Rocking it

Abandoned rocking horse, scrubbed clean. A huge make-over is in her future. Do rocking horses glow up? I bet they can!

I've acquired a rocking horse! 

It was pretty dirty and unloved and was dumped by the side of the road for disposal in a huge pile of other waste, but I saw her little face and thought it was worth stopping and checking her out.

Even under the dirt, she looked sad but hopeful. Her glassy in-the-wrong-spot eyes looked balefully up. Please don't let them send me to the tip. I can be good again. I know I can.

I hauled her out from under some other junk and had a good look. The slider mechanism was perfect. True, she was not very pretty, her ears were torn off, along with her mane, forelock and tail and her paintwork wasn't very pretty, but I could see how she didn't deserve to be thrown out like garbage.

I rescued her and now her glow-up is underway.

A lot of work needed here for this rocking horse glow-up

The head needs a lot of work. 

The ears will need to be taken off and replaced with wooden ones. I will be able to use wood from the seat back which I'm removing so her ears are the same timber as the rest of her.

The eyes need to be removed, a setting repainted a little lower on the face and the eyeballs reattached (or perhaps some bigger eyeballs, so make her even prettier.) I'm aiming to make her look like an Arab, since she has a very dishy face which is typical of the breed.

She also needs eyelashes! Thankfully discount shops have very cheap ones which I can use.

Her neck and shoulders are very square and will have the corners shaved to make her a little more round. I might see if I can add a little extra timber where her neck joins her shoulder too, as it's a very stark join.

I'm feeling like the handle pegs can be cut off and sanded flat as I am putting a new bridle and reins on. I notice Spotlight has little bits which decorate handbags which actually are tiny little replica horse bits, so after I've measures her mouth, I'll get one which fits. I have lots of leather scraps, and I had horses as a teen, so making a bridle will be no trouble at all.

Her mouth, then, needs to be longer and bit enough to have a bit. 

My plan for her forelock, and mane will be either fake hair from thrift shop wigs, or hair extensions from not-real hair, I've seen some nice ones online, all of which are significantly cheaper that buying actual rocking horse manes and tails. I'm very fortunate that the housing for the mane is already in place, so I won't just glue the mane on, it'll be set into the wood so it looks like it's growing out of her little wooden neck.

The rump end also needs a lot of work.

At the other end, there's more work to do. 

She'll need a tail. I have some fake hair which may or may not make a good mane and tail, so I'll see how we go. Her current lambswool stub is just so sad.

The saddle back will be removed entirely and the top of the seat will then be rounded off a bit to make a rounder rump. 

She's been home made with flat bits of wood, so she'll never be one of those big, rounded, horse-shaped beauties, but even rounding her rump a bit will help the illusion of horse-hood.

Her legs are also rather flat on the edges, but I've already started rasping them to  again give them a slightly more rounded appearance. It's not much, but already she's taking on a softer appearance.

I'll be making a new saddle from leather which I already have. I'm not sure whether I'll add stirrups or keep the foot bar, but I might keep the foot bar.

I was going to paint the rocking mechanism, but after a good scrub, it is clean and in really good condition. Looking online, a lot of rocking horses have their bases unpainted, so I will be doing this too.

As for the paint job, I've decided to go with a traditional pale dapple grey. I remember visiting my cousins as a child and they had a full size pony one which must have cost an absolute bomb (as they still do now!) and it was dappled grey. It had real horsehair and proper saddle which I feel would be overkill for this little one. 

So this is my newest project. I'll be using as much recycled and reclaimed things to bring this little girl back to life and give her the glow up she's always wanted.

 

Double Drabble: Putting His Foot Down

Title: Putting His Foot Down
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Owen.
Rating: G
Written For: Challenge 670: Stop at tw100.
Spoilers: Nada.                                                                                                  
Summary: Ianto’s had it with Owen’s complaining.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
A/N: Double drabble.




( Putting His Foot Down... )

Doctor Who Drabble: Clogged

Title: Clogged
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Rory Williams, Eleventh Doctor.
Rating: G
Written For: Challenge 528: Filter at dw100.
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: There’s a problem with the TARDIS’ engines.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Doctor Who, or the characters.




( Clogged... )

FAKE Double Drabble: Unavoidable Delay

Title: Unavoidable Delay
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ryo.
Rating: G
Setting: During the manga.
Summary: Looks like Ryo is going to be late for work.
Written Using: The dw100 prompt ‘Prompt’.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
A/N: Double drabble.




( Unavoidable Delay... )