You're welcome!  If you want to get fine details, get a really nice real sable brush that's 5/0 or 7/0.  They're relatively expensive, but last for decades if properly cared for and are waaaaay better than the stuff you get from Michael's.  They make it so much easier to do fine details with the way they can hold such a fine point.  If you don't overload the brush with paint, you can get pinprick dots that are barely even visible with them.  That's how I painted a Chibi Yum Yum.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

Never, ever use nail polish on ponies.  It's not the right kind of paint, it's not meant to be permanent, and the results are always terrible.

For paint, I always use acrylics meant for models.  The brand I use most is Vallejo (and it's good stuff-I just got back into customizing after years and everything I've opened up has still been good), but I've also use Formula P3.  If you're just starting out, stick with the cheap stuff from the craft store, but if you decide this is something you like and want to invest in, get model acrylics.  They're much higher quality and the pigment is ground very fine in them so that it goes on much smoother on the often tiny surfaces we use in customizing. 

What kind of baits are you looking for?  I have way more sitting around than I'll probably ever be able to do stuff with.

Quote from: Firebyrd on February 14, 2012, 02:29:25 PM

Quote from: Sakuyamon on February 14, 2012, 07:35:58 AM

I'd rather put a note on a string around its neck to avoid ruining the pony.

Yes, and what happens if someone removes the note and then sells the pony again?  You don't know where these ponies are going to end up in the future or in whose hands.  I think it's simple politeness to mark a restore as such to help protect future buyers from people passing them off as original when they're not, because it /does/ affect their value.

Actually, the way I do  rehairs are easy to separate. I never glue the hair! So if somepony who dont know if its a rehair and want to know, its just to pull the hair. Quite a fail safe test which dont injure the pony itself. I also dont glue the head back on if I can avoid it and I like to make the hair longer than the original hair.

In any case I am not selling the few rehairs I have done, atleast not anytime soon.

But someone who isn't a knowledgeable collector isn't going to know from those things.  There was just a thread on this in the Corral, where someone had bought what they thought was a very nice Baby Lemondrop but it was a rehair.  Marking a pony on the bottom of the hoof in the case of restoration isn't a bad thing /because they've already lost much of their value/.  No one can see it on the bottom of the hoof when it's on display and it saves people from unscrupulous or unknowledgeable sellers. 

I completely agree with Maniah.  Dye is terrible.  Even when you do manage to get a nice color, it doesn't last.  I've got customs I've had for years that had a nice even color when they first arrived that have become fairly splotchy over the years.  And that's even if you manage to get it even in the first place, without glue or weird properties of the plastic affecting things.

Also, you need to attach sculpture to the pony directly.  If there's paint between the pony and the clay, the clay is going to be attached to the paint, not the vinyl.  That's a much, much weaker bond that can easily lead to the sculpted part falling off, especially with cheaper paints that have a poor quality bonding agent.  Don't sand your paint job off, just carefully use a q-tip and some 97% rubbing alcohol.  It does remove acrylic paint, but it's not as quick and harsh as things like acetone so it gives you a bit more leeway, plus it will also clean the surface so that there isn't any residue of anything left that might affect your sculpting.

This is actually something I've pondered a lot, since last time I bought mesh it was $6 for something like 18 inches squared, which is ridiculous.  For wings, I'm planning on making a frame of some nice, sturdy wire, and then putting aluminum foil around it.  The fine mesh isn't particularly sturdy, so it's not like it helps keep the sculpture together, it just provides a base for the clay, so I don't see any reason why this won't work as well.