Swordwhale Walking: illustration, webcomic, stories, photojourneys, videos
  • launch here
  • art & stories
    • black horses
    • Sea Ponies of Chincoteague
    • Just Animals
    • playing with water
    • Tradigital illustration
    • environmental education >
      • Christmas Magic Mural 2020
      • animal alphabet and counting murals
      • Assateague ponies
      • the salamander room
      • more touch room ocean
      • more: touch room forest
      • wetland
      • wetland art
      • greenleaf
      • reptile week murals: Nixon Park
    • just animals: photography
    • Tales of the E.L.F. >
      • That Darn Elf, a musing or two
      • cast and crew
      • I dreamed of black horses
      • fanfiction: If Wishes Were Elves...
      • Skyfire
      • Leyover and Bardic Circle
      • Following Raven
      • The Merrow's Cap >
        • Merrows Cap credits
      • Manannan's Horses
      • Fins
      • fandom >
        • Radagast's Rabbit Ride
        • the Lone Ranger >
          • LOLs and Trolls
          • but wait, there's Moore, and Silverheels
          • Hi Yo Silver
        • black panthers and night furies
        • tales of Middle Earth >
          • Mirthwood
          • Loth-LOL-ien >
            • Im-LOL-dris
            • Smirkwood
            • well, that coulda' been worse
        • Sherlocked
        • catz and doges on fandom
        • Faithful Sidekicks
    • murals
    • scribblings
    • coloring pages
  • mermaid tales
    • Gramma Swordwhale's Mermaid Blog >
      • how to mermaid
      • merfolk on the Chesapeake
      • my life as a mermaid
    • privateers and pumpkins and ponies oh my!
    • stupid gravity (the adventures of a mermaid on Eastern Neck Is.) >
      • stupid gravity credits
    • stupid gravity: the search for sea glass >
      • stupid gravity: the search for sea glass: credits
    • Stupid Gravity: Misty Cloudy Windy Stormy Augh! >
      • Misty Stormy credits
    • Stupid Gravity: the search for mermaids
    • mermaids, Moana and Maui, beached on Christmas Eve
    • horseshoe crabs forever
    • stupid gravity: hot hot hot >
      • hot hot hot credits
  • Chincoteague
    • back to the islands 2021 >
      • Ponies 2021
    • identify that pony
    • chincoteague pony art
    • Fall Roundup Oct 2019
    • Chincoteague 2019
    • pookas pumpkins and swamp ponies
    • Chincoteague Carousel
    • Chincoteague November 2018
    • the 3rd Sea Voyage of Makenuk's Fin
    • wild horses and kayaks 2017
    • wild ponies in camp
    • North Beach
    • on island time
    • saltwater cowboys
    • Chincoteague
    • Christmas by the Sea
    • island ponies
    • Ace and Unci revolt
    • beached
    • running water in between
    • Assateague Light
    • the Haunted Lagoon
  • crafty stuff
    • photo your toys >
      • how to photograph Breyers in the wild
      • Lokigator and Throg's Epic Adventure
      • Sam and Bucky's Excellent Adventure
      • Mando and Grogu
      • paint and wet snow pants
      • Legolas and Hwin, snow
      • derps (or how not to photograph Breyers and others)
      • Wonder Horse repaint
      • wild Breyers >
        • printable prints and downloads
        • water horses
        • beach Breyers
        • Lotus Legolas and Arod
        • teeny tiny Breyers
        • backyard Breyers and Schleichs
        • vintage breyers
        • Hartland Horses
        • Black Horses
      • educational display
      • Schleich and Safari Faeries
      • North beached
      • more model horses
      • beach party
      • advenatureData
      • Finding Hank
      • Otterlock and Hedgejawn >
        • Hounded in Baskerville
      • how to photograph your dragon
    • Rich Toy hobby horse rehab
    • ModPodge rules
    • paint pours
    • flour salt clay
    • chalk paint
    • rock it: paint rocks and use or lose them
    • faerie gardens >
      • more faerie gardens
      • faerie festival at Spoutwood Farm
    • sea this tutu (and make)
    • I found Dory
    • knit me a mermaid, or chicken, or Hei Hei
    • sea treasures
    • sea glass
    • sea horses
    • rehabbing horse epic fail >
      • do you wanna build a snow pony?
      • do you wanna build a sand pony?
      • Barbie horse gets a makeover
    • mermaid saddles
    • Yule Laugh, Yule Cry... >
      • a Brandywine Christmas
    • Uncle Bob's Toys >
      • Uncle Bob's Toys 2016
      • more: Uncle Bob's Crafts
      • the Adventures of Mortimer
  • adventures
    • Go Play Outside
    • Nature Deficit Disorder
    • I heart Nature
    • autumn light
    • cats
    • mushing 101 >
      • dogs on wheels >
        • Autumn Run on Wheels
      • dogsled
      • dogsledding: running on snow! >
        • Groundhog Day
      • kids and dawgs: first sled run
      • Klondike Derby
      • Sled Dogs and Pirate Ships
      • Christmas Day Run: Rail Trail
      • Horses and Huskies: when predator and prey share the trail
      • Schipperke doo dah >
        • Runnin' with the Big Dogs
        • Hobbit Husky
      • women who run with the wolves
      • Play Time
      • wubba wubba
      • New Year's Dog Day
      • Team Swordwhale
    • trains, sleddogs, and horses oh my!
    • butterscotch and sprinkles
    • horses >
      • horse reference for art
      • ponies small but mighty
      • First Horse: Saraf
      • the Wild Black Mare
      • between thunder and lightning
      • Goliath, Nevada Mustang
      • Yataalii
    • Planet Water >
      • Planet fish tank
      • planet toadpool
      • Planet Pond
      • Planet Stream
      • Planet River
      • Planet Marsh
      • Planet Ocean
      • Planet Water Bird >
        • Planet Water Bird: gulls
      • Planet turtle
      • Planet water snake
      • planet amphibian
    • kayak! >
      • blue boat home
      • kayaking 101
      • kayaking Assateague and Chincoteague
      • how to train your dragonfly
      • Chasing Raven
      • the Susquehanna River >
        • the Rock Garden >
          • return to the Rock Garden
        • Conewago Dreamin'
        • the Conejehola Flats
        • Thunderbird Island (petroglyphs on the Susquehanna)
        • to the White Lady and Beyond
      • Calvert Cliffs fossils
      • Sassafras River Lotus Paddle >
        • Return to the Sassafras
        • sassafras river 2015
        • sassafras paddle 20160814
        • Sassafras River 2017
        • Sassafras river 2018
      • Eastern Neck Island >
        • winter marsh, winter beach
        • Eastern Neck Island: under the supermoon
        • more Eastern Neck Island
      • Pinchot Park
      • Lake Marburg >
        • where are the manatees?
        • ...and the dolphins???
        • macros and SAVs
        • Lake Marburg 2018
        • how to be a kayaking Gramma
    • beached
    • dive in! (SCUBA) >
      • Gourd of the Rings
    • mid Atlantic seashells
    • longship company >
      • December sail
      • Sae Hrafn at Oakley
    • pirates and privateers >
      • Sailing 101
      • Schooner Sultana 1768
      • Capt John Smith Shallop
      • Pride of Baltimore II
      • Kalmar Nyckel
      • downrigging 2010 >
        • Chestertown autumn
        • Downrigging Weekend 2014
        • Downrigging 2015
        • Downrigging 2016
        • Downrigging 2017
        • downrigging 2018: pink tardis
        • Downrigging 2019
      • privateer weekend
    • horseshoe crabs and red knots >
      • horseshoe crab spawn 2021
      • slaughter beach
      • horseshoe crabs and semipalmated sandpipers 2019
    • surfboards and watchtowers: Cape Henlopen >
      • beached
      • Watching Whales >
        • Watching Whales...again
    • Seadogs: Newfoundland water trials
    • wind hounds
    • wild things! >
      • baltimore aquarium
      • there's a hummer in the garage...ceiling ...
      • critter cam
      • sky walking
      • leaf-fall
    • The Adventures of the Good Ship Fearaf
    • the incredibly dead blog page
  • art class
    • framing 101
    • watercolor: how to
    • sip n paints
    • acrylic painting 101
    • wildlife art class
    • Santa, You're Doomed
    • (drawing) horses 101 >
      • horse color 101
      • gaits
      • ponies in motion
      • tack
      • Draw: a horse
    • dogs and wolves
    • go ahead, draw a pirate ship
    • anthropomorphism (cartoon animals and stuff)
    • the Little Kids Page of Big Ideas
    • mural: how to >
      • Gabriel's Whale
      • stuff you need
      • drawing (mural)
      • drawing mural 2
      • painting
      • mural jungle
      • mural bat cave
      • mural cats
      • mural ocean
      • mural arctic
      • mural leaf smacking
      • watershed mural
    • crayons and colored pencils
    • palettes
  • wait wait! let me get the camera!
  • who perpetrated all this???
    • swordbroad

Mermaid Saddles

A trip to the Baltimore Aquarium netted me a mermaid. I didn't need a mermaid, but ... she had red hair and a turquoise fin...
Picture
A friend found the other mermaid (hers, by Aurora) and the two seahorses (gifted to me). The blue seahorse was originally a pale grey (few actual horses are white, mostly they are grey) by Our Generation. The black was a black horse by Our Generation (coat a bit battered so I repainted him). They're to scale with the American Girl dolls and their horses (which are no where near as cool as the Our Generation horses). While the heads are a little clunky, they have nice expressions, pretty good anatomy, good poses and really cool flowing hair. I repainted the grey with Rustoleum Oasis, ModPodged the surface and threw on some glitter.

You can never have too much glitter.

Following the tradition of taking your fine Breyer collectibles out in snow and surf and blowing sand to photograph them, I took the mermaids and horses to beaches on the Chesapeake Bay. The fact that they are not designed to stick to slippery seahorses led to this...

http://www.swordwhale.com/stupid-gravity-the-adventures-of-a-mermaid-on-eastern-neck-is.html

​
I've tried sticky dots, careful kung fu balancing, and pure speed... mermaids leap into the surf, fall on their faces in the sand, and generally look like this...
Picture
Picture
So the next step is obvious, build mermaid saddles.

Mermaids have one tail fin, not two legs, so they have to ride sidesaddle. (You can google that and find numerous insanely gutsy women doing insanely gutsy things with both legs on one side of the horse).

I had one saddle; the blue horse came with a slightly battered pink saddle, an English hunt seat type with, oddly, western stirrups (also could be competitive trail riding type stirrups). The girth "buckle" was irritatingly dysfunctional, so I cut it off and used some velcro dots.
The somewhat overloved (used, and stained) saddle was impossible to thoroughly clean, or repaint, so I built it up with foam, sticky back foam, and covered it in glittery tule. The tule drapes nicely and sticks like velcro. You can also glue it.

You can use tracing paper, a clear plastic bag, or other transparent film to trace existing shapes (in the saddle, or the horse's back), copy onto your foam shape and cut out.

For the second saddle, I cut a felt pad, shaped like the kinds of pads we use under real English saddles (used the pink saddle as reference). Then cut a slightly smaller pad out of dark blue glittery sticky back foam. The sticky back foam is easier to shape, squish, and form. Make sure it isn't pulling loose by the next day.  

saddle upgrade

A few more mermaids and horses joined the crew. The existing saddles showed need of upgrades. 

For one, sticky back foam is Pure Evil. It does not sticky for long. It does not sticky in wet, it does not sticky in sand, it does not sticky in vans (winter or summer ones), it does not sticky after a three hour drive, it does not sticky in salt air, or damp air, or any air near water. Which is where mermaids are. Use normal foam with real glue, or stitch it.

I modified the blue saddle with ModPodge (as glue) and pins (those nice pearl headed ones). This one is made from glitter sticky foam cut in the shape of an English saddle (based on the pink saddle that came with the blue "seahorse"). The cantle (back) is made from thicker foam, covered in the glitter foam, edged with glitter foam. It tends to not sticky. The velcro holding the girth together does not sticky either, so it got stitched. I pinned the edge of the cantle, stitched other parts, and it works. It is attached to a felt pad that looks like the kinds of saddle pads we use under real saddles. It has a seashell glued on the back of the cantle.

The pink saddle got a saddle cover made of felt, and stenciled with acrylics. I stitched the velcro onto the girth, the sticky does not sticky. There is a nice overgirth of tule; basically, I tie the whole thing on with a piece of tule, it looks fabulous. The cantle on this one was made with wire stuck through the back of the plastic saddle, and glitter foam glued to it.

The random fin holders (bent flaps on the sides of the saddles) that echo the horns on sidesaddles were removed. They did not hold mermaids on anyway.

For saddle covers and saddle pads, I placed felt under the saddle, then traced around it (chalk works well)(also some color pencils).

I adore tule, it is gorgeous, light and faerie like, and Does Not Die. Ever. But glued on as saddle covers it flows in the wind, goes the wrong way, and comes off. So I relegated it to a nice girth and to some small bits.


photographing mermaids

You can take your mermaids to the beach, or photograph them against a green screen ...or blue, or some other color, the trick is to remove the background, leaving just the mermaid and horse, and move all that to a nifty background. 

Dowel rods and pipe cleaners (aka "chenille stems" at your craft store): priceless. Stick rods in sand, use pipe cleaners to tie mermaids to them, keeps everyone from falling over. Pipe cleaners can also be wound around mermaids arms and legs to pose them, or tie them to the saddle or horse.

I have two scales of mermaids here; they could be photographed with the little one as a kid on a pony, or the smaller one could be placed slightly in the background... things in the distance are smaller. Or she could be placed closer to the camera so she appears the same size as her sister.

More mermaids (and other characters) joined the crew and various horses were tried out. The Barbie dun peeled in the waves (the ModPodge came off the paint when wet) and is relegated to dry land. A couple of breyers were tried, they make nice ponies. My favorites are the Johnny West horses (Flame and Thunderbolt) from the 60s. Flame is a lovely vintage palomino, but the Thunderbolts were a gawdawful attempt at a countershaded chestnut that suffered epic fail. So I painted them black. They will get better saddles.


$1 wooden Adirondack chairs from AC Moore... priceless... also $1 tiny picnic basket...


epic horse rehab 101

The dun pony began as a Barbie horse, found at a yard sale or maybe a thrift shop by a friend. It's not a bad horse toy, except for the pinched barrel (behind the shoulder, very narrow), possibly designed that way to accommodate Barbie riding. And the kind of awful fashionista eyeball design. And the stupid vague white marks on knees and hocks (whatthebleep color is that supposed to be?!?!?!?). I repainted the eye to the sort you'd find on a bald faced pinto, the face to white with pink skin showing through the short velvety hair of the face, and the legs white (pinkish hooves go with white leg markings). A little human hair conditioner (or was that mane and tail conditioner?) defrizzed the mane and tail. I ModPodged the entire horse (gloss ModPodge); the original body finish was well worn glossy, and the craft paint I used for the markings was a matte finish.

Below, the original Barbie horse (and another one that got turned into a sand sculpture).
Horse with mane and tail washed and conditioned...
Picture
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.