I made another seahorse for the BreyerFest 2026 Best Customs Contest: "Mr. Pringles" – a Lotus Hippocampus. Smaller and rarer than their ocean-dwelling cousins, this small 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!

I customized this fellow from a Breyer Freedom-scale (1:12) rearing mustang, epoxy putty, and air-drying clay. After getting him sculpted into the shape I wanted, I covered his body in air-drying clay, then used a half-moon shaped stamp to pressed all the individual scales into the clay. (Had to do this in stages, as the clay would dry out and become harder to work with.)

His fins, the lotus leaves, and the lotus flowers on his back are also made out of air drying clay. Each lotus flower has eight petals; I cut each one of them out of clay and glued them together, then shaped them and let them dry in a round mold. Once dry I could feed through a bit of floral wire through the middle and glue them to his back. The slightly darker pink shading on the edges of the petals is pan pastels... probably the easiest part of the whole process 😄

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! And given the name, I went ahead and sculpted some whiskers for him too. Why not? (🎵I like that mustache!)

The lotus leaf in his mouth isn't glued in... he's actually just holding it in his teeth. And he does in fact have teeth - I sculpted those and his tongue! 😜