Tracon 2013 and Taidekuja

I'm attending Tracon here in Finland durin 14-15th of September.
And, now it's official, I'm going to have a table from Taidekuja. Taidekuja (could be translated in to "Art Street" or such) is a place to sell my own art, be it drawn or sculpted or whatever. So long as I made it myself.

So this means, I'm gonna make customs and other stuff for that! Stay tuned for WIP pics and finished projects!

Sorry that I've been gone

Sorry folks, lately I've been busy with my school starting, so I haven't had the time and energy to work on my pony stuff (or much other stuff at that either).

Just had an idea though.... What if I made Fashion Style and brushable accessories?

Sneak Peeks

I haven't been able to complete paint jobs on any of the unfinished ponies due to my sealant running dry. So tomorrow I'm going out to boy some more!

So now I'm giving you some sneak peeks on what I have under work

Prepping a pony for customization

Today I'm going to show how I prepare my ponies for customization. You could say that this is a tutorial thingy. So let's start!
First off, the tools I use are
-The pony itself (duh)
-scissors
-thin blade/knife

So my victim is Pinkie Pie.

Here she is, all happy and oblivious to what I'm going to do with her.
The method I use for taking off the mane and tail is a bit of a pain, but ensures that the pony can be rehaired. I don't even rehair my ponies, I just like to have them hair-free.
The easiest way to remove hair, if you're not going to rehair the pony, is to simply cut the mane and tail as close to the pony as possible.

Of course, doing thtat you don't need to take the head off...

The first step is to cut her mane. I'm keeping the mane and tail, so I tied it and cut it off.


Then I just clip until the mane is very short.

You can see Pinkies mane in front of the camera in the other pic.
You might want to consider selling the hair to people who rehair their ponies.

Poor Pinkie, I beheaded her!

Sometimes taking the head off calls for a lot of strength. The few first times were pretty hard for me, but practice makes perfect as they say.

Now I simply put the head aside for some time. I won't need it for a while.



Next step requires the use of blade. Blades and knives are not toys! Use them carefully so that you don't hurt yourself!

Remember, blades and knives are not toys!
Next step is to take the plug from the pony out. We will need a blade for this, as it's glued in.
Carefully slide the blade between the actual pony and the plug. Push down.
I find it easier to push down with the blade rather than saw. Sawing is fast, but you might end up cutting accidentally through your pony's neck. cutting by pushing down takes a bit more time, but is safe for the pony.
The hardest place to cut through is the front of the neck. The glue extends far down, and you need to be careful so that your blade doesn't come out of your pony's chest.

Remember to be careful! I really can't stress this enough.

Now my pony's unplugged!          
Now put the plug someplace it stays safe, we will need it later.

Taking the tail off is easy!
Just reach in with tweezers, grab it and pull it away.

Now I need to remove the rest of the mane from her.
The mane is actually glued to stay, so it's a bit of a pain to take off. This is where I use scissors, reaching inside the head with one side.
Then I scrape inside the head, taking glue off bit by bit. You should see hair disappearing into the head at this point.
Some say that boiling the head before attempting this helps, but it didn't help me. Using scissors has been the most efficient way to remove the remains of the hair for me.

Now all we need to do is take the worst offenders from inside the head with tweezers.
This is actually optional, but I do it anyway.
Now we have three parts: the head, the body and the plug.

Now I put the plug back to the head. This might be a bit hard, since the plug is rather small. Sometimes it takes me fifteen minutes to get them back together.
Now I simply remove the eyes and cutie mark with some nail polish remover and ta-dah! We have a blank pony base to work upon!

Thanks for staying with me through this tutorial thingie ^___^
I hope this helps at least a bit! And if you feel like you didn't get some part or need to ask something, go right ahead! I am glad to help if I can!