Important Baby FX notice :(

I know, I said that I would share the "moved in" pictures of the Dolly House today but my day has been sidelined with some very sad news regarding the Baby FX line of Air Dry Paints and Powders.

This is the email I received today from Melissa George:

Dear Baby FX dealers,

Hi everyone, the following is what we have released to the public in relation to Baby FX -

"It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we have to announce the end of the Baby FX line. 

Baby FX paints were a premium product that we were proud to sell but the cost to product this high quality product was high. 

The demand for Baby FX was barely sufficient for us to reach the quantities of product we were required to buy in order to obtain bulk prices, but we were able to keep things going.

Unfortunately a couple of months ago, due to a number of reasons out of our control, the cost of the materials used to produce the Baby FX line increased dramatically.

We considered increasing the price in order to overcome this issue.  We abandoned this idea because the increase would have been so high it would have priced Baby FX out of the market. This would have gone against what we believed Baby FX was about and that is to be an affordable solution for both beginner and advanced reborn doll artists. 

We know there are a few out there that would be willing to pay more for the paints however, the demand at that price point is not enough to support an ongoing business. If we charge higher prices, we get fewer customers, which in turn stop us from achieving bulk quantity requirements with our suppliers; hence we would have to run the business at a loss.

Selling the business or handing it over would require the new owner to run the business at a loss, which obviously is not an attractive proposition for a prospective new owner.

We also considered using a cheaper formula.  Over the last couple of months we have tried numerous different formulas from different manufacturers which used more affordable ingredients.  This was a costly exercise which produced unsatisfactory results.  Furthermore, our customers did communicate that they did not want the formula to change from the original.  Like the saying goes “there is no substitute for quality”. Varying the formula would simply result in a product not true to the Baby FX brand.

As you can see, a great deal of consideration went into this decision, which was not made lightly.

We believed in Baby FX and while we enjoyed seeing our products reach many countries around the world, the truth of the matter is that businesses sometimes do not last, and sadly this is the case with Baby FX.

We wish everyone the best and hope that what you learnt with Baby FX adds to your knowledge and skills when using other water based paints."

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your custom. The doll making industry is a niche market when compared to other industries in the art world, the demand was simply just not there to justify the amounts of paint we had to purchase in order to obtain the bulk prices we needed to keep the business afloat.  We actually made no profit out of the smaller dealer orders we received towards the end.  

It was a struggle to make such a decision to let go of Baby FX, but we have to be realistic and accept that we can not run a business as a charity.  Again thank you for your custom.  We hope you can find a suitable alternative to replace Baby FX. 

Best wishes,

Melissa and the Baby FX Team

At this point, there is still Baby FX product from the two dealers that I do business with here in the US. 

Lorraine at http://www.daldnursery.com/index.html

And Eshter at http://www.irresistables.com/category/baby_fx/

I encourage those of you who love Baby FX to order the colors and mediums that you will need to carry you through for a while.  That is what I am doing and when I am close to running out, I will explore some different air dry paints.  

 It is good that the Baby FX paints do not dry out in the bottles.  They will last a long time.

I love Baby FX so much that hopefully I will "retire" before I run completely out.  :)  

We will all get through this.  

It feels devastating right now, but we will get through.  

Many hugs to you all.

XXOO