They're Ba-ack!

I sent some pieces out for some repairs or minor touch ups in April and they arrived home again this week.

 The shading on this Circus Pony is incredible! His free hind leg had broken - now it is good as new.

His full sized Designer Workshop counterpart had a break in the same place that someone had repaired a couple of times before I got him. The repair artist had to soak it in several different solutions to remove the remnants of that old glue before she could fix it.

This DW Two Bits is now retired from the show ring and will enjoy life in my china cabinet. He seems very fragile, more so than any other Hagen Renaker I have owned. Despite being well packed for the last show I took him to, his leg broke while being transported home. Another time, a tiny piece flaked off his ear for seemingly no reason I could see. Both are now repaired, and I will not risk any more damage to him.

 The black marks have been removed from this piece. I tried a Magic Eraser on a model once and not only did the black mark come off, but the paint, too! And the same thing happened when I used toothpaste. So when I got this lovely decorator, I chose to have a professional remove those marks.

I made the same decision with this foal, too. He looks much better.

I have had mixed luck sending models out for repair. Currently I am waiting on a resin that has been with the restorer for almost two years. Another one did excellent work, but there was no communication and I did not know when my pieces would be finished and returned. She is also very, very difficult to get a hold of as she travels a lot. A third person that advertised repair work did not communicate and had my pieces for a year before sending me a surprise box in the mail.

This time the communication was better with this repair artist than the others, and while the turn around time was longer than stated in emails to me, it was only two months longer, not enough time for me to begin worrying if I would see my models again.

I would use her again, and already have one piece to send off, this Circus Pony which arrived broken a few weeks ago. However, she has said publicly that she is taking a break from repairing models, so I am not sure if she will accept more work from me.

I will ask her, but if she really is no longer accepting work, then I am back to square one and looking for someone who does excellent work, communicates well, and completes the repairs in a reasonable amount of time.