How To Make Horse Hair Plumes For Ruritanians And Anyone Else.

As I strive to increase the rate of recruitment for my Ruritanian army I was making putty plumes in bulk. The Guard, artillery and cavalry all have such plumes on their helmets. Then I realized I was going to use a lot pf putty and it is not especially cheap so I turned to my old friend, cotton wool!

The putty was easier to work with but the cotton wool, when liberally coated with PVA and also PVA placed on the helmet, took on a pleasing, almost naturalistic aspect. Admittedly at this stage the cotton wool plumes give something of  Moorlock look (now there's an idea too) but once dry they will be cut with scissors and painted with the rest of the figure. I didn't attempt to cut them whilst wet because that would just pull them off the helmets. You need to shape the plumes and move any errant strands off places they are unwanted, such as the front of the helmet or face.

You could make human hair and horse tails this way too.