What happens to all the test paint pieces?

I was wondering what happens to them…are they kept in the event they become a production colour? I do have a couple test paint pieces that I bought on ebay…but I was going to actively seek out some of the other ones. Am I wasting my time creating an ad for these? Thanks, AZ.

In the old days, before ebay existed, we would keep the samples that turned out nice and destroy the rest.
We still ended up with tons of test painted pieces that we didn’t know what to do with.
THEN EBAY HAPPENED! Now we have an excellent way to use up the test paints, and at the same time get real feedback on how well people like them. If it is a color that is extremely squeaked for,( and IF I like it) I will consider it as a limited production or even production color.
Nowadays, we paint crazy pieces primarily for ebay sales, but with the the dual purpose of working out possible new ways to paint things, and getting practice.
To answer your question about whether you are wasting your time… Well, we are making these pieces often but they are still individual and rare compared to production pieces. so you will have to be a judge.
I haven’t figured out if a test paint is considered MORE valuable if it eventually becomes a production color, or less!

I now call just about everything we paint for ebay a “test paint” so we don’t paint ourselves into a corner again, like I did with the Limited edition Pearl griffins, Emerald Peacock Secret Keepers and several other colors that I thought we would never want to do in production. A few years ago I thought things such as the Bengal pattern would be much too complicated to paint a limited production batch in , but lo and behold, with enough practice it CAN be done.
I still keep a few (hundred) samples of colors I am really like, and I often pick off my very favorite piece of whatever batch of grab bag stuff I have painted as “seed stock” for future batches.

Interesting. Thanks for your response. I wasn’t aware that some of these were purposely painted for Ebay sales alone…makes sense to me now though, since all my test paint pieces were purchased on Ebay (duh! lol) I have this image in my head, where that at the Windstone Store, you are surrounded by ilses of shelves upon shelves of statues…and that you would just casually walk the isles saying “I think I’ll put this on Ebay today…” ha.ha.ha. But, going back to your reply, what do you mean “paint yourself into a corner like you did with the limited edition pearl griffins” ? Do you mean that you regret selecting that colour to paint?

I believe that when the Pearl Griffins were painted and sold, Windstone stated that there would not ever be any more, so they cannot produce more even if they wanted to. Now things are “test paints” with the understanding that similar pieces could become production in the future (and your test paint might not be as valuable because it would not be unique).

What about the raffle pieces?I have the Toasted Pearl Mother from Ms.Melody’s raffles and then the Curlies came out even though they are not quite the same in coloring.I am not concerned with her value because she won’t leave me but I too am curious if it would increase or decrease even though they are not quite the same.She is in all counts to me,ooak because the curlies are slightly different and no other’s have come out in T.P. coloring yet.I haven’t seen a lot of test paints become production since I have been here collecting anyway.They are usually more complex.

But, Never say never. Toasted Pearl is a color I wanted to do as a limited production , but then we started doing so many other colors people seemed to like better, so I put the idea aside.

!!!!!

I was under the impression that Toasted Pearl was a color that wasn’t a great choice for LP (like Sand, being tough to paint) – is this a possibility for actual LP coloring?? Cause man, I would LOVE some Toasted Pearl dragons! I refuse to give up my Curly despite really not loving the sculpture – simply because the color scheme is so awesome!

If it’s a possibility, I would totally rally the troops for some squeakage on the Toasted Pearl front!

This is an issue I have given much thought to over the years. I must admit, I am an original snob. My husband hates me for it. But, he has his cars…I have my art!

I love the thought that Melody HERSELF painted the piece. Call me a geek, but it gives me a thrill to hold something in my hand that I know she personally painted. I have a romantic image of her poised over a workdesk, turning my piece over and over and dabbing with her brush, bringing it to life. Even if the color became production, there would never be the detail given by Melody in each piece.

That LEOPARD is astounding, he is my favorite so far. Please tell us which eyes you picked! These cat griffins are the way griffins should be.

With that being said, I realize most people are not like me. It never occurred to me to make a “set” of dragons all in the same color; it would not be financially feasible for me. I tried to pick for what color I thought looked best on the sculpt. So, I ended up with dragons in all colors but different sculpts.

I would be the person willing to pay the extra money for a test paint piece, but I have a feeling it’s a very small niche.

Edit: sentence structure

Just my personal opinion, but things tend to become less valuable once a “test paint” has become production or limited production. People with Black Gold, Silver and Copper Patina prototype old warriors paid a lot for them (ESPECIALLY the black gold) and now they aren’t worth that much it seems. I had an offer to buy my copper patina old warrior until not a few days later, Windstone produced LP ones and the buyer retracted their offer. I paid over $500 for my Nyalah #2 male griffin, and then the “Wolf” griffins came to be-he had rosy cheeks but otherwise was just like the wolf griffins-I was lucky to get $300 including shipping for him. But, thats a bit off topic 😉

I’m not trying to open a can of worms but I have to agree with you there Wolfenmachine. Chances are excellent I’ll never be selling my ebay Red Panda Flap cat nor my new Leopard Male Griffin I just won (which I haven’t even seen yet and something very similar is already going to be put in the store) because I’ll never get my return investment now that they became “limited productions” Sort of stinks, but that’s the chance you take sometimes I suppose. I don’t really collect for “resale” value anyway, but this is something that is important to come collectors who like owning rare and beautiful bits of windstone artwork. That’s why I sold my prototype Black and Gold OW when I did. Why would someone really spend so much extra money when you can have something (while not identical) close enough at a fraction of the price. It’s understandable why they drop significantly.

I decided not to make leopard griffins as a store item.
These will be ocelot-griffins instead. They look different, but still have spots. Too many spots.