More on Hand Painted Manes

Yesterday I showed photos of models in my collection that I am sure have hand painted manes or mane tendrils. Today's blog post is about those that I am on the fence about.

First though, there are three characteristics I've been noticing in those pieces with hand painted manes:

- the hand painting tendrils tend to end with rounded edges (although not always.) 

- the manes of those models appear thicker and have an almost chalky look to them.

- the black paint is sometimes shiny

So, with that in mind, take a look at these models. And feel free to post your thoughts in the comments.

This is carpet herd member Dappled Dude. (Yes, I know he's not dappled; he was named after a horse I loved when I was little and thought all spots were dappling.) 

He was (and still is) a favorite and his mane shows evidence that he was heavily played with. (1963)

The mane doesn't appear too thick, but there is some rounding on the edges of his mane. What makes me lean towards saying that Dappled Dude has some hand painting is that I see darker black stripes in the mane that appear as though they were painted over the already painted mane. 

 

My carpet herd Stretch Morgan has the thick mane that the hand painted ones have. (1965)

And that tendril near his eye has shiny black paint and rounded edges. Notice the carefully hand painted eyeliner - see how it is dark and shiny? (Dappled Dude has similar eyes.)

I lean towards a probably on his mane having some hand painting.

Another buckskin Quarter Horse Gelding from my collection. (1961/63)

I see some similarities to his counterpart from yesterday (above) but I don't see enough to say he's hand painted. I go back and forth on him.

While taking these photos, I discovered another mystery/oddity in a mold not yet shown. I'll get some pictures and do a post about this mold in the very near future.

Stay 'tooned!

New Ponies!

Some new models have arrived from my friend, Lynn Anderson, and The Model Trading Post.

I love Breyer's Stretch Morgan, and when I saw this one on sale on her site, I snapped him up. He has beautiful shading and is in excellent condition, especially when you consider that he was produced in 1990 - 1991 and is eighteen years old!

The Running Foal is a vintage mold like the Stretch Morgan, and this guy is nicely done. I am trying to decide if I want to take that blanket off or not - his color underneath is so pretty. But I am afraid that I might pack it away and forget about it if I do. Hmmmm.

There is also a charm bracelet that came with this piece - it would make a great Christmas gift to one of my little Pony Pals. I think that is what will happen to it (even though I normally keep all pieces that come with a model together.)

And while I prefer Breyer's vintage molds, I really liked Grace, the fourth Vintage Collectors Club offering this year.

I also like black horses, so even though I have no other Weather Girl models, Rhapsody in Black has come to live with me. (I am not starting a new conga, I am not starting a new conga...)

Finally, I bought this blanket, even though I already have it.

Photo taken from Google Images.

I sew a lot, and now that I am retired and have time, I thought it would be fun to make some blankets for my models. I didn't have a pattern, and so I am planning on using this to create one. I may have to cut it apart or modify it, and I did not want to do that to the one I already had in my collection of blankets. (If anyone knows where to get good blanket patterns, please leave a comment. Thanks!)

It's a rainy Saturday here in Indiana and the perfect day to try my hand at model horse blankets.