Hello and welcome all to the FrozenPyro FAQ spectacular!
Most of these questions have been pulled from comments in my gallery and the various PMs I’ve been sent. Quite a few of them are very similar so this is my attempt to answer as many as possible.
Without further ado let’s get this show on the road.
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Q. Do you take commissions?
A. If the giant ‘Commissions Closed’ sign is still on my front page then no.
I don’t take commissions at the moment. If and when I do I’ll post a journal announcing it. It will be first come, first served with maybe 3-5 simultaneous slots.
I make ponies for fun; it’s a hobby and a way I relax. Doing it for money is not really my thing.
Q. Can you sculpt [insert pony name/my OC here] for me?
A. Same as above.
Q. How much would a commission cost?
A. Prices will vary depending on the commission. As such, I don’t have a “rough guess” estimate for prices. Another thing to consider is how long these things take to make. There is a lot of time and effort involved in sculpting as well as material costs.
TLDR: Not cheap
Q. Can I buy one of your sculpts?
A. I sculpt ponies for fun, I kind of get attached to all my sculpts so I don’t really like selling them. Read: only under extremely special circumstances.
I will be selling a bunch of my sculptures at B.U.C.K 2014. If you want to buy one of my sculpts, that’s the place to be.
Q. How about trades?
A. I’d love to do trades with lots of people. However, these ponies take so damn long to make. I would be very specific on who I trade with and for what. It would have to be someone whose work I’ve followed for a long time and is of good quality.
I would be looking to fellow sculptors, crafters, plushie makers and other traditional artists. I’m all about the oldshool arts 
As for digital art, I’ll be brutally honest…It’s not likely to get you a trade except for people who I respect.
Q. CAN I HAZ DA RNBW DSH?!?!??!?
A. Get out. *Points to the door*
Q. How long does it take to make a piece?
A. Depending on the size and complexity; anything from a couple of days to several months.
Q. What materials do you use to sculpt with?
A. At the moment I favour a 50/50 mix of Supersculpey and Supersculpey firm. Its an oven bake polymer clay that doesn’t dry out until you bake it and is very easy to work with. I also have worked with an epoxy clay called Milliput, but I only really use that for armature work and smoothing out surfaces.
Q. What paints do you use?
A. I use Vallejo and Citadel (Games Workshop) miniature paints. They are top quality paints that are idea for making miniature ponies. I use Windsor and Newton Mini Majestic paintbrushes and a cheap airbrush I picked up from eBay.
Q. How do you protect your sculpts from scratches or damages?
A. I often don't do anything as they don't get a lot of abuse sitting on my display shelves.
If i'm airbrushing a complicated paint job, that I know I'm going to have to handle while painting, I will give it a couple of light coats of matte spray varnish between sections. I use Humbrol matte Acrylic varnish spray. Matte is the key! It takes the shine off the paint and makes it look more professional. A gloss varnish will show up all the imperfections and destroy any highlighting you have painted. Also a super shiny finish looks bloody awful.
Q. How much does it cost, material wise, to make one of your sculptures?
A. As a rough guess; a block of 50/50 mix clay is about £15. I use approximately 1/2 of a block. This varies massively on the size and shape of the model so I’ve never kept track. What makes them expensive is the time commitment and the shipping costs.
Q. What gauge of wire do you use for the armatures?
A. I have no idea. Its 2mm thick steel fencing wire I pick up from the DIY store and some thin gardening wire. It really doesn’t matter as long as it supports the clay.
Q. What are your bases made from?
A. MDF. Cut the desired size out with a hole saw, sand and fill and rough edges, paint the edge with emulsion paint and leave to dry. Sand it again and paint it. Done!
Q. What tools do you use for sculpting?
A. You can use anything for sculpting, from toothpicks to power tools. As long as it does the job it doesn’t matter. I use a wide variety of metal tools I brought from eBay alongside some rubber-tipped brushes and wooden shapers.
Q. How do you support the sculptures where very little of it touches the base? A. There is a length of the armature sticking out of the model and into a hole in the wooden base. A small drop of superglue fixes it in place.
Q. How do you get the sculpts so smooth?
A. Supersculpey doesn’t dry out in air so you have a load of time to rework sculpted areas before baking. To remove/ smooth fine surface imperfections I use Isopropyl alcohol and a very soft brush. After baking the sculpt is sanded with a 180 grit wet-and-dry sandpaper to flatten out the surfaces. Next the whole thing is wet sanded (sanded using water) with a 400 grit Wet-and-dry paper. This finer grade will polish out any scratches left behind and give a super smooth finish.
Q. How big are you ponies?
A. Usually between 4 and 6 inches depending on the size of the pony and the pose.
Q. Do you have an OC?
A. Yes. She still needs a name and cutiemark but she looks like this: My OC
Q. Who is best pony?
A.J, all day every day
There we have it! All of the weird and wonderful questions in one easy to digest list.
If there is anything I missed or anything else you’d like to know leave a comment below.
