Stego has been shot! Nope…. just had a mishap while coating another jackal

A Bit of #MacroMonday photography as latex flows out of the catch pan. Bubble bubble….

More explosions from our busy fall season…

Wanted to make sure the white of the ears and the dark tip were seamless so Kat found herself switching back and forth.

Finishing off the design with the selection of a pink nose. Darker areas had been blocked in previously as the natural markings one can find around the nostrils.

Waiting for the last bit of paint to dry before sending off pics to our client.

When our sleeping quarters are outside, the jackals sleep with us. They are channeling their inner bat, as we tend to hang them upside down.

Clearing the line…

A little gooey in our efforts to clear the pan…

Working with horn placement

Dont stare at it too long or make eye contact. It wasnt very patient.

Kat just went on a whim and chose to work from the cheeks and work my way to the back of the hood

This became a great marker to keep my stripe work flowing in the right direction. This is just one of many stripes that essentially were a reproduction of the stripes from Quietfire Version 1.

Getting there, and Kat has reached the center of the head

Just waiting for my stripes to dry. With the area cut in for the EL wire, it did take a few revisits to the edges, and some fine work with a tool.

With the final coats on our painted design, it was time to add our secondary colors, mixed for the sake of making our UV reactive painjob pop even more. With respect to the character’s goatee, a small brush was used to create the impression of hair the best way it might look on a rubber tiger.

With our colors solidified, we load the syringes for the final work in UV pigments… Kat was getting pumped…

Just a brush…

Applying and reapplying the white in the eyes. Double tool action!

Side by side comparison of one of our latex bucket lids drying. The art just makes itself…

More paint progress…

Experiment with a denser form of sparkles for a pony mask

Its a coating party!!

Working with a batch…

We aren’t mooning you, we swear.

A few more coats and it will be perfect…

Which way is up?

60% of the way in, but there is something not quite right….

…. yup, that diamond was just a bit too sharp for the client’s liking. With some precision, it was smoothed out and made a bit more organic

Stripes are often created using flexible paper templates. The first coat wont look so great, but it allows a “trace” of the stripes around the mask’s curves.

Lining them up again. Each coat must go on and dry before the next.

One of the important design tools…

In progress shot of Kauko’s paintjob on the forehead

Kauko’s mask featured the tear mark and a match with the markings on the brow.

We saw many of our friends and peers at FC2014. With everyone getting ready for going down to the lobby, this pic just happened spontaneously.

Even our shop pony likes to get all dressed up to hang out with fellow ponies at con.

Stego ran an experiment on his own horse mask and gave the muzzle some veins. This can be seen on real-life horses if you look close enough.

Someone got a bit artsy fartsy in the lab….

Bungee Horse is watching you…

Xanthos’ hairpiece was made with the longest wefts that we could find.

…on a stiick! Yes, this is how our web designer is motivated to punch out that code. Hard to lag behind when your jackal overlord is watching over you.

A few more jackals fresh from the mold….

Lining up the team for assembly

We participated in Califur 2013’s Art Show. We snapped this photo just before the doors opened.

Screencap from a mockup-in progress. The completed image was later sent to Neirin for review.

Tried to refine the direction of the linework inside the ear.

More progress on the whisker lines of Neirin’s mask.

Preliminary mockup for our customer to assess where they wanted the design to go. This was the one chosen out of all of them.

The rosettes had to be painted in increments. Here are many spots in various stages of drying.

Kat decided to don her mask while painting another similiar creature. Feline bonding.

Oops! Spilled latex on the floor again. What kind of color is this?

Cobalt blue coated jackal. This would be the last JG2 to ever be created (but the 2.5 is coming soon)

Fine lines detailed the eye of our second (ever) Bast Mask.

The paint along the eyes was drying just as the inner ear paint was applied with the same paint color. See the difference between wet and dry paint

Detail showing the ankh for the forehead, as the last section of linework is applied to the mask.

Another grouping of masks, each in their respective pillowcases. meddle got a bit creative with marking our orders with Post-Its.

Drying upon the wine bottles.

Work in Progress for Lunar-Belle. When masks are painted with feathered edges, a light but firm line is often applied first. This blocks in the shape and declares boundaries

Last minute change of plans had us transferring a complete design to a muzzle mount HG1. Wasnt my plan but great practice.

Just got back from Burning Man….

Some of the Playa dust was cleaned off of one ear. See the difference.

An almost complete paintjob amongst the trees of our Southern California home. Kat painted this on our deck

3 horse and 2 cat masks lay upon our “special” mask holders. Yes, those are wine bottles.

Our HG1 mask was ‘born’ under a solar eclipse, seen here in Southern California.

If you look carefully, you can see the light effects from a solar eclipse.

Orders in our queue are lined up in an orderly fashion..

Yin vs Yang…who shall win?

Shape of EL Wire along the face and inside the mohawk.

Snuggling Quietfire’s ‘head’ while I work.

Placing the center of rosettes upon our second Snow Leopard mask.

Total accident in how the photo came out. A sleek coat can look positively dreamy.

Placing the center of rosettes upon our second Snow Leopard mask.

Like Abbott and Costello

Refinement of the stripes, narrowing and widening for a natural looking zebra pattern.

The zorse has become vain, we think. Really, the mirror was helpful in achieving symetry and getting a full idea of proper flow for the markings.

More of the masks back, flowing into the short mohawk…

Shavings everywhere!

2 hooded jackals after prep of thier coat…

This Bay Horses original commissioner cancelled. Kat shows the mask off for a potential buyer.