Every year, the Fantasy category is a showcase for some of the most ambitious, accomplished and competitive pieces in the entire BreyerFest Best Customs Contest. This year is no exception. Take a look at this gorgeous - and gorgeously photographed entry - from past winner, Kira Matrejek!
The Lotus Hippocampus
by Kira Matrejek
My entry for this year's BreyerFest 2026 Best Customs Contest is the Lotus Hippocampus. Smaller and rarer than their ocean-dwelling cousins, this seahorse lives in freshwater lakes and ponds, nibbling on lotus leaves, their favorite food. Flower-like fins bloom from their necks and backs like living petals, and their shimmering scales catch the light in bright glints and flashes. If you spy a line of lotus blossoms weaving through the water, you might just have spotted a Lotus Hippocampus!
This fellow is customized from a Breyer freedom-scale rearing mustang, epoxy putty, and air-drying clays. His tail is actually made from part of the original neck, dremeled and glued in and epoxied over:
My original plan was to make a bunch of individual scales and glue them on. I spent hours making tiny scales out of air-drying clay. But then I found it took forever to glue them on, to position them... and I also didn't start on that til far too late. On Sunday morning, five days before the deadline, I had this:
I liked the look of this but admitted I wasn't going to finish in time. So I removed all those and went with plan B: I rolled out layers of air drying clay and glued them on, then pressed in scales using some U-shaped stamps I made. Later the same day I had this:
Much better progress! Two days later I had all the scales in, and had him primered:
He's almost entirely painted in metallics, which didn't photograph well but I do love the look. It's pretty fantastic in person. Here's another in-progress, after metallic airbrushing but before handpainted details:
I still had to make a bunch of lotus flowers for his back, and stayed up late making all of these the night before the deadline. (Yes, I'm a maniac.) I used a stamp for making individual petals. I stamped out four petals per flower, arranged them in a cross-shaped set of four, then let them dry in a circular mold. Then made four more petals, cut them to be a little smaller than the outer set, glued them together, then glued them *inside* one of the existing flowers. Each lotus flower has eight petals, and I made thirteen of them... plus some buds for the tail. Once dried I shaded them with a bit of magenta pan pastels... that was probably the easiest part of the process!
I didn't get a photo of the flower-making while I was doing it, but here's an example with some of the dried petals:
I made the lotus leaves out of air drying clay also, though they were simpler... I just cut out circles and pressed in some texture. I also painted some lines on them for better detail.
There was a lot of gluing and arranging the morning of the deadline, but finally with a little over an hour to spare, I decided he was done and got busy taking photos!
I picked out the perfect underwater photo from an online stock photo site, and had it printed large enough to be the backdrop for my entry. Yay for Staples having a 40% off printing sale this week!
And I love the end result! He does look magical, doesn't he?
Usually I try to come up with a creative name for my fantasy entries, but this year this fellow let me know his name before I even finished him. Meet "Mr. Pringles." And given the name, I went ahead and sculpted some whiskers for him too. Why not? I like that mustache!
Congratulations, Kira. Mr. Pringles is a stunner, and I also love that mustache. Good luck at BreyerFest!
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