Book Page Horse

4 Materials
$10
2 Days
Easy

With this project, I’m wondering if I will have people cringing and asking “What was she thinking?” I have waffled between loving it and hating it myself.

Years ago, I used to make carousel horses from old Wonder Horses. That really isn’t my style anymore, but I still have several Wonder Horses just hanging out in my barn. I pulled out a few of them and cleaned them up. I was determined to come up with something new…something that didn’t scream “nursery” decor…something a little more decorative for any room in the house…something…I decided to cover one with book pages.

I glued pieces of newspaper over the holes. This may seem like a pretty thin covering, but with the addition of the Mod Podge and layers of book pages, the finish over the holes was really quite strong.


I also painted the entire horse with an ivory colored paint. I realized too late that this really wasn’t necessary. I have covered things with book pages before and you can’t see through them.

Now for the decoupaging marathon. Full sheets of the book pages were just not going to work. I simply tore them into smaller pieces and layered them on. I also watered down my Mod Podge. It seemed to go on a lot easier that way. There are a lot of curves, bumps and indentations on a horse. I saturated the book pages really well, then molded them into, onto and around all of the obstacles. About a third of the way done, my back, shoulders and neck were on fire. I had come too far…I would recover later…I was not going to give up.


“Was that what you were going for?”


“What are you going to put over the newspaper?”


“Huh?”


These were the responses I got from my family of guys when I asked them what they thought of it. Hmm…

Oh well, I had put too much work into it to call it a fail…yet. I decided to wipe on a brown stain. I liked the way it unevenly aged the surface. Yep, the unevenness of the stain was done on purpose…because I said so. I applied a sealer over the whole thing. Okay, I still wasn’t happy until…

I staged a few pics. Sitting on a drop cloth in the middle of torn paper…well, in that setting, it looked horrible. Placed in a more decorative venue, I didn’t think it looked too bad. Here it is on top of a hutch. I’m thinking some leather or greenery would have looked nice too, but unfortunately I didn’t review my photos until after I had put everything away.

I kinda like it’s rustic charm.

I gave it one last trot in the fields.


So…I’ve decided to love it…but I won’t be making another one like it.


Enjoy!

Suggested materials:
  • Wonder horse   (yard sale)
  • Paint   (Walmart)
  • Mod Podge   (Walmart)
See all materials
Cyndee~Restyled-Junk
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  2 questions
  • Kelly-n-Tony Kelly-n-Tony on Oct 10, 2020

    It's kinda cool outside. Maybe nestled among some flowers?

  • GeorgiaBulldogsFan GeorgiaBulldogsFan on Oct 10, 2020

    I have my children’s rocky horse upstairs that was purchased in 1979. When I bought it, I had the option of buying the smallest version or the largest version for the same price which was $29.95. So I bought the largest. Have been trying to decide to do something else with it. This idea intrigued me. Do you think it possible to have the horse on his rear feet secured somehow and have him rearing up with front legs in the air? And possibly reusing part of the stand to hold it up? Like a piece of sculpture. I’ve added a picture of mine. Not bad looking for 41 years old.

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  • Deb Deb on Nov 08, 2020

    I love it! For Christmas I would put a wreath around it’s neck.

  • GeorgiaBulldogsFan GeorgiaBulldogsFan on Dec 27, 2020

    Hi Cyndee. I was just cruising on another favorite website, Shopgoodwill.com. Well, in looking at lamps, I came across this item. It’s a floor lamp but it reminded me of your rocky horse post. Thought you might be interested. If you haven’t done one of your rocky horses in this way, it may be a different option for you. I could see your horse rearing up and attached to a lamp similar to this. I may even try it myself. Hope you had a great Christmas!

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