of I felt that the straps holding the armor and saddle to the horse called for freehand scrollwork. I found a lot of good reference both online and in two Tolkien books I have - The Tolkien Bestiary and Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator.
Once I took brush to model, though, I realized that I was far too ambitious with the two interwoven threads I had planned. Even with my handy new Winsor and Newton Series 7 Miniatures 00 brush. Instead, I settled on a single green wavy floral band, with blue dots as accents. For the most part the band is a wavy line, but it curls randomly in several places following the look of the floral scrollwork I was imitating. A lot of retarder was necessary to keep the paint from drying on the brush. (My Optivisor was also necessary.)
The straps were painted black, and then VMC Black Red. The scrollwork basecoat was GW Dark Angels Green, then layered with a mix of GW Scorpion Green, C Snakebite Leather, and C Badmoon Yellow. The blue dots were first made with GW Regal Blue, then dotted again with GW Ice Blue.
The bands on either side of the straps were painted to match the bronze of the armor, using the same technique.
