KATHMAN
Not just for embroidery
Although they have been somewhat uncommon in recent years, haired models
have been the subject of renewed interest thanks to the popularity of vintage
customs. There is no question that few
things rival a well-done hair mane and
tail when it comes to creating the illusion that a model is a living horse. When
working with minis, however, even the
finest kid mohair can seem out of scale.
For the smallest scales, there is a better
fiber: cotton embroidery floss.
will give you a length of fine, soft cotton fiber. The fiber is fragile, though, so
the process of combing out the strands is
delicate work that is best done in small,
short sections. Fortunately when it comes
to hairing small-scale horses, the fibers ated lengths, close to the final lengths
do not need to be very long.
needed, rather than trim them later. Just
like pulling, and not trimming, a living
Step 1: Making the Sections
horse’s mane, this gives a softer, more
The first step is to cut the floss into a natural look to the ends.
handful of sections a little over twice
the length needed for the area to be
haired. For a typical mini with a natural
mane, lengths of 1.75 to 2 inches (44Why use floss?
50mm) will work well. Slightly longer
Embroidery floss has a lot of advantages pieces will be needed for horses with
over mohair. It comes in a wide range of long tails, especially if the tailbone is
colors, including a number of suitable short. Each section is then folded in
colors that are available in graduated half, and a bit of white glue is added
shades from light to dark. It is stocked to the fold to create a small “tab” at the
by most craft stores and many large dis- top. This tab will be your handle while
count retailers. It is also inexpensive; one unraveling the fibers, so it will need to
33¢ skein can produce enough fiber for dry before you proceed to the next step.
more than a dozen Stablemate-sized
Step 2: Unraveling the Threads
models. The only downside is that it must Note that each section does not have to At this point, the sections still look like
be prepared first, and that preparation contain one color. If your model is going thread. To change that, the individual
can be time-consuming. But the result to have a mixed or shaded mane or tail, threads will have to be unraveled. This
is an in-scale fiber that drapes naturally this is the easiest time to do that. It is also process requires a straight pin and good
and holds a style without the use of ad- a good idea to create sections of gradu- eyesight (or reading glasses), because the
ditional products.
two twisted strands are very fine. You are
going to gently untwist the thread until
you can see a gap between the strands.
Preparing the fibers
Insert your pin into that gap and pull
The most common brand of floss, DMC,
downward. You may also need to continis sold in skeins measuring just under 9
ue untwisting the strands as you do this,
yards (8m). The floss is composed of six
especially if they begin to tangle.
threads which are themselves made of
two strands tightly twisted together. To get
When all six threads have been unrava fiber suitable for hairing a mini model,
elled, the strands will be quite wavy.
you will need to separate out those six
While this might be useful for a model
threads and then untwist the strands. This
with a previously-braided mane, in most
“Not Just for Embroidery”
19