My Little Pony Repaint (Part 1: Supplies)

Hello again,

Today I have the first half of a series for you all. Located somewhere between a tutorial and a collection of progress shots, I have a bunch of photos outlining my process in customizing/repainting one of these chubby, Playskool Friends MLP characters I found at my local Tuesday Morning (they were awful cute and I just couldn't help myself...)

Over the weekend, I attended Otakon in DC (their first year in DC) and attended a panel on modding. She went over a lot of things I recognized, but a few things I had never looked into and suddenly I had a hankering for...modding a My Little Pony. I decided to start cheap (since these don't have real hair to re-root, it makes them even cheaper in the long run). Seeing as these are for toddlers, they're simple, cute, and small enough to make a manageable project out of!

What You Need:

1. Cleaned Pony/Ponies
2. Sealant (I personally prefer Mr. Super Clear, but it's a bit hard to buy if you live in the USA*. You can also use Testors Dullcote or something like Liquitex Matte Medium, though I have not used the later.)
3. Colored Pencils (watercolor or otherwise)
4. An Eraser (I like these white ones because you can cut them into a point if you need to get into a small space. If you like cutting the ends off your erasers, you will also need scissors..)
5. A Pencil Sharpener!! (If you skimp on the sharpener, your lines will NOT come out nice and crisp.)

6. Pastels (avoid oil based)
7. Paintbrushes
8. Acrylic Paint (not pictured, but I will be using white)
9. Paper Towels and...
10. A Clean Worksurface

What You May Want (Optional Supplies):

1. Magic Eraser (it works magic..)
2. Glitter/Gloss/Shimmer
3. X-Acto Knife
4. A Little Helper (Latidoll Lulu)


*The Junky Spot website often has Mr. Super Clear (MSC) in stock in both the UV cut and regular types. I buy mine from there in 3-packs to save on shipping.

My next post will detail my steps and show process shots. I am going to wait until I complete the pony so I can show the whole thing from start to finish. My progress so far has given me hope that this won't just be a throw away project..and I look forward to sharing the result. Thank you for reading and I'll see you next time!

ABS Plastic and Winsor & Newton (Crafting Gone Awry)

Hello there,

For those of you who do not know, I have a YouTube channel called SkippyBJD that's updated about as regularly as my blogger (which is to say, somewhat sporatically). Recently, I put up a crafting video documenting my and my friend's BJD alterations with the title "A Faceup and An Unintentional Mod".

The reason for this post is that I wanted to ask (or warn) about ABS plastic reacting to Winsor & Newton brush cleaner. Now, Winsor and Newton is my go-to for faceup cleaning - it's gentle on the resin and doesn't stain or leave residue. That's why, when the following events unfolded, I was a little more than confused.

I was trying to wipe the factory faceup from an Ai Doll Lagrus and she sort of...melted. Now, I don't want to scare anyone or jump to conclusions; I'm not 100% sure that the Ai Doll I had was even made of ABS plastic (the same stuff used to make Blythes). This is what the result was:

My only thought is that I have to sand her now - honestly not too upset because that means I get to try some modding stuff I've been too nervous to try as of yey - but hopefully that gets her into a presentable state.

Concluding Thoughts: You should always test things like this on a small part of a doll you're not sure about ESPECAILLY if you've paid a lot of money for the doll. I'm still not confident this is made of ABS plastic, but if anyone has any advice, I'm open to suggestions! Hahaha....

Wrap Up Questions: Has anyone had something similar happen? How did you fix it? Or, better yet, if you have a doll you know is made of ABS plastic and used W&N cleaner on it, did it work fine or did it melt?

Follow Up: I have a follow up blog post describing the solution to this problem. In short, please only use Winsor & Newton on resin. ABS aparently does much bettter with rubbing alcohol. Please see the corresponding blog post for a little more detail.