Secret Keeper

[Tina]

I wonder what the Sandicast people do? They make those lifesize dogs, and the Shiba Inu one is about the size of the SK I suspect, and the german shepherd one is even bigger, yet they can cast them, ship them and sell them. Do they not offer to replace broken ones? Just curious is all.

[frozendragon]

ruffian wrote:

I wonder what the Sandicast people do? They make those lifesize dogs, and the Shiba Inu one is about the size of the SK I suspect, and the german shepherd one is even bigger, yet they can cast them, ship them and sell them. Do they not offer to replace broken ones? Just curious is all.

aren’t those a resin…that’s lighter than these…

i’ve only bought one of those for someone…and it was not half as heavy

[drag0nfeathers]

If you only made 10 at a time and sold them on request only with the clarification that there is a certain critera for returning them due to weight and that the buyer is to pay all shipping fees in that case maybe you could have them on the sales direct page. I’m any case! I WANT A SECRET KEEPER OF MY OWN SO BAD! *whimpers* but I’ll never afford one if it’s over a grand! I don’t even CARE what color it is!

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

[Tina]

frozendragon wrote:

ruffian wrote:

I wonder what the Sandicast people do? They make those lifesize dogs, and the Shiba Inu one is about the size of the SK I suspect, and the german shepherd one is even bigger, yet they can cast them, ship them and sell them. Do they not offer to replace broken ones? Just curious is all.

aren’t those a resin…that’s lighter than these…

i’ve only bought one of those for someone…and it was not half as heavy

By looking that the website it seems they use a casting very close to Windstone, but they do not say what they cast from just this “Next, a special cast stone mixture is hand-poured into the molds.” The sculpts are actually very heavy, and done in Cali as well.

[drag0nfeathers]

Back when we had the ceramics factory open to the public we used to get hydracal which is almost like those large german shepards. You see alot of them as very big lamps, giant 3 foot lions, and thos elife sized baby deer in back yards, things like that. It’s almost like plaster & isn’t even supposed to be used for the outdoors. The company eventually went out of business because of the high shipping rates, though they are EXTREAMLY HEAVY! They didn’t even box them up. They sent a truck out that would deliver them in crates of straw that were bolted to the insides of the truck so you had to meet the person at the back of the delivery truck and hand carry each statue inside the factory for the delivery.

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

[Lokie]

drag0nfeathers wrote:

If you only made 10 at a time and sold them on request only with the clarification that there is a certain critera for returning them due to weight and that the buyer is to pay all shipping fees in that case maybe you could have them on the sales direct page. I’m any case! I WANT A SECRET KEEPER OF MY OWN SO BAD! *whimpers* but I’ll never afford one if it’s over a grand! I don’t even CARE what color it is!

I know you want one, but what would the criteria be? Personally, I wouldn’t order from Windstone (But I guess that means more for you 🙂 ) if I got a defective Secret Keeper and I was expected to pay the return and replacment shipping fees (expecially when it is $45 each way for shipping of one of these pieces!). It does seem like such a hassle to make this feasible without hollowing out the core.

But anyways, I do hope you get one eventually, Drag0nFeathers. I admit, the Secret Keeper sculpt is starting to grow on me. To bad they can’t shrink the sculpt down a bit; I just love the way the dragon looks (although I’m sure many love it for its size as well).

[wolflodge100]

sandicast used to be made here, but they have their stuff made in china now. the smaller ones are a plaster type material but I think the large ones are resin. I carry them in my store

[drag0nfeathers]

Lokie wrote:

drag0nfeathers wrote:

If you only made 10 at a time and sold them on request only with the clarification that there is a certain critera for returning them due to weight and that the buyer is to pay all shipping fees in that case maybe you could have them on the sales direct page. I’m any case! I WANT A SECRET KEEPER OF MY OWN SO BAD! *whimpers* but I’ll never afford one if it’s over a grand! I don’t even CARE what color it is!

I know you want one, but what would the criteria be? Personally, I wouldn’t order from Windstone (But I guess that means more for you 🙂 ) if I got a defective Secret Keeper and I was expected to pay the return and replacment shipping fees (expecially when it is $45 each way for shipping of one of these pieces!). It does seem like such a hassle to make this feasible without hollowing out the core.

But anyways, I do hope you get one eventually, Drag0nFeathers. I admit, the Secret Keeper sculpt is starting to grow on me. To bad they can’t shrink the sculpt down a bit; I just love the way the dragon looks (although I’m sure many love it for its size as well).

Well, if I understood more about they way that Windstone castings were made, I’m sure I could figure something out to give it a hollow core.

See, it IS VERY DIFFICULT to give it a hollow core and still have a solid look and feel. If Melody decided not to put a felt pad on, worse case scenario I wonder if she could do something similar that was done with the Baby Rock Dragon? It is hollowed, but not the way I expect Melody wants it. There needs to be some type of area where air can get in and out of the piece as it sets or dries I would imagine. The only thing I can think of is, if now somewhere under the base, then in the paw, where the jewel is, but I don’t know how large of a drain gypsum requires. Or even if it drains at all??? I don’t even know if it would work. I’m not familiar with the material. I’m sure ceramic, cement, gypsum…whatever you work with all requires different tactics.

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

[Mimi]

ruffian wrote:

frozendragon wrote:

ruffian wrote:

I wonder what the Sandicast people do? They make those lifesize dogs, and the Shiba Inu one is about the size of the SK I suspect, and the german shepherd one is even bigger, yet they can cast them, ship them and sell them. Do they not offer to replace broken ones? Just curious is all.

aren’t those a resin…that’s lighter than these…

i’ve only bought one of those for someone…and it was not half as heavy
By looking that the website it seems they use a casting very close to Windstone, but they do not say what they cast from just this “Next, a special cast stone mixture is hand-poured into the molds.” The sculpts are actually very heavy, and done in Cali as well.
I have the Sandicast life size German Shepherd, and he’s not that heavy — maybe 25 lbs.? The packaging is excellent, same quality as Windstone’s, so it seems very unlikely that they’d get broken in shipping. I know that the online store that I bought it from replaces any defective items free of charge (i.e., they’ll pay for replacement shipping), so I imagine that Sandicast is willing to pay the shipping costs if stores return defective items. Wolflodge could probably tell us for sure, since she’s a Sandicast dealer…

[wolflodge100]

I have never gotten a broken one from sandicast. but I’ve never recieved a broken item that the company I got it from wouldn’t replace it free of cost. some tell you to throw it away and some send you a call tag postage paid.

[whippetluv]

I would be willing to pay the big shipping fee too to have these be regualar productions. I love her smile. I would chop off my left leg for that white one on ebay now. She is devine.

[Starbreeze]

whippetluv wrote:

I would be willing to pay the big shipping fee too to have these be regualar productions. I love her smile. I would chop off my left leg for that white one on ebay now.
She is devine.

I agree. I’d be happy to pay the shipping fee for a production SK. It doesn’t look like they’ll be hitting the stores anytime soon. I wish they’d offer them direct from Windstone. I know a lot of people have shown interest in buying them that way.

[Mimi]

I hope they do too. I know I would buy one! But from what Melody’s said, it sounds like the long drying time for the prototype ones makes them pretty difficult to manufacture…and they might need to get a good price via an Ebay auction for it to be worth the effort. I hope that’s not the case though.

[Anonymous]

Windstone Invoice # 26442

1 Secret Keeper, White $1,995
Production Surcharge $100
Rental of Storage Facility for 6 Weeks Drying Time $50
Electricity Surcharge for Drying Kiln $95
Labor for Moving Company (To/From Storage) $50
Packaging Materials $30
Contribution to Karen’s Back Surgery Fund for Packing SK $75
Contribution to Melody’s Swear Jar for Casting/Painting SK $480
UPS Freight Charges $125

Your total: $3,000 (California residents add state tax)

Thank you from Windstone, and please, don’t ever order this thing again.

😆 😆

[Starbreeze]

I guess that means the ones on ebay are a bargain. I’d better go bid. 😆

[Author]

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