The great Pony Room Reorg - volume 10

Now that the door is in place, I feel motivated to get moving on the Pony Room Reorg again.  So off to Ikea Roomy and I went!

My goal was to get a glass-doored display cabinet to house my custom Ponies, mainly the customs I've received from other customizers.  We'd made this trip before, but were stalled by the fact that the local Ikea was in the process of moving to a larger store and didn't have all their stock available at the time.  I was also on the lookout for some storage boxes to organize my accessories and other little pieces.  Just so we're clear, the trip wasn't all about me, Roomy was on the lookout for some storage solutions for her hobby room, too.

Somewhere around five hours later, we emerged from the Giant Ikea with flat packed furniture in tow and headed home to start building.

 Lucky for me, Roomy actually enjoys doing handy stuff like building furniture.  She had the new cabinet built and set up within an hour of our return.  I might also mention that, although within the budget, this cabinet was quite a bit bigger and more expensive than planned.  Well, at least it gives me room to grow.

Front Row: Evening Orchid and Supernal Sparkle, both by Pop-Girl; Back Row: Stevie and Elvina, both by Princess FireFly

The custom Ponies are enjoying their new diggs.  There are no fears of dust, ick, and spiders now!

Elf

Glory Star

Glory Star was another quick G4 custom.  Her base was a Rainbow Dash and her inspiration was G1 Glory.  Her TAF symbol are silver stars, some with metalic purple tails.  Her wings are also touched with silver and metalic purple.  Her eyes have also been repainted.  Her hair is Dollyhair Sour Grapes, Water Nixie, and Moonlight.

Elf

Pumpkin Harvest

Pumpkin here was actually done in the autumn and came about rather by accident.  It was a few weeks prior to my panel on customizing at N2U con, and I was in need of a G4 bait to show how the neck mechanisim is different from the other generations.  I had pulled out an AJ double I had with the intention of beheading her, but as I was fiddling with her, I came up with the idea behind this custom.  So AJ kept her head on and another G4 got baited.

Pumpkin Harvest's symbol is a harvest of grains and vegetables from the Autumn.  Her eyes were also repainted.  Her hair is original, but was given a gradient dye with Rit fabric dye.  She bears a resemblance to an early custom I did, Autumn Harvest.

 
Elf

The great Pony Room Reorg - volume 9

Do you see these kittens?  (OK, they're two, but they're the youngest cats in the house by far, so they're the kittens.)

These kittens are the reason for the following post.

When we first moved the Pony Room downstairs we put a sliding plastic door up to keep the kittens out.  That worked for awhile, but then the kittens pulled the hook that was holding the door closed out of the wall and got into the Pony Room.  Bad.  So we got a second sliding door to add to the first one.  The doors met in the middle and could be tied shut.  Problem solved, we thought!

sideways slidy doors

Wrong.  Now the doors had enough give that the kittens could squeeze underneath.  Bad.  Now the Ponies are unsafe in the Pony Room!  What's a girl to do?  (At least the kittens have gotten out of the chewing phase!)  Luckily, Roomy came to the rescue with a friend who's a handyman and was more than willing to help us with our problem.  He suggested an innovative cat-proofing solution sure to astound the ages!

A Door!

Our Friendly-Neighbourhood Handyman then proceeded to go above and beyond, building walls to support the door, hanging the door, spending lots of time making sure the door was straight and worked well, framing the door, and putting up drywall.  All that's left for us to do is paint the "walls."

A doorless Pony Room

Roomy and Handyman Francis taking measurements

The walls go up.

Door!

Putting up the drywall.

 And that's it!  In the space of about four hours I now have a Pony Room that is both secure AND easy for me to come in and out of.  This, my friends, is a good day!

Elf

Of cons, at home and away

I'll shortly be heading off for the last day of G-Anime and my panel on the History of MLP, but my second hometown con has got me thinking about the differences between going to a con at home vs one in another city.

Travelling to a con, whether you're going as a guest or a fan, you get to enter into that liminal state associated with going on a vacation or a pilgrimage.  You leave the concerns and work of everyday life behind for a brief time and instead focus on the fandom that you're interested in.  You spend your days discussing a favourite character or show with other fans, enjoying panels, taking part in the ceremonies and events that go along with the con.  For three days you can immerse yourself in the con lifestyle.

But when the con is in your hometown, it's harder to get into that liminal state.  While you're at the con it's easy to focus on the fandom, but before you get there and after you leave, it's another story.  You're surrounded by your everyday surroundings.  Instead of waking up in a hotel room with the initial thought of "let's get to the con!" you wake up in your own bed, with the initial thought of "I've got to feed the cats."  Instead of eating in restaurants and trying new things you eat at home to save money but you need to think about preparing the food.  Instead of wondering what to spend your money on in the dealer's room, it's far to easy to wonder if you remembered to turn on the dishwasher before you left home.

Of course, there are pros and cons to both situations, and I'm not going to try and decide which is better.  Just a bit of pondering for a Sunday morning before heading out to the con.  But first, to load the dishwasher.

Elf

Ponies at G-Anime

Hi all,

I'll be a guest next weekend at G-Anime in Gatineau!  Once again I'm looking forward to bring the Ponies to an Anime con!  This weekend I'm rushing to get things ready.

My panels will be as follows:

FIM Panel: Friday Jan. 27 at 8pm
Customizing MLP: Saturday Jan. 28 at10am
History of the MLP Brand: Sunday Jan. 29 at 4pm

I'll also have custom ponys on display throughout the weekend in the Foyer!  :D

I hope to see you there!

Elf

G3 Medley: an MGR custom

This custom was made from a McDonald's Happy Meal Pony, Starsong to be precise.  Her mane was sculpted from Apoxie Clay, as were the extra strands I added to her tail.  The harness, saddle, and roses were also done in Apoxie Clay.  Jewels were added to her hair and harness to give her a little extra sparkle.  She was fully repainted in acrylics and sealed in Mod Podge.  She was made for Seaponey in the MLPArena 2011 Advent Swap.

Elf