NEW? Hair type: Bead Hair Custom Horse & Pony

[WingsOfMasquerade]

In my eternal quest to cut down the time it takes to rehair a pony...
(I hate rehair the mane, it just takes way too long) I'm constantly looking for alternative hairs to use. And then most of the time they take longer than if I had just went ahead and done the normal hair so I guess I defeat self. But it keeps things innovating!

My latest attempt is "Beads Hair".
Where the hair is actually strands of seed beads rooted into pony or horse. (Of course, horses come in here too because I love doing custom horses) It gives a look like jewelry for a pony (because they're shorter) or just bead-covered hair for a horse.

The horse is "Elegance of Africa"
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Who is a new color "Black Gold" which is a shimmery golden hue inside black paint.
She has golden goddess & black magic hair colors for the regular hair. Her tail has a black thread wrap at the top for an African look.

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The beads are shiny and matte gold and some clear or glitter gold

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The pony is Crystal Rose
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The necklace is glass microbeads in pink, lt. pink & silver/white.


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Who is pink pearly with gold & fully cut 3D (not flatback) pink zirconia stone in the symbol.

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Her hair is a blend of I think one of the bubblegums, pussycat, and shimmer tinsel. The beads are strung onto tough tinsel-thread and haired into her hair holes.

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Story of Crystal Rose:
One morning, Crystal Rose was visiting her flower garden. Many of her flowers were in full bloom, and the garden was very colorful. She had roses, daffodils, peony, morning glories and more. However, her newest, special roses had not bloomed yet. It was already the middle of summer, so what was taking the buds so long to open?
Everything remained the same in the garden for about a week, until one morning when she went to water the flowers, Crystal Rose noticed something shining in the center of her garden. When she hurried in to look, she found that the new, special roses had all bloomed! And in the center of each flower was a shining gemstone! "Oh how lovely, these magic flowers were worth the wait!" She exclaimed.
Crystal Rose wanted to share the beauty of the new flowers with all her friends. She invited everyone to a garden party so that they could see the sparkling blooms and enjoy the garden. The day of the party everyone noticed that now Crystal Rose's symbol had a jewel in it too!

(I get bored while putting in the hair so I make up wacky stories like on back cards 

[Diamond]

What a neat idea!  I always look at those strands of seed beads in the stores and wonder what else can they be used for. 

[Alatariel-Silimaure]

oooooo I love that!

[kaoskat]

Those are really pretty! What an amazingly unique idea!

[Saja]

Very cool Idea, Love the first one especially!!

[FoolBornUnicorn]

Beautiful! This would be really fitting for egyptian/pharaoh themed ponies!
I love this idea! And the story is cute too!

[Raindrop]

I think this may have been attempted very early on before there were so many kinds and colors of hair to buy (in the days of donor hair and such), but I'm not aware of it being done recently.  The color combinations are very pretty!

[BlackCurtains]

I love the first one. That is such a cool idea and the look is awesome.

[Morosan]

that's really neat!

[starfish]

fancy
hmmm ... *eyeing the pounds of beads brought home from East Africa*
how did you fix the strings? got them in with the thread and knot method?

[Eviecorn]

Awesome!  I love the look.  It must take some patience to do this!

[Colorscapesart]

Very ornate!  I love the simplicity and elegance on the first pony's colors, it really lets the gorgeous textures pop!  Very nicely done!

[dashesndots]

Very cool.  I love the colors of Elegance of Africa!  The beaded style is awesome

[WingsOfMasquerade]

So glad you like it!
Now I'm def. tempted to do more. I've got 2 other horses (white & black) that I want to do a Pharoh type theme with , for sure. And plenty of beads to accomplish it.

East African beads would be so cool!
The method for the tail (horse or pony) if you're doing the zip-tie method is to just put the tinsel in like normal, then string the beads onto it once the tail is already in. I tied off the last bead, then dipped the tip of the bead strand into mod podge to seal them all down.

For the horse mane...
If you're doing the tape/glue mane strip method, just put the tinsel in like normal again and tie/modpodge the tip.
For the pony mane....
I did 1 strand of tinsel in 1 mane hole. I cut a slot at an angle in the neck plug. Use extra long tinsel, put the "inside of the head" part of the tinsel in the slot. Keep doing it for all hair holes you want to have a bead strand. Then, use E3000 or Liquid Nails or some industrial glue and just gloop all over the strands as they're held in the cut. Glue the strands down onto the side of the neck above the cut too, for extra re-assurance. I was paranoid of the beads falling off the strand so it's possibly over worked.

I never learned the needle/thread method...so maybe that isn't the best way, but it was what was used for her. I would of liked to have like 2 holes be 1 strand (so the U bend of the tinsel is inside the head/extra secure) but didn't figure it out. I will def. make other ponies with this bead method, and hopefully get a tutorial going as well!

[Mana_Mihara]

That's so creative! Love how it looks.