Proverbial Tails Studios by OtakuSquirrel

My Little Pony enthusiasts are serious about their ponies. Apparently there’s a whole community of folks who lament the fact that the dolls have actual doll hair that you can brush and style, which looks nothing like the pony cartoon characters. Purists were up in arms. Leave it to a maker to answer their distress call. Sebastopol, Calif.-based Chris Herman (aka OtakuSquirrel) dutifully began making plastic molded hair for the ponies, meticulously replicating the luscious locks of the cartoon characters. I learned about his efforts on master costume and mold maker Shawn Thorsson’s site. Chris had come to ask Shawn for mold making tips. Shawn writes:

Using polymer clay, Chris has been painstakingly sculpting out perfect pony coifs (and at least one hat), then shaving (or maybe plucking, I didn’t ask) the doll hair from the toys and replacing it with his work. His deviantart page started getting so much traffic from collectors begging him to offer some for sale that he finally decided it was a good idea to mold and cast plastic pony wigs.

Using translucent platinum cure silicone for the molds and Legos for mold boxes, he set about making his pony wigs. In the end, the only help he needed was a bit of advice on where to put in vents and pour spouts for the resin. Here’s some of this resin castings lined up with the Lego mold boxes in the background:


Previously, we’ve posted about the My Little Pony soldering unicorn and the My Little Pony Storm Trooper. Now we know where to get maker-made mane and tail kits. Just check out this attention to detail:

(Thanks Tyler!)

BY Goli Mohammadi

I'm senior editor of MAKE magazine and have worked at MAKE since the first issue. I'm a word nerd who particularly loves to geek out on how emerging technology affects the lexicon as a whole. When not fawning over perfect word choices, I can be found on the nearest mountain, looking for the ideal alpine lake or hunting for snow to feed my inner snowboard addict.

15 Responses to Plastic Pony Wigs

  1. miroslava von schlochbaum on said:

    oh man, there’s a phalanx of lawyers coming your way if you’re really going to try to make a buck off this. …good luck!

    • Goli Mohammadi on said:

      He’s not making ponies — he’s making accessories. It’s like me wanting to make snowboarding gear for Barbie. I’m creating something they don’t already make, so how is that problematic?

    • RoseTyler on said:

      In addition, the hasbro team is really, really lax about enforcing their copyrights and trademarks. They allow people to sell fully authentic plush ponies of the main characters for hundreds and thousands of dollars, I doubt they’d get up in arms about wigs.

  2. The base models are genuine Hasbro figures; modifying and reselling doesn’t cost them a sale.

    • miroslava von schlochbaum on said:

      you all have been blissfully unaware of the efforts of the RIAA and the MPAA? they have a extremely extended concept of “cost them a sale”. anyway, i hope that Hasbro is that rare civil non-avaricious company for you-all. the key is any clear effort to sell. “snowboarding gear for Barbie™” will be ignored until you take out an ad to sell… then Mattel will be all over you.

      • GBGamer117 on said:

        Unlike other companies, Hasbro is pretty cool about this kind of thing. They only send C&D’s if they have to. (Specifically one case, where it was reported to them. They were forced by U.S. law to send that person a C&D.)

      • Goli Mohammadi on said:

        He doesn’t sell modified ponies — he sells mane and tail kits so you can modify your own pony. Customer buys pony, Hasbro makes their buck, customer buys mod kit, modifies pony to their delight, everyone’s happy.

  3. Michael @ Best Radio Controlled Cars on said:

    The craftsmanship is remarkable and definitely putting in the hours to match everything perfectly ..

  4. Cretin Nik on said:

    He’ll be fine, until they decide to begin making these “wigs” themselves…

  5. Rarity’s hair is wrong though
    It should be purple not all blue
    other than that though great
    (and it might just be a lighting thing)

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