The Art Of Carissa Kirksey ✝
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Strike Oil

2/18/2019

4 Comments

 
 Alrighty, let's move on with oiling this poneh!
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  No, not that kind!!​ This kind!!​
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 Since Kipling is on the road to being silver dapple grey, & that road will wind up taking many layers, he will not follow my typical oiling approach. That is, I usually go over the base acrylics with three colors/shades of oil: body, highlight, & shading, all done by section of the horse until the model is completely oiled. This guy, on the other hand, was oiled all in one session. This then will go on to be something of a base for the dappling that will go over it.

 Supplies for this first layer are:
  * Pallet paper. (Kind of like super wax paper, but it won't soak up the oil like wax paper would. ...Yes, I have tried wax paper before, it's a no go!)
  * A pallet knife.
  * Pearl-Ex Powders in: micro pearl, misty lavender, silver, carbon black, & antique bronze. 
  * Oil paint in: titanium white, burnt umber, carbon black, & raw sienna. 
  * There was also white pastel chalk that forgot to get in the family portrait here.
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 & of course brushes.
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 But I only used four of them.
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 To start, fold the pallet paper in half; You'll mix your oil on one side & the crease only. This way you can fold it over & save your paint.
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 Your acrylic base should already fairly closely match your 'body' color of oils. With it being close, you will be able to keep your oil layers thin (not to be confused with thinned down). If it is not a close match, you will wind up fighting the base to get a good, solid covering of your base oils. That leads to your oil either being put down too thickly, or to your having to do two layers of body, letting them dry in between. Never a lost cause, but way more trouble than it needs to be. :)

 For this silver grey's body color, the base color of your oil painting, I picked out the light greyish-brown color on his coat.

 For the body mix, it is about 99% straight white! I'm not sure if you can see the comparison of the dab of white at the bottom to the started mix above it.
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 Just like the acrylic base mix, the white is easily overwhelmed. I was adding color literally by the merest touch & building from there.
 & the result was this.
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 Next I added micro pearl Pearl-Ex powder. Pearl-Ex will add some realistic shimmer to your finishwork, & has the added benefit of speeding drying time. As I don't use any drier (honestly, they scare me!) I tend to pour in the Pearl-Ex! Be careful mixing it, else you will dust everything in sparkly powder!
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Faith, trust, & pixy dust! Sorry, I couldn't help it...
 Other colors I mixed for Kipling were straight out of the tube: raw sienna, burnt umber, carbon black, & titainium white.
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  There were no other oil colors added, but I did of course add Pearl-Ex to them as well. Misty lavender for the black.
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 Antique bronze & carbon black to the burnt umber.
 Antique bronze & silver to the raw sienna. 
 I randomly decided not to add Pearl-Ex to the white. But to help it dry, I did mix in some white pastel chalk. 
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 Here is the final pallet. There is some carbon black right out of the tube as well, nothing added. 
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  & with that, it's time to start painting!

 My very favorite brushes for adding body are a couple well loved, half inch(?) synthetic flats. They are over a decade old, & extremely frizzed! A, shall we say 'civilized' flat that is not all frizzied up works too of course, but that's how these poor things got this way! ;)
 Dab just the tip into of your brush into your chosen color; you want to have just enough to color the area you're working on & no more. Putting too much down at once just makes it more difficult to spread it out to keep it thin. Wipe it off on a paper towel if needed.
 Then using the tip, kind of scrub or stipple the color onto the horse.
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 Here's what I mean:
 When I oil, I like to 'grid' off a horse & work in sections, & even though this guy doesn't follow my usual oiling method, I still pretty much worked by sections: Head, neck/chest, belly/inner thighs (leaving a firm hand hold over his back as seen below), barrel/back/haunches (leaving the legs to hold if they are sturdy enough), & finally the legs, which left me with a slightly precarious hand hold of part of his tail. Though since he has a double mane, I was able to cheat this time & hold him around his neck too. 
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Completely painted in the body color. 
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 Next, with a much less frizzy natural half inch flat, I lightly added the black mix for shading. 
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 You want to go slowly with adding dark color. You can always add more, but you can't take it off if you add too much! I use much the same stippling motion for this, carefully watching my reference pictures to determine where it needs to go. 
 Shaded!
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 Just like the black mix, I added just a touch of the browns, mostly to his lower legs, but also to the stifle & elbow areas. I also hit a few areas such as  his lower barrel  with white to highlight. 
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 Ta-da!
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 You'll probably get sick of seeing this reference picture, but it's going to keep popping up! Compare to the horse I am going by. There will be many more layers over this oil layer, so I am not too concerned of going too dark just yet; I'll need a lighter foundation to build up dappling over.
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 When you are finished with your oil session, fold over the pallet paper & pop it in the fridge or freezer! It can keep exceptionally well this way; I am still working off last year's NaMoPaiMo bay/red pallet as a matter of fact, & it is still perfectly good. You can also cheat a bit with your brushes if you don't feel like cleaning them right away by also sticking them in the freezer. ;) They will need cleaned soon though; I simply use dish soap in warm water, no need for anything fancier.
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 Another tip: binder clips are a great way to store your oil tubes!
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​WHEW!! Sorry it took so long to get this posted!! I've really been struggling to write this NaMo! Kip is quite a bit further than this now. Hopefully I'll be able to be a bit more timely with the next posts!!

 I'm not the only one making headway on their NaMo pony! My friend Kim Prosek of Longwing Studio has been busy at it too with her Sleepy Shire! 

 Kim airbrushes her acrylic base, & then works her magic with powder pigments.
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  "He isn’t just white in this first picture; It’s actually a light fawn color."​
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 "And then milk chocolate."
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 "Next is burnt umber mixed with burnt sienna." 
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  "And then a light dusting of black."
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 "Then I decided I didn’t want to mess anything else up and went with my trusty pigments. So one layer of pigment & there he is for his first weekend's work!"
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 Then this past weekend she continued to bring him to life!
​
 "
I added a few more layers of pigment, sketching in the dapples."
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 "Then painted the m/t to get an idea of where I was." 
​
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 "And then onto black pigment."
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 He looks soooo good Kim!! I hope he continues to play nice with you!!​

 Just for a laugh, as it pertains to the joke at the beginning of my post, read the label on this old gun oil bottle. Someone had a sense of humor! 
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 Until next time! Happy painting all!!
4 Comments

Progress & Distraction

2/25/2018

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 Day 25 of NaMoPaiMo & Kim & Angel are still hard at work!
 Kim had a little set back on wings today, they just weren't meeting with her approval.

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 So they were whited out & started over.
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 But she's much happier with the second try! I believe that she now just has details to go on her!
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 Angel has had good progress too! She's done fiddling with CMing & has been air brushing the base on her Gypsy! She's never air brushed before NaMoPaiMo! Kudos to her for trying something new!
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 She's also been having fun running with the inspiration that NaMoPaiMo has brought on & painted a couple SMs too!
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 Carole's still showing us all up. ;)
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 Me? Oh, well, um, I, haven't done anything with Nocturno this weekend. What have I been doing? Everything else! As usual I have a whole herd that is calling. Plus an experiment that I've been dyeing to try.
 Today I broke new ground for myself & tried my hand at molding something for the first time ever. I made this medallion last week just for this endeavor.

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 Built my first ever mold box.
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  & mixed & poured my first ever silicone.
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 You have no idea how much I want to pull it apart & see if it worked or not. Morning can't come fast enough!
 There are still three more days in NaMoPaiMo, we still have hope, right Nocturno? {:|
 Happy painting all!!

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Plodding Along

2/21/2018

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 One week to go in NaMoPaiMo! I have been neglecting my blog, but things are still moving, albeit slowly, for us all!

 My Nocturno is still working on dapples. ...My my but we had go rounds on them! He was fighting me tooth & nail about them. But eventually, after the fifth try, I got them going how I wanted! I still have more to do on the other side before I can move onto the next step. *sigh* No matter how you do them, dapples are time consuming!! Alas, I do have other horses to work on too, so he has been getting my in-between time, poor boy.

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 Kim, likewise, has been picking at her NaMo Pegasus, but has other horses that have taken priority on being finished. 


 "This past week  (Feb 12th) has involved me frantically painting and finishing another MM for an upcoming show next month. This will be my first show ever! And Carissa has kindly agreed to proxy for me. :)
 Now that I have everybody done (well, almost) I can turn my attention to Furia. I am planning on painting her similar to the light morph hawk in the picture. This reference comes from The Sibley Guide to Birds. It’s an awesome book that is illustrated by the author, David Allen Sibley.
 Cross your fingers that Furia cooperates!"


 Fingers crossed, Kim! I think she looks good so far though! Can't wait to see what ponies you send me to show too!
 Angel is still CMing her Shire-turned-Gypsy, but after a bit of a shaky start with sculpting, she's finally getting to the point of being pretty happy with him! She's still picking on the tail, so he may be a NaMoPaiMARCH pony. ;) I know I would prefer to be late but happy with my model, than finish in the month & forever dislike something about him, & I think that is how she is looking at it now too. :)
 Carole, on the other hand, is still showing us all up. ;) She's sold her NaMo PAM, who was finished earlier, & has gone onto paint two medallions for herself! I think they look lovely!!
 Wish us luck in this last week! We're still plodding along!
 Happy painting all!

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NaMoPaiMo Day 6

2/6/2018

2 Comments

 
 Not a whole lot was accomplished in the way of NaMoPaiMo for me today. Other models were calling, so I did not do much to Nocturno, or any writing at all. I did start to add dapples in pastel, but I'm not sure if I like them. They look too small to me.
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 Yeah, I dunno. I'll leave it 'til tomorrow, but I might wash them off & start again. At least I'm not too far along! I also shaded his mouth, nostrils, & eyes, & a little around his head. Not much to look at yet!
 Carole's moving right along though!

 "Today I worked on the flaxen blending on her mane and tail. This was shades of cream, light tan, gold Pearl-X, white and pearl Pearl-X. Also popped the chestnuts on because that is a step I had forgotten before. ;D I also sent different pictures besides straight sides. She will be done fairly soon so I am thinking I should paint one of my 3 medallions."
 & Angel's working on getting her Shire CM's tail attached, etching foals, & making tassels for her Arab costume!
 "Tail wire... used what I had. Your right glue and soda on fingers is impossible to remove! Used razor blade; pretty sure I don't have a finger print on index finger."

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 Glad you still have fingers left Angel!

 The fun continues! Check back later for more! :)

2 Comments

I Spoke Too Soon!

2/5/2018

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 Carole has a report today too!
 "After more pigments I have her body pretty much where I want. I can do touch ups when spotted. I added acrylics today. Mane and tail French Vanilla and watered down white on socks. Just a base for m & t as they get more colors."
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 "One big problem is getting accurate pictures. I played with camera settings and they are so varied. Deleted nearly all and kept 2. You can see the differences."
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 Thank you Carole! She's looking beautiful, in both pictures! I dare say you are going to be the first of us to cross the finish line!
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Whew!!

2/4/2018

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 Three CDs of Journey to the Center of the Earth & four episodes of Doctor Who & this is where I am:
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 He still has layers to go in oil & pastel chalk, but this is a good start! I am cross-eyed, so I will elaborate more later. Until then, here are Carole & Kim with their reports of the day!
  "Here we go with around 5 layers. Working creams, black and metallics in there. Have my TOPSA show finished so she gets all my time now. ~ Carole"
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 "Our first weekend has come and gone already! Mine was actually quite productive, both in painting and household chores. I got multiple horses based. And the house finally cleaned after having the flu for two weeks. Yuck!
 I thought I would include my airbrush setup/booth. I like to base my horses using an airbrush, I feel it gives a very smooth layer. I have a Badger Anthem airbrush. I still don’t know much about airbrushing, all of it has been self-taught and lots of watching YouTube tutorials. I would be very curious to know how other people mix their paint for airbrushing. I’m still struggling with that!"

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  "My setup includes putting down a plastic sheet, newspaper over it, and a box that has been cut open to contain some of the spray. I also like to have paper towels handy for any drippage. It’s not the prettiest setup but it works for now. Also, make sure to wear a respirator of some kind!
 Pegasus Furia is based in a warm white and I started some chestnut color on the lower legs. Since she will be similar to a Ferruginous Hawk, I’m thinking her body color will be varnish roan. There are two color morphs in these hawks and I’m leaning towards the lighter color morph. We’ll see if that’s what she wants! I’ll try and find a pic of a ferruginous for the next blog.

 "Until next time, happy painting!
 ~ Kim"


 Happy NaMoPaiMo all! Check back later for more!

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Some Progress Today

2/3/2018

2 Comments

 
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 Those are the words of my friend Angel who text me this picture today! I invited her to do NaMoPaiMo with me kind of at the last minute. On Tuesday she came by to root through my body boxes for a victim & officially sign up. She found a classic Shire A that called to her & decided she wanted to make him a Gypsy; to take off his mane decorations & swap his braided tail for a Smart Chic Olena tail, also from my hoard. His new do was just started today! Once that's all finished, he'll be headed for a dark liver chestnut with flaxen m&t! It's going to be fun to have someone to paint with this year!

 Carole made some progress as well!

 "This is my first sealed layer. Used Brown Ocher (body) and a dark grey mix on eyes, hooves, etc)"

 Her PAM is going to be flaxen chestnut with a little white when she's finished!

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 As for me... Still shoes! I wasn't going to finish them until after he was painted, but I decided to go for it. His shoes are made of pounded out 12(?) gauge aluminum florists wire, groove pounded in with a screwdriver & refined with dremel, filed & sanded to a fare-thee-well, studs added with sewing pins sculpted over with epoxy, & toe/side clips & nail heads sculpted on with epoxy. Anything sculpted was filed & sanded to where it's meant to be & painted silver with Precious Metals paint. Then I painted in some dirt with a little acrylic, which made it all pop! These were the only two shoes I detailed; since his weight baring hooves are not detailed on the bottom I cheated & left the aluminum flat.  ...Apologies for the fuzzy pictures!
 Kim does not yet have anything to report. She hopes to by tomorrow, as do I! I plan to have a serious oil session in the afternoon!
 Hope everyone's having a great third day!! Check back tomorrow for more on our NaMoPaiMo journey!!

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Ready, Set, PAINT!!

2/1/2018

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 NaMoPaiMo started today!! Can you feel the spark in the atmosphere? I can! Everyone is so excited & I love that!
 Since last I posted I have been joined by yet another friend for NaMoPaiMo, having talked my friend Angel into painting with me! She's joined a bit last minute, but has a great idea for her classic Shire A!

 Earlier this week Jennifer, NaMoPaiMo founding mother, asked painters & their victims to take a selfie for a start-of-the-month collage, which we all did. I can't help but share my beautiful friends here! Here are our self portraits, except Carole, who does not like pictures & wished to remain off my blog, which is perfectly fine! *Edit* Carole took a new selfie & gave permission for it to go on my blog! So we all are here now! :)

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 It's been a slow start for us all on this first day of NaMoPaiMo. Carole has been judging a TOPSA photo show, but is set & ready when the time allows. Angel has been working on an Arab costume, which is looking pretty darn good I think! Kim has been stuck at work; you can bet that her weekend will be full of painting though! & I have been shoeing my chosen pony.

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 Detailing & fitting Nocturno's new sneakers was the majority of the work done on him today. I'd meant to do it before day one, but other things called. The shoes are still not completely finished, but they are done enough that I won't be endangering my paint work now. 

 ...I'd like to take a moment to mention how much I love my ferrier! Carl is always more than happy to show exactly how different shoes are done! 

  I did get Nocturno's first few coats of base laid down before quitting for the day at least. That's the first official paint of the month!
 Much more to come later! Check back soon for updates & how-tos!
 Happy painting everyone!!!

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Pre-NaMoPaiMo Reports, & Tutorial: Fixing A Broken Tail

1/20/2018

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 With NaMoPaiMo fast approaching the first day of February, work on prepping chosen models is in full swing! This year I will once again be sharing my blog with my friend Kim Prosek for reports on her project. I am pleased to welcome another of my friends this year as well, Carole Ingram, who will also be sharing her NaMoPaiMo progress with us! 
 Without further ado, let me hand the screen over to Kim for her pre-NaMoPaoMo post! 


 My NaMoPaiMo entry for 2018! Maggie Bennett’s Furia, customized into a threatening Pegasus.
 She is mostly prepped and primed here. I hope to paint her similar to a Ferruginous Hawk.
Let the madness begin!!


 Isn't that Peggy awesome?? Kim did the CMing on her, of course, managing to find a bird figurine the right size for MM wings!
 Kudos, my friend, for wrangling wings onto such a small pony!!
 & now for a word from my friend Carole on her chosen victim!


 I just signed up (Jan. 7th), I'm going to do a PAM in chestnut.
 Here is where I am now (Jan. 15th) on this snow globe snowy day here. I do have an issue; balance. I was hoping the apoxie/mane would throw her weight to that side. Nope. Tried to add to hoof. No good. I hate to have to peg front hoof.
 Got the mare pegged (Jan. 18th) and worked more on her neck. I had a hoof edge and didn't want to mess up her frog so it turned out to be a trench. I glued it and next day used apoxie to even the hoof wall again. Just trimmed the peg to even all hooves, yay!! Have lots of time to prep so here is where she is now. I added to her ears and cheeks too.

 Yay! Glad she is standing steady now Carole! She is such a sweet looking mare! She should look great by the end of Feb!!
 As for my NaMoPaiMo horse, I have wanted to do a tutorial on how to paint the basic color bay ever since NaMoPaiMo last year. So when looking for a prospect for this year's NaMoPiaMo, that was on my mind. I found a Nocturno by Kitty Cantrell for a song, & I think he would just rock a deep & dappley bay!
 He is second hand, his mold having been released in 2002! (Good Lord, was that really 16 years ago?!?) He had a basic prep job, a coat of white primer, & a layer of airbrushed acrylic. He had also suffered a cracked tail which had been repaired. His great price more than made up for any of this though.
 My! I never realized how BIG this sculpt is!! He's quite a hunk!

 Even though he was packed really well in a box that was a good size for him, that tail didn't agree & completely broke in shipping (much to the dismay of his seller!). I was fine with this though; I had planned to reinforce it anyway, to prevent just such a brake from happening in the future. So I was not in for any more work than I had already planed to do. It also gives me the excuse to share with you how to reinforce breaks!


Reinforcing Breaks With Wire Or Brass Rod

 I have used this technique many times on weak & broken legs, tails, ears, & hair tendrils. It gives the weakened piece much better support than simply gluing it back together does.
  
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You will need:

 *A Dremel
 *A high speed spiral flute cutter bit (I had to look that up! I have no idea what size it is, I've had it forever.) ...Or whatever size & shape bit will work for your project
 *A 1/2" sanding drum ...or files & some elbow grease


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 *A respirator & safety goggles
 *Wire cutters & two pairs of pliers in a size hefty enough to cut & bend whatever gauge you are using
 *Wire or brass rod in a gauge suitable for your brake (I used brass rod from the hardware store, in 2.38 mm & 1.57mm.)
 *Locktite super glue gel control
 *Baking soda
 *Epoxy, I used Aves Fixit, which is a very dense & sturdy epoxy
 *Sand paper, my preferred grit being 220
 *Any sculpting tools needed to resculpt lost details


 
 Regardless of where the break is, the approach is pretty much standard:

 With your chosen bit, mine being the cutter bit, Dremel a groove deep enough to inlay your wire across the break. I often draw a line where I want to Dremel, just to keep myself on track. For this break, with it being such a pressure prone spot, I decided to add three lengths of rod. The more wire you inlay at more locations around the break, the stronger the result.
  As you can see, this is dusty work, so be sure to wear dust & eye protection!
 Cut your wire & test it for a snug fit. I am using the bigger 3/32 (2.38mm) rod here.

 Then with pliers, bend it to fit the contour of where it will be inlayed. Being a nice straight tail, this wasn't too difficult. If you are doing a leg though, it can sometimes take quite a bit of tinkering to get it to flow with the bends & shape of the leg.
 If your break has a gap, glue the two pieces together as best you can before you add the wire. Once that is done, lay down a line of super glue in the groove you made, sprinkle a very little bit of baking soda on top, & carefully lay in your rod. Pliers come in handy here to place the rod & to force it down snuggly into the groove. You may wish to wear gloves to keep from getting glue on your fingers.
 Add a bit more glue around any gaps between the wire & the resin/plastic, wipe off the excess, & then pack it with baking soda. You can press it down firmly with a paper towel, but be aware that some of it may get glued to the horse (or you). Scrape off any wayward glue/baking soda before it sets well, I used a carbide scraper.
 After doing all three rods, the tail was much sturdier but I felt it could use a little more support. Best I could, I Dremeled a groove under the tail as well. I inlayed a length of 1/16 (1.57mm) brass rod the same way as the other three. I used the finer rod  just to simplify it considering the awkward place it was needed. 
 Sometimes the rod winds up being a bit above the level of the sculpture. That is where the sanding drum &/or files come in: grind down any wire that would show above your sculpture until it is level with the surface or even a smidge below it.
 Once all the brass rod was laid & ready to go, I mixed some Aves Fixit epoxy & pushed it into any crevices remaining, then resculpted the lost details. I chose Fixit since it is a very dense, hard epoxy once cured. I often use A + B epoxy which is even harder, for the more breakable areas like this. But it is more difficult to work with. Since I needed to sculpt hair here, I opted for the easier-to-use Fixit.

 Here is the repair after sanding the entire horse good & hitting him with some primer. The repair still needs sanded & worked a little more before I am totally happy with it, but it is now sturdy enough for me to hold him by the tail!
 I have used this technique for many scales, the finest being a LB scale foal, a Spark AR. She was a second, missing a wire in one of her fine little baby legs. I used, I'll guess 32 gauge, steel wire meant for the foundation of frames in a bee hive. Being steel, even as fine as it is, it is sturdy enough to use as reinforcement (works great for tail tendril armatures too!). I have also repaired the leg of a Lrg SM AR, Sherbert Lemmon, with a steel paperclip!
  So as long as you can Dremel a groove & find strong enough wire, this technique can be used on many scales & for many weak pieces!

 Stay tuned through the end of this month & all of February for many more reports on & tutorials for NaMoPaiMo!
 Cheers all!

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    Ramblings & tutorials of a model horse artist.

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    Just a 'public service notice' to any of my blog readers; Since there's not really any way to 'follow' a weebly blog, if you shoot me an email (sprucewoodfarmsstudio at gmail dot com) I will add you to my blog announcement list & will send you an email when a new post is added. :)

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