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

[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.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

Any work at all would help me, I can't seem to sell anything lately. I'm really quite baffled by it. There was an intial leap after I opened commissions then work just dropped right off to nothing.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Well, it couldn't hurt to give it a try. I really can't offer a ton of advice on marketing them, I've sold a good number of very cheap chibi "heads with tails on" type plushes, but those are the only ones I can move with any regularity. Trying to sell larger plush seems to be very hit and miss, though lately I've gotten a good number of commissions of of FurAffinity, posting the ones I've done there seems to have helped. The little chibi guys sell about like any furry portraits do, ie. slow but steady, and you can get a lot more interest with sales and special occasion deals and such. (I sell them for $25 mostly, and given they take less than two hours to do and can be made with scraps from my other projects, for me that works really well. Not sure how well it would work if I had to buy fabric yardage for them.)

This is turning into a novel, and isn't really on topic at all. If you want to chat about plush making though, I never mind talking shop. You can drop me an lj pm, or send me an e-mail, spark.costumes@gmail.com :) Or not, I'm sure you can come up with plenty of your own ideas too. Oh, and the plush_love lj community is good to peer into, though it's not at all furry oriented.

[balloonpup.livejournal.com]

Maybe you should advertise more? I purchase a lot of commissions and have gone through periods where I can't find an artist that's open.

That said, if you get into plush commissions, give me a shout if you're willing to try one in pvc fabric (shiny pups are a bit of a pain to do, I'll admit.)

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

I do advertise, I still seem to be going through a bit of a dead spot, maybe it's the wrong time of year or something.

Well I'd be willing to try, I know the person I usually get my fabric from stocks pvc and vinyl and I have a sewing machine actually capable of sewing both. Though it's not the ideal fabric for a plush, it's doable, why don't you send me a pm describing what you'd be wanting in pvc and I'll make some pattern sketches to see if it's workable and within my skill set?

[balloonpup.livejournal.com]

Sent :)

[grygon.livejournal.com]

Big thing is the economy. No one's buying unless you're elite. ;)

And if you're good at something, why would you quite just cuz of a dry spell and jump into something you're gonna have to spend a good year or so honing newly learned skills to get any good at?

I've been carving antlers now for a year, I think I just last month finally hit my stride where I'm making things worthy of selling. Of the stuff I made last year only 1 sold, and 1 commission was ordered. Whoop.

But I'm anticipating a huge let down for the con, so I'm not getting my hopes up. I shelled out $35 for HALF an art table at a local con cause I doubt anything will sell. And I'm making making making so much right now I won't have to photograph and show them all off online until october (well, they'll be photographed in groups before the con, I'm not totally pessimistic that I'll still be in possession of every single one after the con) where I doubt they'l generate more than 1 comment on my DA page per every 4 pics.

But I like making them. So as long as I have a smidgen of hobby-cash I'm gonna keept making them. Sure, it'd be nice if they ever paid for themselves, the materials and tools can get expensive, but I try not to think about that.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

I think 'well known' would be better than 'elite' after all popularity and ability do not always necessarily go hand in hand.

Who said they were newly learned skills? I've always altered my own clothes, took sewing in high school and I'm noted for my quick grasp of anything involving 3D items. ;) Basically I am a true flexiartist, if I can get my hands on the materials I can do it, I'm even a dab hand at metal and wood work.

The only things I'm no good at are knitting and crochet, I've never been able to grasp them very well and so any skills I do gain usually get forgotten fast.

[grygon.livejournal.com]

I too am quit flexible. While drawing, and now antler, are my two main passions I too have done silversmithing, oils, acrylics, collages, large scale sculpture, clay, etc. etc. BUT just cause I like to dabble in everything doesn't mean the (whatever I don't do often) I'd do tonight would match the honed skills after doing (whatever I didn't do often) consistently for a year.

Make sense? As I said, I've dabbled in everything but it took me almost a year to say "ok, I am good at antlers... yes, actually good." That year also consisted of trying several different tools to find what matched me. The "good"ness didn't happen over night despite being a flexiartist. ;)

But since you're flexible I guess you won't have to force yourself to love the needle and thread as I was picturing. Which I guess was my main point. Need to stop rambling now and go to bed.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough my skills in certain things don't tend to erode, I'm not too sure why but I could go and pick up my woodworking tools after a number of years and turn out a piece to the same standard as I would have when I put them down. It just seems some things come as naturally as breathing to me, if that makes any sense.

Doesn't mean I can't improve but it does mean that I have a 'default' level of good no matter how rusty.

[grygon.livejournal.com]

I wasn't talking about erosion. I was talking new skills. Sure, you've sewn pant tears before. Have you sewn an entire plush before? No? Then it's new. Just as I had carved before but I had never carved antler.

And this is getting so wildly off topic and chest-thumping that I'm not replying anymore here. PM if you wish to continue.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

I have sewn an entire plush before. To be honest, it's not that different to sewing a garment, it requires the same skills pretty much.

I wasn't trying for chest thumping and I'm sorry if I gave that impression, I just am lucky enough to find that certain things come easily and I did study them for a number of years, if it's any consolation though I can't use oil pastels to save my life and if you give me knitting, I'm more likely to entangle myself than to produce a scarf. :P

[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.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

They're nice.

I've never really thought about selling my 3D art before, I'm good at anything that can be built, sculpture, woodworking, sewing.