Remake a Fake

A co-worker recently learned of my Pony customization and gave me a fakie.  He also asked how to tell a real MLP from a fakie (by finding "Hasbro" written on the bottom of the foot.)  He said I could use the fakie as a custom bait.  And so I shall.

The question being, what should I make her (him?) into?

There's staining on the other side, so a repaint is definitely in order.  I'll rehair as well, since the original hair is dry and short.  Possibilities so far are:

Pegacorn Fakie Elfpony
Harley Davidson pony (the co-worker is a Harley fan.)
Ice Cream theme (she's chubby and I'm currently obsessed with Choc. Mint ice cream
Work theme (and she'd live in my cubicle.)

I'm open to suggestions.

Elf

Works in progress

There's a minor problem with blogging about customs you're working on when most of the customs you're working on are for swaps: you have to keep them a secret until your partner receives them.  As I'm currently participating in both the Arena Halloween Custom Swap 4.0 and Advent Swap 2011, the majority of the custom work I've done recently has been for those.  However, I do have a few WIP pictures to share this week.

 Firstly, a custom that I'm actually working on for myself (*gasp!*)  She's been a WIP for nearly two years now, but most of that has been sitting in the bait box waiting.  Now I've set myself a deadline of Thanksgiving weekend (in a little less than a month) to have her completed.  The sculpting and sanding were the major parts of the project, there's only painting left now.

 I also have two Maneki Ponies that will be swap gifts.  Who will they be?

 Finally, a custom McD pony who will be part of the Advent Swap gift to my partner.  The WIP picture doesn't give away who my partner is, so I thought I'd share.  I do enjoy making carousel ponies and it's been awhile since I've done one.  She's simple, but I like how she turned out.  Pictures of her finished will come, but not until my partner opens her swap box in December.

Elf

Ponies at G-Anime

Last Spring I was lucky enough to be invited to Anime North in Toronto.  It was my first professional con, and I had a great time at my collecting and customizing panels.  Now I've been invited to G-Anime in Gatineau next January and I can't wait.

Of course it's too early to know what I'll be doing when, but I'm hoping to reprise my customizing panel from AN.  I'm also hoping to do a panel on the history of the MLP brand.  I've been a fan of the brand basically since it's beginning in the early 1980s, I want to make sure that other fans and collectors who were introduced to MLP only in the last year are aware of the history behind it.  I love that MLP has become such a phenomenon and that so many people seem to be genuinely excited by FIM, and I want to share the earlier manifestation of the brand that excited me when I was five years old and still does today.

In the meantime, I'm busy with two swaps on the Arena.  The Halloween Custom swap (version 4.0) and the Advent Swap.  My Halloween custom is nearly finished, but of course it will be awhile before I get to unveil her here as my partner will have to see her first.  The Advent swap is primarily a gift swap, but I will be including a few custom items in my partner's package as well.  I'm looking forward to spoiling both my partners in these swaps.

Elf

A quick one while she's away

 It's been a hectic week/end, so just a quick update this week with a little silliness.

Apple Jacks.  Why?  Because I can.

I'm not a MOC/MIB collector.  I'm just damn slow opening stuff.

In honour of Doctor Who's return last night: 11th Doctor Snowman Cupcake (complete with Bowtie and Fez.)

I'll be properly back next week.

Elf

The great Pony Room Reorg - volume 7

Slowly but slowly, things are still moving forward.

As I was reorganizing and moving things around, I kept finding little pockets of G1 accessories everywhere.  There were also a lot of G2 and G3 accessories that had never been put away after last year's Holiday display.  Now all the accessories have been picked up and organized.

I also decided to relocate all the G2 ponies onto the G2 display.  I have so few G2s that they can all fit comfortably onto the display space.  This way I don't have to find shelf space for them, at least for a little while.

I've also managed to get my G1 boxes off the ground finally.  They're not quite as well displayed as I'd like, but it's still a work in progress, right?  (And there's still another bookcase to come...)  Here we have My Pretty Pony, the Birthday Party Pack (one of the few remnants of my childhood collection,) the Dream Castle, Lullabye Nursery, and Show Stable.  I'm such a sucker for G1 packaging, especially for the playsets.

 

My Elfpony customs finally have their own shelf as well.  Here we see, from left to right: G3 by Phynix, Autumn Elfpony by Snapdragon, Original Elfpony by me with clothes made by my friend Jess, Carousel Elfpony by me, Takara Elfpony by Dusty Gusty, Ponyville Elfpony by me, Plush Elfpony by Anita's Mom, and LPS Elfpony by Ponylady

 There's also some Elfpony art on the side of the shelf: by PrincessFirefly, Nightwing, my Roommate, and Firemuse.

Elf

Maneki "Lucky" Ponies

Well, after literally a year of having these posted on my sales page as a "coming soon" item, I'm finally doing a post dedicated to the Maneki Ponies.

Are you familiar with the "lucky cats" that are often seen in Japanese stores and restaurants?  These tiny pony models are based off of those.

I started out making tiny copies of Maneki Cats with bits of Apoxie Clay that I had left over at the end of sculpting projects (waste not, want not.)  I was copying the Maneki Nekos because I have a small collection of them.  My Roommate suggested I try making a pony version and this is where we've ended up.

Maneki Ponies are made of solid Apoxie Clay, painted in acrylics, and sealed with Mod Podge.  The originals varied in size quite a bit, but more recently I've standardized their sizes to something close to the larger versions you see here.  Sizes will vary slightly.

G4 Cheerilee for size comparison only: not for sale

I'm offering these for sale, as well as taking commissions on them.  For the commissions I will do either Hasbro-based (any generation) or personas.  Maneki Ponies are $5 USD each or 3 for $12.  Shipping is included in the price.  You can see more pictures, and premade Maneki Ponies that are available for purchase, on the Maneki Pony page.

Enjoy!

Elf

The great Pony Room Reorg - volume 6

Things have calmed down a bit so I was able to head back down to the Pony Room and get back to the reorg.  It's been about a year since we did the move down to the larger room and I'd hoped to have everything sorted well before now.

When last we saw the room, things were in a state of chaos.  Half the room was inaccessible, full of junk that was supposed to be moved into the basement or right out of the house and you couldn't see the floor.  With Roomy's help I was able to clear that stuff away so that I could reach the far end of the room again and start organizing the Pony stuff.

Look!  You can see the floor!

OK, most of the stuff was just moved to the other end of the room.

I decided to move the Ponyville stuff from the large desk to the small desk.  I won't be getting any more PV stuff, and the G4 stuff will no doubt be expanding quickly, so they're getting the prime real estate at that end of the room.

New, condensed PV display

G4s have space to expand

So basically, things are still in a state of chaos, but I've managed to organize two corners of the room.  Next on the list is to get the wall shelves in place and pick up a new bookshelf with glass doors from Ikea.  The glassed-in section is for my custom collection to protect the customs by other artists from dust and damage.  I've also got a collection of shipping boxes that need collapsing and a lot of odds and ends that need organization.  I'm very much looking forward to finishing off the mundane work so I can get down to playing with Ponies again.

Elf