Rehairing hardened pony

KaylaTheHedgehog

Bushwoolie
Joined
Mar 15, 2012
Messages
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I’m finally getting around to restoring the two ponies (Posey and Sweet Stuff) I got at a local convention a couple years ago, and I need some advice.

I finished rehairing Posey today, and I'm going to do Sweet Stuff next, but she’s suffered from what I assume to be plasticizer leakage, because she’s as hard as rock. Seriously, I could probably give someone a mild concussion if I lobbed her at them just right.

I’m kind of worried about whether using my repair tool and reinserting her tail might break the plastic. I’m also concerned about how I’m going to soften her enough so I can shove her head back onto her body.

Does anyone here have any experience with restoring a hardened pony like her that could give me some advice?
 
The big brothers I find always a bit of a pain because their vinyl seems to be thicker or more sturdy than the average pony.

What I like to do (although a bit more time consuming) is using a hot water bottle or magic bag and putting on my pony’s head for about five or so minutes. This heats the vinyl enough that you can easily root your pony but as it cools again it firms up and can be more difficult. So you have to keep adding the heat. I do the same if a head is being especially stubborn about going back in the body.
 
That's what I'm thinking about doing. Do you think using a hairdryer would hurt the pony?
I've used a hairdryer in the past. I had repaired a BBE's eye and needed to re-insert it into the socket and the hairdryer softened up the plastic perfectly. IDK that it would work the same with one that's hardened though. I would be willing to experiment for you, but it's unfortunately bad timing as I just finished wrapping up my entire herd in preparation for packing/moving. :(
 
With hard headed ponies in general I do the usual thumbtack hole but enlargen it with one of those jumbo safety pins of Doom and giant
 
I've used a hairdryer in the past. I had repaired a BBE's eye and needed to re-insert it into the socket and the hairdryer softened up the plastic perfectly. IDK that it would work the same with one that's hardened though. I would be willing to experiment for you, but it's unfortunately bad timing as I just finished wrapping up my entire herd in preparation for packing/moving. :(

That’s fine. I’m going to try a hairdryer and if I need to, I’ll use a needle to enlarge the holes.

I’ll report back and let y’all know how it goes.
 
Okay. I'm hoping it's okay for me to make two posts back to back, but I thought I'd share how Sweet Stuff's rehairing is going.

I finished the purple and dark pink segments of her mane, and I'm hoping to finish the other two segments tomorrow. So far, I haven't had to break out the hairdryer just yet. I've been using a sewing pin to enlarge any smaller holes and gently working the rehair tool into the holes. Everything's looking good so far, and I'm holding out hope the rest of it goes as smoothly.
 
Good news. It took three needles valiantly sacrificing themselves, but I finally got Sweet Stuff rehaired. I think my problem was that the eyes of the needles I was using were too small and thin.

The hairdryer worked beautifully for softening her flank enough for me to pull her tail through. The hole's still a bit big, but I'm hoping that as she cools, it'll shrink back down. I'm planning on tying a ribbon on her tail, so if it doesn't, the ribbon will hide it. I've got her mane glued in, so I'm going to let her dry overnight, and hopefully I'll be able to get her head shoved back on.

oh that is super cool to hear! show pics when you're done if everything goes well :)

I absolutely will!
 
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