Thursday 4 December 2014

Tutorial for Making the Elements of Harmony from My Little Pony for Your Little Brother


That's a really specific post title. Mostly because Safiya and I tried to find tutorials for this very particular and very important activity and the internet failed us.

So for all of you siblings out there madly making holiday presents (we're counting down to Solstice!), here is a vital tip for creating a pretty good set of The Elements of Harmony for a loved one who is perhaps as obsessed with My Little Pony as Zinadine.

It took a while to figure out. We wanted something durable, three-dimensional (not paper), and inexpensive. A trip to the art store offered up resin (too complicated) and Fimo, of course, but we have little experience with it and we weren't very impressed with the colour selection and it was still a bit pricey.


However, for Safiya's Black Widow costume that she wore for Hallowe'en I had made a belt buckle out of a mason jar lid (the flat part) with nail polish for the design. We wondered if nail polish sticks to hot glue gun glue. It does! (Just for your information, glitter glue does not. That was a messy fail. A willing sacrifice for the cause, internet.)

So here we go:

1. Draw whatever shape you'd like to make and use paperclips to attach it under a piece of parchment paper.

2. Use glue gun to trace design. Let cool. Do not worry too much about a little blobbiness. Or worry about it and then have your mother reassure you. Build up as you like, letting cool between layers. This will create a three-dimensional shape that is flat on the back, which is what we wanted, as they might have to get attached to necklace-collary-things in the future.


3. When you're satisfied, let cool completely. Use a pair of scissors to trim the edges, if necessary.

4. Go to Dollar Store and agonise over nail polish colours. We discovered sparkly opaque ones work best. Argue with your mother because according to you, the Elements of Harmony aren't sparkly, they glow, and that is not the same thing. Gleefully paint with nail polish. Let dry, and ta-da! (These are the best pictures I have because the whole operation was very hush-hush, you see.)


Perfectly acceptable and amazing Elements of Harmony with which your little brother can defeat Discord and save Ponyville.

Best. Solstice. Present. Ever.