Blaque Tygriss warning warning warning. "Update" ;)

[grygon.livejournal.com]

Posting this cause I noticed some activity on her yahoogroup- namely that she has deleted it. So I suspect she is up to SOMETHING. Guess we'll see. Anyone have a furbuy and furbid account to see if she's accepting commissions when my plush has STILL not been fullfilled nor refunded (since 2004, people)?

Anywho, the story is long and boring but you should be warned in case my suspicions are true and she's accepting commissions and doing new artwork despite saying in a March 2009 post to her yahoogroup that she won't until all commissions are refunded or fullfilled.

So here are the past posts about her since there still isn't a tag for her:
8-6-2005
8-26-2005
9-23-2005
10-9-2005
12-11-2005
1-8-2006
2-19-2006
5-15-2006
8-27-2006

Can't believe it's been THAT long since I last posted to warn people. I meant to at least twice a year.

Anyhoo... one of her last posts in March 2009 to her yahoogroup right before it got deleted:

Posted by: "A. Gaillard" blaquetygriss@yahoo.com blaquetygriss
Sun Mar 1, 2009 7:33 pm (PST)
I hadn't been to this group since 2006 something honestly.

This is an announcement (an old one actually but new to any who hadn't heard) that as of 2007 I WILL NO LONGER ACCEPT COMMISSIONS OF ANY SORT FROM NOW ON. NO LONGER WILL THERE BE ANY ART AUCTION ON ANY AUCTION WEBSITE.

I WILL COMPLETE/REFUND COMMISSIONS THAT ARE UNDONE AND STUPIDLY (on my part) UNNECESSARILY WELL OVERDUE. ASIDE FROM THAT I AM /NOT/ TAKING ON NO MORE COMMISSIONS NEVER AGAIN.

I can either give you something that is already drawn/made, refund or complete the commission. Bare in mind refunds will take a bit as I am seriously tight on cash and commission completions will be completed
upon time they were received.

Only spare plushies I have already made is a werewolf, dragon and a host of near-done critters. Artwise it mainly consist of tons of sketch art of varying adult and tame situations.

I don't know WTF is wrong with me or my drive to draw, I feel insanely burnt out and can't even stand the sight of pen and paper. Never in my life have I drawn just one image every six or more months. It's gotten that bad. This shit has seriously pissed me off with myself because I never had this problem up til 2006 when all that bullcrap went on in my life.

This is NOT an excuse, this is an EXPLANATION because if it was me looking from the outside in I would want a explanation. Fuck the excuses, I am just burnt the f*ck out.

Unless wanting otherwise stated by members, in a week this Yahoo group will be deleted.

My email account is and always will be the one here on Yahoo. My web galleries that I visit every now and then are on Sheezyart, Deviantart and Furaffinity if needing to contact me.

Again I deeply apologize for the heartache, set backs and harm I have caused to any and everyone. It seriously was not my intention for things to turn out the way it did. People who commissioned me back in 2002-2003 can tell you I use to be fast, like 48hrs fast. Now? I just lost every and all drive to draw like I use to, much less thread a
needle to sew. I never thought would suffer burn out but did.

And more I think of it, it's pissing the FUCK out of me.
Sorry for the bad grammar and English.
-Blaquetygriss

And I should mention- I emailed her after that post about getting a refund and... no reply. Big shock.

I wonder if she's ever gonna start believing in karma? Seriously, if she straightened this mess out I bet her life would start to improve a lot. I don't feel sorry for the mess she's in and I never will. I say she deserves some of the shit she has had flung at her because of the shit she has flung at her clients.

Maybe that's harsh of me, and yes hindsight is 20/20 and I could have done a LOT to prevent getting ripped off by her ($400, for those who haven't read all those links) but there is no excuse for her. None. I don't have many regrets as I learn from my mistakes... but I will always regret BlaqueTygriss. Yes, I also learned from that mistake, but I also direly regret it.


(Posted edited for a minor html italics glitch that doesn't seem to want to go away... *pokes it*)

Comments

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

wow, no offence but $400 for a poseable plush? Do they really run that high?

[lastres0rt.livejournal.com]

Custom plush will typically cost you a good bit; Heck, even pricing out BJD bases earlier this weekend, it's easy to see where "mere materials" costs can get pretty expensive.

... but still, that's BJDs. $400? WTF?

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

Jeez, perhaps I should start making custom plush, I'm good at sewing...

[lastres0rt.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm sure there's a range on plush same as anything.

I know that "Stubby Chubby" dolls used to run $30-$100 for a custom job, and those were fairly inflexible dolls with removable clothes and painted fabric faces. Finding / making a furry analog of that could bump the price up a little more just from the added effort needed vs. a human; Same for jointed dolls.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

Still it seems ridiculous that some of them go for so high, particular in light of some of the poor sewing jobs I've seen done on custom material works.

That said, since my art doesn't seem to be shifting lately no matter what I do, perhaps offering sewn customs might be a way forward for me.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Sewing can be hard to get into, finding customers is harder for me than for fursuit maker or drawing, but they certainly can pay nicely for the time put into actually making them. :)

$400 is really steep though, unless you're talking something huge, or super complicated. Most furry custom plushes (including mine) are in a $1-200 kind of range. Many are even cheaper.

[lastres0rt.livejournal.com]

FWIW, the dolls I was talking about: http://www.stubbychubby.org/archiveddolls.htm

... and honestly, I have a healthy respect for good 3D artists; it's an underrepresented part of the fandom. Give it a shot.

[skulldog.livejournal.com]

White Wolf did some large sized plush for $1,000+, so yeah, there is a market that can and will pay upwards of $400 and more.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

Wow, I wouldn't mind $1K to make a large plushie. :)

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

If it's the one I'm thinking of, it was more of a giant sculpture that happened to be covered in fur. Quite a thing. Not something I'd pay $1k for, but I could see why it cost that much.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

I can bet that shipping was killer as well, depending on what the person constructed it with.

[grygon.livejournal.com]

None taken. In 2004 I was still in college and still real new, imo, to the fur art communities (active since 1999, but as I said a college student so my time to research and brain function to even think about researching was limited for personal endeavers).

In the 5 years since more reasonably priced custom doll makers have emerged and had I known where to look in 2004 I *might* have found someone cheaper. Anyhoo, the doll I ordered from BT was a life sized jaguarundi. And I've asked her several times for a refund, as her artwork has long ago stopped appealing to me. All requests have been ignored, of course.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

It's a shame some artists do things like this, it not only hurts them, it hurts us all by making clients less likely to hire us for big jobs.

A jaguarundi isn't all that big, to be honest, the price is still surprising based on the size of the plushie and some quick material calcuations. Unless someone is inordinately slow, 400 would work out to a -lot- more than minimum wage after the materials are subtracted.

[grygon.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I realize that now. But back then... as I said, I was newb in a lot of areas despite being fairly active in the fur fandom since 1999.

[beetlecat.livejournal.com]

Dunno. When one considers what a good fursuit head costs - I really doubt I could make a large custom plush in much less time. IMO $400 equals about 3 days of work if one wants to make any kind of decent living. But perhaps someone with more experience than me can whip one up in less time.

[grygon.livejournal.com]

I'd say $400 for 3 days work is more than decent. $400 is my paycheck every two weeks as an educator before benefits and tax are deducted out.

[beetlecat.livejournal.com]

My baseline is about $1000 every too weeks. That is what a high skills job around here should pay or at the very least is what I could make with another 2 years of schooling and an apprenticeship. I'm talking like this is a career not just a way to make ends meet for now.

I'm sure you like your job, but I do not know how you can ever save money for retirement.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

Not to boast or anything, but 3 full days seems over long to me (if working consistently). To be honest, I would expect if pulling a full day shift on a plushie with understructure to be finished in a day and a half/two days if I worked consistently. But that's just me.

[beetlecat.livejournal.com]

*nod nod* That sounds accurate to me. I don't have any real experience in plushes as I find them quite difficult to want to work on XD

Though I DO know I've seen very detailed and realistic ones bring in $1000+ Outside of furry, the toy dog plush market (lifesized realistic maltese for example) are VERY popular. Something to look into maybe.

[spiffystuff.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's an interesting comparison. I know I paid $300 for a head and it seems very reasonable.
BUT I think heads require a bit more sculpting and "skill"? By which I mean, heads are very "visually sensitive" beasts and if one thing is even a little off (say, the spacing of the eyes) it can make the whole thing look horrible, whereas I think plushies would usually be a bit more forgiving...

[ulariogryphon.livejournal.com]

I was one of the people who commissioned her back in the 2002-03 time period. I ordered a plush for her as a gift for my BF at the time. It was a smaller commission. Only about $150.

She was fast... finished my commission in about a week... and it did look cute...

However... that being said...

I wished she would have spent a little more time on the commission. There were a lot of specific details about the character that was left out of the plush complately or toned down. Also, real feathers were used on the wings. It looked nice when it was first made, but after a few months they already began looking ratty.

I never got any progress pics. Hell... I didn't even see what the finished product looked like until it showed up at my doorstep. :/

The commission that I got from her was "okay". Just "okay". Not great.
I had no serious complaints, but I probably wouldn't have commissioned her again.

[grygon.livejournal.com]

Seems like even back in 2002-2003 she wasn't very professional. Jeez. :( I've heard similar stories to your own.

[faithry.livejournal.com]

I've seen, and talked to two Blaquetygrisses (is that a proper plural?) recently. One in RL at Eurofurence, and one in a note in Furaffinity not long after. The one on furaffinity claimed to be a different Blaquetygriss than the one I met at the con.

[grygon.livejournal.com]

guess i should have provided a link to her site. last i checked her website was pretty dead BUT... as i suspected she has been busy:
http://blaquetygriss.deviantart.com/
new art, new commissions. caught her in the act.
if you mean this BT on FA, it is the same one. i recognize her art:
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/blaquetygriss

did you see her artwork at the eurofurence? and NICE, she can afford a trip to europe but can't pay me back?

[faithry.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I saw her artwork, but I bumped into a young lady carrying a stack of sketchbooks whose nametag said Blaquetygriss unless my memory fails me.