any body able to help with my first custom please ?

[anna4810]

hey everypony id like to make my first custom girl does anyone had some advise i have no idea what materiel's to use and whats the best type of starter pony to use and glues etc

i understnd some of u might not want to share ur secrets but some starter tips would be a huge help

thanks u allllllllll <3

heres what i have to work with

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

[Rainbowjuice]

I have a tutorial up which shows my process from start to finish.
This is fr G4 ponies but it works for G3 ect too =D

http://jueboo.tumblr.com/post/26993865946/customising-with-rj-bait-prep

[Sarahlacewing]

I'm sure you will find some good tips here.  There are so many different types of customs and we have some great tutorials.  It might help us to give advice if we knew what you wanted to do.  Are you doing sculpting?  What generation are you using?  Do you want to rehair? Give us a few ideas of what this project will be and then we can give you some more specific tips.

Generally speaking:
Clay= apoxie, sculpey, super sculpey, primo.
Paint= acrylics, rit dye (not everyone uses dye because it can fade over time and it is hard to get even.
sealer= mod podge (watered down to milk consistancy. I prefer matte because there is less shine but gloss is good if you want a lot of shine) or testors dull coat for no shine.
hair=Dollyhair.com or enchantress has a custom supplies store with hair.  Some people pull from Halloween wigs.

[Katika]

For my first custom (it was a G3, which are MUCH easier to handle than G4s, due to their larger size), all I used was:

*A pony as a bait
*An exacto knife to cut the head off
*Scissors to trim the mane short to make pulling the hair out from the inside of the head easier
*Needle nose pliers to do the mane (and tail) pulling-out
*Paint brushes of a few different sizes and acrylic paint (to this day, with very few exceptions, I still just use the ones I can pick up at the craft stores, nothing fancy) and a sealant for over top
*Rehairing material (I used the messy curly stuff that Michael's had, because it's all I could find at the time.  During my earlier custom years, I got pretty creative with hair types - yarn, that twine you wrap newspapers with, G3 box handles, raffia and hair salvaged from other ponies, mostly.  I suggest going the "misc hair" route before investing in purchasing any from online, just to make sure this is something you want to stick with, so you can put in a bigger order all at once )
*A relatively long needle with a relatively large eye and dental floss (I still rehair with the floss method)
*Regular, whatever-is-available super glue for securing the head back on (unless you kept the plug intact when you dismantled the pony, but I always find it easier to remove it and permanently affix the head to the body)

Pretty much, starting your customizing journey can be relatively inexpensive.  As you become more comfortable with the methods and/or start coming up with more ellaborate ideas, the sky is pretty much litterally the limit.  There are a lot of really good ideas and answers to TONS of questions on this forum, and people are usually super quick and helpful when answering

[rayedelsol]

Just be careful when taking the head off and don't slice into your finger, like I just did 

[anna4810]

ive only just started to collect again quite recently i went through a tough break up so needed to move my stuff back to my parents while putting most in the attic i remembered i had a load of ponies mostly from the 80 early 90s  i have most handed down from an older cousin my mum and i were searching for them but they were noone to be found i had all these feeling come back from childhood i wanted them sooo bad my dad seems to think they have been chucked up we had water damage to our roof a few years back and alot of things had to be thrown out ive checked like 1000 boxes and cant find any also my pokemon cards are i had some old spice girl toys and furbies all seem to be gone such a shame i havent been able to get the ponies out of my head since to keep my mind ocupied through all the crappy stuff im going through right now ive been buying ponies i brought a new in box rarity from toys r us a few days ago and i brought a few ponies today and a garage sale might be eaiser if i show u what i have to work with ill upload some pics

Post Merge: September 02, 2012, 11:34:40 AM

I have a tutorial up which shows my process from start to finish.
This is fr G4 ponies but it works for G3 ect too =D

http://jueboo.tumblr.com/post/26993865946/customising-with-rj-bait-prep

thanks so much this was very usful what glue do u use to pop the neck back on ?

Post Merge: September 02, 2012, 11:51:14 AM

I'm sure you will find some good tips here.  There are so many different types of customs and we have some great tutorials.  It might help us to give advice if we knew what you wanted to do.  Are you doing sculpting?  What generation are you using?  Do you want to rehair? Give us a few ideas of what this project will be and then we can give you some more specific tips.

Generally speaking:
Clay= apoxie, sculpey, super sculpey, primo.
Paint= acrylics, rit dye (not everyone uses dye because it can fade over time and it is hard to get even.
sealer= mod podge (watered down to milk consistancy. I prefer matte because there is less shine but gloss is good if you want a lot of shine) or testors dull coat for no shine.
hair=Dollyhair.com or enchantress has a custom supplies store with hair.  Some people pull from Halloween wigs.

hi there

id like to do a halloween type zombie/vampire scary type ive added pics of the ponies i have i could use

Post Merge: September 02, 2012, 11:56:16 AM

For my first custom (it was a G3, which are MUCH easier to handle than G4s, due to their larger size), all I used was:

*A pony as a bait
*An exacto knife to cut the head off
*Scissors to trim the mane short to make pulling the hair out from the inside of the head easier
*Needle nose pliers to do the mane (and tail) pulling-out
*Paint brushes of a few different sizes and acrylic paint (to this day, with very few exceptions, I still just use the ones I can pick up at the craft stores, nothing fancy) and a sealant for over top
*Rehairing material (I used the messy curly stuff that Michael's had, because it's all I could find at the time.  During my earlier custom years, I got pretty creative with hair types - yarn, that twine you wrap newspapers with, G3 box handles, raffia and hair salvaged from other ponies, mostly.  I suggest going the "misc hair" route before investing in purchasing any from online, just to make sure this is something you want to stick with, so you can put in a bigger order all at once )
*A relatively long needle with a relatively large eye and dental floss (I still rehair with the floss method)
*Regular, whatever-is-available super glue for securing the head back on (unless you kept the plug intact when you dismantled the pony, but I always find it easier to remove it and permanently affix the head to the body)

Pretty much, starting your customizing journey can be relatively inexpensive.  As you become more comfortable with the methods and/or start coming up with more ellaborate ideas, the sky is pretty much litterally the limit.  There are a lot of really good ideas and answers to TONS of questions on this forum, and people are usually super quick and helpful when answering

i have so many ideas in my head its just getting them out lol once i use uhu glue for a few projects non pony related ive not uses paint before so may suck at it lol

Post Merge: September 02, 2012, 11:57:25 AM

Just be careful when taking the head off and don't slice into your finger, like I just did 

ouch note to self must be careful knife veryyyy sharp x

[Rainbowjuice]

thanks so much this was very usful what glue do u use to pop the neck back on ?

Just plain old superglue =D

[Sarahlacewing]

"id like to do a halloween type zombie/vampire scary type ive added pics of the ponies i have i could use."

I think full size G3 are going to be easiest to work with.  So I wouldn't use the middle one or the top left one for your first custom. Now if you want to do a full body repaint I would think about what colors you might want to use.  If you are going to use a light color then you'll want to choose one of the lighter baits, probably the white one because it will be a lot harder to get even full body repaint on a darker pony.  If you want to use a darker color or you only want to strip (acetone to take off the symbol) and put a new symbol on then you are going to have a little more freedom about which bait to use.

When it comes to body modification you will probably want to add armature.  Basically just underlying structure to help support the pony.  It can be something simple like two pins for extended fangs or something more complex like a wire or grated frame to support a body cavity if you cut away the majority of the belly.  It depends on how extensive the mod is. 

Here is a great wing tutorial by Eiriel
http://eiriel.deviantart.com/art/Wing-Sculpting-Tutorial-59733330

And a pose/body mod tutorial from Colorscapesart
http://colorscapesart.deviantart.com/art/Sculpting-Tutorial-My-Little-96848062

[Katika]

Don't worry about not having experience with painting - it really only comes with practice

Also, I got to thinking, G3s (in my experience) are notorious for having their symbols show through full body repaints, so you're going to want to remove the symbol (and hoof heart, if you're not planning on including one in your design).  Plain old acetone-based nail polish remover will get the job done on non-glittery symboled G3s.  I tend to leave the eyes on to kind of help me as a guide to repaint them, but I'm not very good at painting eyes.

[HavACrumpet452]

My best advice is to make sure you check on the value of the pony you want to use before you destroy it. Those common G3's and G4 in the picture are fine.

[Rainbowjuice]

Don't worry about not having experience with painting - it really only comes with practice

Also, I got to thinking, G3s (in my experience) are notorious for having their symbols show through full body repaints, so you're going to want to remove the symbol (and hoof heart, if you're not planning on including one in your design).  Plain old acetone-based nail polish remover will get the job done on non-glittery symboled G3s.  I tend to leave the eyes on to kind of help me as a guide to repaint them, but I'm not very good at painting eyes.

Be very careful using nail polish remover, Sometime sit simply smears the paint as opposed to lifting it, also likes to eat pony plastic.
I would suggest just buying pure acetone.
Use in a well ventilated area

[Maniah]

I second the comment about pure acetone.

Also, with Super Glue, I love to use the thick gel type as opposed to traditional liquid super glue. Just look for one that says gel on the package.

If you want an easy way to rehair, there is a rehairing tool out there that is basically a needle with it's eye sawed off at an angle, in a holder. You just put a bit of hair in it, folded in half, then stick it into the hole  and remove it. Repeat till done.

I know you can buy these from Dollyhair.com, but they have been on backorder. If you decide you want to give it a try, send me a PM. I sell them also. My store is currently closed while I play catch up with my life, but I do have one left. I had offered it to someone else but they never took me up on the offer, so I'd be happy to sell it to you instead. It is $10 for the tool with two needles and comes with an instruction/tip sheet.

[anna4810]

thanks so much this was very usful what glue do u use to pop the neck back on ?

Just plain old superglue =D

will UHU work ?

Post Merge: September 02, 2012, 04:33:06 PM

"id like to do a halloween type zombie/vampire scary type ive added pics of the ponies i have i could use."

I think full size G3 are going to be easiest to work with.  So I wouldn't use the middle one or the top left one for your first custom. Now if you want to do a full body repaint I would think about what colors you might want to use.  If you are going to use a light color then you'll want to choose one of the lighter baits, probably the white one because it will be a lot harder to get even full body repaint on a darker pony.  If you want to use a darker color or you only want to strip (acetone to take off the symbol) and put a new symbol on then you are going to have a little more freedom about which bait to use.

When it comes to body modification you will probably want to add armature.  Basically just underlying structure to help support the pony.  It can be something simple like two pins for extended fangs or something more complex like a wire or grated frame to support a body cavity if you cut away the majority of the belly.  It depends on how extensive the mod is. 

Here is a great wing tutorial by Eiriel
http://eiriel.deviantart.com/art/Wing-Sculpting-Tutorial-59733330

And a pose/body mod tutorial from Colorscapesart
http://colorscapesart.deviantart.com/art/Sculpting-Tutorial-My-Little-96848062

i think ill go with the white and try to remove the cutie mark seems easier for my frst try do u no if there are other wing tutorials at all and were go i look them up sorry im new i only joined today x

[Rainbowjuice]

thanks so much this was very usful what glue do u use to pop the neck back on ?

Just plain old superglue =D

will UHU work ?

Yep but best to get the gel version as Maniah said =D

[Sarahlacewing]

"i think ill go with the white and try to remove the cutie mark seems easier for my first try do u no if there are other wing tutorials at all and were go i look them up sorry im new i only joined today"

There is a tutorial link page on the top of this customs board. It's really fun to browse through them and they have some great tips too!
http://mlparena.com/mlp/index.php/topic,283445.0.html