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Does anyone know if smoking can yellow Windstones? I assume it’d be more obvious on lighter colored ones (like the white dragons and such). The only Windstones I’ve ever bought from smoking households were a gold curl and a Ruby Sun dragon, and so of course you couldn’t tell if there was any effect (besides the smell of cigarettes, which has long since faded)…but has anyone seen a white Windstone after it’s been in that kind of environment for a long time? o.o If they *do* yellow, is it like a stain, or can it be cleaned off?
Yes the tar can stain Windstones, mostly the white ones. Nothing can really get if ALL off without inevitably damaging the paint. I have gotten some of the stains off of surfaces, but then all the crevices look disgusting. I bought some whites like that and eventually resold them at a loss because of that. I used just dish soap and a dab water with a soft toothbrush, but they were still stained and looked worse after wards because they were spotty. Some stuff came off and some didn’t and it was like it was deep in the sculpture beyond the reach of any “safe” cleaners I could use.
The Black and Gold Prototype I just got on ebay is mostly black, but even then you can tell he was in a smoker home because he has sticky rancid dust stuck all over him. BAH! Luckily, if he’s stained, you’d never know it though.
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Dreamscape, Orion, Poison Dart, Fireberry, Spangler + Tigerberry Dragonsand what’s worse is if you’re allergic to tobacco like I am.. you realize that the smell never really does come off..
I had one that came from a smoker.. and I could smell the smoke no matter what I did.. and eventually gave it away.. and when I go to my friend’s house that I gave it to.. I can still smell the smoke on it.. and they don’t smoke..
Yea, even with the paint, the gypsum seems to suck up the smell like a sponge! Thankfully, they suck up the smell of incense too!
Got a busted Windstone?
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*OPEN for repairs**SEEKING GRAILS*
Arc-en-ciel Emperor
Siphlophis Male Dragon
Calypso Hatching Empress
Ivory Moss Sitting Baby Kirin
Tattoo Mother Kirin
Emerald Tabby Male Griffin
Tie Dye + Orion Hatching Royalty
Indigo Rockfish + Flame Tabby Little Rock Dragons
Dragon Quail + Obsidian Frost Old Warriors
Betta Sun Dragon + Male Dragon
Dreamscape, Orion, Poison Dart, Fireberry, Spangler + Tigerberry DragonsThat sucks about your OW, drag0n. = Did you get that sticky dust off? I figured smoking probably left something like that…we get a lot of people trying to sell us game systems from smoking households, and you can always tell because there’s a bunch of light brownish-yellow dust on the fan ports, and it won’t come off with canned air.
I honestly can’t smell *anything * off the sun dragon or the curl, and I’m pretty sensitive to smell…but not allergic. I tried various weird methods for getting the smell off my sun dragon (without marring his sensitive paint job). None of them worked – I was pretty steamed. He was one of my first Windstones after I got into collecting, and the seller did not say he was a smoker! My fault for not looking at his feedback closer, though, because others had complained without leaving a negative. In the end, I just sat him on the dresser and left the windows open and the fan on a lot. Can’t even get a whiff of it by sticking my nose right up next to him, now! I wouldn’t have bought the curl if I hadn’t been able to rid the sun dragon of his smell, though. It was pretty bad.
I also seem to recall someone saying that smoke (of any variety) could damage the gold plating on horns? True/false? Speculation?
I bought some white unicorns on ebay when i first started collecting and noticed that they looked yellow but I thought it was just the lighting. How wrong i was 🙁 Those unicorns were yellow, and they had weird streaks to so you could tell it wasnt just from being old or anything like that. They were also badly packaged and their horns were both bent in the shipping process. The seller was very rude when i told her i wanted a refund and luckly I won my dispute and paypal gave me my money back. Now I know if something that is supposed to look white in a photo doesn’t…be very suspicious. I wish I could remember if their horns were ruined also but I think i was so upset about the overall appearance that I didn’t pay much attention. Their horns were definitely not shiny though.
Just think if smoke does that to Windstones imagine what it does to a persons insides. :puke: As you can tell I am not a smoker 😀 I have some white dragons that are a yellow color but a very pretty color with no streaks so I think thats just their color. If not I still really like them. They dont smell of smoke but is the yellow normal on whites? :shrug:
Some white dragons have more of a golden hue to them do to individual painters. do your dragons look golden or yellow? If they aren’t streaky or smell like smoke they might have just been painted that way. My white lap dragon came from a smokers home and she also has a more golden look than my white scratcher, so if smoke caused her to look that way then smoke did something good for a change cause she looks very pretty that way. Although she also could have just been painted differently.
Unfortunately the different chemicals in the smoke become particulate when the tobacco item is burned. These will cling to any item, and Windstones are definitely one of them. The polymers in the clear coating tend to ‘grab’ onto the smoke particulate which as Drag0n noted, makes them near impossible to get off completely and can cause the smell to linger for those sensitive to it.
Obviously the amount of time an object is exposed (and how close it is to the smoker) have an impact as to how bad it can be. A white dragon that has sat in the livingroom on a coffee table of a heavy smoker for 15 years will probably be considerably in worse shape than one that sits in a curio of an occasional smoker for a year or two.
The felt pad, if there is one, is the most absorbent part of a Windstone. It will often release odors long, long after the odor has faded from the surface of the piece.
If you get a windstone that has a smoke smell, depending on the severity, there are steps you can take to help!
+ If the piece is truly in bad shape and is very visibly stained (and you know it’s not just a more yellow-colored piece ‘naturally’) you can try to gently wash your piece with water and mild soap. Use care not to submerge the piece and try not to get the felt pad wet. NEVER wash dragons that have red such as the Ruby line.
+ Don’t use Fabreeze or similar products. They do not actually remove odors on a chemical level, but cover it up, and they are generally not good for the Windstone OR for you! Air fresheners do the same (did you know that there are actually investigations on some types of spray air fresheners as they are known carcinogens!).
+ To remove odors, consider:
- Placing the Windstone in a sealed bag with a cup full of activated carbon. This can also be called activated charcoal, and comes loose in a bag or little box or can. You can get this in any pet supply section, in the fish department. Sometimes greenhouses sell it too. It can also be found in the vitamin section but it’ll be more expensive there. Activated carbon safely absorbs odors over time. If your piece is really stinky, when you place it in the bag you can turn it on its side so that the felt pad is exposed to the air (and the smell can get pulled out of it easier). Activated carbon is probably the most odor absorbent material that you can easily obtain. It looks like this (an example. I am not endorsing this brand name! http://furlongspetsupply.com/images/products/detail/MarinelandBlackDiamondCarbon.jpg )
It may take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks for it to absorb the odor! You may have to do ‘sniff tests’ to see how it’s going.
If after a month there is still an odor, you will want to replace the carbon with fresh. It can only absorb for so long.
-Or-
If you can’t or don’t want to get activated carbon you can do the same as above, but with some fresh baking soda.
-Or-
Vinegar also has odor absorbing properties. White vinegar in a bowl in the sealed bag with the Windstone might help, just don’t get the vinegar on the windstone!+ If you are someone who loves strong scents (just not smoke!) you can consider burning incense nearby to cover up the smoke smell. Note that this is only a cover-up, and it should be important to remember that anything that you burn that has a scent in it (scented candles, essential oils, incense) releases particulate that will stick to things. Some scented candles are the worst if they contain paraffin and have leaded wicks! The smoke residue will still be on the Windstone and intermingled with your new odor residues. 😉
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Effect of smoking on Windstones: wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath…
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http://www.sarahjestin.com/feedbacklists.htmdragonmedley wrote:And I’ll make the smart-ass comment here:
Effect of smoking on Windstones: wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath…
LOL If you hadn’t done it I was going to.kitsunelady wrote:That sucks about your OW, drag0n. = Did you get that sticky dust off? I figured smoking probably left something like that…we get a lot of people trying to sell us game systems from smoking households, and you can always tell because there’s a bunch of light brownish-yellow dust on the fan ports, and it won’t come off with canned air.
Yea, I got most of it, but I’m going to get some canned air to see if I can get off the rest. It looks like he was washed with crappy papertowels and got lint stuck all over before he was packed… I dunno? At least other then that he’s in terriffic shape.
Got a busted Windstone?
drag0nfeathersdesign@gmail.com
*OPEN for repairs**SEEKING GRAILS*
Arc-en-ciel Emperor
Siphlophis Male Dragon
Calypso Hatching Empress
Ivory Moss Sitting Baby Kirin
Tattoo Mother Kirin
Emerald Tabby Male Griffin
Tie Dye + Orion Hatching Royalty
Indigo Rockfish + Flame Tabby Little Rock Dragons
Dragon Quail + Obsidian Frost Old Warriors
Betta Sun Dragon + Male Dragon
Dreamscape, Orion, Poison Dart, Fireberry, Spangler + Tigerberry Dragons
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