Progress Report #7 (1/02/2012)

Happy Year of the Dragon! (Above is Dawnrazor, created by Julie Froelich the Year of the Dragon before last, in 1987.)

We weren't sorry to see 2011 end. From the disaster of March's 9.0 earthquake and the profound changes it wrought on life here in Japan, to the sad passing of family, friends, and pets throughout the year, 2011 was one of the most awful years of our lives.

But now 2012 is here at blessed last, and the dawn of this new year (not to mention the fantastic week off work that comes with it!) has rekindled our energy for this important project. It's time to see it through! July 2012, here we come!

In the next day or so, we'll be sending out an e-mail to everyone who has submitted photos, to see if any of the information included with those photos needs to be updated.

Scanning of the several hundred paper photos is continuing. The horse's name or the name of the person the horse was created for are known for the majority of them. There are 143 horses that haven't yet been identified, though. We're thinking about maybe featuring them one at a time in semi-weekly-or-so ads on MHSP to ask "Do You Know Me?"

Last year wasn't a complete loss: In October we did a test run of a relatively simple but oversized 32-page hardcover book called "A Hundred Horses," featuring 100 vintage customs from me and Corky's own collections (horses by Julie Froelich, Tom Bainbridge, John Bellucci, Liz Bouras, Paige Easley, Kay Holmes, Laurie Jo Jensen, Linda Leach, Kathy Maestas, Judy Pope, Lisa Rivera, Marie Spinella, Sue Sudekum, Kathleen Timmerman, Carol Williams, Bev Zimmer, and more), as an experiment to see how various layouts and photo caption styles look on the actual printed page, how large we could make the photos without loss of quality, how accurately the images' color reproduces, and whether such a coffee-table-type book should be a format to consider.

The result was helpful to see, but while the oversize format has a lot of merit, we're thinking it might not be the best for "RM for Riddermark" after all; with at least 200 pages, the book would be both seriously unwieldy and seriously expensive.

So, that's where "RM for Riddermark" stands at the start of 2012. While it's nice to have "A Hundred Horses" in our hands, we're envisioning what a great feeling it will be a year from now, being able to page through "RM for Riddermark" and remember it coming out in July!

Thanks for your patience, and best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year!