Five Style of Customising You Have to Try

Happy Friday everyone :D It's currently so cold inside my house I can see my own breath. Isn't this country fun. I just love it so much.

Well, if you are capable of feeling your own fingers this Friday you might want to celebrate the awful weather by trying something new. Well do not fret I am here to inspire you! Here are five styles of customising that you just must try.

1. Mohair

The first technique that everyone must try at some point in their customising career is mohairing. Mohair (or similar) is applied to the model instead of a sculpted mane and tail.

If you want to mohair a model horse here are the supplies you will need:

• Model horse body
• Dremel (or similar) to remove mane and tail
• Mohair
• Glue
• Epoxy Putting (to sculpt a new dock)

You can purchase mohair online from model horse dealers and others. I even have some awesome pink ombre mohair that is just beautiful!

Sana is a custom Weathergirl by Deb Brown. You can see her beautiful mohair mane and tail that just enhance her gorgeous colour and look.

2. Dip Painting

I first tried this a few years ago and it is so much fun! You may have done this previously as an art project as a child but it also works really well for model horses. 

The basic principle is that you put a hydrophobic substance like spray paint or nail polish onto the top of a jar of water. Then (wearing gloves) you just dip your primed model horse into the water. The substance will adhere to the surface of the model horse creating a cool marble effect.

If you want to try this technique you will need:

• Primed model horse
• Nail polish, Spray Paint or Marbling Paints
• Old Jar
• Water

It doesn't really matter which substance you use. You can buy specialist marbling paints online but your old nail polishes will work absolutely fine if you just want to try it once.

This little guy using nail varnish for this technique using blacks and pinks, it is really cute.

3. Etching

Etching is a method of customising where instead of adding paint you remove the original paintwork to create a new pattern.

To do this all you will need is a sharp blade or carbide scraper. You will gently remove parts of original paint work until you get the pattern you want.

If you want to try this technique you will need:

• Sharp blade or carbide scraper
• Original Finish model horse

There are lots of online tutorials showing you how to properly remove the paintwork. The key is to do so gently so you don't scratch the plastic and take chunks out of the poor horse!

Sunshine is an adorable little etchie that was one of my first custom models I purchased. The pattern is just beautiful.

4. Pencils

Pencils are often used in combination with other technique but did you know you can use them exclusively to create a model in its own right?

All you will need is some good quality pastel pencils (other pencils also work but I prefer pastel ones). You then use these to draw your pattern. This works best with colours like fleabitten grey rather than solid ones.

If you want to try this technique you will need:

• Primed model horse
• Pastel pencils (or similar)
• Sealant

Just like with pastels you will need to make sure you regularly seal your model as it is very easy to smudge pencils with your fingers!

Pastels were used in combination with pencils to create this adorable little fleabitten grey.

5. Colour Shift

Colour shift paints are so much fun! You can purchase good quality specialist model ones from Green Stuff World. They create a lovely metallic effect that shimmers in the sun.

If you want to try this technique the most important thing to know is that your base colour will impact your finished effect. The manufacturer will usually recommend black as a base to create the colour shift effect, but other colours can be used to create a beautiful shimmer effect.

If you want to try this technique you will need:

• Model horse painted solid black
• Colour shift paint

Experiment with the paints to create different effects on different models.

This cute dressage horse is painted with colour shift paint on his body with metallic mane, tail and hooves.