The MLP Arena
Creativity => Customs => Topic started by: MyHatBarks on March 31, 2012, 02:04:48 AM
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Newbie to customizing, that is. lol I've dabbled in customizing before and I really do enjoy it, so I'm going to continue to work at it. This girl started out as a Strawberry Swirl with nasty hair and a smudged symbol. I was playing with Sculpey and ended up liking the design for her symbol. I had the hair left over from an idea I had wanted to do that didn't pan out and thought the colors complemented each other. (At least they did in my head...lol) So here she is.
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She was rehaired with Butterscotch from Dollyhair. For her symbol, it was sculpey, partially painted with acrylic on one of the swirlies with a layer of Mod Podge matte on top (is this the proper sealant to use on clay, or do you need one at all?). I also added a few gems to her symbol and gave her a necklace and a bracelet. :)
Close-up of the symbol and necklace
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How's she look? Opinions & CC welcome!!
This is the first pony I've ever baked, that being said, it raised a few questions:
1. After I took her out of the oven, I noticed a random blue spot had appeared to the left of her symbol and a red spot up on her leg. I'd completely cleaned her down with acetone prior to baking, so I'm not sure where they came from. The red spot came off completely, but you can sort of see the blue one still. They were pretty pale so it looked like a chemical reaction maybe? Does this happen sometimes or am I just lucky like that? lol
2. There was also what appeared to be an air-pocket that came to the surface after baking on her leg and now she has little scar where it popped. :( It's not very obvious, but is there a way to prevent this? I didn't see anything prior to baking in that location.
3. Her tail is mighty lacking in fullness. I had a heck of a time trying to put a tail in her. Her body was so completely stiff after baking and cooling that it wasn't flexible enough to fit much of a tail into. I thought about possibly putting her into some hot water to make her more flexible but I was scared to ruin the clay. Any tips on making this easier?
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Is the clay glued on yet or only baked on? If its just baked on it should pop off really easy. Just press down on the plastic around it. Then you can feel safe to boil her bum :) then just super glue that symbol back on.
I have never had the problems you described when baking ponies. They didn't stain and they didnt turn hard or have air bubbles either. The white ponies tend to be harder than the colored ponies though in general, I think. You maybe just got a bad one that had stuff in her mold that surface when she was baked. Hence the air bubble and random spots of color.
You can always widen her tail hole for a fuller tail too :)
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lol I like that design!
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Is the clay glued on yet or only baked on? If its just baked on it should pop off really easy. Just press down on the plastic around it. Then you can feel safe to boil her bum :) then just super glue that symbol back on.
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You can always widen her tail hole for a fuller tail too
Unfortunately, her symbol is baked on. I tried to see if maybe it wasn't sealed on with the bake & bond totally to see if I could pluck it off for rehairing but it was totally sealed and wasn't coming off without breaking.
I tried to widen her tail hole too, but all it seemed to do was crack the plastic and leave marks from the tools I tried (two different rehairing tools & two different needle nose pliers). :(
Good to hear the spots & air bubbles aren't normal though!
Hyenacub - Thank you! :)
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I really like what you did with her, great job!
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I'm gonna tell you a super lame trick I have to doing tails. It's a bit of a pain, but it seems to work. XD I make my tail thick, and extra long, and here's why. I smooth the tail out, and the last approximate inch or two inches, I begin wrapping with tape. Try to use something thin [scotch tape, for instance] and wrap it in a spiral shape so that it stays tight, and angles down to a point when you reach the end of the tail. Try to keep it as tightly fitted as you can to the shape of the tail tip..When your done, pinch the end of the tape to make sure the hole is closed over the hair, then lay it over your index finger, and hook your index finger into the ponies body..Bend your finger, and the taped up tail end, and press it towards the back of the pony until the taped up tip appears in the ponies tail hole [you might want to enlarge the hole just slightly before you bake her to let this happen easier].get some very fine pointed tweezers or hemostats or something, and reach into the tip of the tail hole and grasp the taped end of the tail. Pull it through a little, then get a new larger grasp on it, continue carefully doing this until it's out far enough you can get a firm grasp on it with your fingers and jerk it the rest of the way through..You can then just cut off the taped end if you can't get the tape off easy XD BUT that's a very NOT technical way to do that lololol. Otherwise though? She looks awesome!
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Shajana - Thank you! :)
MacabreDarling - Wow! I would never have thought of tape! I was trying to figure out a way to thread the tail in but was drawing blanks with a way to keep it all together. I will definitely try that on my next go! :D
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I just use jewelry wire folded in half.. Stick it in the tail hole and out the neck, fold the tail in half, through the wire loop, then pull it into the hole. Once inside, I secure it with a zip strip around the center, and then a second zip strip around it all. Then pull it back snug against the hole.
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Looks good to me!
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She is beautiful! You have a great eye for color coordination; the symbol is lovely and I love the necklace.
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I do something similar to the tape, but I just use little tiny hair rubberbands. (You know, the clear ones?) I just do them all up tight, probably 6 or 7 sections and the tail will just slide in..Works pretty good for me!
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What tail-insertion method are you using? I can't remember who posted the tail method I use, but I've never gone back- you don't have to double the tail up to pull it through, so you can use every bit of tail hole space without having to stretch the hole! Also, SUPER easy, and takes no time at all.
You take a long, plastic-coated wire (I get them from the toys my sons get for presents), and bend it into a V-shape. Drape the tail hair over the wire so the part of the tail that will end up inside the pony (the middle) is in the V. Then insert the ends of the wire into the tail hole, pull the hair out through the neck just far enough to attach your zip ties, and pull back out through the bum of the pony.
Does anyone know who first posted the tutorial on that, or have the link? The pictures were awesome, so helpful. Anyway, my tails have been much fuller since I stopped trying to force them through doubled-over. I also find that setting the pony in front of a heater for a few minutes will soften even the hardest pony plastic, if you want to get a little extra tail hair in. ^.^
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As for the blue spot, all can offer is sympathy. I had something similar happen on a hard white pony, but it was a huge yellow patch that spread over her belly after I'd spent hours painting her. Sunfading helped a bit, but it didn't completely disappear. :huh:
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Thanks guys for all the feedback & info!!
As to which method I used: I first tried to fold the hair in half and pull it through with wire, but her tail hole started cracking. =( I was also concerned it would crack her symbol. Then I tried threading in smaller bunches, and that's how I ended with what I got. This is the first g3 I have ever rehaired, I have done a bunch of g1s though. I never had this issue, but I suspect it's because g1 plastic can be so squishy due to age. I will try the tape idea next time!
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This is the first g3 I have ever rehaired, I have done a bunch of g1s though. I never had this issue, but I suspect it's because g1 plastic can be so squishy due to age. I will try the tape idea next time!
The good news is that not all G3s are that hard. Just some ponies (especially the ones whose heads turn). Most aren't as squishy as G1, but they're not too hard.