My wife, Heiroglyphica, and I commissioned two faceups from RedBeanPetit4s and had a terrible experience.
After being prompted, RedBeanPetit4s told us the heads had arrived at her place. When she began working on them, she posted pictures to a Tumblr account where we could keep track of their progress, and she sent PMs whenever there was an update. So as far as keeping us up on the status, things were okay.
However, we noticed as she was working on our doll heads that the worked seemed amateurish, and not at all on par with the faceups listed as samples in her commission thread or in the archives of her Tumblr account. The paint jobs were downright messy, and I even asked her if those were supposed to be mock-ups just similar in color to what the final products would look like. She seemed to have difficulty understanding what the problem was when I tried explaining that the eyeliner on one faceup was very uneven and the eyebrows blurry, and the lips on the second faceup were just plain sloppy. Here are some pics of the problems we were seeing from the start. These are direct screen grabs from the in-progress photos on the artist's Tumblr page:
RedBeanPetit4s agreed to work on these issues, but the final products we received are no better. Unfortunately we weren't able to see exactly how they were turning out, because besides the fact that the photos shown to us were of very poor camera picture quality and of wildly varying degrees of lighting, RedBeanPetit4s asked for payment before sending finalized photos. In fact, no finalized photos were ever sent to us. We saw the 'nearly finished' photos, before any gloss, eyelashes, or sealant were applied. I went ahead and sent payment, but then didn't hear anything until I asked about the heads again and was told they had shipped. By this point we were just glad the dolls were on their way home so we could see for ourselves, close up and in good lighting, just what we were in for.
RedBeanPetit4s did provide a tracking number and the heads arrived right on time. But we were extremely upset by what we received.
First off, the doll heads were returned to us very dirty-looking. They are smudged front and back, inside and out, with black smears. They do not show up as dark in photos as they are in person, but they are awful. After being scrubbed with water and Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, it has become apparent that the smudges are black paint from the faceups, and they were sealed onto the doll's heads, so in order to erase them we will have to remove the faceups themselves. The dolls look more like a sketch artist's drawing pad, they are so smudged. When I contacted RedBeanPetit4s about the issue, she blamed the box the dolls had been sent in (not black, by the way), rather than assuming responsibility for the smudged faceups.
Additionally, Heiroglyphica asked RedBeanPetit4s before we shipped the heads to her to keep her doll's original eyelashes and put them back on her when the faceup was completed. In spite of this request, the doll arrived with a different pair of eyelashes. I asked RedBeanPetit4s what the deal was, and she said the original eyelashes had been damaged so she replaced them. But she had never bothered to tell us that--not when the incident occurred, not when she asked for payment, and not before she shipped the head back. Things like this happen, and we would have been understanding and said not to worry about it...had she bothered to mention it. But the fact that she tried to pull the switch on us without a word makes me very wary about her as a seller on the whole.
And finally, my doll's head was actually damaged. He now has a nick in his ear that was not there when I sent him to RedBeanPetit4s, and it is not shown in the first of her in-progress photos, but was there when I opened the box when he was returned. My doll, Barahan, was a limited edition, and as far as I am aware Iple House is not selling just heads, so it would cost over $700 to replace the full doll, and that's just as long as they continue to offer him at all. It looks as if he was cut by an X-acto knife or scissors, or hit against the corner of a desk or something. When I mentioned this to RedBeanPetit4s, she again did not want to accept responsibility, and said it was probably my bubble wrap that was sharp enough to cut through the resin. -_-;
After I complained about these problems, RedBeanPetit4s did offer me a full refund, and the two items of doll clothing Heiroglyphica had purchased from her were also refunded as a consolation. But I still feel these issues were severe enough that other buyers should be wary when commissioning faceups from RedBeanPetit4s.
Here are pictures of the end results:
Needless to say, we are extremely upset and would not commission work from this faceup artist again.
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