DIY My Little Pony Wings and Ears + Wig Styling

DIY My Little Pony Wings and Ears + Wig Styling

There are some toys that have enough appeal to withstand the test of time. My Little Pony kind of surprised the whole world when it was revealed that the brand had amassed a cult following that blossomed after My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was released in 2010. Bronies do love their ponies, but so do a whole lot of bright-eyed young ladies around the world who can’t resist the allure of MLP. Hasbro has tapped into the nostalgia of those that grew up in the 1980s with the first generation of the toy, and well-timed marketing has helped keep the passion burning for all things pony among children and some young adults too. The appeal shows no signs of wearing out.

My little pony costumes are a pretty popular choice at Halloween and a frequent sighting at comic conventions. You can choose your favorite pony based on character- Rainbow Dash is loyal, Applejack is honest and Twilight Sparkle is magic. But we chose Pinkie Pie because we love laughing so much! And if you want to get technical, an early style guide did show Pinkie Pie with wings before it was decided that she would be an Earth Pony, so we’re gonna follow our heart and give her wings to soar!

This tutorial from @itslorenia will show you how to make ears and wings for your My Little Pony cosplay, as well as how to curl a cosplay wig. Feel free to adjust the colors of your supplies to suit your pony of choice!

Materials you will need:

  • Craft foam
  • Paper clay
  • Metal headband
  • Masking tape
  • Scissors
  • Large sheet of paper
  • Marker and pen or chalk
  • Foam head (Optional)
  • Water (Preferably in a spray bottle)
  • Paint
  • Sand paper
  • Hot glue
  • Wire cutters and pliers
  • Blank

Materials you will need for the wig tutorial portion:

  • Heat resistant wig
  • Curling iron
  • Bobby pins
  • Foam head (Optional)
  • Wig stand (Optional)
  • Brush

Making the Pony Ears

DIY My Little Pony Ears Step 1

Start off with a little more than half of a fist size piece of paper clay. You can always reduce the size later or add more depending if you think the base is too small. You’ll want to work the clay into a pointy hill shape. The front of the ear should be somewhat flat while the back is more rounded out.

DIY My Little Pony Ears Step 2

Once you have a rough shape of the ear, you need to carve out the inner part of the ear. Take your finger to where you want the top of the inner portion to start, push into the clay, and push the excess down and remove.

If you have any other excess clay, you can take your finger, start at the top of the ear and lightly push down the excess clay off your base. Similar to how to carve out the inner part of the ear.

DIY My Little Pony Ears Step 3

Now that you have the rough shape of your base, the rest is just shaping it out to your liking. When working with the clay, you remove the moisture from it. You will need to restore the moisture, otherwise, your base will continue to crack and you’ll want to smooth out those cracks. You can either have a bowl with water at your ready to wet your fingers as needed to smooth out the cracks. You can also use a spray bottle and wet the clay directly where cracks are and work them out that way. I chose the spray bottle method for smoothing out my ears.

After you’ve been working out the cracks and shaping the ears, they should start looking something like this. You can almost think of cat-shaped ears if you want. Other tips for shaping the top to make it pointy is to lightly pinch the sides together. If you have a bump somewhere on the ear and want to smooth it out, lightly press into the clay to work out the bump.

DIY My Little Pony Ears Step 4

I used a wig head to help shape the base of the ears more to my head.

DIY My Little Pony Ears Step 5

When you finally have the final shape to your liking, repeat to make the second ear. I used my first ear as a reference to match the size for the second ear as best as I could.

DIY My Little Pony Ears Step 6

I didn’t take too many pictures for this next part as it’s fairly straightforward from here and the progress might not look too notably different in photos.

When you finally finish both ears, set them in a good place to dry. Make sure you do not have a fan running in the room you wish to let them dry in. I made that mistake when I started letting them dry and it ended up creating more cracks during the drying process. It is okay if you have one or two cracks in the end when they’re drying as those can be fixed. Paper clay dries by air so you’re going to want to leave them alone for a few days. I left mine to dry for almost three days.

Make sure to check on your ears throughout the drying process. If there are any cracks formed during the drying process, you can handle it two ways. If the clay is still somewhat soft and kneadable, use the water method as you did before. If the clay is a little more on the hard side, take a tiny piece of clay and smooth it over the crack. You will have to let your ears sit for a little longer though if you add any new clay to your ears.

Once they’re completely dry; sand, sand, and more sanding. This will smooth them out even further.

After they’re sanding, you’re ready to paint and attach them to the metal headband using hot glue.

I chose to paint mine pink for Pinkie Pie.

Making the Wings

DIY My Little Pony Wings Step 1

Pinkie Pie does not have wings, but I made them in case you wanted to be one of the ponies that does have wings.

Draw out a rough shape of how big you want your wings to be. Pony wings have four large outer features and three smaller inner features. There is no correct size, so test your pattern in the mirror. You can ask a friend to hold the wing for you so it’s sitting in the correct spot. Cut out pattern once you’re happy with your size and shape.

Trace your pattern onto your craft foam. You will need four of the bigger sections, two for the left wing and two for the right wing as you will be sandwiching the two together.

Once you’ve cut out your larger pieces, cut out the smaller part of the wing from your pattern to use to trace onto the foam. You will only need two of the smaller wing portion.

DIY My Little Pony Wings Step 2

Take one of your larger wing pieces and using your wire, make a loop shape. Twist the excess wire together. Repeat for another wing. Wire gauge is up to your preference but it should be on the thinnish side so it’s relatively easy to bend only needing the wire pliers for minor assistance.

Tape the wire down to the wing using masking tape.

Next, you want to make the rest of the harness by shaping the wire into a U-shaped structure. You want to attach your U-shape piece to the rest of the wings and twisting the other wires. Apply some masking tape to where your wires are twisted together.

DIY My Little Pony Wings Step 3

After that, you’re ready to make a sandwich and hot glue your other large wing piece down to the other. Then glue your smaller wing pieces onto the larger wing pieces.

Curling The Wig

DIY My Little Pony Wig Styling Step 1

NOTE: You want to make sure your wig is heat resistant or the fibers will melt.

This part is optional if you’re not doing Pinkie Pie. I did not have a wig stand, but this step would be easier with a wig stand and you could also curl the wig higher instead of more towards the bottom like I did.

Take a section of the wig and curl like normal hair. Hold the curling iron to the wig for a little more than a minute and a half.

Let the curl out slowly so it’s still in the loop shape and pin in place to let it cool down.

Repeat this process throughout the entire wig.

You can either leave the curls as is for a more tighter curl or brush the wig out as I did for a more looser curl look.

DIY My Little Pony Wings and Ears + Wig Styling


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