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Anyway, I’m not sure what my point is. I figure, people are willing to pay it and they sell out anyway, so the price increase makes sense that way.
I mean, the few people selling their youngs from this batch are getting $150-$325 for one unicorn-so there are people that really love these unis, even more than the $130.
These. We had the opportunity to see some of these critters prior to purchasing them while Chessie was putting finishing touches on them. People wanted them after seeing them, and they sold out fairly quickly at $130 plus shipping, even after having a limit of 2 imposed on them. The price COULD have easily been higher. The thing is, if you purchased them and found yourself disappointed, you could sell them for store price, plus shipping, or possibly more. Or you could trade them for something you like more. So, you’re not out anything, really.
I, personally, also like the bald faces. I love the variation, even if it’s not wildly variable. These are all individually painted by the Creator, herself.
I think we all get caught up in the incredibleness (is that a word?) of Windstones in their various sculpts and colors (I mean, we squeak for almost every color that shows up on eBay) that we forget that there are only a handful of humans with only 24 hours a day (some of which are taken up by eating and sleeping and other important biological things) to create these things we so love. We even sometimes take it personally (I admit that I, too, anguish over the “unfairness” that is eBay) that Windstone is a company that exists to support Melody’s art habit, and possibly even pay for her food and home and kids, as well as her employees’ homes and food and loved ones.
I think I might need to reiterate that I am not mad that I had to pay $130 per uni! I am just an analytical person at heart, and the explanation for why left me feeling like it was lacking. I’m not complaining about the price in and of itself!
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Please visit My Webpage to see my art and PYO's that I've done in the past!Don’t worry hannah! I took it as you just bringing up a discussion point, not complaining or anything.
I think what John meant when he said the price increase was for all the time melody put in them, was the increased detail. I guess that was my original point, that even the more boring colours from the new batch are much more detailed with shading, blending, hoof colours, nostril colours, etc. Even the with the stencil, the outline of the spots has still been gone over with a brush. I think the later batches of normally coloured unicorns had this type of detail too but it would be harder to split those batches among collectors. Like hey these are both bay pintos, but one was from the $130 batch. This new batch is more recognizable as fantasy with the interference paint.
And this is totally unrelated to the price thing, but do they use actual paint for the interference or do they use mica powders like jacquard pearl ex or something similar? Violet hardly had any iridescence so I couldn’t tell, but Ptolemy has little gold speckles all over the white parts in random places. At first they just looked like paint that had sprayed over. But maybe they’re powder? Then on his body there is blue speckles and smudges that look like powder. I’m just curious, I’ve always used pearl ex and it never occurred to me that you could get interference paint for cheaper or that worked as well.
Don’t worry hannah! I took it as you just bringing up a discussion point, not complaining or anything.
OK! Phew, I was a little nervous about that ^^
Im not sure what they use exactly, but it does look exactly like the Golden Interference that I get in the tube. I would have to spread it VERY thin to get it to look as even and nice as they have it, so I always just figured they had a special formula of interference that they use. Not sure though!
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Please visit My Webpage to see my art and PYO's that I've done in the past!…the explanation for why left me feeling like it was lacking. I’m not complaining about the price in and of itself!
Ah. I think a probably better explanation is that it might not have been a TON more work per uni than the last batches. But I suspect that the first batches were more work than the price revealed, and probably more than Melody actually expected since they weren’t done production-wise. For what it’s worth, $20 would be literally less than 6 minutes of MY time at my billing rate (not that I actually make that much, it’s just what my clients pay :P).
Perhaps it’s not a good idea to justify exactly why a price is increasing in the future. The thing is, if the collectors are willing to pay it and the company feels justified in it, then the price is appropriate regardless of the reason or reasons.
(Edited because I didn’t know that “s” followed by a right parentheses made a goofy face s) )
Well, too, you’ve got to think, ALL of these grab bag unis have at least SOME interference on them. I can’t imagine that interference paint is the same cost as regular paint. And Melody made stencils to airbrush these in, and that takes time too.
Yeah, I mentioned this already. Still, the amount of interference on each of these unis is NOT equal to $20 each. I get my interference for $6.00 per tube, and a tube lasts me 6 months. Yes, I know I don’t paint as much as Windstone does, but I do have a pretty firm understanding of how much interference is on these unis, and it’s not very much.
Stencils may take time to make, but they cut down the time it takes to paint, say, 50 unis.
All I’m saying is that it doesn’t seem to add up, and I would have been happier if the $20 increase had a different “reasoning” behind it – or heck, no reasoning at all! I just can’t buy that ALL these unicorns took significantly longer than the old unis to paint, and for whatever reason that has stuck in my mind ever since I got my 2 unis from the factory, who could have come from the old batches themselves had they not had some interference on them.
*shrug*
I’m not fighting about the increase either, but I do know what you mean Hannah so you’re not alone. I guess it was all the luck of the draw. Heck, the two i got were WAY less detailed then any I had in the past. I got two solid Unis and paid $130 each for them, and before that I pulled Cardamom and Hutzpah who were obviously WAY more involved and I paid $110 for those two. So I do understand where you’re coming from.
Thankfully I was able to trade them both now so I don’t need to throw them out a window anymore ^_^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 DragonsI got my second one today, he’s pretty awesome. His name is “Ptolemy” which is awesome. Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy_(name)
Yeah so I’m n00b at history and had no idea. Him and Claudius would make a neat set 😛 I’m also SUPER annoyed because I got charged freaking customs on him! It kind of proves customs really picks and chooses when to charge you. I got violet a few weeks ago and paid nothing, and I got 2 grab bags from a batch ages ago so the price was higher and didn’t get charged. Shenanigans! xD
Pictures! He’s a bald face sabinoey coppey chestnut. These pictures kind of suck and I will try to get nicer ones later.
I like the blending on the spots a lot, there’s black shading on the copper side and especially on the face it’s gorgeous! His body is slightly more purple than the mane, which is very copper. His crystals are dark orange, I dunno what the actual colour is called 🙂
I’m not totally opposed to trading him but am probably going to keep him for now.
WOW…he is awesome! If you ever want to trade with me for anything or sell him please let me know!
Marzena
Here are sisters Lightning and Paris:
Thats Awesome! Nice to see that lightening has a sister! I still would love to add Lightening to my collection so if Lightening is still looking for a new home please let me know…..I would be happy to trade as long as I have something you like or buy!
Marzena
They’re here! They’re here! They’re finally here! 😀
Sorry about the lame picture quality (the interference barely shows), but it’s grey and rainy outside. I’ll try to get better photos later.Viola is bay with brown eyes and purple interference (much more than the pics show) on her mane and body. She has green jewels.
Delia is a gold pinto with silver mane. She has amethyst gems and metallic silver eyes.
I *might* keep Delia (I’m undecided), but Viola will be up for trade/sale.
*jumps up and down pointing at Delia*
THATS PALEFACE!! *droooooool*Commission spots are currently closed! Please message me for details.
Please visit My Webpage to see my art and PYO's that I've done in the past!Well, too, you’ve got to think, ALL of these grab bag unis have at least SOME interference on them. I can’t imagine that interference paint is the same cost as regular paint. And Melody made stencils to airbrush these in, and that takes time too.
Yeah, I mentioned this already. Still, the amount of interference on each of these unis is NOT equal to $20 each. I get my interference for $6.00 per tube, and a tube lasts me 6 months. Yes, I know I don’t paint as much as Windstone does, but I do have a pretty firm understanding of how much interference is on these unis, and it’s not very much.
Stencils may take time to make, but they cut down the time it takes to paint, say, 50 unis.
All I’m saying is that it doesn’t seem to add up, and I would have been happier if the $20 increase had a different “reasoning” behind it – or heck, no reasoning at all! I just can’t buy that ALL these unicorns took significantly longer than the old unis to paint, and for whatever reason that has stuck in my mind ever since I got my 2 unis from the factory, who could have come from the old batches themselves had they not had some interference on them.
*shrug*
When I read the reason for the price increase I understood it to be Grab Bag unis take up too much of Melody’s time for Windstone to keep selling them at $110. I don’t think it was directed at this batch in particular so much as if we want more GB unis and we want Melody to keep painting them; we will have to pay more because Windstone could be earning more money if Melody was painting or sculpting something else. Melody herself said she fought for the increase to only be up to 130, which means someone wanted the price to be more. That is not unreasonable because if these unis had hit ebay as ebay unis they would have fetched more money for Windstone.
Windstone is doing us a favor by keeping the prices low, but they have a business to run, and we cannot expect them do something that is not in the best interest of the business. Melody’s time is certainly worth $20 a uni if not more.
Looking for Blue Fawn Baby Kirin
Sanguine Oriental Test Paints, kinglet
Sun Dragon Koi #3I got some nicer pictures of Ptolemy. He looks pretty much like “Cocoa” on the directory.
And here’s the gang altogether:
And then I tried to take some photos of the little spots I was rambling about. I noticed similar spots on Honeydew and Adagio so I’m not sure it’s interference powder or just spiffs of paint.
Brown ones on the nose
Blue ones on the coat
And more of the nose. You can see the little cast defect too.
The more I look at him the more I love him! He’s probably going to stay with me, at least for now <3
When I read the reason for the price increase I understood it to be Grab Bag unis take up too much of Melody’s time for Windstone to keep selling them at $110. I don’t think it was directed at this batch in particular so much as if we want more GB unis and we want Melody to keep painting them; we will have to pay more because Windstone could be earning more money if Melody was painting or sculpting something else. Melody herself said she fought for the increase to only be up to 130, which means someone wanted the price to be more. That is not unreasonable because if these unis had hit ebay as ebay unis they would have fetched more money for Windstone.
Windstone is doing us a favor by keeping the prices low, but they have a business to run, and we cannot expect them do something that is not in the best interest of the business. Melody’s time is certainly worth $20 a uni if not more.
I’ll say it again – I AM NOT complaining about the price of the unis in general. It sticks with me that the explanation that was given didn’t seem correct. In other words, when I read the explanation I thought – AWESOME – unis that are obviously going to be so much cooler than the last ones! Yet when I got said uni, I was disappointed to find unis that very VERY closely resembled those from other batches. It was just a disappointment.
I would not feel this way if there had been no explanation for the price increase at all.
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Please visit My Webpage to see my art and PYO's that I've done in the past!Twinsdragonsmon has one coming to her as well. But I think it’s still in the post.
Mine arrived!!! His name is “Ceylon” which are sapphires that come from Sri Lanka. I can’t get pix yet since my camera is in Idaho and I’m in Utah *sigh* again *sigh*, but will get them posted as soon as camera and Ceylon are in the same place!
twindragonsmum :love:
tdm
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