Fox Pony

So starting this blog wasn’t the beginning of my adventures into pony modding. My first pony was started as a gift for a very dear friend’s birthday. He identifies with Fox on a semi-totemic level, so what better than a fox pony to watch over him?

I started out with a custom bait G1 Cotton Candy. She was one of the first ponies we ever had at home, so I knew she’d be easy to work with, having watched my mother make tails for her after we’d decimated the last one >.<

Cotton Candy was one of the first six ponies of the G1 range, and was released many, many times.

I got her from Ebay with the sole purpose of using her as a bait, because she had (and still has, I guess) very bad ‘pony cancer’.

This is probably the worst case I’ve seen, but at least it’s all in one area.

It looks a lot like a texta mark, but it was well under the original cutie mark, and wouldn’t come off, even when I used the heavy duty stuff. When I suspect something is texta or another substance that stains the same way, I use Remove Zit, a product by Twin Pines of Maine, which is also linked in the sidebar. It’s flipping amazing, and works on all generations of ponies, as well as dolls like Cabbage Patch Kids etc.

After doing all the preparing, I based her in black, and mixed up a foxy shade. This ended up being a massive pain in the butt, as foxes are anything from bright orange to brown.

I ended up using this guy as my basis for colouring. Photo taken from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under Public Domain

So there were so many touch ups and wash jobs done because I could never quite get the same colour again. Next time, get better paint, or take measurements >.<

So the orange went on, and I left some parts black, and had to repaint others.

You can see the colour difference between paint jobs around the nose and neck, and on the back foot.

The white parts came next, as did the detailing around the ears. A lot of people have said ‘Wow, those lines are so crisp, how did you do it?’ The answer is, with three packs of cosmetic cotton buds, two bottles of nail polish remover, and a lot of pulling my hair out and swearing not to touch that line again, then coming back five minutes later to ‘fix’ it >.<

I love this angle, can you tell? It was at this point I got super excited because it was all working really well!

Then came the eyes, and I tell you, they were almost as bad as the fur. They vary through just about every type of hazel you can think of, and well into brown, as well. The solution, of course, was to tell biology to go and get stuffed, and paint it in a copper colour.

I shouldn’t take pictures like this, apparently it’s creepy

At the same point, I was also finishing up the body and the cutie mark. I was originally thinking a paw print, but decided on a line drawing of a fox.

I found the design for this on the internet with no attribution. If you happen to know who created it, please drop me a line!

Last step before varnish was the hair. I was originally going to do it in orange with black and white accents, but I decided that there wasn’t a suitable colour for him, so it stayed in black, with a white streak in the tail (being Black Magic and White Witch respectively)

While the hair is quite easy to handle, it doesn’t fall naturally, which then leads to things like this happening-

I’m only about half way through re-rooting here, but let me tell you, sometimes it can get a little hairy. Ahahah, oh, I slay me

– but it sits nicely and becomes more easy to brush after a wash. I decided to leave his mane and tail uncut- they just felt too nice to trim, and I liked the way that the long, black hair contrasted against the paint job

After a coat of varnish, Fox Pony was finally ready!

And here’s one without the flash

The little fox charm was made by the talented Sasha at Bad Dog Productions. The recipient loved him, and he holds pride of place near the computers of the house.

I’m not going to lie, I was pretty flipping proud of myself for this one, I still am, and I think it’s going to be a while before I get over it 😀