The BreyerFest Files: Collector's Class 2025

 📂 The BreyerFest Files 📂

Welcome to the BreyerFest Files, where I talk about my BreyerFest experiences! Today, I'm going to talk about my two Collector's Class entries. This year was my third year entering the BreyerFest Open Show, and with that experience under my belt, I decided it was high time I tackle a Collector's Class. 

Because I've never claimed sanity, I decided on two entries - one Novice entry and one Stablemates entry. I'd had a few ideas rattling around my brain for the Stablemates entry, but for Novice I had just one. Little known fact, I'm a person with fairly good raffle luck. Between that and my stubborn ability to wait for and find good deals on models, I had the ideal theme for a Novice entry - Feeling Lucky! All of the horses in the display were models I'd either won in a raffle, bought for cost at an event, was given as a gift, or found by chance in an eBay lot. 

While I'm immensely proud of how this entry turned out, the other entries brought their A-game and mine didn't place! And that's okay - the entries that won were all very deserving! 

The Stablemates Collector Class was on Thursday before the Mini Show, and I had slightly higher hopes for this one, even though with 41 entries it was the largest Collector Class in the history of the Open Show. I had a vision for this one. 

A little known fact about me - I work at a library, and part of my job includes cataloging magazines, meaning every week I get to browse People and Us Weekly. I was inspired by the "Who Wore It Best" spreads - where two celebrities wear the same outfit and the public votes on who wore the outfit better. I knew I could translate this to model horses and finish work. 

I curated a list of modern paint jobs and vintage models that would match. I only had to buy two horses - the splash G1 draft and the black blanket Native Dancer. I pored over the little details - the red carpet, the font choices (the font used for the vintage models was created in 1950, just like Breyer!), the magazine "spread." One thing I was adamant on was giving the public the ability to vote - it's the whole point of the spread! I eventually happened upon a QR code linking to a live Canva poll - for those curious, the vote was split 50-50! 

My hard work paid off - I came home with 7th in the Stablemates Collector Class (purple! my favorite color). Two of the judges approached me later to say how much they liked my entry, and how well-thought out it was. 

All in all, I'll definitely create an entry for the Stablemates Collector Class next year. I'm on the fence about doing a class with the big guys - while I have collectable pieces, I'm not certain I have the money to compete at this time. There's only so far creativity can go in a class judged on collectability. But we'll see - maybe some point in the next year I'll have an incredible idea!