The Making of Chronos

I first got the idea for Incarnations ponies when I came up with the idea to make a time-related flutter pony to represent the phrase "time flies."  In fall 1999, I made a trade that included a poor condition Yum Yum flutter pony: one with hair trimmed in the back and with horrendous discoloration.  This year, I decided to implement my plan, and I started out with some black spray paint (a base coat), some glitter spray paint (the top coat), and some acrylics.  The gold in the eyes came from a gold paint marker, and Swarovski crystals were attached with Crazy Glue for the twinkle in the eyes.  I realize that Chronos' color is supposed to be white according to the book, but white just didn't yield the dramatic effect that I wanted, especially for a male pony, so the white wings represent Time's cloak instead.

The symbol was obvious: an hourglass.  Oddly enough, I encountered some difficulty in painting such a simple design.  I tried using a variety of hourglass images as inspiration, but each failed, and I had to remove several attempts with nail polish remover, including a particularly pathetic one involving puff paint (I was trying to make it look 3-D).  I painted Chronos' final hourglass freehand in the image of an hourglass photo I found in an encyclopedia.

As I completed the first symbol, my eye fell on my dollhouse.  There, in the shoebox dining room, hung an old broken watch that my grandmother had given me years ago.  I peeled this off the wall, strung a piece of broken chain through it, and attached a clasp and jump ring with pliers.  Chronos had a clock.  Shortly thereafter, her unruly mane was tamed with a ribbon, making the pony officially female.  While I tried to stick to the Norton-Chronos in every other way, the pony looked so much better with the hair tied back that I decided to leave it be.

The first symbol I painted on was so detailed, I feared that I would not be able to duplicate it as well on the opposite side.  I decided that I needed more information about the character before I proceeded.  Unfortunately, I only owned the first book in the series, On a Pale Horse (when I first read the series a few years ago, I borrowed most of the books from a friend).  I re-read this in hopes of getting a sufficient description of Chronos out of one of Thanatos' meetings with him, but I was out of luck with that route.  Thus, I hurried out to add the other novels to my personal library and re-read the rest of the series.

From the book, I learned that nothing other than a second hourglass would suffice for a symbol, so I painted that on Chronos' opposite side, with a slightly different level of sand and from a slightly different angle.  However, now that I had re-read the book, I remembered Sning, and so I needed a snake ring for that!

While buying parts for custom ponies is generally uneventful, I had an interesting experience while getting the base ring for Sning.  I tried a kiosk in the mall that sells sterling silver jewelry, and there I encountered a small group of junior high or high school students.  One of these asked me whether I was buying the ring for "[my] daughter," to which I had to laugh and reply that I was probably only a few years older than they were, and certainly didn't have any children!  They wondered then why I wanted the ring, so I explained that I was going to use it for an art project.  When prompted, "What class are you making it for," I had to respond, "None.  I'm making it for myself."  My companions couldn't grasp such a concept, nor could they understand why one would read books for pleasure.  They wanted to know where I was going to use my artwork, so I explained that I would use it on a website, perhaps, so the next query was "What kind of website?"  I told them that it involved "My Little Ponies," which set off a chain reaction: the girls exclaimed that they used to watch My Little Pony cartoons, and one of the boys said that he used to ride on his pet dog like a pony.  I walked away with my purchase, bemused, as they dissolved into laughter at the thought of riding dogs like ponies.  Once home, I gave Sning some glowing eyes by gluing on some red Swarovski crystals, and attached him to Chronos' tail.  Now one accessory remained, the hourglass.

The hourglass proved to be more difficult than predicted.  Board game hourglasses were too large, and I could find none that looked like an old-fashioned hourglass.  I tried toy stores all over, but toy store salesmen directed me to cooking stores.  Egg timers are now made digital, so the cooking stores were a disappointment.  Craft store employees claimed that "there were definitely hourglasses in the miniatures sections before!" while specialty shops yielded nothing.  My last hope was a dollhouse store, and there I found a tiny, brass 10-second glass that was fully functional.  Reluctant to spend what I thought was a phenomenal fee for such a tiny piece of equipment, I continued my hunt, but ended up getting it.  Chronos was complete!

The left of the lower two photos above shows how Chronos is displayed, in a plastic jewel case given to me by Kit.  The flash gave the photo a preternatural glow, which seemed somehow appropriate for Chronos' character.