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Too cute! They look very pleased with themselves – like young dancers who have finally mastered the moves and are so delighted that nobody messed up their debut. 😀
Interested in buying or trading for: GB Pebble Sitting Red Fox in dark grey, Lap Dragon Test Paints (Water Sprite, Glacial Pearl, Opulence, Pastel Rainbow, and many others - see my Classifieds ad), Blue Morpho OW, GB Pebble Loaf dragons in blue/aqua/teal, and Griffin Test Paints (Black Rainbow or Frosted Jade).
Welcome to the wonderful (sometimes crazy-wonderful) world of Windstone collecting!
I started with just one “style” (dragons in a single color) and slowly branched out as I caught up to what was available. My own collection now covers several common collecting patterns:
1. Single species, single color – I have nearly all of the Western Dragons in White. (Plus Spectrals.) I also have a family of Oriental Dragons in Peacock. (I need a Moon Dragon!)
2. Single species, many colors – My griffins are collected this way. A Wolf male, a Silver Wolf chick, a Copper Patina female, a Black Sunset female, and a Black Sunset chick don’t have a lot in common except for their all being griffins!
2. Single sculpt, many colors (“conga line”) – I have over a dozen Lap Dragons in as many different colors as I can afford.
3. Blended family – I have the original 3 Kirin sculpts in original Brown, plus a couple of babies in Albino. (I plan to add an albino male, to create a truly blended three-parent family! If funds allow, I’d also like to add one or two of the “Collie” test paints, perhaps a female and baby, to the group, because their colors harmonize well with both the Albino and the Brown Kirins.)
4. Species (or sculpt) by color category – my Kirins would all be considered “natural” colors, as I don’t have any fantasy kirins. I also collect PYO Kitty Griffins with colors inspired by domestic cats and raptors. (I painted three, and commissioned one from another artist.)
5. DIY approach – I have a number of PYOs painted by me, to give them personal meaning. They’re a complete mix of species, colors and patterns, and inspirations (from Harry Potter to my own dog), but they’re united in being the work of my own hands. 🙂These all seem to be really common “styles” of collecting among the members here, though not everybody does all of them, and my collection doesn’t encompass all possible “styles”! You might also like:
6. Rarity – Some people only collect non-Production, non-LP pieces, such as Ebay Test Paints and Raffle prizes/other one-of-a-kind pieces, often signed, numbered, and/or with certificates of authenticity.
7. Release Type – Some collectors really love the Grab Bag way of life, with highly detailed but extremely varied paint jobs and a mix of sculpts, so they center their collecting around items released as grab bags. Others might decide on a “Production Only” approach, so they have more time to gain pieces and don’t have to spend as much; they could break it down further into a particular species, family, color category, etc. if desired. Or perhaps their preferred type of release is “pieces by Gina/Melody/Patricia Smith/other artist.”
8. Everything Ever – There’s a few lucky collectors whose motto seems to be, “If it’s got ‘Windstone’ on it, I need to own it!”
9. Representational – Some people don’t want to have too much of anything, so they go for the broadest survey of Windstone’s many gorgeous offerings. They might end up with a Mother & Male dragon in Peacock, a Hatcher and Young in Emerald, a Scratcher in Gold, etc. They could even diversify completely, and aim for just one of each sculpt with no two in the same color!
10. Whimsical – A few people don’t settle on any theme; they only know what they want when they lay eyes on it, and it doesn’t matter whether it goes with what they already have. (I tend to associate this style with the olden days, when Windstones were more often sold in physical stores: you might wander into a shop and see something you never dreamed of buying when it was just a picture in the catalog. This is how I ended up with a Peacock Oriental family in the midst of all my White Westerns!)Welcome, again, to the Forums and to the Windstone collecting habit! I’m sure you’ll find your style as you go. 🙂 And congratulations on the pieces you’ve already acquired!
Interested in buying or trading for: GB Pebble Sitting Red Fox in dark grey, Lap Dragon Test Paints (Water Sprite, Glacial Pearl, Opulence, Pastel Rainbow, and many others - see my Classifieds ad), Blue Morpho OW, GB Pebble Loaf dragons in blue/aqua/teal, and Griffin Test Paints (Black Rainbow or Frosted Jade).
I love the “Truffle” dragon and kirin… but I can’t stop picturing that color scheme on a griffin! It’d be like the best combo ever: tuxedo cats and Tuxedo Truffle Cake! 😀
Interested in buying or trading for: GB Pebble Sitting Red Fox in dark grey, Lap Dragon Test Paints (Water Sprite, Glacial Pearl, Opulence, Pastel Rainbow, and many others - see my Classifieds ad), Blue Morpho OW, GB Pebble Loaf dragons in blue/aqua/teal, and Griffin Test Paints (Black Rainbow or Frosted Jade).
I’m having trouble renewing a classified ad. I got an email that one of my ads was 3 days from expiring, so I logged in and went to renew it. I clicked on “Edit” next to the listing, and went through the two-page options, but nowhere was there an option to change the posting date/update the expiration date, and when I had gone through the process and clicked “Finish” my ad still showed that it had only three days left before expiring.
Am I missing some new button or step? How do I keep my ad from expiring?
[b]Edited to add:[/b] As an experiment, I clicked on an expired ad and tried to go through the editing process, to see if it would let me renew it. Nope – went through the whole thing, and got a “this ad is only viewable by you until an administrator approves it” message after finishing. Its expiration date still shows last week. :/
Interested in buying or trading for: GB Pebble Sitting Red Fox in dark grey, Lap Dragon Test Paints (Water Sprite, Glacial Pearl, Opulence, Pastel Rainbow, and many others - see my Classifieds ad), Blue Morpho OW, GB Pebble Loaf dragons in blue/aqua/teal, and Griffin Test Paints (Black Rainbow or Frosted Jade).
Wow! I’m in Shiny Critter Heaven just looking at those photos, Melody! What a beautiful pebble pile… 😀
Interested in buying or trading for: GB Pebble Sitting Red Fox in dark grey, Lap Dragon Test Paints (Water Sprite, Glacial Pearl, Opulence, Pastel Rainbow, and many others - see my Classifieds ad), Blue Morpho OW, GB Pebble Loaf dragons in blue/aqua/teal, and Griffin Test Paints (Black Rainbow or Frosted Jade).
So I am attempting to create a Classified Ad, and it is telling me that I need to verify my email address, but it never sends me anything to verify! What am I supposed to do in order to create this ad? :/
Edit: It also told me that it saved my ad, and that I was the only one that would be able to see it until it was approved.. but it’s gone now? I looked in my account section and it says I have 0 ads in any of the categories.. super frustrating!
Four weeks later, and I am having this exact same pair of issues!
I just spend 45 minutes putting an ad together, was told I needed to verify my email address before others could view it, went to do so… and now my ad is completely gone.
Interested in buying or trading for: GB Pebble Sitting Red Fox in dark grey, Lap Dragon Test Paints (Water Sprite, Glacial Pearl, Opulence, Pastel Rainbow, and many others - see my Classifieds ad), Blue Morpho OW, GB Pebble Loaf dragons in blue/aqua/teal, and Griffin Test Paints (Black Rainbow or Frosted Jade).
Thank you – that is very helpful! No reason for thumbnails to be that big; it just results in weird cropping when viewed and makes the ad look awkward. (This is visible in my Pebble Horse ad – I uploaded a full photo of the horse to be used as a thumbnail, and the thumbnail shows the middle two-thirds of a horse!)
Interested in buying or trading for: GB Pebble Sitting Red Fox in dark grey, Lap Dragon Test Paints (Water Sprite, Glacial Pearl, Opulence, Pastel Rainbow, and many others - see my Classifieds ad), Blue Morpho OW, GB Pebble Loaf dragons in blue/aqua/teal, and Griffin Test Paints (Black Rainbow or Frosted Jade).
Ooooh, black Pebble Horses would be tempting! Out of my budget, definitely, but tempting.
I’ll admit, I’m quietly hoping for some Production Pebbles, myself (if Color Shift counts as production… but there’s also Silver!) If the “Pebble foxes” mentioned are the sitting red fox, that would be my first choice! But I probably couldn’t resist Fennecs or Bat-Ears, either. 🙂
But if Melody would rather do grab bags, of course, she should go for it! I’ll just consider it a chance to rest my wallet until those color shift foxes get their turn. 🙂
I started a batch of autumn leaf, and silhouette young poads, but was thinking I should’ve asked you guys which piece I should do as a grab bag next. Young poads ok? or are you sick of poads? Here’s the pieces we have enough of to do a grab bag: Pebble wolves, foxes, horses, and cats, young and baby poads, baby pegasus ( but those are too hard to do as grab bags!) and we do have more baby unicorns , but I just did those.
Horses? I’d love to see a batch of regular/limited production horses. In black and/or ivory?
I am eagerly awaiting these and will definitely get one as soon as they hit the store!
Interested in buying or trading for: GB Pebble Sitting Red Fox in dark grey, Lap Dragon Test Paints (Water Sprite, Glacial Pearl, Opulence, Pastel Rainbow, and many others - see my Classifieds ad), Blue Morpho OW, GB Pebble Loaf dragons in blue/aqua/teal, and Griffin Test Paints (Black Rainbow or Frosted Jade).
THANK YOU, MELODY!!
I’m so happy about the family being completed!
I didn’t manage to get one from this batch, so I’ll be stalking the Store looking for the restock! 😀
Interested in buying or trading for: GB Pebble Sitting Red Fox in dark grey, Lap Dragon Test Paints (Water Sprite, Glacial Pearl, Opulence, Pastel Rainbow, and many others - see my Classifieds ad), Blue Morpho OW, GB Pebble Loaf dragons in blue/aqua/teal, and Griffin Test Paints (Black Rainbow or Frosted Jade).
Can I make a separate comment just for “November-December 2016 Squeaks”? 😀 I’ve been thinking about Christmas wishes, and would particularly love to see:
* Copper Patina Lap Dragons with teal eyes, in the bright “Version 1” CP that was done on the griffins!
* Sitting Red Fox Pebbles in color shift!
* Oriental Moon Dragons in Peacock!Any of these would make my Christmas very merry and bright, indeed… <3
Interested in buying or trading for: GB Pebble Sitting Red Fox in dark grey, Lap Dragon Test Paints (Water Sprite, Glacial Pearl, Opulence, Pastel Rainbow, and many others - see my Classifieds ad), Blue Morpho OW, GB Pebble Loaf dragons in blue/aqua/teal, and Griffin Test Paints (Black Rainbow or Frosted Jade).
Alas, I have no leads for you… but if you happen to have a picture floating around, you should post it so we can all sigh along with you! 😀
Interested in buying or trading for: GB Pebble Sitting Red Fox in dark grey, Lap Dragon Test Paints (Water Sprite, Glacial Pearl, Opulence, Pastel Rainbow, and many others - see my Classifieds ad), Blue Morpho OW, GB Pebble Loaf dragons in blue/aqua/teal, and Griffin Test Paints (Black Rainbow or Frosted Jade).
I would have to say that you pretty much nailed it on the head Nightcrow. Well said.
Thank you! Like I mentioned, I have been around this hobby for a long time, relatively speaking! So I’m glad that my observations are ringing true with others, not just the inside of my head. 🙂
Interested in buying or trading for: GB Pebble Sitting Red Fox in dark grey, Lap Dragon Test Paints (Water Sprite, Glacial Pearl, Opulence, Pastel Rainbow, and many others - see my Classifieds ad), Blue Morpho OW, GB Pebble Loaf dragons in blue/aqua/teal, and Griffin Test Paints (Black Rainbow or Frosted Jade).
Well, I can only offer my own perspective here, but I *have* noticed the slowing of the secondhand market – I’ve been watching several pieces in the Classifieds for months and months (not to mention my own). I’m thinking along the same lines as a lot of you seem to be thinking – it’s a combination of things. 🙂
Here are my hypotheses:
1. The focus is WAY more on test paints and grab bags now! Used to be, there was a pretty brisk market in secondhand pieces, especially in retired colors (two of my three Peacock Orientals came to me this way), but once Ebay editions became a regular feature, people’s interest shifted to them, and later to grab bags: one-of-a-kind pieces. Nobody wants to trade a production piece for a OOAK, so trading for them is almost impossible even if you’re willing to trade at a loss (I’ve been looking to trade a color shift cougar for a GB Sitting Fox for a year or so, I think, without success!). And with so many new OOAKs to choose from, I think there’s less interest in production pieces overall – everybody’s too busy focusing on what the next Cosmic Shift Ebay release or fancy grab bag will be. So many people in the various threads have said things like, “I’m saving up, don’t release the grab bag ponies yet!” etc – I get the feeling that interest has withdrawn from production pieces, because it’s a slower process with less variation (and less temptation to justify your expense as an investment or once-in-a-lifetime opportunity).
2. Economic slump is the nationwide reality for USians. :/ I’ve been very fortunate the past few years, because, while I make a poverty-line income, life circumstances positioned me so that most of my income was disposable. (This is only VERY RECENTLY no longer the case for me: I bought a house last week! I’m still not used to looking at things and thinking, <i>there’s no way I can afford to spend $100 on that!</i>.) Most people, in the last few years, are tightening their belts and closing their wallets; they probably still WANT to buy Windstones, but just can’t manage anything except maybe a one-time splurge on a birthday or for a significant other’s holiday gift. (And see above, re: focus being on OOAK items. If you’re going to splurge, would you want to feel, “I’ll never have the chance to buy this again!” or “One of these comes up on Ebay or the Classifieds every three months; I could wait”?)
3. Sheer numbers are also a thing! Windstone used to do mainly production pieces, with the occasional test paint; it made test paints rare and special. When the number of test paints (and artist editions, and limited productions, and…) started growing by leaps and bounds, it became overwhelming. Back in 2000-mumble, I spent about $650 on a test paint OW, because I completely fell in love with the color, and he was one of just fifteen made. (A thing to note, here: this was made clear upfront! Each one sold was listed as “number __ of 15” so the buyer knew just how rare they were going to be! Though of course the standard disclaimer about test colors becoming production was in there, and in fact his color did, with minor changes, become a limited production color down the line!)
When I look back at that time of my life, compared to now… That was the start of the flood! There’s no way that I, or <i>anyone</i>, could keep up with the number of special pieces being produced now. Time has given us more sculpts, more new color schemes, more painters with name recognition. It’s also given us more uncertainty: when that pretty test paint or grab bag pops up now and you don’t know if you should drop $250 on it, it’s hard not to think, <i>but what if next month they do my *favorite* sculpt?</i> or <i>odds are that if I buy this piece, I won’t be able to afford the Cosmic Shift mama to match my baby</i>. With so many choices out there, people are more hesitant to commit to any one choice. (And that’s just from-the-factory pieces! Add in the secondhand market, and you can see why people might hesitate even longer to buy something secondhand when any minute their favorite artist might put out a new piece/the mate to their favorite piece might come up. Especially since, if it’s more than few year old, the secondhand sellers probably paid more for the piece than a new one is going for on Ebay or in the next grab bag edition.)
4. Secondhand marketing is more difficult. Guys, I browse the Classifieds a LOT, and I see some difficult to follow, difficult to view ads. Tiny pictures, blurry pictures, upside-down or sideways pictures, no pictures, one picture of a shelf crammed with items, broken HTML links. Run-on sentences, zero punctuation, angry- or defensive-sounding text, unclear wording, complicated instructions or no instructions at all. It’s like watching people shoot themselves in the foot; sometimes I wince. (I definitely winced, the time I realized that I had borked my own HTML in an ad! So I’m aiming this at myself, too, guys. I have agonized over the text of every ad I’ve ever posted, and edited and re-edited and tweaked and rearranged endlessly. It’s tough!)
It’s not fair, exactly, but consider that Windstone has gorgeous professional photographs, professionally polished descriptions, and is a legitimate, trusted company… They have an advantage over “BobLovesDraguns” when it comes to selling a Windstone product! Secondhand sellers (and buyers, and traders) have a bit of an uphill struggle if they want to do business with Windstone’s customer base, especially since we’ve effectively set up shop right next door. You want $300 for a grab bag unicorn, when I can go to the WE Store and see that they were sold for $200? Your ad had better make a good case for that price increase. The same goes for everything, really: the ultimate question is, <I>How can I convince Forum members to take a risk on me, when the alternative is a sure thing?</I> Anyone wanting to build a collection can order brand-new, quality-checked, safely shipped pieces from Windstone; to go with a secondhand seller instead, that seller has to be offering something that outweighs all the advantages that are naturally on Windstone’s side. Some of this you can’t control: if they don’t collect unicorns, you are never going to make them buy your unicorn! But some of it you can control, so leverage those things as hard as you can.
And know that I’m probably wistfully yearning for your piece but can’t afford it!(Apropos this thread: I am trying to sell a Standing Baby Ki-Rin in Blue-Eyed Albino! He’s the original, first-run “small footed” version, in mint condition. I’m also interested in trading a Color Shift Cougar for a Grab Bag Sitting Red Fox in a grey/white or black color scheme! There’s also a spare Ruby Lap Dragon on my shelves; she was repaired after minor damage, and I’d love to trade her for another production Lap in a color I don’t have yet… or maybe for something else: what’ve you got?)
Interested in buying or trading for: GB Pebble Sitting Red Fox in dark grey, Lap Dragon Test Paints (Water Sprite, Glacial Pearl, Opulence, Pastel Rainbow, and many others - see my Classifieds ad), Blue Morpho OW, GB Pebble Loaf dragons in blue/aqua/teal, and Griffin Test Paints (Black Rainbow or Frosted Jade).
How’s the gallery building going?
Are the former Ebay/Test Paint galleries going to be folded into this one? I was trying to find some of the photos from the old Ebay Gallery/Staff Gallery, and they seem to be gone (mostly I was looking for certain test paints from a couple years ago, but also I was trying to check whether a Jungle Flame Lap Dragon has been made yet) – do we have an ETA for when they might come back? Or for the gallery that’s replacing them?
Interested in buying or trading for: GB Pebble Sitting Red Fox in dark grey, Lap Dragon Test Paints (Water Sprite, Glacial Pearl, Opulence, Pastel Rainbow, and many others - see my Classifieds ad), Blue Morpho OW, GB Pebble Loaf dragons in blue/aqua/teal, and Griffin Test Paints (Black Rainbow or Frosted Jade).
It looks great! What a good job of blending – I can’t see any difference in color in the repaired area!
Interested in buying or trading for: GB Pebble Sitting Red Fox in dark grey, Lap Dragon Test Paints (Water Sprite, Glacial Pearl, Opulence, Pastel Rainbow, and many others - see my Classifieds ad), Blue Morpho OW, GB Pebble Loaf dragons in blue/aqua/teal, and Griffin Test Paints (Black Rainbow or Frosted Jade).
