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It seems like I’m cursed when it comes to my unicorns. I purchased a mama unicorn on ebay the other day for a really low price, because the piece had some ‘light scratching’ on it. The photos looked okay, so I went ahead and bought her. The seller was using a weird payment system so I think that’s why I was able to get her for such a low price.
They shipped her pretty quickly, but when she arrived, it was a disaster! They had shipped her in a ziplock freezer bag with only a few scrunched up plastic bags as insulation. Not even bubble wrap or packing peanuts! Now her ear has broken off AND her horn has come out and bent in half. Not only that, but she smells like an ashtray! The seller contacted me after I sent them a message saying the item had broken, and she mentioned she thought it was worth $500. If that was the case, why didn’t they put some bubble wrap around it, at least? Ugh.
I’m so disappointed and I’m not sure what to do. I got her for so cheap that I might as well keep her and attempt a repair, but the horn is the real problem. I’ve (very gently) bent it back into roughly the right shape.
Here’s what I got. :/
And here you can see the damage to her poor face.I know there was a tutorial floating around somewhere that had instructions on how to properly box and ship windstones but it won’t load for me. Has it been uploaded elsewhere? I just want to be able to prevent this from happening again.
Aweeeeee… that’s a shame. I have had people who are completely ignorant to how to pack a windstone send me items before. Some people just feel the weight of them and assume they aren’t fragile. >_< Stupid stupid stupid! *sigh*
Well, first things first. If you want to tackle the repair then go for it! It's nice to be able to fix your own Windstones if you plan to buy on ebay (because 1 out of 10 times, you usually have SOMETHING damaged.) Whether it's not as described or poor packing, it's a lot easier to fix the problem if you have an uncooperative seller to deal with.
This is my repair tutorial
http://windstoneeditions.com/forum/peacock-male-repair-picture-tutorial-image-heavy
If the seller won't give you a refund/ or if you don't want to send her back because you got a good deal. Maybe you and the seller can come to a settlement and she can buy you some apoxie sculpt.
This is the agreement that has worked for me with a decent amount of damaged windstones I have received.
The horn is a whole other issue though… you can TRY to bend it back VERY carefully. They are pewter and then have gold plating, but once it's bent, that gold is easily cracked and can flake off. There's not really any way to flawlessly fix it. You MIGHT be able to ask Windstone if they will send you a horn to replace it, but I know they are really short on horns right now.
I get a lot of damaged pieces, but some you just can't repair, (not often, but sometimes) so if I ever stumble across one I can send it to you, but I have no clue when that would be or if it would ever happen. The lucky thing is at least the socket is empty. Lost of times the horn breaks at the anchor and prying the end out of the forehead is no picnic. It would bbe best of you could get a replacement. It would glue in nice and simple.
If you need help on the repair or have questions on what to do just PM me. I'll be happy to help.
Got a busted Windstone?
drag0nfeathersdesign@gmail.com
*OPEN for repairs**SEEKING GRAILS*
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Dreamscape, Orion, Poison Dart, Fireberry, Spangler + Tigerberry DragonsAw drag0n, thanks! Honestly, the amount that I paid for her was less than $20, so I’m probably just going to cut my losses. Sending her back would be a hassle, and I’d rather not give her back to them, lest she be further damaged and never make her way to someone who would fix her up again.
The plating on the horn has already started to chip off around the middle where it was bent. Honestly, I was thinking of just sculpting another one out of sculpy and either giving it an ivory finish or painting it with one of those gold krylon pens and antiquing it myself. I wouldn’t want to impose on windstone’s generosity by asking them to send me a horn, since their supply is so low. However, if you come across a piece that is too broken to repair, I’d gladly buy the horn from you (or the original owner, however that works out).
The plating on the horn has already started to chip off around the middle where it was bent.
Or you could remove all the plating, seal the pewter (just in case) and paint it – that’s how the last PYO unicorn horns came, so I don’t see why you couldn’t do the same.
Read my books! Volume 1 and 2 of A Dragon Medley are available now.
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http://www.sarahjestin.com/feedbacklists.htmYou can bend it back and sand it a little bit, then apply a generous coating of a gold deco art pen. (get an old fashioned clothes pin because you have to hang it somehow) and you need to let it dry for about 2 days. Then, spray it with a gloss sealer (I have had issues with the paint on over the gold in the past) then let it dry another day. Then antique it with black, and seal it one more time and let it dry again. That has given me the best results. It’s a royal pain in the behind, if you want to mickey mouse it, just use gold paint instead of the pen, but the gold pen best mimics the look of gold plating.
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 DragonsThanks for the suggestions, guys! I’m probably going to try repairing the horn (sanding and repainting, etc.), but I’ll also sculpt a backup. In retrospect, I probably should have put this in the repairs forum but oh well.
What would I use to seal the pewter? Just like a krylon spray gloss coat?
You are so lucky a piece of leg, or worst, wasn’t broken off as well.
I was going to suggest perhaps trying to sculpt a horn out of the epoxi sculpt material DragOnFeather’s suggested using.Good Luck!
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*** Come visit me on deviantArt at http://ela-hara.deviantart.comI don’t often speak up on the forums but you should definitely also file for an Item Not as Described complaint through eBay. You can indicate that you’d still like to keep the item but that you want at least a partial refund in light of how badly damaged the item is due to the seller’s poor packing. That kind of thing really burns me up, and I don’t care if they chose to sell it for $20 when they thought it was worth $500, if they really thought that they wouldn’t have packed it like garbage.
The worst I ever heard of was a ceramic horse simply stuck in a bubble envelope and mailed…of course it arrived in pieces and dust. Ugh!
That being said, even in this state, that was a find! If I had a chance at one this cheap, even damaged, I’d go hog-wild experimenting on her with sculpting new features and whatnot. <3 Wish you good luck with the remodeling!
Eeek! You sure haven’t had the best luck with unicorns, have you?
At least mom’s damage is minimal and you can try to straighten the horn. There’s no point asking for a replacement – they’re all out. I know because I asked a little ago and there aren’t any left. I got a mom quite a while ago who arrived with a very bent horn, too. She wasn’t broken at all, just the bent horn. In my case, the seller was wonderful. She had packed the mom quite well, but somehow during shipping the unicorn shifted or something and the horn got bent. I asked for, and immediately received a partial refund.
I’m still more than a bit nervous to straighten the horn, but I will give it a go sometime. I think your job might actually be easier since the horn’s out and you can get a better grip on it without worrying about the sculpt breaking.
I’m sure that with the work you are doing with Frank (how’s he doing btw?) that the repairs on the mom will progress well.
Hang in there.
Life is beautiful.
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