do you wanna build a sand pony?
Bad Hair Day II has an overall nice shape and pose. It's the anatomy details and leg shape that make me cringe. Painting him with ModPodge, then sprinkling sand over that creates a "sand sculpture". I mixed a thin mix of ModPodge and sand and worked it into the mane and tail to sculpt those. I will probably do three or four layers of ModPodge and sand. He already looks better.
...the finish...
This was probably four to six coats of ModPodge followed by sprinkled sand. It was done in sections; sand falls better straight down, so I have to turn the horse to catch the sand, so I can only paint part of it at a time with ModPodge. Some of the dark bits showed through until there were nearly half a dozen layers of sand.
One of my sand samples had tiny shell bits in it, so I used them as Appaloosa spots (leopard complex, it also exists in a few other breeds). I had to put down a layer of ModPodge/sand mix to stick the shells into. You could also glue them on. Clearly they are the last layer: you can't paint ModPodge over them and sprinkle sand, you'll cover them up. You could paint ModPodge around them though. Which is what I did when I added the last coat of outdoor ModPodge and more sand. I basically painted ModPodge over all of it then wiped it off the spots.
The hairy mane was glopped with ModPodge and sand (fairly wet) then sprinkled with sand. The mane and tail eventually could be shaped into nice breaking wave shapes. I stuck the tail to the hock to help support the tail better.
Hollow spaces under the upper parts of the inside of all the legs were part of the original molding process. I filled them in with a ModPodge sand mix. I also covered the bottom of the hooves with ModPodge sand.
The overall shape of this horse is nice, the problems are in the details of the anatomy. A few layers of sand takes care of that!
If leaving outside, use Outdoor ModPodge or spray with a clear coat. A shiny clear coat will make the sand look like either wet sand or kind of weird shiny not-sand. Best to have the last layer be sand.
One of my sand samples had tiny shell bits in it, so I used them as Appaloosa spots (leopard complex, it also exists in a few other breeds). I had to put down a layer of ModPodge/sand mix to stick the shells into. You could also glue them on. Clearly they are the last layer: you can't paint ModPodge over them and sprinkle sand, you'll cover them up. You could paint ModPodge around them though. Which is what I did when I added the last coat of outdoor ModPodge and more sand. I basically painted ModPodge over all of it then wiped it off the spots.
The hairy mane was glopped with ModPodge and sand (fairly wet) then sprinkled with sand. The mane and tail eventually could be shaped into nice breaking wave shapes. I stuck the tail to the hock to help support the tail better.
Hollow spaces under the upper parts of the inside of all the legs were part of the original molding process. I filled them in with a ModPodge sand mix. I also covered the bottom of the hooves with ModPodge sand.
The overall shape of this horse is nice, the problems are in the details of the anatomy. A few layers of sand takes care of that!
If leaving outside, use Outdoor ModPodge or spray with a clear coat. A shiny clear coat will make the sand look like either wet sand or kind of weird shiny not-sand. Best to have the last layer be sand.
