- This topic has 84 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 8 years, 7 months ago by .
-
Posts
-
so we know there’s a problem, will a solution be reached at some point soon? I would hate to see all the horned sculpts die out….
4 things I'm looking for:
1. Mother Meerkat
2. production color Sitting Young Oriental dragons to be made in more colors besides VF, Brimstone would be awesome!
3. Female Griffin – Siamese with White
4. September Raffle Prize 2022 AHD Male GriffinI’ve been thinking about this alot. Now I am in no way connected to Windstone, so everything I’m going to say is strictly my (out of the loop) read on things.
Windstone may not have the resources at the moment to solve the problem. Melody resculpting the horns would be almost a hit and miss deal – very impractical for someone with her workload (and very expensive!!). Likewise resculpting all the horned heads to match new horns. (As she has explained elsewhere, creating a mold for the gypsum is a multistep process) 3-D printing (to create new masters) theorectically could be done but it would take a materials engineer and would still entail a certain amount of hit and miss experimentation. Potentially extremely expensive. Lastly, and this is a point no one has brought up so maybe it doesn’t apply, the price of gold has gone up from ~$200-$300 an ounce in 2000 to, according to today’s price on the internet, $1384.25 per ounce. In the jewelry industry, I understand that affordable jewelry is being made out of gold plated silver, because pure gold (or even 10 karat) is cost prohibitive. It was worse a few years ago when gold got up to $1800 an ounce. Predictions (and we know how accurrate they can be) were that gold would go up to $2000 an ounce in a few more years.
All in all, I don’t see any easy solutions or possibly any solutions at all that are practical from a business standpoint. On the positive side: Windstone can’t help but know how much we would miss the horned creatures and I’m sure they will do what they can to find a solution
This comes up every so often – I wonder if we should add it to the FAQ! 🙂
They have, I believe, found the masters for most of the horns. This doesn’t, unfortunately, solve the problem.
The old molds were something known as “pocket molds” (I believe). The horn was basically in a “pocket” with the seam being around the base where it goes into the sculpt. This allowed for the complicated design of the unicorn/scratcher horns (the swirly bits) to come out cleanly and with no need to sand in between the grooves.
However, most pewter casters use bi-valve molds (molds that open up like clam shells). This leaves a line along the seams that would need to be sanded in the recessed part of the horn. Sanding in those areas is almost impossible on itty, bitty unicorn horns. It apparently also requires some specialized equipment. So making new molds won’t really solve the problem.
There just don’t seem to be any quality, affordable outsourcing options right now for using the pocket molds either.
They own all the equipment to cast pewter horns, but unfortunately after years of outsourcing pewter and staffing changes, no one remains with the SKILL to cast the horns cleanly (without bubbles and gaps). Apparently pewter is pretty tricky to work with. They’ve tried pouring a few molds for other things and they haven’t come out very well.
It would be an investment in time and money and pewter to have someone basically experiment with the molding equipment to figure out how to cast horns again – but the staff who could potentially do it has just been too busy with other things (like dealing with gypsum casting problems) to work on pewter. Things that impact ALL the sculpts unfortunately trumps things that only affect some of the sculpts.
So it’s possible a solution will eventually be found – but it will probably wait until other problems that are even more pressing are resolved. 🙂
As for Melody resculpting – I think if she did that it would be for a smoother horn that doesn’t require as much sanding if they changed mold types or might be easier to cast.
I’m not 100% sure why the kirin horns are a problem either given they are already smooth. I’ll try to remember to ask John about that piece when I go down – but it might just be that it’s not worth it to outsource JUST kirin horns.
would be nice to have a more concrete answer on the solution, the situation has gotten quite bad now, can’t push it until later forever…
4 things I'm looking for:
1. Mother Meerkat
2. production color Sitting Young Oriental dragons to be made in more colors besides VF, Brimstone would be awesome!
3. Female Griffin – Siamese with White
4. September Raffle Prize 2022 AHD Male GriffinI don’t think there _IS_ a concrete answer about the solution. Like so many things, more time is needed. 🙂
I don’t think they want to have to discontinue all horned items, but until they can find a solution that works and is financially feasible, there’s just no way to forecast when it will be resolved or how. 🙂
I am in no way complaining or telling Windstone how to run their business, I just don’t understand how finding a new plating partner for the horns hasn’t been put on the top of a priority list at this point. This has been an ongoing issue for practically years now.
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 DragonsRight now they don’t have horns to plate (I mean, there are a few unplated ones, but not a ton).
Finding someone who can do the pewter casting is more of the issue. I’m sure if they can solve that problem, they’d seriously look into the plating issue too.
I dont think the plating is much of an issue. Like kiya said, the “casting more horns” part, is the problem.
I am in no way complaining or telling Windstone how to run their business, I just don’t understand how finding a new plating partner for the horns hasn’t been put on the top of a priority list at this point. This has been an ongoing issue for practically years now.
yeah, this is the problem I’m having with it too, seems pretty important to me considering how many sculpts it involves…
4 things I'm looking for:
1. Mother Meerkat
2. production color Sitting Young Oriental dragons to be made in more colors besides VF, Brimstone would be awesome!
3. Female Griffin – Siamese with White
4. September Raffle Prize 2022 AHD Male GriffinI’m sure you could contact John and ask about it! 🙂
He has been trying a variety of things (as stated above), but to date they have not worked out.
I think all they can really do is what they’re already doing – try to think of potential solutions, try the solution, and see if it works.
Are there still casting problems with the SK, too? I’ve not seen one of those big biddies in a while and I was hoping to squeak for another pink one…
Are there still casting problems with the SK, too? I’ve not seen one of those big biddies in a while and I was hoping to squeak for another pink one…
Nope. They finally fixed the problem with the packing machine, so SKs are back in production again 🙂
Are there still casting problems with the SK, too? I’ve not seen one of those big biddies in a while and I was hoping to squeak for another pink one…
Nope. They finally fixed the problem with the packing machine, so SKs are back in production again 🙂
Sa-weeeet! Thanks!
so now the baby unicorn horns seem to be nearly gone, now can the problem be worked on? it’s getting really bad now and I don’t think anyone wants to see all the horned animals going basically extinct for a long time….and it makes no sense to me that we’re finally going to get the unicorn colt mold but only as a GB then who know when we’ll see them again?
4 things I'm looking for:
1. Mother Meerkat
2. production color Sitting Young Oriental dragons to be made in more colors besides VF, Brimstone would be awesome!
3. Female Griffin – Siamese with White
4. September Raffle Prize 2022 AHD Male Griffin
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
