Rainbow Daydream

Rainbow Daydream was my MLP Fair original custom contest entry for 2019, and also one of my favourite customs to date.  I tried a new technique with her, which was great fun, and which I'll definitely be using again.  I don't usually include a lot of progress pictures when I blog about my customs, but in this case I think it's worth doing.

Rainbow Daydream started life as a G3 Styling Rarity.  I started out by painting her face, neck, back, and down her legs white. Over this I painted the pastel rainbow colours that would become her symbols and sealing this paint job.  Then came the fun part: drawing on her symbols with white glue.

Yes, white glue.  Over the course of six sittings I painted glue symbols over all her pastel painted areas.  It took six sittings because a pony is not flat, and wet glue runs.

Once the glue symbols were finally done, I painted the rest of the pony a combination of dark blues and purples.  I had hoped that this darker gradient would be an interesting contrast to the pastel gradients, but a lot of the darker detail was lost behind the pastels.

Finally, I started carefully picking off the white glue to reveal her symbols.  This step alone took about three hours.  Eventually, all her symbols were revealed (and only two minor touch-ups needed!) and the whole paint job sealed.

Her hair was added as the last step, and I decided to do a yarn rehair on her.  This is the first time I've done a yarn rehair on a pony, but somehow it seemed like the correct choice for her look.  I combed out the yarn to give her a fluffier appearance (but not a perfume puff appearance).

I couldn't be happier with how she turned out, and with her second place finish at the Fair.  She received many compliments at the Fair and afterward as well.

Elf

Canadian Collectors Extravaganza - 2019 Edition

Just two weeks after this year's US MLP Fair was the Canadian pony con in Montreal.  Naturally, we headed off with the car full of ponies.

This was the second year of the con, and it has grown from last year.  Even though the weather took a turn for the wet midday, there were attendees arriving throughout the day.  There were also activities throughout the day, including bingo, paint-a-pony, guess the number of accessories in a jar, and trivia.

Some of the Paint-a-Pony entries

There were also treats including some beautiful cookies provided by one of the attendees, and a pizza lunch provided by the con staff.

Too pretty to eat!

We had great fun again this year, sold well, bought several things, and went home with the car slightly less full than when we'd arrived. My custom pony Moonrise won first prize in the Custom contest, and I also contributed two new Maple custom ponies to the Maple display (more on those later).

As a one-day con it was over far too quickly, but highly enjoyable (and there was a dinner afterward, to prolong the fun). I can't wait until next year.  You can find more pictures from the day here.

Elf

MLP Fair 2019

Pony Fair!

This year the Fair was in Tampa, and for a change Roomy and I did something smart and flew down instead of driving for two days straight.  Although I'm not a great fan of flying, I'm glad we did, as it meant we actually had energy for the con.  And I managed not to overbuy, so we didn't have to ship anything home!

International Display (Spain and Macau)

Once again it was a fun filled weekend, full of friends, ponies, and interesting panels (and shopping!).  I particularly enjoyed the panel on Takara Ponies (which only made me want them more).  There was also a great international MLP display.  The always interesting Kirk Hindman and Stefanie Eskander, both toy designers for Hasbro (among others), gave some really interesting panels, as well as spending the better part of both days just chatting with collectors.

2nd place in Parade of Booths

Costume Contest Entries

All the contest entries really went above and beyond this year.  There were fewer entries than in past years, but the ones that were there were really phenomenal.  I was particularly fond of the Toys R Us themed booth decoration.  My custom entry Rainbow Daydream came away with a second place ribbon (more on her in an upcoming post).

Rainbow Daydream, 2nd place in Original Custom Category

Kirk talking with collectors

Amazing entries by Fire Helix, Roogna, and Soulcookies in the Handicraft Contest

Yes, the con was smaller again than its heyday a few years ago, but it had the feel of  some of the earlier cons, when the fandom was smaller (as it's again becoming) and nearly everyone knew each other.  I love the intimate feel of those days, and I enjoy having that experience again, provided that there are enough participants to keep the con afloat.  If you haven't been yet, try to go next year.  It's a great experience as well as a great way to meet other collectors in person.

Group Photo

More pictures can be found here.

Elf

More con prep or, why didn't I do some of this earlier?

Next weekend is the MLP Fair in Tampa Bay, two weeks after that is the MLP Collector Extravaganza in Montreal.

That means that in a week I'll be in a room surrounded by two of my favourite things: friends and ponies.  And two weeks after that I'll be in another room surrounded by two of my favourite things: friends and ponies (and French!)

That also means that the next week is going to be filled with panic, and packing, and ponies (oh my!)

It's at this time of year that I always wonder "why didn't I do more of this earlier?"  It's not like I didn't know I was going to these cons back in...well last summer.  Why aren't my sales ponies organized and priced?  Why aren't my contest entries done?  Why did I think it was a good idea to work right up until the day before we leave?  (Answer to the last one: in April when I booked my vacation it seemed like a better idea to have more vacation during and after the cons to play with ponies than beforehand for prep.  Spoiler alert: that will seem like a great idea again as of Friday morning.)

We're also flying to the MLP Fair this year rather than driving.  This is nice because I won't be spending a week of my vacation driving there and back.  This is less nice because I don't have a car to fill with purchases (what?!?!) and will either have to fit everything into my luggage or mail it home.  This year I will be focusing on small purchases (I say this now...)  However Montreal is only a couple of hours away and, rest assured, we will be arriving with a VERY FULL car (should've gotten two tables...didn't), and probably leaving with a VERY FULL car (hopefully of new things).

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Gotta go.  Con prep.

Elf

On cleaning vintage toys - a case for less is more

I clean all the vintage toys that come into my collection (and also the ones I'm going to sell on).  But I don't like the trend I see among many collectors to jump to more intense cleaning methods first, without trying some more gentle methods first.

Spa day

Particularly, many collectors have jumped onto the Oxyclean or peroxide cleaning treatments.  I am extremely hesitant to use either of these for cleaning vintage toys, despite some positive reviews.  The main reason for my hesitancy is due to Remove Zit.  This is a stain remover product, much used in the doll community to great success.  Several people in the MLP community tried it on ponies and it was found to remove stubborn stains.  Unfortunately, it was also found to remove the colour from the ponies' bodies, bleaching them white.  This damage did not become evident until quite a long time after the product was used (sometimes years later), and the damage was permanent and often far more noticeable than the original stains.  Although the Remove Zit website says that it can be used on vinyl toys, it is not safe for use on MLP due to the dying process the ponies originally went through. The residual chemicals in Remove Zit can also transfer from one pony to another.

Oxyclean and peroxide baths are not made of the same stuff as Remove Zit, but they still require caution.  For MLP in particular, we already know that Oxyclean will damage certain pony features (so-soft, tinsel, princess pony symbols, and twinkle eyes, to name a few), yet people continue to use it without first doing their research.

As far as peroxide baths, they may brighten up the colours on a vintage toy, but to my mind the process is too new to know what the long term effects will be to these toys.  I suspect that in years to come we will find that (at best) the colours have yellowed or faded again or (at worst) the toys have been damaged and will degrade much faster than those not treated.
I'm always hesitant to use these type of chemical-intensive treatments on vintage toys.  We are already dealing with vinyl that is becoming chemically unstable, and adding more chemicals to the mix may not be the safest way to go.

For myself, I stick to simple methods.  Dish soap, conditioner for the hair (well rinsed afterward), and magic eraser.  These are tried and true, and, if used with care and attention, will not damage the toy further.

I've also found, in my 22 years of collecting, that patience is a virtue.  I've had several G1s in my collection with "permanent" marks on them (pen, and in one case, a Sugarberry whom I'm sure made a trip to the strawberry patch at some point), who's marks have now faded so as to be completely unnoticeable. This without any special treatment; no sunfading, no chemical treatments, just being kept in the most beneficial conditions possible for years, after a gentle cleaning.

For more information on safely cleaning ponies, I recommend checking out the MLP Preservation Project website.

Elf

Small Pieces - Storage and Display

Lately I've been considering what to do with my smalls.  Currently, I have them all sorted, bagged, and stored in various boxes (many of them MLP lunch boxes, tins, or carry cases - justification for keeping some of this merch).  This is handy when I am setting up displays, but it also means that I don't see these pieces that often.

I also have two different systems of storage going on.  For the G1s and G2s, I have the accessories stored by set (much as they are shown in my Flicker photo catalogue), but for the G3s and G4s, I have them stored by type (food, clothing, etc.).  I've done this for a couple of reasons.  For the G1s, because I've lived with these for 30+ years, I can easily identify which accessory goes with which pony.  When I started collecting G2s, it made sense to store the accessories in the same way.  But with the G3s and G4s, there were so many accessories that were reused and recoloured, that I decided it made more sense to organize them by type.  I was never going to remember whether the pink tiara went with Petal Blossom or Rainbow Flash, and with my Flicker photo catalogue, I didn't need to.  Far easier to keep a bag with all the tiaras together and pull out the one I wanted when I wanted it.

In addition to this, I have the G4s displayed almost exclusively within their playsets, and of course I've added accessories to enhance the display.  This way, the small ponies are filling in the large playsets, I don't have to worry about additional storage, and I can enjoy the accessories all the time.

G4s in a Li'l Woodzies bakery set

This got me thinking about the earlier generations.  Again, all the ponies are photographed with their accessories, so is there really a need to keep those accessories grouped together in storage?  And if I don't keep them grouped by pony, what do I do with them?

I've already started keeping specific hair accessories with the ponies who own them, so I can enjoy looking at the barrettes.  Why not do that with some of the other smalls?  I particularly love the baby accessories, and many of these are easy to sneak onto a shelf near the ponies.  A few are too small or too prone to be lost to feel comfortable doing that (tiny teething rings or xylophone mallets seem made to be lost), so these will likely stay safe in zip bags for the time being.  Also, the larger accessories, like rockers and playpens, will probably be staying in boxes because they'll take up too much shelf space.

I suppose this plan will make dusting in the Geek Cave even more difficult than it already is, but in the meantime I'm enjoying this look.

Elf

Small Pieces

I love most things MLP and, in particular, I love the tiny pieces that come with them.  I am an accessory junkie.

That's not the half of them.

Collectors often refer to the small items that originally came with their toys as accessories or smalls.  These are typically harder to find than the toys themselves, often being lost due to their small size, and are generally not recognized by non-collectors.  What I mean is, while nearly anyone can recognize a vintage Princess Leia action figure, only collectors and toy dealers are likely to spot and recognize a vintage Star Wars laser gun in a pile of toys.

A multi-generational hot cocoa moment - accessories from all 4 generations are represented in this picture.

Smalls are often typically more expensive to add to a collection than the toys that they came with.  This is also due to their small size and penchant for being dropped, mislaid, or left behind somewhere in childhood.  One of the most interesting and frustrating things for me about buying lots of vintage toys from people who are selling their childhood toys is seeing what accessories are included.  I've often received lots that have ponies missing their accessories, while accessories are included but their associated ponies are not.  I often wonder why certain accessories manage to stay with the ponies while others simply disappear.

Pets and Friends

I can go into the Geek Cave and stare at shelves full of ponies all day, any day, but I also love the bits and pieces that came with the ponies themselves.  Most ponies in any era came at least with a brush or comb(often beautifully designed), but many came with other accessories as well, including barrettes, clothing, crowns, jewelry, bibs, bottles, toys, and games.  Many of them even came with pets.

Don't get me started on G1 original ribbons. *bliss*

I am particularly fond of the G1 baby accessories.

Why are these things so interesting to me (aside from sheer level of adorableness)?  I love that I can use these pieces to bring the world of MLP to life. I love that I can set up a playset and populate it not only with characters, but with items they can interact with.  If you've seen any of my display posts, you may have noticed that not all the accessories used are MLP.  I also regularly use smalls from SSC, Calico Critters, Li'l Woodzies, LPS, craft items, and other bits and pieces that I've picked up second hand that I thought would work well with the ponies.  This is part of the reason I don't collect MOC/MIB items - I really do want to play with my toys.

A Halloween party with costumes and accessories furnished by various MLP generations and some Li'l Woodzies playsets.

I also love the attention to detail that was put into these smalls. I'm constantly blown away by the quality of design in most of these toys (particularly the early generations).  Is it any wonder that so many Children of the 80's collect toys from their childhood when their chosen piece of nostalgia is also beautiful and entertaining from a design perspective?

The Party Pack accessories are some of the very few items I still have from my childhood collections.

It's been a little while since I've set up a display in the Geek Cave.  It might be time for a pony party.

Elf