Dollieh Sanctuary

I'm giving consideration to the possibility of flocking a (barbie-scale) horse. Has anyone here worked with flocking? The site I've looked at seems to imply that plain acrylic paints (which I have) are or can be used as the adhesive? How well does this stand up to wear? I'm very gentle with my toys, but I do like to move them around and pose them and change their clothes (or in this case saddle or other accessories). The horse itself is hard plastic (and jointed, tho I plan to NOT flock where the joints are of course). Basically, any advice before I add this to my project list? I don't want to order supplies and then find out it'd be a big mistake... or find out I didn't order something I needed to do it right.

I have done flocking once. I think that acrylics could work instead of glue, as they have tendency to stick quite permanently. And as you can add layers of flock, you can fix any bald spots there might appear later. But I think that if flock and the paint are not the same tone/color the effect might not look as good as using glue - which will dry to see-through.

she_flame wrote:But I think that if flock and the paint are not the same tone/color the effect might not look as good as using glue - which will dry to see-through.

I was actually thinking of taking advantage of that to an extent. The horse in question is meant to be amber champagne in color, and those often have an odd sheen to their coats, so I was thinking of (most of it, except for socks and nose) using golden brown flocking over metallic gold acrylic, to see if I could get a similar effect.

It's good to know layering can be done, just in case I have to patch bald spots down the road.

WhiteDove01s wrote:I was actually thinking of taking advantage of that to an extent. The horse in question is meant to be amber champagne in color, and those often have an odd sheen to their coats, so I was thinking of (most of it, except for socks and nose) using golden brown flocking over metallic gold acrylic, to see if I could get a similar effect.

That sounds really cool! If the acrylic is not enough to hold flock by itself, you could first paint the horse, and then add the flock with glue. More work, but then the flock would hold and you'd get the paint under it.

she_flame wrote:If the acrylic is not enough to hold flock by itself, you could first paint the horse, and then add the flock with glue. More work, but then the flock would hold and you'd get the paint under it.

What kind of glue should be used? The website I found that sells flocking pretty much just sold paints for adhesive. It'd probably be a good idea to have the glue on-hand (assuming it's not a kind of glue I already have on hand) in case the paint doesn't work.

The only glue I've used successfully for flocking is standard white school glues (elmers and Aleene's tacky).

My vote though is also to use acrylic paint as the binder, works nicely and if you color match, helps hide thin spots so you don't have to touch up as often.

oniakki wrote:The only glue I've used successfully for flocking is standard white school glues (elmers and Aleene's tacky).

My vote though is also to use acrylic paint as the binder, works nicely and if you color match, helps hide thin spots so you don't have to touch up as often.

Yay, already have that on the glue shelf. I'll try with the paint first tho, it does seem easiest that way. Still might be a month or two before I can order the flocking and clear up a nice space to work... but flocking the pony is definitely a 'go' on the project list now.

You could always mix the glue with the paint....

Kd_Bunchanumbers wrote:You could always mix the glue with the paint....

I'd never heard of or thought of that... but given how runny the clear school glue I tried for a project this evening turned out to be, I could see how it might be possible...