Hello Everypony
I've wanted a Takara Pony for a long time, but the official ones are really expensive and difficult to find even on Japanese websites, so I'd like to somehow have a replica made. I remember somebody had done basic ones several years ago that you could paint the eyes on and add hair & clothing to and that's all I would really need. Ideally I'd like it to be slightly hollow, at least enough to add the hair
I'm debating whether I should commission one or try to make it myself the main issues are:
1- Cost, I know that commissions can be expensive (though still cheaper than what the previously sold Takara Ponies went for) because of the amount of work that goes into them. But at the same time the figure itself is fairly simple and whoever makes one would be able to then make more to sell to other people who want a Takara Pony for the look of them and don't mind it being a fan made piece. For making one I don't really have any supplies for that, especially the way I'd ideally like to have it done so I'd have to buy everything.
2- Making it, I don't know how good I'd be at sculpting something this size. It's been a long time since I last sculpted something and the only thing I was really comfortable making were tiny figures under 1 inch and I was never confident making something big, but I was only about 14 the last time I tried to make something big and Takara Ponies are fairly simply shaped
3-Making more, depending on price and things like that I'd probably want to have more than one sooner or later and that would be easier if I had my own mold. Theoretically I could ask that whoever I commission sends me a copy of the mold but then I'm not sure where I would get the material for filling it and, depending on what it's made of, I may have to store the mold in an airtight box when I'm not using it since I live with my parents and my mother has latex allergies (using it wouldn't be a problem since I could do that in the garage when she's at work on a day she'll have a program on, but I can't store it there because I live in Canada and it might be damaged during the winter).
The other option is to 3D print it, which would let me reuse the pattern and I know for sure I could make it hollow; but I don't know if I'd be able to get rid of the printing lines and looking at the close-up photos it seems to be made of a similar plastic to the actual toys and I'm not sure if anything available now behave that way
If there's anyone that could offer help I would greatly appreciate it