I'll start with the Fluttershy custom.
She's pretty simple to be fair, just a minor amount of rehairing, a new cutie mark, and painted wings.

The first myth I'll set right is, you CAN use heated hair stylers on the G4 ponies hair. I've used my heated hair straightener on about 6 or 7 so far, and even at the insanely high heat they reach, they've done nothing bad to the hair. I read somewhere that modern nylon hair can actually stand heat up to 230 degrees C. Explains a lot really.

Anyway. on to Fluttershy being turned into a pony tentatively named Ribbons and Bows.

• My victim was the Spring Fluttershy, with the flowers on her front hoof.
• First thing to do was use nail varnish remover on a cotton bud to remove the cutie mark, and flowers. It's annoying because initially they smudge, but working at them a bit cleans them off nicely.
• Second I removed the head (Or rather got my dad to do this as I couldn't). Now, as I didn't plan to do anything with her tail, I didn't need to remove the 'plug' they put in the G4's necks. *phew*
• Third, using my flat nosed pliers, I grabbed the 'plugs' of hair that I wanted to replace and pulled. This removed said plugs from her head. I read a tutorial that said to use a drawing/push pin to enlarge the plug holes, I found it better to use a pointed attachment for a craft knife instead, as it was longer
• Next I took my hair, from a childrens hair accessory, and seperated it into 8 sections, tieing a tight knot in one end of each. I used clear nail polish to seal these, then trimmed off the knotted ends to they weren't too long
• Then I took my needle and thread. (I was using a very fine beading needle, and what appears to be reasonably strong thread) This is where it got a little confusing to begin with. You basically have to double thread your needle. You want both ends going through the same way, so you've got a loop one side of the eye of the needle, and two loose ends the other. This goes down through from the TOP of the head, and out the neck hole, leaving the loose ends on the outside of the head. Thread the newly made 'hair plug' through the loop, after removing the needle, and gently pull the loose ends. So pulling the plug up and into the head.
• If all goes well, the knot seats itself by the hole, and you can pull through the rest of the loose hair.
• Next came the hair straightening. Since the accessory I'd used to add the new colour hair (lilac) had been braided, it was still a little crinkled. So I got out my trusted hair straightener and straightened it. So long as you don't keep the hair in the straightener for too long, you shouldn't do any damage to it.
• While her head was still removed, I painted her wings. Two tone shades of light purple, I was going to add extra detail with a darker shade, but decided it'd ruin the look, and so left it as it was.
• Repainting the eyes was easy enough. It was just a case of mixing up one colour, adding a little of it to another two of the shot glasses I use for mixing my paint in, and adding an extra little bit of white to each so I ended up with three shades.
• Her cutie mark was also painted before I put her head back on. It was pencilled on first, and then I went over the pencil with the paint.

For the

paint, I simply used acrylics.

Not really sure what else to say about this now...
She's actually got a different accessory in her hair now, but I only just realised that I haven't taken any photos of the new one. Bad me.

Photos are

1. The almost finished Ribbons and Bows, and an original Spring Fluttershy (I've since restyled Fluttershy's hair to match the show)
2. Repainted eye.
3. A full body shot. Showing the cutie mark, painted wings, and new hair.

I actually had every intention to take lots of photos of this next one!
This is a custom pony based on myself. I asked my tumblr followers what sort of pony they thought I'd be, and only one person replied. They said I'd be a unicorn who'd live in a forest doing lots of good things that other ponies didn't really notice.



I grabbed Rarity and Twilight while a department store in town had them a bit cheaper than everywhere else, I already had them both, so it would just be a case of deciding which one to keep and which to custom. I'd already earmarked Rarity for this project, and a good thing too, her cutie mark stained her white plastic rump slightly blue. No biggie, I was going to paint her blue anyway!



I was a bit more drastic this time, and wanted to remove all her hair. I used a 'snag free' elastic hair band to tie her mane together before cutting it off, I may find a use for it a bit later on! You never know!



Removing that neck plug was a pain! I had to borrow my sisters hair dryer in the end. Heat helps to make the softer plastic of the pony body even softer, also helping to melt the glue that holds the plug in. To add to this I'd been soaking it with Nail varnish remover. Eventually it came free, and I was able to remove the tail!

None of the photos really give a true image of the shade of blue I've used. There are brush strokes, which I'm not too happy with, but it's my own fault for using thicker layers than is recommended in all the tutorials I've read. Oops. My bad. Still, she looks okay!



So far I've added some different shades to her ears, and her hooves. You can kind of see this on the photo of her hooves.



Next thing to do is finish her eyes! I'm thinking I might try and do something to define her mouth a little too.



You can also sort of see the difference in shades from her face to her ears here. Sort of, not really.

It's absolutely amazing what you did with those ponies, especially the new hair. Thanks for teaching me all that!
Keep taking photos, I'm dying to see how Rarity will turn out. ^^ A blaze on her brow might look cute.

About the paint strokes - I had those too when I repainted the pink Barbie bathroom and it took so many layers. I got rid of the worst of them by gently rubbing with very fine sandpaper.

Very quick update. A photo of how 'Ribbons and Bows' actually looks, with her home made ribbon flower headband.
And how the new pony head looks so far.

I can barely make out the headband since the camera concentrated on the background (it's so annoying if they do that...). Can you take a sharper photo?

Ooh, dark blue! Nice!

oh phooey. Darn photo. I uploaded in a hurry. XD.
Actually it's 'sour grapes' and is a purple. See what I mean about colours not looking right? Darn weather.
*Takes better photos*

Hopefully better shots of the headband! =)
And this is the actual colour of the hair, I really can't get a good photo of it though. =(
www.mylittlecustoms.com/Sour_Grapes/p635040_2786025.aspx

Aw, she's so cute. A twee little hippy. ^^

Ah, blue, purple, it's all the same, just ask my husband.
*bookmarked shop just in case* Ho ho ho, knowing you is so useful! ^o^

I have a finished pony!
Photos tomorrow, or later today if I find time. She's all perdy! =D
AND I've started my next pony project. =)

Finally getting around to posting the rest of this!

First, I finished off her eyes colouring. Three shades of brown used here. I think I later remixed the lightest shade and repainted it, but I can't remember.



Then added the black for the 'pupil' and the white highlights. First attempt at this I 'derped'. It looked cute, but wasn't what I was going for!



That's better!



And eyelashes!



Then it was time to choose her cutie mark. Since this pony is supposed to be 'me', I went with two of my favourite things. Music, and reading. I could have used to many things, it was hard to choose, but those two are pretty dominant in my life so that's what I went with. A musical note, and an open book.



She has this on BOTH sides, unlike the official G4 ponies who only have their marks on ONE side.

Time to choose her hair colours! Sour Grapes and Atomic Turquoise.



I took some photos of actually rooting her mane, but I don't know if they're needed right here? I can start a new thread and post them as a tutorial if they'd be helpful to anyone.



There's a photo of my tools at any rate. =)

Rooting her tail was pretty simple.
First I took enough of the hair to fill the tail hole, and then folded it in HALF. So it had to be twice as long as I wanted her tail to be in the end (if this makes no sense just shoot me? Hahah). Then I took this 'lump' of hair, and tied a piece of embroidery thread TIGHTLY around the middle of it. Tied a KNOT in the thread, and kept on winding it round and round to make a large bundle of thread. Then I folded it in half, and wound ANOTHER piece of embroidery thread around, just under the first. It's easier to see how I did it in the picture than explaining, really. You need something stronger to pull the tail through, than you do for the mane re-rooting. I used embroidery thread because I had plenty at hand. I also had to use my pliers to make the tail hole a little larger to get the tail through.



(sorry for this one being blurry, but you can see the loop coming out of the neck and the tail hair threaded through said loop. The loose ends of the loop are hanging out of the tail hole.)



Mane and tail now happily rerooted! I used lots of clear nail polish to secure all my knots on the inside of both head and body.



Somehow during the process, her poor nose got a beating and some of the paint rubbed off. =(



So I fixed it up, good thing I've started saving my paint when I'm doing things like this! I utilised the packaging from a Filly to make a makeshift stand while I waited for paint and nail polish to dry.



This isn't a very clear photo, but you can just see how her eyes are slightly shiney. This is because I used a fine brush and some more clear polish, to make them this way! =D



And finally, we have a few 'photo shoot' style photos! =)







I liked the idea of the last one. It's the Filly packaging, but it looked quite neat. Maybe Hasbro should think about packaging their ponies like this. It takes up less room than the packaging they do use, and it looks cute too.



The next project is an actual series pony who doesn't currently have a toy released. There is one due for release later this year though from what I've read.

Aw, her new hair is so adorable!

While moving things around on my 'pony' shelf, I discovered that the paint on her face has taken on a slightly yellow sort of colour... I'm not sure why, or maybe it was the lighting.
But she's also got a paint pull where the rubber band that was holding her hair around her hoofs. It's not noticeable unless I'm photographing her from behind, which I'm unlikely to do if I'm honest! XD

Did you seal her with Mr. Super Clear or another sealant suitable for dolls? (Can't recommend using a regular sealant, not even a brush-on acrylic varnish. The plastic will become sticky even through the paint.)

Never heard of blue colour becoming yellow though. I had a few that grew mould after some years but that's a different story. >.>


Currently I work on a custom of my own and yesterday I successfully replaced the tail. I wasn't quite as successful with the cutie mark, that one just became a big red blob of paint. Either my nailpolish remover is junk or it might be too old. Will use sandpaper on the rest.

Anyway, I have a question. Did I understand that right that you used a scrunchie on the mane and cut it off right at the roots before you tried to drag out the remnants from the inside of the head? Or am I supposed to pull out all hair from the inside? That head is itsy bitsy tiny. ^^'

I did indeed use a wee rubber band to tie it, and then cut it off right close to the head. Ye don't have to do that, I just did because I thought 'That hair might be useful some time!' 8D