I'm starting 2023 on the blog, a bit late, but with a very interesting project - a horse that has already appeared on the occasion of the post about my October purchases. I also know that many people are impatiently waiting for his story - so here it is.
The advert
Ever since a white lady - Blinky - appeared in my herd, I fell in love with old white horses. I do not know how it is that in the pictures they did not impress me much, but live they are simply magical.
This is the horse that prevented my poodle from getting the name Prince.
When I saw him for the first time - in the photos in the ad - it was like love at first sight, like a gauntlet thrown down with a challenge. A "slightly" unkempt, old handsome, practically without any equipment, he scared with yellow color, paint defects, dirt visible from a distance in tangled, uncombed hair... but this hair looked quite long. All these features, instead of scaring me away - attracted me like a magnet.
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| Prince in the ad |
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| Prince in the ad |
The arrival
And so on October 25, 2022, he came to me, probably from Olsztyn, i.e. from Masuria (Poland). As my third purchase in a month, the 33rd horse in my collection, whose unboxing started at 3.33 pm - the number 3 seems to be haunting him - he has three horseshoes left of his entire equipment. This is what he looked like right after unboxing.
I couldn't believe it was his original hair - it felt very strange to the touch, reminded me of something like cotton wool. I was afraid that it is very thin and at the time of combing not much of them will remain. I will repeat the general impressions from the first post - Tail in a slightly disintegrating state - I hope it will survive the cleaning. Mane theoretically in original length. Discoloration, stains, additional painting with crayons or felt-tip pens - generally a ton of dirt to the touch. It is quite an old horse, so its condition is good anyway. Painting of hooves, muzzle and eyes in quite good condition.
About this model
Prince appeared in 1991. He is modeled on the first Barbie horse in this shape - the ancestor of the entire Barbie Arab family - Prancer. And certainly many people can confuse him with Prancer, because they have the same color and similar shading, similar hair, the same harness and saddle.
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| Prancer's box (photo from ebay.com) |
I attach the photo above for comparison with the discussed model. As you can see, Prancer's middle name is Prince, so they can be considered related. Prince came in two varieties - with white and pink hair. I don't know if you could predict which version you'd get without opening the box, because on the box the horse had pink hair.
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| Prince's box in german version (photo from ebay.com) |
Prince is modeled on a classic horse and I count him as such. Therefore, there is not much equipment, although compared to the progenitor, it is richer. In the box with the horse you could find:
- a bridle with reins - made entirely of fabric
- a pink, plastic women's saddle
- saddle pad
- pink horseshoes
- decorative ribbon
- a hairbrush
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| Photo of Prince's accessories found on ebay.com |
In the Barbie Journals, Prince appears harnessed to a carriage - practically the same as Ski Fun - only the stickers differed. It was sold separately and, like Ski Fun, had the option of converting it into a sleigh. With the same carriage you can also meet another horse - Diva.
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| Prince with carriage in Barbie Jourmal (photo from Flickr) |
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| Prince with carriage in Barbie Jourmal (photo from Flickr) |
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| Carriage box (photo from ebay.com) |
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| Carriage box (photo from ebay.com) |
A closer look before cleaning
After a successful experiment of deyellowing - retrobrighting - performed on Lila, I knew that Prince would be the perfect patient for this therapy. Before it even went to the initial cleaning - I decided to document its original condition in detail.
Defects in painting on the head, dirt and yellowing.
Visible traces of pink crayon on the muzzle.
Visible nose damage.
A trace of contact with something hot at the level of the lower corner of the eye, in the middle of the head, at the seam.
There was some kind of blue crayon or felt-tip mark on the ear.
The front leg has also been embellished with pink crayon.
The lower left side of the abdomen was also heated by something. The stitches turned yellow.
The first bath
After a detailed session, I took off his horseshoes and he landed in a bowl of water with washing powder. It has been a good thorough wash.
After:
Retrobrighting - bleaching
There is a lot of confusion around this procedure - there are supporters and opponents. The latter spin various stories and theories on this subject, insisting that this process destroys the structure of the plastic, weakens it, is not effective at all, because it does not stop yellowing, claim that things subjected to such treatment should not be considered original, because they will be to be destroyed faster, that this process lowers their value, etc., etc. In my opinion, this is only due to pure ignorance and intellectual laziness, because if you ask yourself a simple question - why plastic turns yellow with age and how it happens? Then just sit in front of the monitor or phone and look for the answer to this question on the Internet. Everything is based on a physicochemical process - There is oxygen in the air we breathe. A wonderful element - because without it it would be impossible to live, not only for us - it's obvious. But oxygen also has a darker side - it is involved in the aging process - probably everyone has heard about free radicals and antioxidants. Exactly, so it's the reactions with oxygen that are responsible for the color change of the plastic. This process is long-term - yellowing does not appear overnight. Under the influence of heat and / or UV rays, a reaction takes place, as a result of which the polymer chains that make up the plastic are broken and oxygen is attached to them - an oxidation reaction. As a result of the addition of oxygen, compounds are formed that reflect the yellow color - hence our eyes see this color. These are not fairy tales made of moss and ferns, but scientifically explained processes. I am not a scientist, I just would like to reliably explain what it is and how I understand it. For more details, I recommend going to the depths of the Internet, such as: HERE. Since it is an oxidation process, if someone was even a little careful in chemistry class, that know that it can be reversed. So bleaching is the reverse process to oxidation. Bleaching plastic is no different from whitening underwear. We even use the same means, i.e. hydrogen peroxide.
Finally, I will add that bleaching does not stop the aging process of plastic, unfortunately, over time, bleached plastic will turn yellow again. Even the one that will not have access to sunlight. Because the oxidation process takes place both under the influence of UV rays and heat. It is both photodegradation and thermodegradation of polymer chains. However, there are methods to effectively inhibit these processes. Proper care is enough - there are special preparations for the care of plastic. I just found out about them myself and I'm going to test one of these remedies on both my horses and my keyboard and computer case.
I think that's enough of that, let's get back to the duckling that is my Prince. With the first experience behind me, I prepared a whitening kit:
What you see in the photo above is:
- two bottles of hydrogen peroxide 3%
- cotton cloths and bandages, including cotton pads
- food wrap
- insulating tape
- foil bags
And I started mummifying the Prince. I wrapped him in cloths and compresses with cotton pads, then pressed them and secured them with a bandage. Until the whole horse became a mummy. I unwrapped a piece of foil - so that I could lay the horse on it and began to gradually moisten the bandages and compresses with hydrogen peroxide, wrapping each part tightly in foil each time. Until I got a bandage-foil mummy.
I tied his hair with ties and tried to somehow isolate them from hydrogen peroxide, but it turned out poorly as a result.
At the end, I pressed the foil and wraps tightly wrapping the whole horse with insulating tape. Then I put him in a plastic bag or two and secured it with tape as well. Packed in this way, I put him on the radiator and covered it with a thick cloth. The radiators in my house come on once or twice a day, so he didn't cook much in there. Once in a while I turned him over to the other side.
One more technical issue - at the time of soaking the compresses with hydrogen peroxide, wrapping it in foil, and removing the wraps from it - I should have gloves on my hands. Contact with even 3% hydrogen peroxide immediately ends with drying and whitening of the skin on the fingertips, which is accompanied by a very unpleasant feeling of pulling the skin in these places.
After 5 weeks it was time to release him.
After bleaching
Right before the moment of truth!
I really didn't expect it, believe me. I thought that maybe only the more delicate yellowing would disappear, but some trace will certainly remain. When I unwrapped him from the mummy - I was speechless. Is it my horse or did someone swap it? This is what it looked like right after unpacking:
He practically blends into the background. There is no trace of yellow anywhere! The plastic looks like new.
Second bath
A second wash was inevitable as I hadn't tried combing his hair before. In addition, during these five weeks in hydrogen peroxide, some black spots appeared on it, which easily gave up during washing.
With the help of hair conditioner, I combed the mane and tail. It turned out that my fears were unnecessary, after all, it's a toy from the early 90s, so the fibers are solid. They combed without much resistance, and the waste was really small - you have to look closely - it is in the pictures in front of the horse near the front legs. The hair in the photos is still wet, before combing - that is why it looks so strange.
Accessories
Apart from three horseshoes, my Prince had nothing. At the very beginning I assumed that I would try to recreate its original equipment on my own - of course the part that I can - things made of plastic are rather out of my reach. I noticed that the noseband is made of the same material as the saddle pad. Again, this material is probably the same as Blinky's saddle pad. For a long time I was wondering where to get such a light pink, slightly plush, fleece material. I didn't recognize anything like that in my material scraps. How and of what make such reins? The original was made of a ribbon on which a jacquard tape was sewn looking like embroidery. In general, this harness is strange - it consists of a noseband and permanently attached reins. I came up with the idea that I can use the macramé technique I know from elementary school, when all the girls made colorful bracelets from floss. I chose four colors corresponding to the colors of the original reins - white, green, pink and purple. I decided on the simplest pattern - with four threads, nothing interesting, similar to the original, can be conjured up, so I limited myself to stripes. While in the store, a baby fleece sweatshirt in the color I was looking for caught my eye - in addition, on sale - the last piece! And so I managed to complete the materials.
From the photo that I posted above in the "About the model" section, I got a saddle pad pattern. It was simple - had to print the photo in the appropriate scale and cut out the shape, which I later transferred to the material. I cut a strap for the noseband from the same material. I sewed the previously prepared reins and a velcro fastener to the noseband.
I also added a ribbon for the tail. Prince didn't have any ornaments for his mane, so I decided to give him extra bows from the same ribbon. I decided that three pieces would be enough - at the time I didn't know that there would be so many threes around him.
Straightening the hair
The accessories were ready, but not my Prince. After drying the hair and combing it again, it turned out to be terribly frizzy. So I grabbed a crimper and pulled the mane and tail through it.
Before sanding and painting
Sanding burns and abrasions
During a recent visit to the manicurist, I came to the conclusion that I could use a tool like a nail grinder at home. Of course, in terms of working with horses, although it was not Prince I had in mind. I thought that since he already looks so beautiful, it would be good to somehow mask his wounds after contact with something hot, because they are conspicuous and disfigure him. And I think the idea with the cheapest and simplest grinder was a bull's-eye.
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| Sanding a chafed nose |
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| Grinding wounds on the abdomen |
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| Polishing wound scars |
Painting corrections
All that was left to do was to fill in the gaps in painting and shading. I used acrylic paint diluted with water.
When the paint was dry, I secured it with a small amount of varnish.
New old horse
A close look after sanding and painting.
At the end I borrowed a saddle from Blizia and here he is - retired Prince - in full glory!
Before and after
How he looked at the beginning and in the end.
Below you can see all the stages:
1 - before
2 - after bleaching and combing
3 - after sanding and painting
1 - before
2 - after bleaching and combing
3 - after sanding and painting
Even if the whitening effect wears off after some time - I wonder how long it will last - I think it was worth going all the way. Of course, I will try to do everything in my power to keep him as shiny as possible for as long as possible.
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