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

 

Unbelievable that I didn't share the finished Dolly House!

It was brought to my attention a couple of weeks ago that I didn't share pictures of the completed Dolly House!  

Just goes to show how overwhelmed I was.

Here is the house finished but before I moved the dollies in.  

This is the "bay" area with a loft above the lavender wall.

The loft is over the front porch: 

Below is the "back" part of the building including what I call the "Big Loft".  I have yet to build a ladder to this loft so for now, I just bring in a tall step ladder to access it.

 

 The lush carpet is not as brown as shown in these pictures.  It is more gray, which is what I wanted.

The big loft with the lights on:

 The detail of the window trim.  I designed and did this work all by myself: 

 Detail of the beam stain color.  I love the beams! 

Tomorrow I will share the "moved in" pictures.  

Here is a sneak peek:

See you tomorrow!

Total mohair count!

78.3 ounces!

I should end up with about 40-50 ounces of completely processed mohair.

That will be about 2 1/2-3 pounds of glorious hair.

I will have several offerings of Super Kid first clip kid hair

Kid hair

2nd clip kid hair

and yearling hair.

There will be straight hair, wavy hair and curly hair.

In many colors  :)

The washing of the locks has already begun and will continue today.  

I am very excited to be offering mohair again!

Hugs!

XXOO 

Over 70 ounces of raw, banded mohair!

I've been working my fingers to the bone banding up mohair in preparation for color processing!

I will finish up the banding process today and will have close to 80 ounces banded when I am done.

I will lose 1/4-1/3 of that total weight during the washing, combing, coloring, washing, rinsing, conditioning (only done to help me comb through the wet locks), double rinsing and band removal.  

I was hoping to have it for sale by the end of next week but it is going to take me into December to get it ready for sale.  I anticipate that the hair will be on my selling site by the end of the second week of December.  

If you MUST have some sooner, please contact me at tngun05@gmail.com and be prepared to pay in advance.  I will then get that color out to you as soon as it is ready, before the mass listing goes up.

My ribs are nearly healed...just waiting for number 10 to finish up.  I believe it was broken in 2, if not 3 places.  The two lower ribs, numbers 11 and 12 seem to be completely healed.  This Friday marks 10 weeks since my accident.  

Have a glorious Wednesday! 

Rough week

Who is going to join me on December 31st to kick 2016 in the rump far, FAR out of here?  

2016 has had it's share of challenges, not only for me but for many around me.  

I am praying for a promising 2017!!

On the night of November 7th, we laid my old horse, Toby to rest in peace. 

Toby was nearing his 35th birthday and had lived with me for 21 glorious years.  

He was the star of many picture stories...do you remember those?  

Thankfully my younger horse, Ruger, had already had a little introduction into the dolls and picture stories so that Toby's legacy can carry on.  

 

Toby was part of our holidays and celebrated birthday's in style.  

He was patient!

He gave love.

He got love.

He will forever be in our hearts.

XXOO

My new Baby FX Matting Mixture using Sure Bond

More than a year ago I blogged about a matting mix that I created with the Baby FX products.  

 ~SEE THAT BLOG POST HERE~

This mix has worked well for many people but since then, the Baby FX Sure Bond product was introduced.  I desired to use the Sure Bond in my matting mix as the Sure Bond is very durable.

With a little hint and help from my friend Angie Jones of Lil Dumplin's Nursery, Melissa George of MG Art Dolls and a reminisce of the mixture that I created before, I came up with this new mixture that I like very much.

It is a 4 component mixture consisting of these Baby FX products:

10 drops Sure Bond

2 ends of a Popsicle stick of Ultra Matte

1-2 ends of a Popsicle stick of Matte Powder

and

a touch of Warm Details paint

 

Mix all of these components well and then add 30 drops of water

 

The hint of Warm Details creates vibrancy to the colors of your doll.

Sometimes applying a pure white matte over your painted doll can dull the colors.

 

 The way to apply is it almost the same as on my video:

(See exceptions below the video)

 

Notice that I apply VERY LITTLE product to the application wedge!

This is super important because if you get too much on that wedge, the wedge will slip on the doll kit creating shine.  You can remove that shine once this layer is cured by going over it again, but who wants to repeat layers?  Just be careful not to slip.

Instead of pouncing the product on, press and hold your clean wedge against the matte sealer.  Press without slipping.

Melissa George told me that she reuses her press and hold wedges.  I tried that yesterday, saving the wedges I used from the last two dolls I matted, and I'll be darned, they work well!

You see, some of the matting agent is left behind on the wedge helping your matting process to go better.

On that note though, once your press and hold wedge begins to gain moisture from the matte sealer, change to a new wedge allowing that original wedge to dry.  You an go back to it once it is dry but I have found that moist wedges do not work as well and can slip too.

I have been told that pouncing with a dry brush works well on this mixture too.  

I have used a dry brush in the creases and that did work.

 

On the matte parts of your painted doll kit, apply the Matting Mix just one time.  

Where there are shiny parts (typically on the hands and feet) apply 2 or 3 times, allowing the matte to dry well before each application.  

 

Isn't it great to have options??  

 

XXOO

Bellamy's photo shoot

It is a great feeling to have this little girl done and sent home to her new "mom"!

It's almost like...giving birth!  Haha

Bellamy was created from the "Till" sculpt by Linde Scherer.

She was a custom order I took in 2013 and she is adopted/sold.

She is painted completely with Baby FX air dry paints, mattes and mediums.

Welcome Bellamy!

I guess I took a lot of pictures  :)