Mod Podge, Guns, and Other Things

So, I believe I ended my last post mentioning that I had another drawing up my sleeve.  Unfortunately, it didn't happen.  I got hit with Artisting ADD, then I got hit with a cold, then I got hit by the holidays, then I got hit by laziness, which is no excuse at all, but something that happens to me more often than I ought to allow.  But here's what IS happening:




Next month is another anime convention.  My beloved prop, my stun gun, had been banged up the last time I took it to a convention, and had ended up in two pieces.  The back half of the handle came off.  That part that's got a skinny connection, top and bottom, has always been a weak spot.  So my first priority has been to get it back into shape.

Here's my gun.  It's quite large (about 3 feet), and has a strap that I throw over my shoulder to carry it around.  If you're interested in how it's made, you can find out here: http://masterofmyfate.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d355aob

I've been re-gluing that certain spot repeatedly and finally decided I was sick of it.  I was going to fix this baby for good.  So I went down to Wal-Mart, to the hardware department and bought some small metal plates.  So now, there's two plates, about 4" x 1" that runs from inside that small piece on the bottom and into the neighboring pieces.  The ends inside the small piece are actually screwed in.  The other ends are in styrofoam that's too thick for a screw (it would take a really long screw), so I cut a wood dowel to size and ran a dowel through the screw hole.

Here's my awesome diagram I made in MS Paint.

 The next step is to fix the paint job.  It's painted with acrylics, which is always chipping off.  I got a tip from someone online that you can coat the styrofoam in mod podge, paint over that, and then coat it again to seal the paint.  That's what I'm doing, except I think I'm finding that my asthmatic lungs do not like mod podge.  So now I keep wondering whether I should mod podge it a little at a time, so it doesn't bother me so much, or all at once and get it over with.  My first idea was to coat the whole thing, put brand new paint over the whole thing, and then coat it again.  Partway in, I realized that if it already has paint on it, all I have to do is touch up what's there and then put a coat on to seal it.  Unfortunately, that's very typical of me: I have to be half-way through something before I realize there's a much easier way.  The good news is, that's less podge-ing for me.

I should be done in a day or two, if I can refrain from laziness.

I've also been letting myself get distracted by little projects.  I've begun collecting My Little Pony toys (the little $5 ones), and seeing if I can restyle their hair to match the cartoon.

This is not the same hair...

...as this is.

I've learned that some people really like to go all out with this sort of thing.  I've seen people replace the tail hair, swap heads with other My Little Ponies so the way the eyes are drawn is correct, repaint them into a different character, or repaint them into a new, original character.  I'm impressed.  I don't think I'm ever going to go that far with it, just giving them haircuts can be... interesting for me, but I'm definitely impressed.

I also bought a RoseArt Color Blank, which is a little plastic toy that you color yourself.  (Picked it up at Walgreens.)  They give you a few markers, but I'm finding that the markers tend to streak and blot on this particular surface.  Next time I'll try acrylic paint instead.

RoseArt, why did you put a white toy on a white background?  Wait, I think I see something... it's... a polar bear eating marsh mellows in a snow storm... maybe...

There are lots of different ones, but I've got the cat one.  I'm making it look like patchwork stuffed animal, although it's not really coming out too well.  Heh heh.

Okay, that's it for now!  See ya!