Misty Blue Elf Kumi - Yellowing Alert!

I got my Mistyblue girl sometimes near the order deadline, and I think by that time people were already spreading the word that they're made of French resin, so I was more or less informed when I bought her.

Actually I was surprised at how little the yellowing issue has been questioned BEFORE the elves start to arrive...I had asked it once on the main Blue Elves thread but people seemed to ignore it. Perhaps it's the excitement of the new colors that made us less aware of the fact that there were ALWAYS problems with any other colored or tan dolls to start out with.

But agreed with others that even though I'm expecting them to yellow, I didn't expect them to do that so soon. The quality of the elves in my opinion are somewhat below Luts or Volks standard, as the molding seems a bit rushed (rough edges on the fingers and giant seamlines in my case), and the sculpting is not perfect (left knees...).

It would be false to say that I wasn't disappointed a tiny bit, but this issue is not strong enough for me to shun away from buying their product yet.

 

I have a question, are the bambicrony tan dolls french resin too?

Geri

 

Interesting line from an article about dying soaps:

"Blue is a particularly difficult shade to work with, and many types of blue dye are extremely unstable and fade quickly."
http://ziggurat.org/soap/infobase/colors.shtml

Carolyn

 

I have the flu, so I been home all day and last night I walked around my house looking a t all of my dolls and looking very carefully at the different resins.
I have dolls from many different companies.
I think what I found very interesting was issues with custom house resin.
I received a couple of days ago my limited white skin January uriel girl, but I also have a normal skin uriel boy from the basic line. The difference in the resin is amazing.
The limited uriel (girl) has a really nice smooth finish like the volks dolls.
The basic uriel has a grainer resin, not so smooth.
My guess is that they use different resin between the basic line and the limited line.

I don’t like the idea of keeping the dolls inside a box; because I like to look at then. I display all of my dolls.

I also think is wrong that only the people with the full sets got the warning. How about the people that bought the regular blue elves.
Bambicrony said that they were shipping my pink elves on Monday and my status hasn’t change. I totally hate when they do that.

Geri

 

no they are not French Resin Geri. Just normal resin with a darker shade

I hope you feel better soon.

I feel the same way that they should have sent the warning to all doll buyers not just the fullset ones. On the upside for you the pink seems the most stable

 

thanks AreeElf

Geri

 

Given the reports, I took Thy, my MB Pepe (arrived 7th March 2007), out of the exceedingly indirect light of my home office into the decent indirect light of my kitchen. I have to say, I too am noticing a change, and I tried to document it here:



Explanation of this picture: Indirect light, no photo manipulations except to splice the two images into one and add type, images taken within seconds of each other - no change in ambient light, camera set on macro without flash, I positioned Thy at exactly the same angle so I could get the same lighting front and back. I'm not the world's best photographer by a long shot, but this image, on my computer screen, is a pretty accurate representation of the difference between Thy's chest and his back.

The slice on the left is Thy's front. The slice on the right is Thy's back. The front definitely has a greener/yellowy-er cast and is ever so slightly lighter overall (I also compared the inside of the headcap to Thy's chest and notice the same difference ... this is harder to photograph without getting shadows that affect the appearance of the colour).

For what it's worth, the top, where I've marked "Faceup Paint" provides a photo-colour comparison of Viya's blue makeup ... convex cheek on the left side, concave base of head on the right side ... they look the same colour to me.

Thy's keep: I've kept Thy fully unclothed for the past month. He sits alongside me at my computer. He has never been in anything approximating direct sunlight. He sits in the lap of another doll, his bare front facing outward, his bare back up against the other doll.

What I'm seeing: It appears he is fading, without any exposure to direct light. The fading, at this point in time, is subtle (this is definitely not a holy-cow difference), and he seems to be fading evenly, without any blotchiness.

These are just front/back comparisons today ... I couldn't say if his back has faded since he arrived, as I have no way of documenting that. The arrival photos I took were under different lighting, and this blue is a difficult colour to capture accurately to begin with.

The effect is not unattractive (although I should probably let him "bake" in my indirect light facing the other way for a while ), but it is not the same blue.

Lisa

 

I posted an open non locked question at Bambicrony Q&A:
Hi Bambicrony,

Thank you for your last response

I'm asking this question for other owners again. Owners of the blue elves have said that some of the dolls are fading or yellowing despite not being exposed to sunlight for a prolonged time. Some people see it as a major problem others don't.

Do you have suggestions for maintaining blue color that doesn't involve keeping the dolls in the box? People love the dolls and bought them to be shown not kept in the box so any suggestions on proper storage and maintenance would be appreciated.


Thanks,
Aree

So if anyone wants to read or add to it feel free.
http://bambicrony.net/board/list.php?board_name=DREAMBOARD1

 

FairEmma:

It looks like he has a sort of bruise on his back? Or is that the magnet showing through? Was that there when you got him?

I have to admit, I like the faded/lighter blue better. It doesn't look like it's been yellowing, just fading. Fading I can handle ... it's the yellowing I'm afraid of, since it changes the color more drastically than fading.

 

That "bruise" is one of the magnets (the other magnet - covered by the overlapping picture of the front - is even closer to the surface, hence even darker!). Both spots were exactly like that when I got him.

There does appear to be a slight colour shift ... this is not just a paler version of the blue; it is a tad yellow/greener, but not dramatically so.

Thanks for posting to the Bambicrony board, AreeElf ... good questions!

Lisa

 

Lisa, Thanks for posting your photos. It does seem to be a fading problem. Blue is a notoriously fugitive color when it comes to light-fastness in general--however, we must be careful since we don't know exactly what BC used to color their resin... Some hues of blue are more lightfast than others. However, it is a bad sign that there is visible sign of fading so early on. I know it's not a LOT of fading or BAD, but the problem is, this is only a month or so out! So it bodes ill for the future... the very near future!

Other color elves may not have the fading problems, just because we see it in a few instances of the MB. We'll have to wait and see if anyone reports on the other colors. But colors DO tend to fade differently--so there is hope for the Rose and Gray owners. (I still have a LSG Pepe coming... so I'm still hoping, anyway!!!)

I hope others will report fading in their colored elves here, so we know how bad and how widespread the problem may be...

 

Kia Ryou mentioned in the general discussion thread that her girl has a yellowing spot on her chest. That's the first yellowing I've heard on the pink elf

 

Yikes... And I noticed you mentioned someone saw some color change in a LSG in the other thread...

 

i recall someone saying that msc UV cut actually made their doll yellow FASTER. the coloring had been relatively normal, and then they used UV cut, and then blam. we're not entirely certain if it was the UV cut or not, but it could be part of the reason they took it off the market. a defective product and whatnot.

that said. i've found that blue hues bleach easily in sunlight, whereas yellows tend to hold up longer. it looks to me as though your doll is getting sunbleached, rather than yellowing. if she were simply yellowing her coloring would be turning darker.

 

Im sorry to see this. And after only a Month

 

Geez, I am really upset about all of this. I have a LSG Elf that hasn't shipped yet, and a pink and blue with CS Sera for facepainting. Like all of the rest of us, alot of money out of pocket for these dolls and I am very unhappy that the color is so unstable so quickly. I fully expect them to age over time--but this fast is simply unacceptable to me. I am very disappointed in this company, and will be even more so if they don't attempt to stand behind their product, or even admit they made a mistake and apologize or explain why their product is doing this. Telling me to keep it in a box makes me want to tell BC to shove their elves where the sun don't shine. Sorry, I feel that the product is defective, and with that being said, I sent a politely worded e-mail to BC requesting a cancellation and refund on my as-yet-undelivered Gray Elf Pepe with Viya Faceup, due to the yellowing/fading/splotching problem on the already delivered elves. They have not yet given me the courtesy of a response and it has been 4 days. I will let you know if they do.

 

Bambicrony stated that the Viya faceups are UV cut coated

 

I didn't know it was possible to cancel once payment is received, my order satus has said "cannot cancel" since my payment cleared. If they allow your cancellation/refund I wonder how many people will also request the same.

 

It probably won't make you feel better but I actually like the new more faded colour. I don't think it detracts from the beauty of the doll. I totally understand your disappointment though as I too wouldn't be very happy with the fading or yellowing happening so soon.

 

I'm interested to see if they actually cancel the order and give you a refund, since they say that once you send payment, you cannot cancel your order.

If you cannot cancel your order, there are plenty of people in the Marketplace that would be happy to adopt your little one if you still don't want her when she arrives.