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Hi melody!
I read somewhere that you guys wanted to set up some kind of project or area where you could fix tarnished kirin horns and dragon horns. Do you know if you are still planning on doing something like that?
Thank you!eaglefeather831 wrote:Hi melody!
I read somewhere that you guys wanted to set up some kind of project or area where you could fix tarnished kirin horns and dragon horns. Do you know if you are still planning on doing something like that?
Thank you!Not at the moment. We don’t have the time or man power to do that right now, but this project was something I thought would be a good thing to do. But fixing horns is very not only difficult…it is also nearly impossible! I tried to replace a few horns on some old pieces I had. When I tried to remove the old horn, the horn often broke off inside the head, leaving a piece of pewter that needed to be ground out with a dremel tool. This is tricky because you can damage the piece accidentally! I knocked the side off of a couple heads doing this, so it would be too nerve wracking to try to fix somebody else’s piece!
The other possible way to fix these would be to leave the chunk of broken horn in place, clip a new horn short, and glue it in on top of the old stem.. this would not endanger the piece as much but the new horn probably wouldn’t be as strong as the old one. We need to experiment with this approach.Melody wrote:eaglefeather831 wrote:Hi melody!
I read somewhere that you guys wanted to set up some kind of project or area where you could fix tarnished kirin horns and dragon horns. Do you know if you are still planning on doing something like that?
Thank you!Not at the moment. We don’t have the time or man power to do that right now, but this project was something I thought would be a good thing to do. But fixing horns is very not only difficult…it is also nearly impossible! I tried to replace a few horns on some old pieces I had. When I tried to remove the old horn, the horn often broke off inside the head, leaving a piece of pewter that needed to be ground out with a dremel tool. This is tricky because you can damage the piece accidentally! I knocked the side off of a couple heads doing this, so it would be too nerve wracking to try to fix somebody else’s piece!
The other possible way to fix these would be to leave the chunk of broken horn in place, clip a new horn short, and glue it in on top of the old stem.. this would not endanger the piece as much but the new horn probably wouldn’t be as strong as the old one. We need to experiment with this approach.I have had some success with removing horns with paint stripper, but it’s very tricky and you run the risk of ruining the paint if you get it anywhere but into the hole. Sometimes you get lucky and the horn comes out without a fight.
Only ones I’ve had come out reasonably easy has been the unicorns, and I still had to syringe in a fair amount of acetone to dissolve the glue first.
Kyrin
Kyrin wrote:Melody wrote:eaglefeather831 wrote:Hi melody!
I read somewhere that you guys wanted to set up some kind of project or area where you could fix tarnished kirin horns and dragon horns. Do you know if you are still planning on doing something like that?
Thank you!Not at the moment. We don’t have the time or man power to do that right now, but this project was something I thought would be a good thing to do. But fixing horns is very not only difficult…it is also nearly impossible! I tried to replace a few horns on some old pieces I had. When I tried to remove the old horn, the horn often broke off inside the head, leaving a piece of pewter that needed to be ground out with a dremel tool. This is tricky because you can damage the piece accidentally! I knocked the side off of a couple heads doing this, so it would be too nerve wracking to try to fix somebody else’s piece!
The other possible way to fix these would be to leave the chunk of broken horn in place, clip a new horn short, and glue it in on top of the old stem.. this would not endanger the piece as much but the new horn probably wouldn’t be as strong as the old one. We need to experiment with this approach.I have had some success with removing horns with paint stripper, but it’s very tricky and you run the risk of ruining the paint if you get it anywhere but into the hole. Sometimes you get lucky and the horn comes out without a fight.
Only ones I’ve had come out reasonably easy has been the unicorns, and I still had to syringe in a fair amount of acetone to dissolve the glue first. Since I usually do repairs and rebuilding anyway, if I break it, I can fix it. So for me, pulling horns isn’t so bad, but not everyone has that kind of time. I do avoid the need for it whenever I can though.
Kyrin
I have a question sort of related to this subject.
Say you’re someone who is afraid to remove a horn from a piece, (this being me, afraid to remove one from a unicorn) but would rather touch it up to bring back the more shiney gold it used to be. The unicorn I just got is older, and the gold on his horn has kinda faded away. Overall, it’s not bad looking. It almost looks antiqued or something. I just prefer it to be all shiney, and like new again. Does anyone know if there is something out on the market that I can try to achieve this? Or, is it best to just leave it alone?
If anyone can provide some info or suggestions, I’d sure appreciate it! 🙂
travistie wrote:I have a question sort of related to this subject.
Say you’re someone who is afraid to remove a horn from a piece, (this being me, afraid to remove one from a unicorn) but would rather touch it up to bring back the more shiney gold it used to be. The unicorn I just got is older, and the gold on his horn has kinda faded away. Overall, it’s not bad looking. It almost looks antiqued or something. I just prefer it to be all shiney, and like new again. Does anyone know if there is something out on the market that I can try to achieve this? Or, is it best to just leave it alone?
If anyone can provide some info or suggestions, I’d sure appreciate it! 🙂
This topic should help you! http://www.windstoneeditions.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6247
Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.comCould someone share how to gold leaf a horn, or use a gold pen? Or maybe point me in the direction of a useful tutorial? Thank you.
Yes, I would like to know how to use gold leaf too. Is gold leaf actual gold? I hope that’s not a stupid question. I’ve never dealt with the stuff before.
There are different kinds of gold leaf. Gold leaf, traditionally, is sheets of real genuine gold, pounded very flat and thin. You usually need to buy it by the ‘book’ which typically contains about 24 4″ x 4″ sheets of gold leaf. There are two main kinds; Patent gold leaf (which is stuck to a sheet of tissue paper) and loose, which is just a loose super thin piece of gold. Patent gold leaf if more expensive and I have seen it run from $60-80 per book, where loose is a bit less at around $50-70 per book depending on the karat and manufacturer. With patent gold leaf you do not need a guilding tip, which is essentially a very expensive little brush that allows you to lift gold leaf and handle it, since it is too thin to do with your fingers! But the patent is very very hard to leaf onto surfaces that are not flat.
This is an expensive thing to do and it’s really hard! I have done it quite a bit in the last several years and i still curse loudly and make a mess each time.
Here is a tutorial of sorts:
http://www.gildedplanet.com/howtogoldleaf.asp
These days they do make many imitation gold leaf substitutes. These are made with different alloys and can include copper and brass depending on the manufacturer. Sometimes they are called imitation, simulation, artificial, or composition gold leaf. These are much, much cheaper, but they WILL tarnish unless you seal them.
Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.comeaglefeather831 wrote:…. or use a gold pen?
The gold pens are pretty easy to use! Buy, shake, and paint it on. A few words of warning: I don’t know how the gold paint pens will ‘age’ over top of the gold plated horns. It might look fine, or in 10 years it might look tarnished. Unless someone has long term experience with this, it is ‘untested’. Most gold paint pens are not real gold but metal alloys that may or may not discolor over time.
That said, I like to use the Krylon ones myself, but that’s personal preference. I have never tried using one on a horn.
I would also note that if the horn has any sort of fractures… e.g. where the horn was bent and the plating has a chipped, wrinkled, or otherwise actual surface texture, the pen probably won’t really cover that up super well.
Any attempts to repair or touch up a horn should probably be considered ‘at your own risk’ right now until Windstone can dedicate some time to finding a good solution!
Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.com
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