12_11_11 Liddy wrote:AnneXmedici wrote:I am bumping this. I know what is meant by disintegrating like Parmesan cheese. It is exactly what my friends Grumpy did. He literally crumbled..
Unfortunately I know several ladies who have babies they have either thrown in the bin, resold for practically nothing loosing hundreds of $$, babies sat in cribs deteriorating without being remotely handled or moved at all, or worse, babies they love, laying in boxes until they can bring themselves to throw them away.
I have no reason personally to be upset with any artists mentioned, but I was totally gutted for my friend whose Nadia I tried in vein to rescue, she didn't have a lot to spend and just adored that dolly, then she literally fell apart, her pinky fell off, wrists split, neck ripped open and ear tops came off.
I am not any kind of silicone dictionary, but have seen and held silicones by pretty much every known sili artist from being in the right place and the coincidentally right time.
I have some scrap silicone in my study I had a play about with (I occasionally reborn just to check I'm still as bad at painting as ever lol), I can literally pull the finger tip and the base of the (scrap) arm until I have no strength left and it pings right back, no rips, tears or strain, my scrap silicone is Claire Taylor's.
Just my useless two cents worth xx
Yes Liddy: the silicone from Dragonskin I know to be rubbery. The tin one becomes a totally different matter after a few years. It does not feel or react like silicone anymore. It is like a hard dry bit of cheese or a dry soft bisquit.
I have left out Ecoflex as I do not know the reaction of this. But I do believe it to be platinum (Dragonskin) thus should resct the way the harder Dragonskin reacts.
I can understand the artist creators innocense of the very early artist silicones. Little was known about the longivity. These days there is NO excuse not to divulge what silicone is used. And further if an artists uses addetives to the mix to cheapen the edition.
Most of the ladies here I know as my doll buddies. We will likely never meet in RL as the distance is too large. The same goes for the artists. I, as a customer, needs foremost a professional artist. Not to be my friend, but to sell me a GOOD product. It is time to stop being so nice and demand full accountability and full disclosure.
I am sticking my neck out here: but...I know there are those artists that the seasoned collectors stay away from no matter how wonderful the sculpts are. Many of us on the forums knows this and we know who. But we are afraid to speak because it can be taken as gossip or hearsay. Sometimes it truly is all that too. but sometimes also hte auslity of silicone and workmanship is why.
News travel per PM and only filters down to the forum once the amounts of dissatisfied customers are getting big: "the cup runneth over"
And that is sad. Because with lack of honest and blunt feedback how else can it be conveyed to the artists that this is not OK? and sometimes sculptors unwittingly becomes a victim too because of the lack of openess: All because we are afraid of rocking the boat or ruin the nice cozy atmosphere on the forum.
I am really sorry, Liddy. It should not be this way: friendship and buisniss should be kept seperate. And to be a nice person does not always mean that the nice person is a good buisniss person.
