A little background information:

"Artist Resins" is a term used for high quality reproduction castings of a sculpture. Unlike "factory plastics", these resin castings are supporting skilled artistans who seek to use the best materials and achieve the most realistic and detailed peice possible. The term artistans refers to not just the sculptor, but the casters, the preppers and the painters of these works. "Artist resins" are made of a higher quality "artist grade" resin (usually a white urethane resin) than what you would typically purchase in a store labeled as "resin", and while it is like plastic in many ways, the process of "resin casting" captures more precise details and is more time consuming so they are sold in far smaller quantities than the collectibles that stores tend to sell. This allows artists the ability to share with customers very highly detailed, carefully rendered works. But materials and higher precision casting alone is not why you see such highly detailed work produced by hobby sculptors - the principal of less production costs and middle men needed to create and sell art that encourages artists to strive for offering higher caliber works at a price the average person could afford to pay to own such art. Otherwise you might simply see these "hobby artists" only producing the occassional bronze sold in a gallery or in very limited sales online, if they produce much at all to publically sell to the equine collector. Selling artist's resins directly to customers allows these hobby sculptors make a slightly higher profit for their time - not too often a livable income by American standards (ergo not often one above the poverty line in the US for example) but typically closer to a livable wage than when they are selling all rights of that sculpture to companies that have necessary budgets; the marketing, production and distribution (staff, materials, facilities etc.). Most commecial artists I know find the work grueling and frustrating as you have to work fast to make a living at it and make creative sacrifices. Companys also sometimes even need to modify the sculpture to suit their production needs before producing it. Ultimately, most hobby sculptors I've talked to simply like the time and freedom to do their best with a work rather than rush to meet commercial need deadlines, whether they work entirely or part time on hobby marketed artist resins..

There is nothing wrong with store purchased items either. They are often made by extremely talented sculptors who prefer to avoid the hassle of selling items themselves and would rather focus solely on their work. In "the model horse hobby", however, buyers (remember I am a buyer too!) are extremely appreciative of artists providing them with greater detailed works sold in much smaller quantities as these are ultimately more "valuable" than the store bought items. While edition sizes of 200 might seem "large", in comparison to the resins and factory plastics you might see in your local tack store's gift area, 200 peices is a pitance in comparison to the quantity produced of those factory made collectibles. Most mass produced horse sculptures in plastic, mass produced chinas and mass produced resins simply need to be made in much higher quantities (think thousands!), in order to make a profit for the company that has higher overhead (from overseas shipping and packaging to their staff and sales people). Artist resins are produced more along the lines of how bronzes and fine china works have been traditionally produced: small forges or potteries with mold makers who consider their work a fine craft are akin to the hobby's small casting facilities. Every resin peice is handled with individual attention to flaws and defects. Resins do take less time and less costly materials to produce than fine china and the trickier bronze works, and thus their value is usually lower. This equates to giving more of the profits over the material costs back to the artisians involved (and I really do include the casters in that term as they are a big part of making the quality of the work!).

I grew up seeing both the commercial and fine art sides of the coin. My father was a commercial artist (Coleco, Olin Ski Boot, Disney, Hasbro), who worked in small parts on objects you may very well be familiar with; Cabbage Patch Dolls, Smurf collectible figurines, and ski boot shapes for example. However his work was as a prototype designer and he worked from blueprints and in conjunction with other artists and art directors down the chain of production who would refined his work until who could say who's work was what. Essentially owners of works by him have no knowledge of his name or talent, all rights to such works belong to a company and an artist in commecial situations has to photograph their aspects of their projects if they wish to add it to their portfolio. In the end it's a work 'by many cooks' basically. My grandfather (mother's father) is a traditional fine artist who sells his sculptures, primarily relief metal figuresand facial studies called "lead repoussé" , in galleries and has taught classes to support himself his whole life. At that end of the spectrum you are in a highly competitive world ("high end art") and the joy of such a lifestyle has to sustain you. Your sales and income is dictated by your publicity, your marketing and your ability to make enough individual works to get them out to the world and to be seen by people. In my opinion the hobby combines the best of both these worlds; knowing and meeting your buyers and selling worldwide to enthusiasts of equine art is what I love most about it.

If an artist asks me about the notion of casting and selling their own work, I generally tend to say "go for it if you can afford it". Which is to say I firmly believe every artist has the right to cast anything they like, and buyers will simply purchase whatever pleases their tastes. As to the notion of making a PROFIT... that's a different animal. Pretty much most casting editions don't start to see a profit until about half-way through the mold #s that are sold after all factors (shipping and packing materials too - not just molds and castings' costs!). There is a delicate balance between production costs and final sales prices where the artist has to be realistic with themselves about what price to ask buyers to pay. In all honesty not every work is going to sell enough to even cover the costs of casting - at almost any price for sale. The aritst must decide if they have enough buyers (and flattery needs to be weighed carefully as to if it's sincere), OR the artist might decide they simply feel they would be willing to pay to produce replicas whether buyers exist or not.

As a buyer myself I like to support my favorite artists by buying works directly from them whenever possible. I don't always succeed in that of course but the "buy what you love" principal is also equally important to me as I am a very limited collector with extremely limited 'play' money. So if something I love is available on the secondary market I will tend to pay more for it than use the same amount of money for two items I am not so enchanted with. For me, I've found it's tricky at times to stay on top of what new works they have coming out, but I still find it worthwhile to do so - even if it means having an unpainted work sit on my shelf for a few years before I can paint it. Perhaps some of these might loose a little value over initially offered prices over time, but more often than not the artist resins I personally have purchased have held their value or increased a bit if I have decided to sell them unpainted. Still, collecting any kind of art is not typically a recommended investment prinicpal. Art collectors of any type are notoriously finicky. Period. :) Aside from that, I personally do not buy other artist's resins to make a profit in resale - I buy to "finish" (paint) what inspires me and, at the moment, I take far too long to paint works at the moment so my "return" is almost always laughable on an hourly calculation... something like a dollar or two and hour perhaps when I'm done if I'm lucky. The notion of "resales" is an interesting one and if anyone wanted advice there I would say from experience that refining and honing your skills you have a knack for (are efficient at turning out good quality work at) would be best for attempting to make a profit-- for example there is a need for artists who not only paint, but also to prep and prepare the unpainted horses to be painted to a high level of quality (not only seam free but without loss of the original scultor's details). Artist resins definitely aren't a good place to start practicing your painting skills - a poorly painted resin will often sell for less than it's unpainted counterpart, stripping a paint job takes time and bad prepping damage can ruin the effect of charm that buyer's might be looking for in that sculptor's resin. Most good quality finish work is the result of years of experience and hundreds of "do over" efforts on the part of the preppers and painters who produce them. Learning on less expensive factory produced pieces is a far less painful way to learn those skills. Overall I say "buy what you love" and you won't be sorry if you have to keep it around the house. (the horror! lol!)

Which leads to the sometimes baffling concept of buying "unpainted artist resin" works. This means they are almost always containing seam lines and that the stainless steel support rods embedded to prevent warping are visible as darker lines/areas just under the surface. They are not entirely like buying a "white sculpture" for display until those seams are cleaned up and they are primered. The unpainted resin is also UV sensitive so they can't be displayed in a well lit room without some yellowing. It is somewhat a surprise to some first time buyers or non-hobby folks that an artist would sell their works to be painted by other aritsts. However this tradition has allowed for very skilled painters to practice their craft on more appealing and detailed horse shaped objects than can be made by a factory mold which just doesn't reproduce tiny veins, tiny endearing nostril folds and bumps and such. It also allows the sculpting artist to share their work on a slightly larger scale than otherwise; if they had the daunting and time consuming task of painting each work individually. There are non-hobby equine sculptors who do sell individually finished works (in painted faux-wood finish or simple colors air brushed typical horse colors for example) but those finishes are often not of the caliber of equine coat-color realism that hobby collectors have come to expect. One of the great things about model horse collectors is their enthusiasm and willingness to find their favorite painter to complete an unpainted resin. Without the hobby collector's appreciation and savvy, there would simply be far less equine resin sculpture artists and far less eye candy to enjoy!

When you purchase unpainted resins they will need to have the seams carefully removed - doing so with careful individual attention takes hours and hours of working between sanding carefully to prevent detail loss and filling in small grooves and gouges: but with care it produces a smoother product than most factory made items have. The resin itelf is then washed to remove hand and mold-release oils that would inhibit paint adhesion, and then it is primered and painted to suit. Thus each "finished" horse is a unique work of art. Horses created by experienced hobbiests who take care at each step can be as durable as any store-bought object; lasting decades if stored and displayed carefully. Many collectors take great pride in owning works by such skilled artisians and thus, there you have why someone would pay large sums to own a uniquely, created-with-much-love work their favorite artist(s).

Much to the great surprise of many new collectors is the fact that many hobby artists (painters and sculptors alike) work full time and depend on their "hobby" income primarily just as any other small business owner or freelance artist does. This is a choice that many artists make in order to do what they love on a non-commercial basis. This allows artists the freedom to provide more works for sale more often, and yet not have to work within the confines of a project's need. Many sculptors and painters can and have worked outside the hobby at higher hourly wages but find the much of commercial artwork can be stifling to the creativity and "soul" of their art.

It's a great gift to do what you love and MOST IMPORTANTLY to ME: to have the ability to share it with people who adore realistic equines rather than creating just for my own amusement and the occassional gift..

In a world without the model horse hobby I am sure I would still sculpt, however it's highly unlikely that I would invest money into reproducing my works except on the most occassional basis and probably from home-made molds (and I assure you molding is not my forte!). I would also not be nearly as prolific a sculptor as they take years for me to complete and sculpting around a full time job and commuting doesn't leave much time and energy for creativity. I want to thank my customers dearly for allowing me this opportunity to do what I love and have the resources to be able to share these works with more than just friends and family. Thank you so much for your loyalty and bless you!

-Morgen