kalloway @kalloway@fedibird.com

One by one, their projects exploded in sharp little fiery bursts, just as they were supposed to.

Marci took a deep breath as Caleb's exploded beside her, and then she quickly dumped in the last grains of powder...

Her project exploded in a rainbow of colored flame and whistling sound before sparkling as it faded to ash and smoke.

At the front of the class, Mx. Thorn cleared their throat.

"A note in the margin," Marci said quickly. "I just wanted to see..."

"I understand," Mx. Thorn replied, smiling. "I had that copy when I was a student."

#wss366

In fact, here is the next client - a kind of gronky Applejack. You can see the tangles in her tail and the faint dirt sheen. I think she got picked up at a sale or given to me; I don't think she's from my childhood.

She has some tampo damage to her one eye; dunno if I'm going to try to fix that or not.

Cleaned up and combed out, 4-Speed went back on display!

There were only a handful of Big Brother ponies and he's the only one I kept. I remember having a cowboy and at least one other - maybe they were all the Village People?

But the draft-horse feet as the indicator of gender certainly confused tiny!me; I definitely came out of it thinking that somehow all draft horses were male. ^^;;

Also I'm sorry I don't have any "before" pictures and am going to try to get better at that.

His mane wasn't terrible, but his tail was all tangles. I shampooed him with a curl shampoo from the dollar store that I chose both since most MLPs have some curl/wave in their hair and also because it had the least amount of scent/other additives of what was available.

For conditioner, well, I just used my own. When I had long hair, I discovered that Tresemme was magic and I've been using it ever since. And if it worked well on my snarls, it'd work on dolly hair, right?

Right! It's not instant, but working it through + combing = what you see here.

Spa Day 4 - Client: 4-Speed

4-Speed had a mild-but-noticeable case of Sticky and has been chilling by the sink for... listen, let's not do the math. As one of my original childhood ponies, he was also kind of dirty.

A few alcohol-cottonball wipedowns took care of the stickiness and the dirt surprisingly well. He does still have a few scuffs and marks, along with some natural plastic discoloration spots that most MLPs get.

His hardhat also was sticky and it cleaned up nicely as well.

The cottonballs actually turned grey as I worked; idk if the coating absorbed some of the color somehow or what, but the brush seems none the worse for it and, well, it's a hairbrush.

Next up is an actual toy again, don't worry. ^^;; But I did want to highlight that this seems to work on other objects.

Spa Day 3 - Client: This Hairbrush

What do you mean it doesn't count? It absolutely counts! Actually, when I realized how well alcohol and a little patience worked on toy stickiness, I decided to try it on this brush. It's not that old at all, but it went sticky almost right away, which was disappointing when I'd bought it to replace some much-older brushes that were in far-worse shape.

Anyway, sticky removed, brush back in service, uh, for when my current very-short haircut grows out!

Finally watched BL Metamorphosis, which was the sole reason I was going to do anything with #JFF2024 to begin with - it does a really good job of adapting the manga and tightening it up.

Also watched We're Broke, My Lord!, which is a period comedy-dramedy. (It's not quite black comedy but it's sure dark in places.) Fun, all around, and definitely made some twists and turns.

Spa Day 2 - Client(s): Jade & Anise

Two blind-box/gashapon figures from Tales of the Abyss. Both had a bad case of stickiness - even their hard plastic stands were sticky!

Like with Ed's coat, I went to work with alcohol and cottonballs and the difference was amazing. Even the stands are un-sticky!

These figures are deceptive. Jade is no taller than 5 inches and Anise is smaller, but they're incredibly detailed. I doubt I got all the coating off them, but I can at least touch them and put them back on display.

(I may actually sell Anise; undecided.)