Ottawa Geek Market: Year 2

Last year, in October, Roomy and I shared a table at the inaugural Ottawa Geek Market.  Geek Market is an event that's something of a cross between a convention, an artists' marketplace, and a geeky garage sale.  Not only did we have a great time, but we did pretty darn well in our sales too (Roomy was selling her books, I was selling my customs, and we had a bunch of older figures for sale too.)

This year the Geek Market is two days, taking place October 19th and 20th.  We are really looking forward to the event again, and hoping this year we'll get a bit more time to do some shopping for ourselves.  I'm also working on a whole slew of geeky custom ponies that will be ready to go to new homes by then.  Here's a sneak peek at the custom prep that's been done so far.  There'll be sneak peeks and updates from now until October.

Also, if anyone's planning to attend and has any vintage ponies they're interested in selling, I'd be happy to take them off your hands.  If it's a pony toy with "Hasbro" somewhere on the bottom of the foot, I'll be interested.  If you're not sure, I'd be happy to take a look at pictures emailed to me to advise.  Elfpony @ yahoo.com.  (end shameless plug)

Elf

We're officially moved in...

The Geek Cave is unpacked!

It's not totally organized.  We still need more shelving.  There's a bunch of stuff stuck in the closet.  But there's no more moving boxes in there!  It feels good to be so far along in the process only five months after we moved.  I think it's the first time I've felt like the Ponies have a permanent home.

View from the Door - this is Roomy's MOTU corner

G1s with various merch on the top of the shelves

More G1s and G3s and G4s

G2s, G3s, and playsets of all gens

More G3s and blind bags

More G3s

Eventually, I want to have the ponies spaced out, so they're not all facing forward and crowded together.  I also need to do some better organization than just by generation (putting families together and such.)  Fun times are ahead!  :D

Elf

And now for something completely different.

This week: a commissioned rehair.

I was contacted some time ago to do a rehair on a Cardcaptor Sakura doll by someone who had seen one of my Custom Panels at a con.  Since I wasn't familiar with the doll, I had several questions before I agreed, but I was interested in trying this project out.  Luckily, my commissioner was patient, because it took me quite awhile to finish her off, but she turned out quite nicely.

With the rehairing done, she looks like Cousin It!

I have no idea what kind of hair was in there to start off, but it was rotting and you could pull it out with no effort at all.  It was also discoloured and smelly - very odd.  I rehaired with DH Gingerbread.  The rehairing should have been easy - the doll head was a nice flexible plastic and the holes were well defined.  But my rehairing tool was against me for some reason, and the needle kept popping out forcing me to reglue it in and wait until it had completely dried - multiple times.  Finally, it decided to stay put and I was able to finish the project.  The hair was then cut and styled.  My commissioner was quite happy with the results, so much so that she's asked me to do the same treatment to five other dolls.  :)

Here's the finished product.

Elf

Chibi Cthulhu

This is my third Cthulhu custom, this time using a G3.5 Ponyville as a base.

The base was bald, so all the tentacle hair on her head was sculpted using Apoxie Clay.  Her tail was left intact, but I added a few more tentacles there as well.  Her wings, claws, and muzzle tentacles were also sculpted.  She was fully repainted by hand.

Elf

Chibi Bowtie

It's been awhile since I've done a Chibi custom, and this is my first time using a G4 blindbag as a base.

Chibi Bowtie was made from an Applejack base.  The bows on her mane and tail were sculpted using Apoxie Clay.  She's been fully repainted by hand and sealed.  She was sold at this year's MLP Fair.

Elf

Nebula

Here is Nebula, a nebula custom.

Nebula was commissioned by Brightglowpony, for delivery at the Fair.  She wanted a custom similar to my Starscape custom, but done on a G3.  She chose the Orion nebula as the pony's symbol.

Nebula began as a Sunny Daze.  She was fully repainted by hand, including eyes and symbol.  Her mane symbol is the Orion nebula, while a Space Shuttle is also visible on her display side.  She was rehaired mainly in Dollyhair black magick, with hints of virgin snow, amethyst, bobby blue, apricot, mulberry crush, and fairy's breath.

I'm very happy with how the pony turned out, and so was Brightglowpony.

Elf

G4 Firefly - adventures in reposing

I briefly posted this girl on the weekend of the Fair, as she was my contest entry for this year.  For a change I entered the Hasbro-inspired category, and very nearly bit off more than I could chew.

Firefly started as a regular-sized brushable Rainbow Dash.  My plan was to make her look as close to G1 Firefly as possible while still leaving her with a strongly G4 look.  I started by cutting the pony apart, basically severing her wings, head, and three legs and cut into the fourth to reposition it.  I rehaired her, then got to work on the sculpting.  First I did the basic sculpting to reconnect the bits I'd removed.  Then I began to fill in the joins trying to get a smooth finish.  A lot of sanding followed, then painting, then more sanding, and finally the finished painting and sealing.

Specifically, the front leg on the NDS was cut in two places, but remained attached.  It was bent at the elbow and knee to give it the bend that matched G1 Firefly.  The front DS leg was wholy removed and cut in half.  The lower half was reattached with clay, giving it the tight bend.  (Incidentally, the other half of that leg ended up inside the neck to support the join there.  Both back legs were completely removed and reattached at the haunches.  The ankles were also cut to give them an angle down to the ground and the edge that is found on the back of G1 Firefly's leg was recreated using clay.  Both wings were removed and reattached at a different angle.  The neck was elongated and the head tilted backward.  The mouth was resculpted to be open.

She was fully repainted, including the eyes, although I did leave the original eyes on as a template.  The symbols were done with metalic paint.  She even has blush on her cheeks just like the original.

It all sounds easy enough, but I learned a lot from working on this custom.  For example: the regular-sized G4s are not the best repose candidates because the legs are solid.  It's much easier with the larger-sized ponies with hollow legs that allow you to create an armature to help secure the sculpting.  One of the issues I came to when it came to sanding was that, although the sculpting wasn't as smooth as I'd wanted, I had to stop sanding or risk having the leg fall off at the join - there needed to be enough clay left to hold everything together.  They're also so small that it's difficult to get in between the legs to do the sculpting and sanding.

If I were a smarter person, I'd have chosen a much less intense repose for my first attempt.  Still, despite her flaws, I'm proud that I was able to complete this custom in time for the Fair.  It will probably be awhile before I try another repose, but I'm sure I will give it another shot.

Elf