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Sorry to bump the thread, but I figured I’d let you all know how the auction went.
The auction ended at $466 (:o), but the reserve wasn’t met, so I guess the dragon didn’t get sold. He did have a few chips on him, but I was very astounded that the bidding was so low. I wonder what the reserve was? Maybe $500 or even $1000?
He might pop up again in the future if anyone is still interested in getting him. Anyway, I guess that’s all there is to say, but I thought I’d let everyone know regardless. 🙂
Thanks for the reply Melody!
Good to know that although on the back burner, there is a plan to get secret keepers back on track and available for purchase. 🙂
drag0nfeathers wrote:pipsxlch wrote:I’m terrible at searches, but drag0nfeathers got one of the peacock SKs and posted a really funny pic-story of the day it arrived. Will have to try and find it… You’d be able to get a good feel for the sculpt/paintjob from her pics.
I think the door was left open to the possibility of more of the SKs done in limited production colors (peacock, gold, rainbow) and/or more LP in colors not yet done before, but that is a possibility not a promise. I don’t see them trying while they’re backed up, and frankly, unless they can solve the hollowing/drying issue, probably not at all. If I remember right, it took over a month for them to dry in LA, I’d hate to think how long it’d take in humid Oregon.
(is sad- I really would like one, but haven’t seen the ‘yes’ color yet except maybe for the spring greens, and couldn’t afford it anymore anyhow)Hahaha!!! Yes, I remember that story well. 😆 How I would love a Limited Production Secret Keeper I consider myself lucky to have gotten the Peacock one I got… although now I am wishing I go a Rainbow one. I wish I could have bought both, but No way I could drop over a grand on a Windstone. Not that if I HAD it, I wouldn’t do it 😆
Well if you don’t want her. . . 😆 Just kidding, just kidding!
Thanks for all the replies, though I admit it’s kinda what I expected. I understand completely that they are a burden (though I didn’t know they take months to dry 😮 ), but they are just so nice it makes you wonder if all the hassle would be worth it to produce more of these beautiful dragons.
I’m sure creating them isn’t easy on the staff either. Maybe doing a one-off SK isn’t so bad because it makes it seem like a special occurrence, but having to wait all that time for the molds to dry and paint such a large dragon so carefully is probably pretty draining to do on a regular basis to meet production needs. And then there is the shipping. Besides being a student, I’m also a musician and I’ve ordered more than a few guitars from abroad. Because they are so large shipping costs are also quite costly (in the hundreds of dollars depending on the “to and from” locations), but I guess even a guitar is less of a hassle than a SK (though granted, guitars are pretty fragile and need to be packed very carefully). Making a hollow core might be a solution, or maybe they’ll just be produced in really limited runs, “as they are” and buyers will have to be obligated to pay a substantial shipping cost to get them to their front door.
In any case I’d imagine it’ll be some time before it gets moved off the back burner as everyone’s been saying. Please do post any pictures you have (or links to threads with pictures) because I have a fairly decent SK picture collection going on 🙂 Yet again, thanks for all the responses and helpful comments, they go a long way towards assuaging my desire for a secret keeper!
Granted, the economy is probably having an effect on Windstone’s production and (perhaps more importantly) the attitude of buyers, so it will probably be quite some time before the SK comes around.
Tantalizing as it is, the Secret Keepers are still listed in the store, though I’m quite certain that the store is just sorely out of date. You can still see the price listed as $850. Were there any batches of Secret Keepers besides the eBay test paints? First of all I’ve NEVER seen a SK for sale on eBay or elsewhere, but I have seen pictures posted by the owners of some of the test paints. On the other hand, I’ve never even caught a glimpse of the Secret Keeper in any of the quote, “production” colours (outside of the store images), so it makes me wonder how many of them were sold.
You’re right–as the largest dragon (and perhaps the best looking, in my opinion 😳 ),it proves to be the mecca of the collections of most. Congrats on owning one by the way! I’ll just have to make do with dreams for now, haha. It’s the desire for them combined with the reluctance to part with them (which equates to rarity) that is driving the high prices I think. I mean, $850 is one thing, but some of the SK dragons went for around $3000 according to the eBay auctions gallery.
Assuming the SK design went through an uh, “extensive diet”, I wonder if the price would drop. It’d save on shipping anyway, that’s for sure. Either way, that’s pretty far off by the looks of it, so this SK that came up for grabs might be the only opportunity in quite some time for someone to nab one if they are interested!
I did a search and didn’t find a thread about this yet, so I decided to make one. This post is only partially about the auction, but I’ll get to that after I post the link (I know you’re all anxious to see the SK goodness 😆 ).
I’m not sure if I’ll be able to purchase that one, but I’ve wanted a Secret Keeper pretty badly for some time now. Unfortunately, auction settings are perfect places to sell rare pieces like this, so I expect the price will go pretty high on this guy.
I know there is a lot of buzz about the Secret Keeper, so my main question was if there was any new news about these going into production? I know Windstone just moved locations so putting out a “new” mold is probably pretty far down on the priority list, but I just have to ask as I desperately want one of these guys. 🙂
The test paints were breathtaking, but I think the peacock SK is eliciting the biggest response from me so far. They are pricey, but I think they’ll still sell well if they are put into production. So does anyone know the status of this? It’d be great if Melody could drop in and comment, but given her busy schedule as of late I’d imagine she won’t see this.
And who’s going to buy this? One of us has to own up and seize the opportunity, especially since I’ve seen many achieved posts that are similar to mine in covetous tone 😆
Discuss!
A big thanks (yet again) to everyone, especially towards drag0nfeathers and Kyrin for the REALLY helpful information.
Also a big thanks to Wolfenmachine who I just messaged about the touch up paint. As soon as I get some paint (and some courage 😳 ) I’ll start attempting the repair (or have it attempted by more capable hands, if necessary).
When I get to that, I’ll ask more specifically about repairing her (but the tutorials posted so far have assuaged many of my burning questions), but I do have one specific question about what you posted, Kyrin. When you say “paint the repaired area black”, do you mean that I should also paint over the already painted parts to blend it all? Or should I just paint where the paint is missing (meaning where the white plaster is showing) and try to blend that as seamlessly as I can with the existing paint?
I took your post to mean the latter, but I just wanted to clarify. Thanks again for all the help, guys!
Awesome! Thanks for all the replies so far guys, it’s really helpful information. Hopefully Kyrin or one of the other repair gurus can drop in soon, but I won’t hold my breath.
If anyone else has any helpful information or encouraging comments feel free to post. And thanks for the warm welcome 🙂
Hey everyone,
I’m a new member here, but I’ve been admiring windstones for quite some time now! As a new member you’ll have to bear with me, but you all seem quite nice from the threads I’ve read so far, so I’m not too worried about being welcomed 🙂 I should get on to the topic though:
Although I recently received a Peacock Mother Dragon second hand (and she’s magnificent!), she got damaged in shipping 🙁 Knowing that broken windstones still deserve just as much love, I wasn’t too heart broken, but I wanted to do a search on repairing her. I stumbled across an old page where Melody had explained to a user on Elfwood that she has done successful repairs with “Epoxy sculpt” before, and she went on to say that some of the best “windstone doctors” reside at the official windstone forum. So here I am, like a hound trailing a scent.
At first I wondered if I was posting this in the correct spot, but after doing a search in addition to seeing that the “unofficial windstone repair-ers list” was in this forum, I figured I was in the right spot. I read the aforementioned thread, and frankly, I found the examples shown both astounding and inspiring. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be looking to outsource the repair work (I’d be worried about shipping the dragon again), but I was looking for some advice. Luckily my girlfriend is a professional artist who did some sculpting, etc. during her fine arts degree at University, so my dragon is in good hands, but I was still looking for some advice concerning repairing the dragon specifically. I don’t want anyone to feel like they are giving away “trade secrets”, but growing up I was always told that conversation was cheap, and that it never hurts to ask. So with that said, let me post a couple of pictures of the damage.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f209/Cthulhu444/Miscellaneous/IMG_5419.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f209/Cthulhu444/Miscellaneous/IMG_5420.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f209/Cthulhu444/Miscellaneous/IMG_5424.jpg
The last picture linked, is showing a small chip at the very back of the right-hand jawbone. The picture is fuzzy (sorry, the camera would refuse to focus), but it’s white spot that you see. I think it’s mostly just some missing paint, and it’s quite small, so I’m not quite as worried.
The larger chunk is, well, quite large. However, after seeing some of the catastrophes in the repair thread (followed by the miraculous repairs) I’m not so worried about mine anymore. As you can see from the pictures, I still have three of the chips that came out of the chipped area, and some superglue is also pictured. Before I do any repairing though, I wanted to consult others here.
Basically, I guess it boils down to this: how should I affix the main chip back onto the dragon, and what steps should follow to make as seamless a repair as possible? At first I thought that I’d just superglue the chip back in, order some paint (melody said you could drop her an e-mail and buy it from her directly in the elfwood post), and touch up the spots that are still white. However, after seeing some of the repairs done in the other thread, with the epoxy sculpting, etc. I’m wondering if a more extensive repair would be prudent for the dragons welfare. I realize that replacing the chip is far more favorable than sculpting new pieces, but say I piece it together an am missing some tiny spots, should that be filled in with the epoxy compound?
Anyway, thanks in advance for any help you can offer. I’ll make sure to keep you all updated with the status of the dragon in return!
