star feather - chestnut appaloosa dappled custom my little pony by aikarin


[click on picture for enlarged view - warning - huge file!]	Star Feather - 2008 Custom by Aikarin For as long as I could imagine, I've always wanted a horse. And I've always admired those lovely realistic Breyer and Trail of Painted Ponies customs from afar. Star Feather isn't a real horse, but she's as close as I can get in suburbia. ^_^
[click on picture for enlarged view - warning - huge file!]	Star Feather started off life as a sad TAF Pillow Talk, a weird greyish colored pony in Sugarberry's pose. I gave her many coats of white paint with just a touch of cream. Then, I built up layer after layer of brown, chestnut, and darker brown shadings. She's named for the distinctive white "star" on her forehead! Notice how her muzzle shades to a darker brown.
[click on picture for enlarged view - warning - huge file!] Star Feather's hair is decorated with tiny feathers in some nifty patterns! She has some small braids secured with knots at the end. No glue was used, just beads. Traditionally, Appaloosa horses had thin tails...Star Feather's tail is thick at the base, but it is layered. Her hair is a mix of chestnut brown and a slightly darker shade of brown.
[click on pictures for enlarged views] Coming...and going! Here, you can get a better sense of her dappled pattern and rear hoof markings.
Star Feather's distinctive dapples were delicately blended by hand in a random spotted pattern. Front view of Star Feather's front hooves. They are randomly striped in browns & white over a tan colored base. A distinctive feature of Appy horses are their striped hooves!
Her eyes were repainted in tan-orange with a hint of brown, white sclera typical of Appies, and given a nice shiny gloss coat. Lashes were repainted in black. You can also see where the rear hoof markings wrap around to the front of each hoof. The "white" areas on this pony are actually not pure white, but rather a white with a hint of cream. click on picture for enlarged view - warning - huge file! -->
	A top view of this custom pony. As you can see, the dappling extends over her back. She does smell a little strange, but I figured out it's from the pigments in the white paint. Not really noticeable on display. Star Feather has a sweet personality and gets along nicely with the other ponies in the herd. ^_^ <-- click on picture for enlarged view - warning - huge file!
[click on picture for enlarged view - warning - huge file!]	Star Feather is a CUSTOM PONY, not affiliated with Hasbro, and this design will not be repeated. She is signed and dated under one hoof. Please check the Customs for Sale page for availability.
Here's a little bonus item for reading to the bottom of the page - a Star Feather icon for use in your on-line journals or blogs! Just right-click, save it to your computer, and upload it to your journal. Please remember to include a link back to aikarin.com ^_^

Some Work-In-Progress pics:

Just starting out after a base coat of white with a touch of cream. Argh, she looks like quite a mess!

Quite hideous in this "ugly stage". I almost decided to abandon the project at this point!!

After some more coats of paint:

There, not too shabby! Never give up!! ^_^

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