Washers and cleaning it/cleaning so soft pony

[Faerie-StarV]

I would like to know where do I buy those washers and that thing that clamps on the tail at. Do I buy it at Home Depot or art stores or something?
Can you save the rusted washers? If so, how do I clean the rust?
Lastly, my so soft pony needed a good wash. What cleaning supplies should I use? I used to have a tutorial papers from one website years ago but they were gone and the site is also gone as well.

[ApertureScience]

I can only answer the question about rusted washers, unfortunately.  This site recommends many things to clean the rust with.
http://www.mlppreservationproject.com/hair.html

Then again, that same site could tell you how to clean your So Soft pony if you click around a bit.

[NoDivision]

The best thing to use to replace tail washers and camps are plastic zip/cable ties. (these things http://www.tech-faq.com/wp-content/uploads/images/Cable-Ties.gif ) They are strong and secure and since they're plastic there's no chance of future rust   You can find them at any hardware store and in most general purpose stores like walmart as well.

[butterflybuttons]

You can clean your SS in a bowl of cool/warm water and oxyclean (laundry soaker) make sure the water is not too hot or the flocking will come off.

Leave it in the bowl for a few hours or overnight, depends how dirty it is. Then rinse her under cold water and lightly rub your finger over her to get rid of any residue dirt. Condition and comb the hair, rinse it all off, and let her dry, placing her so any water can drain from the tail hole.

[True]

I suggest just using tip ties, I use two when I make a tail, one that goes around the middle of the length of hair and another that folds the hair over and secures it. its very secure and it wont rust.

[Lavender_Lace]

#10 and #4 size washers will match adult and baby ponies.  For the clamp and bleeding tail rust, I always just scrub the rust off with a tooth brush and soft scrub with bleach cleanser, rinse it out really well, then shampoo the tail a few times, defrizz, etc. and then let dry thoroughly before putting back into the pony.  Unless the pony or the tail isn't dry all the way before putting it back together, you won't have the problem of the rust coming back.  *Oh, and I forgot to say, you can reuse washers that aren't horrid, but make sure you scrub as much rust off as possible and that you dry them really well before putting back on. You could even coat them with clear nail polish as a precaution, but it's probably not necessary.

For cleaning so softs, soft scrub with bleach and a tooth brush.  The tooth brush will help lift the flocking to fluff it up, and the bleach in the soft scrub will remove any dirt and kill any mold spores.  After scrubbing the pony, rinse it out really well and then go over it with shampoo and the tooth brush to remove any residue from the bleach.  I have never had a problem with it removing flocking and you won't make the mane crusty by soaking it in oxyclean.