Kira's BCC entry

The BreyerFest Best Customs Contest is a fiercely competitive event, and nowhere is that more obvious than the Fantasy category. This year, the breadth and depth of the entries is literally fantastic. I've already shown you Erika Isbell's Mitosis Twins and Erin Corbett's [Redacted]. Now I'd like to introduce Kira Matrejek's Serenity.

Serenity, the Reef Hippocampus

by Kira Matrejek

This is “Serenity”, a Reef Hippocampus. He’s a different take on the mythical hippocampus, with bony armor (like his smaller seahorse cousins) and leafy appendages (like sea dragons) that help him blend into the coral reefs and seagrass meadows he inhabits. Unlike the smaller seahorse, the Reef Hippocampus has a tail fin and finned forelegs to help him move and navigate around the reef. He protects the coral reefs by keeping them free of seaweed, his favorite foodstuff! These majestic sea creatures were revered in Greek and Roman mythology.

He’s customized from a Breyer Classics Quarter Horse foal and is just 9” tall. I used LaDoll Premier air-drying clay to sculpt the body, and Luna Clay (from Japan) for the fins. 

I had planned for him to be a different color, but the first few coats of paint turned out really ghastly, so I painted over it until I found a color I liked. I ended up going with ocean blue, and tried painting the reflections of sunlight in the water, shimmering across his back.

He took way longer than I thought he would, and it was a real sprint to the finish line to get him done. He was a fun project though and I learned a lot in the process. I hope you enjoy him!

Thank you for sharing, Kira. I love your little seahorse. Good luck at BreyerFest!