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Tribal Dancer - 2008

Custom by Aikarin

This custom pony was made for my childhood friend who was married on August 9, 2008.  My friend is part of a tribal belly dancing troupe & asked me for a belly dancing pony a while back.  I've been to her practice sessions & they are incredible to watch!


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Tribal Dancer was made from a G3 pony.  Her symbols were removed, but unfortunately left pink stains on her hoof & rump.  I had to improvise & create a wispy symbol on her hoof.  These G3 ponies no longer have hoof magnets, so the marks don't really serve any purpose other than decoration.

See below for details on how her "costume" was sculpted from 2 part epoxy.  After sculpting, the epoxy was given several coats of black paint, then a semi-matte finish.


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I truly love her eyes.  She has pearlescent eyeshadow and delicate black lashes.  Her eyes are blue with lighter blue highlights.  I used an ultra-thick gloss to coat the eyes...the large white splotch in the center is a real light reflection.

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The harness is also sculpted freehand from 2 part epoxy, then carefully painted in black.  It would have been easier to sculpt in black epoxy, but I didn't have that available.  I added tiny Swarovski rhinestones as accents.

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This pony's hair was a challenge.  I wanted chignons, but not too poofy & I wanted a neater look.  I tried using glue to secure the hair, but that didn't work.  So, I used tiny clear elastic bands to hold them in place.  I snipped off the excess hair, then the bands were painted in black and given silver "rivets" in paint.  Looks great, but it's for display only.  The tail is held with an elastic band, then the excess hair was knotted around the base.
  
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The back and the front!

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 Another display side view.
Tribal Dancer is a CUSTOM PONY, not affiliated with Hasbro, and this design will not be repeated.  This pony was a gift for my friend Tascha.  She is NOT for sale.

She is signed and dated under one hoof.


The sculpting process:


The headdress was sculpted and I added the base for her frilly "top".  I also started on her "pants"


The frilly bits were a challenge.  I thought about using yarn or tassels, but decided to sculpt them instead.  First, I affixed rectangles of clay, then cut long vertical strips using an x-acto knife.


Sculpting is a time consuming process!  Each tassel was nudged into place with a sculpting tool.


After the tassels were completed, I attached a flat sheet of clay to cover up the top part.  Then smoothed it down with a bit of water.  Now that I think of it, the white epoxy is probably better than the black epoxy in this case.  The black epoxy would have stained the white base.  Also note how the "pants" are only sculpted part way up the pony's leg.  I could have covered her rump too, but it would have used more clay and it would have looked bulky.  However, there wouldn't be a faint line where the clay ends!

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