Starlight Castle
Starlight Castle is the empyreal home of celestial ponies (Glow 'N Show, Sparkle, Starlight babies, and their like) and ruled by Queen Starglow. She is the keeper of a great treasure, the heart of a star, which is powerful enough to give and nurture life on planets, but is also powerful enough to destroy worlds in an explosive super nova. These ponies are the keepers of constellations, the shepherds of stars. They are diviners and their magic is meant to empower the moon phases and maintain gravity on Earth.
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Dream Castle has always been a playset I dreamed of owning. I picked up a busted, filthy, and yellowed Dream Castle for five dollars at a swap meet and it was so hopeless. The seller just wanted it gone, but I was seeing stars! Over the next few months I collected the missing pieces, like the third wall, two turrets, and accessories, all while planning exactly how I could bring this castle back to life.
Choosing the color scheme was the hardest task. I wanted a celestial theme, so that narrowed down my options, but I still had a lot to choose from. I opened a image of Dream Castle lineart in Photoshop and toyed with some different ideas, like a blue castle with pink or lavender turrets, or a silver castle with blue turrets, but ultimately most schemes were too "loud." I didn't want bright colors and I didn't want anything too bold. One day I was browsing the acrylic paints and came across "Mother of Pearl" and I knew I'd found my color. I still couldn't decide between several colors so I bought the ones I liked and got to work.
First, I washed everything with soap and water to remove any gunk and dirt, and then spray painted it all with white Krylon Fusion for primer. I sprayed painted the turrets, gate, and accessories with metallic silver, then a layer of "Diamond Dust" glitter. I painted the building pieces with many, many layers of "Mother of Pearl" until it was opaque. I tried both pearlescent sky blue and lavender for the stone accents and trim, but the colors were too loud for my pearl and silver castle, so I painted them glittery silver. Unable to decide what to do with the columns and ultimately deciding the castle need a little bit of color, I mixed the pearlescent sky blue and glittery silver to paint the interior accents, balcony railing, and columns a silvery sky blue. Perfect! I used that same silvery blue for the flags and replaced the missing banners with glittery ribbon.
Choosing the color scheme was the hardest task. I wanted a celestial theme, so that narrowed down my options, but I still had a lot to choose from. I opened a image of Dream Castle lineart in Photoshop and toyed with some different ideas, like a blue castle with pink or lavender turrets, or a silver castle with blue turrets, but ultimately most schemes were too "loud." I didn't want bright colors and I didn't want anything too bold. One day I was browsing the acrylic paints and came across "Mother of Pearl" and I knew I'd found my color. I still couldn't decide between several colors so I bought the ones I liked and got to work.
First, I washed everything with soap and water to remove any gunk and dirt, and then spray painted it all with white Krylon Fusion for primer. I sprayed painted the turrets, gate, and accessories with metallic silver, then a layer of "Diamond Dust" glitter. I painted the building pieces with many, many layers of "Mother of Pearl" until it was opaque. I tried both pearlescent sky blue and lavender for the stone accents and trim, but the colors were too loud for my pearl and silver castle, so I painted them glittery silver. Unable to decide what to do with the columns and ultimately deciding the castle need a little bit of color, I mixed the pearlescent sky blue and glittery silver to paint the interior accents, balcony railing, and columns a silvery sky blue. Perfect! I used that same silvery blue for the flags and replaced the missing banners with glittery ribbon.
Here are some progress photos, including the before picture!