What I
did was take an old broken ceramic music box that had been knocking around
in our junk storage, and used the same basic methods and skills I've developed
on models to turn it from trash to treasure. Below is the condition
as found:
The skills you learn and use here don't have to be restricted to boxed model kits. Recently I presented a gift to the wife, something that earned me a lot of points with her and it didn't cost me much at all (although that's not the point. Really!).
What I
did was take an old broken ceramic music box that had been knocking around
in our junk storage, and used the same basic methods and skills I've developed
on models to turn it from trash to treasure. Below is the condition
as found:
Not a pretty sight. Two legs and the tail had been broken off and sort of reglued in the past. There was a very basic and pretty dull paint job on it from the manufacturer, who was Enesco by the way.
I redid the glue job on the broken pieces using gap filling superglue, then used Aleene's General Purpose Primer to prepare it for painting. This primer is a matte clear, and perfect for this use. Then I covered the whole thing with a good coat of grey acrylic, and started painting.
Instead
of just painting the pegasus solid white, I gave it some character by drybrushing
ivory over the grey for the hide, and white over black for the mane, tail,
and wings. This really showed up the details and brought the statue
to life. Then detail painting on the flowers and ribbons finished the
pegasus. The clouds were dark blue base, then white was mixed with
something called Liquitex Irridescent Medium and layered on. This stuff
gave it a pearl luster, a nice touch. The base was painted and detailed
in complimentary colors, and several coats of satin varnish were put on,
people will be picking this thing up to wind the music box from time to time
and you want to protect the paint job.
The final result is a rescued treasure, and a nice break from model building. It tickled the wife so much, maybe she won't be mad when she sees how much I spend on my next trip to the hobby store!
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