is more for customs rather than original finish as the top coat is sometimes affected by temperature.  I completely surround the horse with the soft material, using tape (on the material, never tape to a model!) to keep it in place.

After the soft material, I start in with the bubble wrap. I end up wrapping each horse differently depending on leg position. For this horse I wrapped each leg with a strip of bubble wrap, secured in place with tape...in this case masking tape. I like masking tape as it is easy to see when unpacking! Sometimes I will cut strips of cardboard to place between the legs so they cannot bend into each other, however that wasn't really an option with this model. After the legs are done, I wrap the head and the tail. These are the most vulnerable parts, so extra wrap here is beneficial. Then the whole horse is wrapped in bubble wrap. In this case it was about 2 layers of the small bubbles. Ideally I would do one layer of little bubbles and one layer of big bubbles. As the horse is protected by the soft material,  go ahead and go bubble side down. If you don't wrap the horse in a soft material, go bubble side up in case there is a problem with the finish. However, you must have a couple paper towels laying around?

Where do I get my bubble wrap? I save every scrap from any packages that come into the house. My boyfriend is a mechanic,and he will get large pieces that come with glass shipments. Once again, ask friends, neighbors, coworkers to save packing supplies for you! Yay, more free stuff! However if you are doing more shipments than you can get free supplies for, I have found decent bubble wrap for cheap from a seller on Amazon (no, they aren't paying me or anything, I am just a happy customer).

Step 3: Everyone wants a comfy ride, even model horses!

Cushion Cushion Cushion. Did I mention Cushion? Remember how I said you need a box with some space around the model? This is why! When you pack, you want to be certain no part of the horse is in direct contact with the box. When a box takes a hit, the item touching the edge is what will absorb the impact. These horses are not rubber, you don't want them to absorb impact. That is why there are air pockets, or newspaper, or more bubble wrap. Ideally, air pockets are great, but they are hard to come by. If you have a place to store them,  an  Amazon seller has a great price! I am stingy with my air pockets, as you can see. I have them placed between the head and tail of the box and under the feet. I fill in the rest of the space with newspaper, packing paper. I don't subscribe to the newspaper, so I get those free local newsletters (which I have found are worth reading before using as packing material! Coupons and event calendars!). Once again, save all the packing materials! Seriously! I have even gone as far as to take bubble mailers that have been used and I open them up and use them as a cushion on the top and bottom of the box!

Step 4: Check for Movement
After filling in all the empty space in the box, hold it closed and give it a gentle shake from side to side and up and down. Does anything shift? If so, open the box, recenter the horse and add more packing materials! A well packed box will not have anything shift inside, but there also will be nothing exerting pressure on the outside of the box either. You do not want any bowed sides! Just think how if it moves under a gentle shake, how much more impact your poor model will receive in the hands of the shipping service! We've all likely seen/heard the stories of employees who just don't care. Sad but true.


Step 5: Use Online Labeling 
So now we are to the dreaded final part. You have taped up the box and it is ready to go. You have a couple choices....either print at home or go to the Post Office/Shipping Center. I personally HATE going to the post office...nothing against the employees, there just is often lines and it is very hard/painful for me to stand for that long. Obviously, I chose the print at home method. If you know me in person, I am a printer Nazi....seriously. I don't want to waste a drop of ink. I have my printer set to print on Black and White Draft Setting. It comes out plenty dark, I have yet to have a complaint. Through eBay, I changed the settings so it only prints the label, no receipt. Obviously, most people aren't as obsessive over saving ink, but I am. I will print out my label (which is half a page) then save the 2nd half to run through again! For smaller boxes, you can adjust the "zoom" in the printer setting! On some of my small boxes and envelopes I do as little as 75% of the full size page so it fits.

So you are wondering what is involved in printing your own labels? The only thing you need is a scale, ruler/tape measure and a computer hooked to a printer. I use a food scale. Once again, I have yet to have any issues with weights being off. You can pick up a cheap digital scale. I do recommend one that has a bowl on it for larger packages so you can still read the display!

My preferred shipping provider is USPS as 99% of the time for the items I ship they are the most affordable option. For that 1% of large (multiple dimensions over 12"), overweight (5lbs+) packages, I now turn to UPS. I ship the most through eBay. It is extremely easy. When your buyer pays, hit "Print Shipping Label" A page will come up with a place to select the shipping service, enter the dimension and weight of the box, and add additional services. For items less than 13oz, USPS First Class Package works great, almost all my packages get to their destination before the estimated date. Tracking is included as well, but no insurance. It's up to you if you want to add it. I generally don't, it's a risk I'm willing to take. For items greater than 13oz but less than 16oz, you can still use first class, but for a few cents more you can go with Priority and get insurance included! A Breyer Traditional will be around 2-3lbs packed properly, so Priority is your best choice. There are a couple economy class services by USPS, but for the price difference I prefer Priority, plus it is 3 days or less to the buyer! Customers like quick shipping!

The process through PayPal to print a shipping label is similar if you invoiced your customer (very easy, but another post for another day). Basically you select the shipping service you want, enter the dimensions and weight, select any additional services like insurance and click calculate shipping. From there you can pay and print your label. Very straight forward.

As a semi related side note: always pay for and have your customers pay for Goods and Services. Never use the send to friends feature unless you are actually friends. Both you and the buyer are covered under Goods and Services if something goes horribly wrong...the fees are minimal, you can always add that extra to the price of your item to cover it. As a buyer I have even offered to pay the fees just to cover myself. There are online fee calculators to help you know how much to send!

Want to know a random secret I found one day while researching how to ship cheap? This link right here takes you to a PayPal page where you can print First Class Postage online (normally you can't do that through the post office website or without an existing PayPal transaction) You even get the discount! Yes, despite what you heard, PayPal and eBay still offer shipping discounts to sellers! You're welcome. Easy to use, input your address, buyers address and then the usual select shipping service, enter dimensions and weight, select additional services, calculate, purchase, print, done.

You can also print postage direct through the USPS site. Once again all you need are the address, dimensions and weight of your package. This applies to Priority Mail and First Class International.

Oh no....I said International! Yes I did. It really is nothing to be afraid of. I personally limit which countries I ship to. I avoid places like the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. I am not being prejudice at all. If someone were to contact me from a place I don't normally ship to, I would definitely look into it and try to get it done. I have shipped to Canada, Australia, Germany, and the UK. The biggest thing is to be honest on the customs forms. Use online shipping from the Post Office or PayPal if you are nervous, they walk you right through it, much easier than trying to decipher the paper customs forms! Always say you are shipping merchandise regardless of what your buyer wants you to put, as you are. Unless of course it truly is a gift and no money is changing hands. eBay offers the Global Shipping Program you can use for no charge, although some buyers seem to not like it. I often offer it and have used it multiple times with no problems. All you see is a domestic shipment to a center in KY (at least on the East Coast), then they take care of the rest for you.

Once your postage is printed, cut it out (seriously, don't be that person to stick half a sheet on the box!) and I simply use standard scotch cellophane? tape, you know, the tape every office has; clear or matte, about 1/2" wide. Some people laminate the label with packing tape, but that just runs up costs. Scotch tape is less expensive and works fine. Side note: don't cheap on shipping tape! You want your box to remain closed the entire journey! I personally like Duck brand (once again, no compensation) as it is the least expensive yet quality. I buy it at Walmart for $7.44 for 4 rolls. It does last a while.

Controversy: To Mark Fragile or Not to Mark Fragile, that is the Question
So there seems to be controversy over whether or not a package should be marked fragile or not. I never was marking packages as fragile, and they seemed to arrive fine. I started marking as fragile, or simply writing "Please Don't Crush". I avoid writing in all caps. I use Please. Who knows if it makes any difference, I just think if I were a shipping employee, I'd appreciate a nicely written message rather than all caps yelling at me! It's up to you though.

Well, this turned out a bit longer than I had planned....to recap:

1. Size Does Matter. Choose a box that will allow at least 2" of padding all the way around your model. 
2. Mummify your model. Use a soft material such as low lint paper towels to wrap your model, then use copious amounts of bubble wrap. Remember: there is no such thing as too much bubble wrap. Use at least 2 layers. 
3. Everyone wants a comfortable trip. Center your model in the box, use air pockets or rolled/balled up newspaper to fill in the cushion space, and the rest of the space. 
4. Check for movement. A properly packed item will not shift at all if you shake the box, nor will the sides of the box be bowed out from too much padding putting pressure on it. 
5. Label your box. Printing postage at home is not as scary as it sounds, even international postage! All you need is a scale (food scales work!), ruler/tape measure, and a computer hooked to a printer! 

The potential total cost for shipping like this? Less than $1, maybe a few cents for tape, a piece of paper and ink (draft setting is your new best friend!). Save packing material from your own purchases. Ask friend, family, coworkers, employers and businesses for free boxes and packing materials that were destined for the dumpster anyway. As long as it is clean, there is nothing wrong with recycled materials! 

Here are three more of my money saving shipping methods: 

• Did you know you can get FREE shipping supplies directly from USPS that are not flat rate (Flat Rate is never the best unless your item is very heavy!)? You can. I recommend:
• Priority Mail Box 4
• Priority Mail Shoe Box 
• Priority Mail Box 7 (small traditional, classic scale fit well!)
• Priority Mail Stickers (for your own box)
• 1092,1096L, 1097, Board Game Box, Large Priority Box are all ones you can send without Flat Rate. 
• Did you know USPS will pick up packages for FREE at your door? I am not sure if it is available in all locations, but I live in a mobile home park and they do it! The only places I think it may not work is in apartment complexes, but who knows?
• Did you know you can drop off prepaid packages at your local Staples for both USPS and UPS? You just walk in and leave them on the counter. No lines no waiting. Works great if you miss the mailman! You can also buy Priority mail postage and UPS shipping labels there....but why bother when it is so simple to do yourself! 

After rereading this...I think USPS, Amazon and Walmart should pay me to write this! If only....lol. 

Turkey and Savings

Well, it's that time of year again; the obligatory "What am I thankful for?" blog post.

This year it is very hard to find reasons to be thankful. I mean, I am thankful for my two cats (well, most of the time...although if it weren't for them, I probably wouldn't be here to type this.....) and I'm very thankful for my boyfriend who puts up with me. Poor guy.

As far as health goes, that has been a mess. I know I should be grateful I don't have something worse, but at this point, maybe something worse wouldn't be so bad if it either ended my suffering, or was treatable so I could enjoy life again instead of just existing most days. Don't get me wrong, there are fun, happy days where I feel slightly better than my "normal"...but they are few and far between.

I lost my job that I loved. I was finally in a good district. I loved the buses, and the kids, and my coworkers were generally ok. But my health caught up to me and ended it. Now, I can't even sit up at a desk for more than a few minutes without a lot of pain. I tried, and failed. Driving was what I really enjoyed, but even a non-commercial job isn't an option because there are too many days I would not be safe, and the last thing I ever want to do is hurt someone.

So I sit here. I am slowly selling off my possessions on eBay to be able to afford just to keep my car insured, but it's going to need tires, and at over $100 a piece...ouch. Why do I always pick vehicles with stupid tire sizes?

My Black Friday this year, usually my favorite day of the year, involves finding the best deal for toilet paper, batteries, and cat litter. Exciting.  :-( I would much rather be shopping for fun things, like a new wifi DVD/BluRay Player, or a sound bar, or a new laptop, or plastic ponies... cause there are certainly some nice deals out there. But nope. Boring household products is it. Ugh. Oh yeah, we need a new microwave too. Because I guess a year and a half is old enough for them to just die suddenly.

I guess at least a tree hasn't come through the house yet like last year....

Temporary Hiatus

I'm sorry I haven't been posting much. Unfortunately, all this medical stuff is catching up with me and making even everyday tasks challenging. I have been on what seems to be a steady decline for the past year or so.

Turns out I have a bulging disc in my neck, which makes is very painful to sit for more than a short time (like 15 minutes...) especially to type on a computer, so blogging regularly has been kind of out of the question. I attempted physical therapy, but even they are at a loss of what to do with me. The medications the doctors tried seem to have no effect, I get better results from a combo of Tylenol/Advil. Unfortunately, my insurance doesn't like to cover medications either, so it really limits what the doctors are able to do for me.

It just sucks being "30" and being unable to do much of anything. I hate being a burden. I hate not having the energy to do even normal activities. I try to do things, but it just wipes me out so much it takes the next day to recover. I hate being broke all the time. This is not the sort of life I imagined myself living.

Everybody hurts, don't they?

I'm talking physical pain here, not mental anguish or anything like that. 

Seriously, up until a couple weeks ago, I thought that it was completely normal to wake up in the morning stiff and sore and with at least one body part hurting. I can't blame my mattress, I have one of those fancy memory foam ones that is supposed to take away pain, not cause it. It's not a cheap one either.

For as long as I can remember, I have physically hurt in some way or another. I wake up with a lot of muscle soreness and often a feeling of weakness, like when you overdo it or do something that uses new muscles, yet I don't do anything different usually to cause it. Getting out of bed I am like a Rice Krispie, snap, crackle, pop!

I always thought pain was just a part of life, that everybody hurts on a daily basis. That everybody hurts when they have to stand for more than a few minutes, regardless of their shoe style. That everyone hurts sitting at a desk. But I guess I was tragically mistaken.

I recently found out that it is not normal for everyone to hurt all the time, or while doing daily activities of life. Really? I would love to know what that feels like, to not be in pain. Right now as I type this, there is a pulling pain in my neck, my hips are sore from sitting (I've been on the reclining sofa for about 1/2 hour),  my eyes are itchy, and I'm struggling to keep my eyes open...this is completely normal for me. Everyday is like this. No matter what I do. God forbid I do something different like go to an event with a lot of walking, demo ride a motorcycle, or go horseback riding or anything like that I may enjoy, by bedtime I am so incredibly stiff I can't move a muscle without pain! The next morning, forget about it, I am in near agony. I still try and do things I enjoy even though I will pay for it later as I don't want to miss out on too much of life.

Over the years, I tried to ignore it, putting it off as normal aches and pains of living. Once in a while something would be unusually sore, but there was often a reasonable explanation, like doing a new activity that may use different muscles. But recently, things have been unusually sore without a reasonable explanation. I just wake up hurting. There is a legitimate cause for the neck/shoulder/upper back pain due to a bulging disc in my cervical spine. However, the rest remains a mystery. There is no reason for me to be sore and hurting daily. I'm only 30 for goodness sake!

I haven't even mentioned the sudden, random, stabbing pain that comes out of no where and can strike any part of my body. It is a sharp burning radiating sort of pain that lasts anywhere from seconds to minutes. Then it goes away just as quickly as it came.

I guess my epiphany came when I asked my boyfriend, who is several (well, a few more than several) years older than me about how he feels on a daily basis. He is a very hard working diesel mechanic who is always on his feet on a concrete floor, and he does not have any pain from it. If I visit him and stand on that floor for a few minutes, the pain and pressure in my feet and legs is extremely uncomfortable, I always find a place to sit down. I can wear sneakers, work boots, Toms, doesn't matter, same results.

I just wish I could know what it feels like to wake up refreshed, pain free, and ready to start the day.

Unplugged

Purple Dot is about where we live, 

Blue Dot is Pittsburg.

I was very lucky to be able to getaway for a perfect, unplugged 4th of July weekend. Yes, I realize it is now 10 days later....but better late than never I guess?

My boyfriend and I literally got away from it all. We went up to Pittsburg, NH. For those of you not familiar with New Hampshire, Pittsburg it at the very top of the state, about 200 miles from where we live, and right at the Canadian border.

There is almost no cell service, and very few wifi spots. I was worried about that at first, as I am ALWAYS on either Facebook or Instagram if I am not doing anything else. But you know what? I didn't miss it. Not even for a minute. Spending time with the one I love was so much more fun!

We stayed at a cute little motel/cabin place called The Buck Rub Pub. The room was very nice, loved the country cabin look! My only complaint was the awful water, they definitely needed a water softener!   The restaurant was delicious too and excellent, friendly staff! So nice to have that right there within walking distance, plus you got a discount off food if you were staying in the cabins.

Rouger trail, so fun!

So what do you do to spend your days in the middle of no where? Drive around! Well, there are TONS of ATV trails, and hiking, and the lakes; we don't have ATVs, I can't hike very long, and it was chilly to be in the water! We went exploring. There are tons of very well kept dirt logging roads (which were actually smoother than many paved back roads....). The scenic vistas you come across are absolutely breathtaking! The one in the panoramic image is called "Top of the World" and you literally felt like that standing there. The picture doesn't do the beauty justice.

My favorite part of of the trip was seeing a moose!!!! My boyfriend's son has a camper in Pittsburg and he told us that he would often see moose around 2-5 in the afternoon, so we headed up Moose Alley. Before we got too far, we saw a car pulled over on the side of the road in front of an opening. And there it was. A GORGEOUS moose in the flesh! I took a ton of photos!

You can see an entire album with more scenic vistas, moose pics, etc here.

The sandpit.
A sturdy backstop is important

Another fun activity to do is go shooting. Yes, as in a real gun. There are these amazing sand pits where everyone goes to shoot. The best one was taken, of course, but this one worked fine. I had never been before. I have always been afraid of the recoil and the noise. But I decided to suck it up and try. My boyfriend is a nearly 20 year veteran of teaching hunter safety in NH, so he is the perfect instructor. He brought a .22 caliber rifle which is just the right size to learn on. To me it's the right size period lol. Even that comparatively "tiny" bullet has deadly force, so why do I need anything more? I couldn't believe how heavy it was, although I probably should say I can't believe how weak I am...5 shots was about my limit before taking a break!  I started with paper targets, but then we quickly moved on to the fun stuff! I had been saving water and soda bottles which I then filled with water. It was fun shooting at the bottles. I did ok, I actually hit them, as you can see in the pic I posted. )

Bullet hole and festive nails!

After we were done, we were responsible adults and picked up all of our trash. Luckily it seems most people do, but I did see the remnants of a laptop...how fun would that be? Go all Office Space on an old computer?! The cleanup would totally be worth the satisfaction of murdering technology!

Speaking of technology, the only time I bothered to even look on my phone was while he was in the shower as we had just enough 3G signal. It felt so good to be unplugged.

 Oh yeah, on the way home, we saw ANOTHER MOOSE!!!!!!!! The perfect ending to a perfect trip!

Stress, stress, and more stress

Due to losing my job for medical reasons I'm having a very hard time finding something that I can safely commit to as far as a new job. Ideally, I need a work at home job, or a very part time office job very close to home.  Although I am trying to work with vocational rehab (helps people who can no longer work in their field of expertise find new work), it is an extremely slow process. I have to have a neuropsych evaluation to see what I can actually do, but that was over a month wait to get an appointment. Ugh.

I am not usually the type of person to stress out. Stressing out really doesn't accomplish anything except making you feel worse. But when it comes to finances, I stress. Big time. I have contacted my credit card companies to try and work with them as far as attempting to pay my bills, however because I don't have a steady source of income, they won't talk or do anything to help. It's awful. I have worked so hard to always pay my bills on time, and now, that is physically impossible. I am literally draining my accounts to be able to keep my car one more month. I am so lost as to what to do. The fact the banks won't even accept partial payment is beyond me! They want all or nothing. It's ridiculous! I hate how everything has turned into huge corporations with no heart. I'm sure if it was a small local establishment, they would see my history of excellent, timely payments and understand that things happen.

On a happier note, I get to go on a mini vacation with my boyfriend. Nothing fancy, but it will be a welcome break from all this. For once, I will be unplugged from social media for a few days and focusing on enjoying quality time with my boyfriend and exploring this beautiful state we live in. Hopefully I can forget about my troubles and just enjoy life for a few days.