Customizers' chit-chat thread

[Leave a Whisper]

LAW she was dyed in teal then dip-dyed in sapphire. Her teal hair was also dip-dyed. I've wanted to do a gradient Pony for ages, & Squalina was perfect for this with the countershading sharks have.

I've never owned an airbrush, & imagine it would be worse than my spray sealant in use

Well you did a wonderful job.

[Ponybookworm]

Cheers xxx

[bright rabbit 1]

Just painted a articulated Chelsea body brown because I haven’t got a brown body for my AA Chelsea boy head, plus I’ve got other bodies to paint brown because the Chelsea girl dolls have that horrible painted on torso so I’ve got to paint another body brown.

Articulated Bodies that need to be brown:

Barbie Go Team Roberts Stacie x3
Barbie Go Team Roberts Skipper

Got the body tied to a planter outside the back to dry it.

[lowpolyzoe]

Hey, does anyone have any tutorials (written or video) on how to get started rehairing a small G4? I've never been able to get their heads off without breaking the neck ring, and I believe to get to the washer I'll have to remote the stump-thing that the head turns on. Does anyone have any resources onhand that could help? Thank you

[SunPony]

Hey, does anyone have any tutorials (written or video) on how to get started rehairing a small G4? I've never been able to get their heads off without breaking the neck ring, and I believe to get to the washer I'll have to remote the stump-thing that the head turns on. Does anyone have any resources onhand that could help? Thank you

Hmm...I'm pretty sure I saw or read a nice tutorial somewhere when I first customized a G4 but that was about ten years ago and I don't know how to find it now.  But I can tell you how I do it currently!  I assume you mean the standard size brushable G4.  First, a warning - this method is somewhat dangerous as it involves boiling water and somewhat-risky use of a razor-sharp blade!

So, basically I use a saucepan of boiling water, tongs, a towel, and an X-acto knife with a fresh, pointy blade.  While you wait for the water to boil you can cut off the mane as close to the head as you can, and the tail unless you want to have it intact.  Once the water is boiling, just put the pony right in there, and you can turn off the heat at this time if you are just prepping the one pony. Let her simmer for a minute or so.  You can poke her with the tongs and she should feel soft.  Pull her out with the tongs and put her on the towel - be very careful as she may be full of hot water.  Use your hands wrapped in the towel to pop her head off.  Now here is the part where you can very easily injure yourself.  Stand the pony on her legs so the neck plug is straight up.  You are going to use the X-acto knife blade to CAREFULLY cut between the white plug and the colored pony neck.  Ideally your hand that is holding the pony is AWAY from the neck.  I wear leather gloves and just try to be very careful about what direction I am cutting.  Not only is this risky to you, but because the plug is a harder material than the pony neck, it is kind of easy to slip and cut through the neck.  I will alternate between doing this and putting the pony back in the water to reheat/re-soften, until I have cut all the way around the plug.  I wonder if adding acetone to the equation would help loosen the plug glue...I think I might have tried that once...hmm.  Anyway once the plug is loose you can remove it and get to the tail!

By the way, to remove the hair from inside the head I will pop it back in the hot water to resoften, then remove it and scrape the hair in there with some forceps/scissor blade/whatever.  Alternate scraping and heating as needed.  Some are easy, some are incredibly hard.  Again make sure you hold the head in the towel so you don't burn your hands on the hot plastic.

Anyway, it is quite the process, those plugs are really well glued sometimes, as is the hair.    I usually try to do a batch of several at a time so I have a rhythm going and a constant flow of pony parts between the towel area and the pot of water.

If you hate it and want a prepped G4 send me a PM, I always have several prepped ones sitting around.

[BlackCurtains]

Thanks, Sunpony! I've never prepped a G4 either. That's good advice. I thought someone had done a tutorial but I can't find it.

[kaelynn]

Yep, I’ve only done a few G4s but I do it the same way as Sunpony. They’re a pain to get the heads off!

[Pokeyonekenobie]

Yeah, G4s are hard but cute when they're done.  I have a baby G4 custom that someone requested from me and I've been putting it off because removing the heads is such a pain.  But I also have a set of G4 boys that I wanted to make so I really should just suck it up and prep them all at once.  Then I can have the fun of creating them.

[Griffin]

Yep, I’ve only done a few G4s but I do it the same way as Sunpony. They’re a pain to get the heads off!

Me too. It's totally doable, just a bit tedious and somewhat risky!

[Kazzellin]

Hey, does anyone have any tutorials (written or video) on how to get started rehairing a small G4? I've never been able to get their heads off without breaking the neck ring, and I believe to get to the washer I'll have to remote the stump-thing that the head turns on. Does anyone have any resources onhand that could help? Thank you

Hmm...I'm pretty sure I saw or read a nice tutorial somewhere when I first customized a G4 but that was about ten years ago and I don't know how to find it now.  But I can tell you how I do it currently!  I assume you mean the standard size brushable G4.  First, a warning - this method is somewhat dangerous as it involves boiling water and somewhat-risky use of a razor-sharp blade!

So, basically I use a saucepan of boiling water, tongs, a towel, and an X-acto knife with a fresh, pointy blade.  While you wait for the water to boil you can cut off the mane as close to the head as you can, and the tail unless you want to have it intact.  Once the water is boiling, just put the pony right in there, and you can turn off the heat at this time if you are just prepping the one pony. Let her simmer for a minute or so.  You can poke her with the tongs and she should feel soft.  Pull her out with the tongs and put her on the towel - be very careful as she may be full of hot water.  Use your hands wrapped in the towel to pop her head off.  Now here is the part where you can very easily injure yourself.  Stand the pony on her legs so the neck plug is straight up.  You are going to use the X-acto knife blade to CAREFULLY cut between the white plug and the colored pony neck.  Ideally your hand that is holding the pony is AWAY from the neck.  I wear leather gloves and just try to be very careful about what direction I am cutting.  Not only is this risky to you, but because the plug is a harder material than the pony neck, it is kind of easy to slip and cut through the neck.  I will alternate between doing this and putting the pony back in the water to reheat/re-soften, until I have cut all the way around the plug.  I wonder if adding acetone to the equation would help loosen the plug glue...I think I might have tried that once...hmm.  Anyway once the plug is loose you can remove it and get to the tail!

By the way, to remove the hair from inside the head I will pop it back in the hot water to resoften, then remove it and scrape the hair in there with some forceps/scissor blade/whatever.  Alternate scraping and heating as needed.  Some are easy, some are incredibly hard.  Again make sure you hold the head in the towel so you don't burn your hands on the hot plastic.

Anyway, it is quite the process, those plugs are really well glued sometimes, as is the hair.    I usually try to do a batch of several at a time so I have a rhythm going and a constant flow of pony parts between the towel area and the pot of water.

If you hate it and want a prepped G4 send me a PM, I always have several prepped ones sitting around.

Also, for the love of everything, cut with the knife going *away* from your body and off-hand. Then if it slips, you're just cutting air, not another part of your body (like your other arm, chest, leg, etc.)

Good luck and have fun!

[SunPony]

I finished a custom I've been working on for literally years a few days ago.  But I haven't taken pictures yet.  I think the pictures won't do her justice so I'm hesitating.  Do you ever feel that way about a custom?  I don't really have any photography skills so 

[BlackCurtains]

The thing that affects photos the most is light. Try a natural light, take her outside if you have to.

I know what you mean though. I've had several customs where the photos didn't turn out great, or dulled the sparkle and details or whatever. I think that even if the photos aren't good enough, you should still post your custom

[mossybranch_g4]

wowowow all of you are so nice thank you !!!!!!!

[Colorscapesart]

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Kimberly Johns

Do these seem reasonable?  I love to create but I do not love sitting on my creations.  It seems to fuel me to see them adopted.  I'm a little nervous to be taking a few commissions maybe but I think it will be ok.  I just do not want to let anyone down.

[BlackCurtains]

I think those are totally reasonable and I think people will be more than willing to pay those prices. And you can always raise them when you've gotten into a groove.