Alright, something fun for the weekend!
So, I am blessed and cursed to have friends that forget nothing and love to never let me forget anything, either.
Yeah, I now have photographic evidence of the time I made a Closer-era Trent Reznor My Little Pony for a friend’s birthday ten million years ago.
I would like to take time to heartfeltly apologize for bringing this into existence.
No, I am never doing this again (unless heavily, heavily bribed). Mostly because (at least at the time, maybe circa 2004-2006) that small of scale got to me. Now, maybe if I did something more to my liking, I might be alright. I’d have to test it out again, but I remember this specific project being pretty tedious. I’m sure part of it is I’m used to a much larger scale (usually human and above), but I think part of it is that the more modern MLPs are just that hard to work with (at least for a novice like me). It took me at least two goes, because in order to change out the hair you have to slit the head off, and I remember slipping enough the first time that the head wouldn’t fit back onto the body, and it was just a mess.
Yep.
So, basically, I boiled the original hair out of the head, and made sort of a larger-scale needle threader to pull the hair through the existing holes. It’s about as much fun as you think. The tail was somewhat easier because it’s basically one bunch and it’s enough to actually grab onto. I can’t remember, but I may have scalped a doll from a craft store or a generic dollar store Barbie for the hair. Yeah, I know, I feel horrible just typing that.
Eyebrows, eye color changes, the NIN cutie mark/tramp stamp, and I think the boots were all done with model paint (maybe the silver boot detail with silver sharpie – that stuff is pretty magical). I just couldn’t get the hang of the molding I’ve seen on a lot of other custom ponies, and I was working on a schedule, so I played to my strengths and what I had on hand. Plus, back in my day, MLPs wore actual fabric clothes, so I’m a purist.
If you have never tried patterning out a vinyl coat & pants and fishnet shirt for a freakin’ miniature toy horse, you’re missing out on a life experience. Granted, my original MLPs are some of the few things that have made it in tact through the years, so I likely patterned off some of the clothes I had for them as a kid (God bless the 80s). I think the shirt was the easiest part – I either crocheted or knit that on a really loose gauge then seamed it up on the body of the pony. the bandages on the forelegs are just muslin, I can’t remember if I bothered to hem the raw edges, but it appears that I did. The vinyl for the coat and pants is something I had on hand, so I did my best off of stills from the Closer music video. Because that is apparently what I was doing with my free time back then.
I never really figured out a great way to do the goggles on that scale, so point deducted for that, I guess. But yes, this exists, probably to be immortalized for all time now. It is honestly pretty cute and seeing it after all these years does amuse me, but man oh man did it take some finger gymnastics to get this thing done.
Come Selahway With Me... 
Love this!
Thanks! One of the things that makes me look back and cringe a bit, but it was an interesting challenge. Always good to learn new skills 🙂 – SJ
For the record, this is a G3 MLP figure. The body mold is different from G1 (G2 were skinny as hell and “tall”.) The boots are painted on and yes, silver sharpie for the details, which has held up amazingly for the decade or so I’ve had this.
The hair? Not so much. It’s greasy and snarled up pretty badly, probably due to whatever it is made out of. It makes my skin crawl to touch it. So I might have to look into modification to make it “better”, or at least tolerable. I still marvel at the tiny clothing you patterned, it’s amazing.
What can I say, it was what I could get my hands on. And I’m convinced silver sharpie is a different formula/is more like paint than regular sharpie. I try to keep one on me for signings because it just works better/will stick to most anything. It’s really weird.
I would guess that I probably scalped a generic craft store doll, so yeah, it wouldn’t have the same quality as some other stuff. If you do redo it, be really careful because I remember knotting the stuff into the scalp and the holes are tiny and thin. If like a conditioner or other doll hair care tips don’t work, you may want to try pledge or other furniture polish -I know it sounds bizarre, but I’ve used it on synthetic wigs to great results. Just make sure you spray a brush and not the actual hair, because it’ll get everywhere and I wouldn’t want you slipping and falling or something. You can use the straight up furniture oil, too, but the spray is more user friendly. Just gently go down the length of the mane and tail a few times gently with a brush, and you’ll be able to tell if it works pretty fast.
I kind of marvel at that. The things I do just to see if they can be done. Story of my life. – SJ