Just a passing update [Spoiler free!]

I picked up #7 of the comics last week. My goodness, the recolour of the mod I was taking about last post is absolutely glorious! I’ve just put the order in for some hair, and can’t wait to continue working!

“Without you, our entire existence is meaningless…”

WARNING- SPOILERS FOR THE MY LITTLE PONY COMIC SERIES, ISSUE #6

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Are we in the clear? Good!

I’m waiting on some photos of my most recent project, so here’s some news about my latest project idea.

I’m loving the heck out of the MLP comics, but the latest storyline is just blowing me away. For those who haven’t heard Morag rant about her fandom before, I love Princess Luna/Nightmare Moon. She is easily my favourite character, so when I discovered that this new story arc was about Luna and her time as Nightmare Moon, I squeed so hard that only dolphins could hear me.

Then this happened…

Cue my brain going nuts about making this as a custom pony!

However, starting her is going to be a problem until I can get my hands on the next issue for palette comparison. HOWEVER I HAVE A RARITY TO HAND, SO TALLY HO!

The most dreadful part about modding new ponies is removing the hair. I thought it would suck for Rarity, but you know, I hear short manes are in this season

So is looking like Sinead O’Connor

Now that I actually know what I’m doing with G4 mods, getting her head off was a lot easier.

Now, I recall what I was saying last time I did a G4 mod, but hopefully getting the plug out and the hair through will be easier. I will still have to do a lot of cutting to get the plug out, of course, but I’m feeling good about that.

As you can see, it’s actually going to have a series of  challenges, no matter what I do, including the high risk of stabbing myself in the hand through Rarity’s neck >.<

But yeah! I obviously hate myself for wanting to do another G4 pony, but NIGHTMARE RARITY! How could I not?

Red Hat pony, part 2

So I’ve worked out that I really like making work for myself in regards to my ponies. Patty pony has evolved from ‘a coat with a red hat’ to a huge, HUGE affair, with all manner of media. What am I getting myself into? >.<

The Red Hat Society is very much based around the poem ‘Warning‘, by Jenny Joseph, so I’ve figured that I can add more detail based on things from the poem, such as ‘summer gloves’ and ‘satin sandals’.

So I’ve gotten some more work done. In my previous post, I mentioned that I was going to try and save as much of the hair as possible. Since then, I’ve said ‘Stuff that!’ and cut it all off. Previous experience indicates that the hair in G3 ponies is particularly hard to save, especially seeing as they usually pour a whole bottle of glue into their heads to get the hair to stay in.

Cherry Blossom was no different-

Those colourful fluffy wads are blobs of glue that came out of Cherry Blossom’s head. I should note that these were only from the third session of hair removal, so that’s not even the half of it D: The shape of the head didn’t help, either

One of the reasons I dislike working with G3 ponies. Another is how hard it is to save the head plug. As you can see in Cherry Blossom above, I managed to with this one, but that’s more good luck than good management on my part. With that plug removed from the head, it becomes much harder to make sure the head stays put once you’re done. You can frequently just pop the heads off G1 ponies, as most of them were designed to move, at least a little, but the people who made G3 ponies must have had some sort of love affair with glue >.<

So I got Cherry Blossom’s head off.

Before removing the hair. The ridiculous angle of the head and plug can also be seen here

That was reasonably painless, thank goodness. I didn’t even cut into the neck of the plug, so that’s a big bonus.

There’s yet another thing that bugs me about G3 ponies- almost all of them come with a magnet in one of their front feet, so they could interact with the moving playsets that were so loved in the range. These make it kind of difficult to post the ponies or put them anywhere near things that can react negatively with magnets, so I removed this one

They also make using any metal tools with your ponies, like, say, a craft knife, a little more exciting as it comes flying towards the leg you’re working on. True story.

I was originally going to pop the magnet out and then put the case back over the top, but no, Hasbro’s passionate romance with glue foiled that plan. So I filled the socket with clay and got back to work.

The next step was to trim down the hair, seeing as I’d already given up on saving it, and removing the residue.

I was a fussy child, and never cut the hair of my ponies. While I’m glad that I didn’t, I still missed out on a lot of fun 😀

You can already see some of the plugs along the bottom where I’ve been working at getting the original hair out.

Another shot of the plugs

Then came the fun bit- the massive wad of glue between her ears. I was using medical grade curved locking forceps and a torch, which you would think would be enough for a tricky job like this. Nope, not a bit of it. Three sessions and mountains of glue and hair flakes later, though, and she was shaved bald, ready for re-rooting.

I’ve not done very much, but it’s a very tedious process, so it’s going to take a while

I am very, VERY pleased with the contrast, I think it looks fabulous. I’m using White Witch from My Little Pony Hair, which is also linked over in the sidebar. It’s a little less forgiving than most of the coloured hair (and the black) that I’ve previously used- there are really visible kinks in it where I’ve pulled it through the plugs, but those should come out when I wash the hair.

And yes, there’s another reason in this why I dislike G3 ponies. The plugs are very messy, and vary in size rather dramatically.

It’s difficult to tell from this picture, but the big plugs are more than twice the size of the smaller ones. This will further add to the tediousness of the re-rooting >.<

All this in mind, I don’t know why I’ve given myself MORE work to do with the project. Maybe I hate myself? That being said, if I get her right, she’s going to look amazing.

When I am old, I will mod ponies in purple, with a red hat that doesn’t go…

WARNING- THIS POST IS FULL OF ANECDATA, NOSTALGIA, AND ONLY A VERY SMALL AMOUNT RELATED TO PONIES.

So, some of you may have heard me talk about Patty.

I met her via Ebay in about 2008 (if I recall correctly), while I was looking for gloves for roleplaying costumes. Pretty much everything she’s put up for sale, from then until now, has her own personal little story attached to it. Some of those stories are very glamorous- she worked as an air hostess for years, and had little pieces of memory from places all over- and some were very simple, but she made everything that she’s sent me over the years very special to me.

I kept coming back to purchase things, over and over. She realised that I loved the gloves she was selling, and always let me know when she was putting any lots that might pique my interests up.

We became very close, in that peculiar way that people on the internet do, with very little idea about who the other person is, other than our friend. She still sends me pairs of gloves out of the blue, because ‘they just needed to be yours, and every girl needs a new pair of gloves for the new season.’ I shared my love of handmade bath and beauty products with her, and it’s been a very satisfying and caring relationship between us.

I’ve been wondering for a while now if I could make her anything that wouldn’t run the risk of being too specialised- I usually do beading and BPAL for special gifts, neither of which I could personalise without giving the game away. With the advent of ponies in my life, I can do that 😀

So, this is Cherry Blossom-

I call this pose the ‘sassy’ pose.

Patty mentioned that she’s a member of the Red Hat Society, so Cherry Blossom is about to become a member. This will be the first pony that I’m documenting all the way through, from go to whoa, so it should be a bit exciting.

There’s not actually much I’m going to need to do to the pony herself- I’m going to experiment with setting her hair in curls, and she’ll need a new cutie mark, but that’s about it. I’m very reluctant to remove her original hair, but I’m going to, anyway, and try to save as much of it as possible.

While this pose is a pain in my arse to customise, it does lend itself to artsy shots like this one.

The main part of the Red Hat conversion is going to be clothing and accessories. I’ve done some work with coats for  ponies with Loki (who i’ll post about at some point >.>), so I’ve got somewhere to start, at least.

I think it’s going to be fun and educational, but not neccesarily in that order 😀