Deco/Decora/Decoden/Cake/Sweet Themed Customs (My First Customs! Very Pic Heavy)

[SunPony]

Wow, what a unique idea!  They are all so beautiful and delicious-looking... mmm, I think I want some cake now...

I like the idea of the slightly soft/squishy frosting!

[NoDivision]

Goodness you've been busy! Lots of yummy ponies. I love the way you did the tails. I think your symbol painting looks good and I'd love to see your take on painting eyes as well.

We had a few people who sued to make deco pony customs but they sadly fell off the face of the earth.

not all of us

[PrincessStarlily]

Wait, did I read this right? These are your first customs? They're positively fabulous! I consider myself a creative person, but I never would have thought up this concept! I'm sure you'll have no trouble selling these girls to new homes. They're so delicious I could practically eat them up!

[DorkyDuck]

These are incredible!!!  I love the idea, food makes everything better i think.  I would buy them all if i could they are just beautiful <3

[Featherwurm]

Well done, I see lots of good work, a little more balance in one or two spots and you shall have it nailed.  Also might want to think about a little gloss for the dripping sauces, most good chocolate makers when they do it have that nice shine to their chocolate when it hardens.  That would really make them pop even more!  Great jobs and you are very spot on with your color combos.

Thank you kindly for the critique!  I definitely will go higher gloss on the chocolate, the paint didn't behave 100% as expected though I do know how to fix it next time around.  I think I'm getting the hang of things, and only aim to improve further!

Goodness you've been busy! Lots of yummy ponies. I love the way you did the tails. I think your symbol painting looks good and I'd love to see your take on painting eyes as well.

Thank you!  I've got a couple ideas that will involve some very different eye painting, but it might be a while before I get to them.  I'll be coordinating colors though, on future cake/desert ponies!  (I love the Hasbro style of eyes, it's part of the draw for me, so the cake ones will keep that though).

Wait, did I read this right? These are your first customs? They're positively fabulous! I consider myself a creative person, but I never would have thought up this concept! I'm sure you'll have no trouble selling these girls to new homes. They're so delicious I could practically eat them up!

First indeed!  And a ton of fun at that!  Thank you!

To everyone else, thank you thank you thank you!  Your positive responses to this have made my week/month/year!  I'm definitely looking forward to making more, and I love hearing what everyone's favorites are (mine are Chocolate Orange and Crisp Mint... but those are also my favorite desert flavors too!).

[Uninu]

Mmmmm, such delicious looking ponies! Hard to believe they were your first customs.

[Galactica]

Wow those are so awesome and delicious looking!  I love how realistic the whip looks- what on earth did you make it out of?  You may be new at pony customizing- but I bet you have made those little mini desserts, right? Your stuff looks great!

[Featherwurm]

Wow those are so awesome and delicious looking!  I love how realistic the whip looks- what on earth did you make it out of?  You may be new at pony customizing- but I bet you have made those little mini desserts, right? Your stuff looks great!

I know the ones you mean, but honestly I've not done those before either (though I've watched tutorials on them).  My partner is training to become a cake decorator so he was able to give me some pointers as well.  The material I'm using behaves very similarly to a stiff whipped frosting.

The material is white silicone caulking, which I've pipped using a piping bag (not one of my partner's!  Hah, this stuff isn't food safe).  This is the type I'm using http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-Silicone-II-9-8-oz-White-Window-and-Door-Caulk-HD5010-24C/100663324.  Supposedly it is very similar to the 'Whipple' brand crafting materials, which are about 2x more expensive but behave similarly.  It dries with just a tiny bit of a 'squish' to it.

[Galactica]

Wow those are so awesome and delicious looking!  I love how realistic the whip looks- what on earth did you make it out of?  You may be new at pony customizing- but I bet you have made those little mini desserts, right? Your stuff looks great!

I know the ones you mean, but honestly I've not done those before either (though I've watched tutorials on them).  My partner is training to become a cake decorator so he was able to give me some pointers as well.  The material I'm using behaves very similarly to a stiff whipped frosting.

The material is white silicone caulking, which I've pipped using a piping bag (not one of my partner's!  Hah, this stuff isn't food safe).  This is the type I'm using http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-Silicone-II-9-8-oz-White-Window-and-Door-Caulk-HD5010-24C/100663324.  Supposedly it is very similar to the 'Whipple' brand crafting materials, which are about 2x more expensive but behave similarly.  It dries with just a tiny bit of a 'squish' to it.

Wow than you are just super talented!  I can't wait to see your future projects!

[Wild Raspberry]

These are absolutely stunning!!!  Great work especially since they're your first!   
 I sorta want to get into custom making but I am afraid to start...got any tips?

[Featherwurm]

These are absolutely stunning!!!  Great work especially since they're your first!   
 I sorta want to get into custom making but I am afraid to start...got any tips?

Oh man advice?  I mean I've read a lot and I've been around MLP a long time but customizing is pretty new to me too.  Buuuut some good sources of information are:

http://www.mlppreservationproject.com/index.html - Great overall info on what you're working with, how ponies are put together, and how to restore.

http://sanjana.nilut.com/mlp/Tutorials/Prepping%20Bait/prep.html - Great info on prepping a bait.

http://ponycustoms.com/ - Great re-hairing tutorials

There's more links in one of the sticky threads at the top of this board set here: http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,283445.0.html

Personal recommendations from this experience (and from cleaning and restoring ponies)?

- Use acetone to remove symbols/eyes, or pure acetone nail polish remover.  No other nail polish remover works as well.
- If the hair in a pony's head won't come out (particularly those stubborn forelock plugs), boiling the head and then pushing down hard on the forehead can help disconnect the glue.
- Do not try to remove the full weft of hair, tape wefts of hair (to save them for later) then cut them short before removing the plugs from the head.
- Magic Erasers are great for removing any and all surface dirt, even when things seem ground in you might be surprised.
- Tiny brushes are critical for repainting symbols, I am using this 6 piece set http://www.dickblick.com/products/princeton-series-3050-mini-brushes/ which I like very well and also use for other projects involving detailed painting (I'm working on a Monster High Neightan Rot mod that's coming along fantastically well with a lot of fiddly details).

Hm... that's all I can think of off the top of my head... If you have any particular questions on what I was doing specifically, I'll answer best I can!
- If you do want to do the fake whipped cream look (on ponies or anything else) I recommend white silicone sealant (for doors and windows) placed in a piping bag.  It behaves similarly (to the best of my knowledge) to 'Whipple' and other branded 'deco' supplies and is much less expensive.
-

[Wild Raspberry]

Thanks so much for all the info.

[mlp4me]

Unique idea! They're all very cute. :o)

[carlabarla]

These are really cool! Great job

[TexasGal]

those are so cool!