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I bought a young unicorn off Ebay that was in mint condition, but arrived with a broken hind leg, and the horn was not only broken off it was also bent at an almost 90 degree angle so that all the gold coating around the middle is all flaking off. The leg is a clean break, so I think I can glue it and tweak the edges with new paint based the awesome help that was in the other unicorn repair forums! Thanks so much for posting so many helpful repair forumn threads!
What I didn’t find in the repair forums to date was any advice on what I can do about the horn. I think if I am careful I can straighten the horn out again (since pewter is soft), but does anyone know the best way to put the horn back together again just in case it breaks when I straighten it? Or have some advice on the best way to straighten it? Also, any suggestions on how I can repaint, fix, etc. the areas where all the gold is coming off or missing?
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Oh dear,
Honestly, I’d suggest getting a refund from the seller. The leg would be an easy enough fix, but the horn is never going to look like new again.
I have a PYO kirin whose horn came in bent. I straightened it really, really slowly (though it wasn’t as bad as what you describe) and I painted over it to hide the cracked plating.
However, since the plating on yours is falling off, you’d need to fill in the gaps, and on a unicorn horn, because of the swirl, I’m not sure… releafing it would be a pain. I would try filling it with many, many coats of paint, and once the paint is even with the plating, repaint the entire thing using thin layers (otherwise, the brushstrokes will really, really show). Once that’s done, then redo the dark line that spirals all the way through with a small brush or top coat the horn and antique it.
If it does break off while straightening it… I dunno!
But that is if you don’t simply go for the refund, as Amy suggested 🙂
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http://www.sarahjestin.com/feedbacklists.htmYea, unfortunately the horns are pewter and it will NEVER look prfect again no matter what you do. You can TRY to bend it back, but do it VERY VERY slowly. Pewter will break apart fairly easily if it is bent too much. Then, lightly sand off the flaking gold and repaint it. You might be better off sanding ALL the gold off if you want it to look consitant but bear in mind, there is no paint that is going to look like the gold plating on the horns if you want it to match other unicorns. You may be able to releaf it, but I’ve personally never worked with gold leaf so I don’t know if that is a true fix either.
If you ask super nice maybe windstone will send you a replacement?
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Dreamscape, Orion, Poison Dart, Fireberry, Spangler + Tigerberry DragonsI had a kirin whose horn (while it never broke) lost about 50% of it’s old plating – presumably from age? I’ve had him at least 10 years…
I used a gold leaf pen on him and then clear coated it. If you look REALLY closely you can see the edge between the real plate and the pen plating, but the color is identical and when on display it looks perfect.
If you’d like, I can look up the brand I used. It was certainly easier than actual gold leaf!
I bought a unicorn off ebay once that had a toothpick horn >.> I made one from sculpty for him…it turned out pretty good for a non metal horn. I coating it with leafing after I baked it. It is more fragile than the original but he does have a horn at least!
So if the horn breaks completely there are alternatives. I know the windstone gang has been dealing with a shortage of horns lately >.< Just be careful trying to get it out if the horn breaks. They are anchored pretty deeply and can break the forehead very easily if you put too much pressure on them. Some of the people that do more repairwork than me might have some advice on getting the stub to turn loose if it breaks off.
Hope you get him fixed up! It stinks to get something you have been wanting off ebay only to have it show up busted =Thank you so much for all the replies! I really appreciate the help and all the wonderful advice!
Hopefully everything goes well, and for those that asked, he was insured and the seller is giving me a full refund. I just can’t stand to see him looking so broken if I can fix him. I figured if the horn repair doesn’t go well, and I got desperate I could always fill the hole where the horn goes and put a crystal or stone there instead; he wouldn’t be a unicorn, but still be pretty to look at…
Thanks again everyone!
Thank you Kiya! That sounds like a great solution. If you know the brand that would be a tremendous help!
If you can get the horn out, I just might have a young unicorn horn here I can send you from when Susie sent me a few back when they still had horns on hand.
Let me know.
Kyrin
Thank you Kiya! That sounds like a great solution. If you know the brand that would be a tremendous help!
It’s probably a Krylon 18k gold leafing pen. I’ve use this brand and it looks pretty much the same color as the horns.
I use a rotary tool, like a Dremel Tool, and carefully drill out the tang like you would drill out a cavity. Then remove the remaining glue with a pick.
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