Beware: PatchworkSpirit

[nomsocks.livejournal.com]

Previous Advice post: http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/594339.html

Okay after being told by several people in the community, I have decided to make a beware and name the person.

Apologies if anything is broken or messed up or immature-sounding. Tell me and I will fix as soon as I can.

EDIT: Censored out personal information.

WHO: PatchworkSpirit (formerly ChibiWolfos)

WHERE: DeviantART and Facebook, and a Furbuy Auction that recently caused me concern.

WHAT: A fursuit head base to be furred in exchange for another, which was then attempted to be sold in a lot with various tails and suit parts.
Mother is/was a smoker and she refuses to inform people because of her claim that her mom quit. 
Rude and immature behavior regarding this subject, and in her interactions/suitmaking.

WHEN: Around September 2011-January 2012 initial interaction, Auction was in May and recently ended.

PROOF: Screenshot of auction (no screenshot of pictures on her dA where she was selling items that weren't labeled either, as she put those images in storage and currently isn't selling anything, and I believe I cleared my fb of her) (see below for screenshot)

EXPLAIN:  

This person is 13-14 years old, but I do not recall if I was informed of this shortly before the trade or after the items were in her possession.

I will try to keep this as clear as I can, as I do tend to forget things and remember them later.

Late last year, I had gotten into fursuiting and had joined a group for it on deviantART. I found a partial I thought was pretty neat and decided to comment. At the time, she went by ChibiWolfos. We started to chat a little more through notes and comments and became friends. Since all she had for IM was facebook, we exchanged names. At the same time, I began work on my own fursuit.

On facebook one day I told her I had finished the foaming and realized I couldn't fur it (my previous attempt involved sewing a complicated pattern that probably wouldn't work) and we started playing with the idea that she could do it in exchange for payment. I didn't have any money, so I offered her my other almost nothing base, seen here: http://thejteam.deviantart.com/gallery/33294491#/d4c1ahu

She agreed, if I would turn the muzzle into a rabbit so she could make a bunny goat. So I did.
http://thejteam.deviantart.com/gallery/33294491#/d4c7a2a

So I sent both heads off in the same box, along with two colors of fur and a reference picture of the character. Told her she could keep the scraps, too. (which wasn't a very smart idea now that I think about it)

I waited for a while, and then this pops up on my fb:

Great! It looks like she's almost done. I think she had it for about a week or two at this point.

A month or so passes, and I have a meeting where I have to show a project I've done. Since she was so fast with the first part, I assumed she could maybe send it to me in time for this meeting. I give her a due date to send it by, and if that didn't work, maybe give me another picture. She says her camera is broken, so she just sends me to the picture above again and I print it out. Not much of a big deal, I guess.

We continue to talk and she acts a little rude to my friends. She yelled at one of them because she misunderstood their sarcastic remark, told me repeatedly that maybe I should break up with my girlfriend (not sure if it was a joke), and told another one of my friends on one of my statuses to gtfo. Yes, get the f*ck out.

I don't remember if I asked or anything, but she put up another picture later on:

It looks exactly the same as before. Zero progress has been made. I'm a little surprised. But a picture is something, right?

Around mid December I believe I started to get tired of her attitude. She gave off a similar vibe that my ex did, and that didn't end well for me. I didn't want to be pushed around any more. But she still had my suit head, so I felt like if I said anything I would never get it back. 100 or so dollars down the drain.

So I ask her in a deviantART note if I could just have it back now (fingers crossed that she could possibly finish it up), and gave her my address again just in case. Please excuse the childish circling, and underlining. I originally tried to show a friend this and show her the important parts. My address needed to be blacked out anyway. Keep in mind this is two conversations stitched together, but I don't remember the real order. The black line in the middle separates them. TheJTeam is me.

Not only did she rip the package open so the address wasn't present, but she claims she couldn't figure out foam ears, nose, or cheek because she was used to plastic canvas. I know it might have been my fault for not knowing that, but why accept a job you say you can do but really can't? Also scribbled out in crappy MS Paint is her reasons why she couldn't get the head back to me. This is possibly why you shouldn't make friends with someone you decide to have fur your stuff. You feel obligated to care about this list. But at this point I really really don't, honestly.

Finally, she posts this journal:

Yay! So I wait for about a week, and I finally get my lovely little fursuit partial back. Squished in a big square shoebox. And, as promised, I blocked her. Both ChibiWolfos and PatchworkSpirit. Then I find this on my page:


She made this account just to ask me that. I was already frustrated, so I just blocked that one too. I know its rude but I was on my last nerve. Why?


This is my partial, fresh out of the box. Well not exactly fresh. When I tried to put it on, I couldn't due to the smell. It stank of cigarette smoke.  Well, her mom is/was a smoker. And I found out the hard way.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the major complaint. She doesn't tell you that. Not anywhere. Not on her tails, gloves, suit parts, heads, toys, or anything else she tries to sell.

Just this past month I encountered a lot of fursuit parts for sale on Furbuy. At first I didn't notice the seller name, but then I saw something in the auction picture that was familiar:

The head is almost unrecognizable at this point, but I know because of the head shape, the cheeks, and the C-shaped mark on the side. But look at the description. Non-smoking home. That wasn't even in the original auction, because I put a comment warning people about it. She screened it, but later said something along the lines of "We don't smoke here anymore. Please don't comment if you don't know." And posted that label. Well even if that is true, that head has been sitting in at least four months worth of smoke. And that concerns me.

After the auction ended (nobody bid), this journal popped up:

She doesn't seem to know or care that even if nobody smokes anymore, there's still nicotine everywhere. Somebody might still bid on it even if it comes from a smoking home if you tell them, not my fault.

In conclusion, she is rather rude and immature, and she doesn't tell you that her items reek of smoke.

Comments

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

Hi! After a bit of thought, I'd appreciate it if you actually went into the notes you exchanged with her and blurred out the really personal info she sent you about her mother and stepfather. It's not necessary for the beware and is pretty sensitive information. Please do this ASAP, thank you!

[nomsocks.livejournal.com]

Done. So sorry about that.

Censored information in notes, anything else?

[munemunenyo.livejournal.com]

Beware well warranted, imo.

Even as a smoker myself (and the child of a smoker), I cannot believe she doesn't know that the smell of cigarettes still linger around after one quits. The smell seeps into any kind of fabric and unless you thoroughly clean the fabric (and every other upholstered/fabric thing in your household) it stays. I highly doubt she has cleaned everything she's selling thoroughly enough to get rid of this smell, and even if she did it's still better to err on the side of caution.

[mazz.livejournal.com]

This.
Man I could hug a friend who smokes cigarettes and go see my mom then she'd she ask me when I started smoking again (quit in2009) because of how potent and lingering that smell is.

[sbneko.livejournal.com]

I wonder if it's possible that she honestly can't smell it. To be honest, my sense of smell isn't the best compared to my parents, but I also just got used to it. My mom used to smoke, as did my sister. When they both quit, I didn't notice any difference. The only time I did notice, was when I smelled smoke again, it really bothered me compared to when I was around it all the time.

She should still listen to people considering so many have told her it does stick though.

[mazz.livejournal.com]

I hope this kid holds off doing business until they grow up and are financially stable on their own.

[kwolf13.livejournal.com]

Yah, that's a major Health hazard. Some people can be severely allergic to the smoke from cigarettes, and it doesn't matter if the person/people quit within the year, it will take WAY LONGER for the smell to dissipate, depending on how often they smoked, and whether they did it near a window, or just anywhere. That smell sinks to carpets, stuffed animals, just about anything fabric, and even into the walls and foundation of the house.

If she doesn't warn people, it could lead to one of her customers having a severe reaction.

[slyminera.livejournal.com]

Semi-off topic but, she can get in a lot of trouble for going around a block.
DeviantART has been really tough lately on people that get around blocks using alternate accounts, she could easily be suspended or even banned for it if you were to report her.

[dragontripmon.livejournal.com]

Oh yes considering that she just admitted going around your block that fact that is a block evasion considering the main account was blocked. and whoa that last screencap. is she really planning on doing that considering if she did it's would be a callout journal. That just screams trouble right there.

[tunavoice.livejournal.com]

Ooof. Beware noted. My father smokes and my mother would ask me if I started smoking every time I went over to his place, so I know the smell is very clingy to fabric... I hope no one allergic to the stuff gets a hold of her products, because that will end badly.

Edit: Also read the screenshot. If the smoking wasn't enough of a beware, the attitude sure is.
Edit 2: And now I know why my family members always went OUTSIDE to smoke.

[munemunenyo.livejournal.com]

I have to wonder if she even knows what she could get herself into if she sold a product to somebody who was highly allergic to cigarette smoke without disclosing this.

[mgsfriedchicken.livejournal.com]

Beware well warranted. She can get into serious trouble if she sells something to someone who ends up with a reaction to the cigarette smell.

Also, do NOT EVER commission people THAT young. They're not mature enough to handle the pressure and stress of having a commission business, no matter how talented.

[tunavoice.livejournal.com]

Also, do NOT EVER commission people THAT young. They're not mature enough to handle the pressure and stress of having a commission business, no matter how talented.

^ THIS. There have been bewares like these posted before! Usually it's a case where artists are under the age of 18 and display a horrible attitude or ignorance to ways of professionalism. Younger folk aren't always aware of things that could happen in a business transaction. Talent/skill does not equal maturity, either.

I'm not saying all folks under the age of 18 are like this, because some teenagers/young adults are more mature than given credit for. But a majority of teens and young adults often display unsavory attitudes not fit for businesses.

I'm going to be 21, and sometimes I still feel tons of pressure and stress, even when the commissioner is nice or a piece I have to draw isn't that difficult to handle.

[taasla.livejournal.com]

Well, that and if anything should go south, you wouldn't be able to hold them to their contract. You'd have to get in contact with their parents.

[genkigami.livejournal.com]

Her biggest problem is she's 13. She's a child and has no business well... being in business.

The smoke and lying about the smoke is disgusting. Not allergic but I'm hypersensitive and that would drive my sense berserk.

[dinogrrl.livejournal.com]

Cigarette chemicals can stay around for decades. So even if her mom stopped smoking for a few months before the head was shipped, the head is still coming from a smoking home. End of story.

If PatchworkSpirit's grown up in a smoking home, being as young as she is she probably simply has no idea that this is something that must be taken seriously and warned about. It's a rare youngster who can wrap their mind around how something they've known their whole life might be life-threatening to someone else and that it's their responsibility to avoid that situation. I hope she learns really quickly, because as it stands she's just asking for something to go terribly wrong and she will not come out on top or even somewhere in the middle.

And she should definitely not be doing this sort of business for several more years. Still got a lot of growing up to do.

I'm really sorry you had to deal with this, but thank you for taking the time to warn us. Maybe this will start PatchworkSpirit's thought process on how to conduct herself more professionally in the future.

[nomsocks.livejournal.com]

No, thank you.

Unfortunately, I think she won't be learning any time soon since all the fursuiting items she had have been taken off her dA gallery and she hasn't relisted the auction. Her reaction to me might have been to stop selling anything ever :/

[galagya.livejournal.com]

I dunno if someone already said this, but maybe it's possible her mother really -has- said she has quit, and she(the mother) hides it?

In someone else's comment, they mention being used to it. I have never had issues with the smell of smoke, though honestly when I was young I said it was gross, I was above it, etc(holier than thou straight-edge kid, lmfao... yikes). I smoke now(I know, it's gross) but still have my sense of smell & taste @ 100% - and while I can smell cigs when someone's near me smoking, I can't smell the odor of a house or item that apparently smells like cigs. I dunno, maybe it's coz I was brought up with smoking around me, like others have pointed out.

Anyway! If she doesn't smell the smoke herself(likely), then maybe she's being honest as far as she can tell, and is in the dark about her parent(s?). I always tried to get my mom to stop. I still do to this day. She has often said she quit, and literally every time, DOZENS of times, it turned out she was smoking all along. I've seen it firsthand, so I wouldn't put it past any other person.

This is just a thought, of course!

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

The thing is unless they got the house, carpets, etc all professionally cleaned out to remove thr smoke odor... Iys going to linger amd linger painfully for months. A smoker or an ex-smokrer can easily bypass it but a non-snoker or someone with bronchial sensitivity is going to be affected which is why it is deceptive as-is to label products as coming from a smoke free residence. At best the honest note is that her items have come from a household that *had* a smoker in residence. Meaning that at some point in time items may have come into contact with smoke fumes and the buyer will WILLINGLY take on the risk of it rather than be a victim of false advertisement.

[marus-puppy.livejournal.com]

The best example I have for you was a story told to me by a coworker. She and her sister were looking at apartments to rent and found one that had been lived in by an elderly couple for years who had recently moved to a nursing home. The landlord assured them that they were renovating everything as tenants moved out of this building and that what they saw did not reflect upon the finished apartment - the one that they would "actually" be getting after it was renovated. The thing was that this couple had smoked for YEARS when they were living there and the tar and other chemicals had seeped into everything to the point where you could clearly see the outlines of pictures and things they had on the walls/floor despite them not being there anymore.

Moral of the story: doesn't matter if mom quit or not, that shit sticks around. My coworker didn't rent the apartment because, even with cleaning, she didn't believe that it would take out all of the smell. Carpet, walls, ceiling, everything would have to have been removed or otherwise really hardcore cleaned to take care of it.

[familliaraver.livejournal.com]

She could have owned the fur while there were still people smoking, too. People get used to their own house smells. When I lived with my mom who smoked and moved out there were boxes I had not opened for a long time left in my closet. When I opened them it smelled like an ash tray :(

[norsepaw.livejournal.com]

She seems to made herself an FA account now, Renfur and tries to sell her stuff there too, but she at least warned them about they have a cat and there might be a scent of smoke.
But if she really is 13 years, I think its still a little to young to start taking commission on fursuit parts.
I myself didn't start thinking on sales and stuff before I was 18 and knew how things worked on both good and bad sides.

[teekchan.livejournal.com]

As someone who literally cannot breathe at the slightest bit of smoke (weak lungs) I feel really bad for whoever does business with her. Beware deserved, that's for sure.

Butting in maybe...

[paradedemon.livejournal.com]

I noticed this was unresolved, and I read the suggestion to maybe talk with her, so I popped a note to her about the smoke hazards, in ala nice friendly tone :D I'm pretty unbiased here and personally think her suits are pretty nice. So I hope this can be resolved soon and she can fix the smoke label, I suggested some ways to fix with the smoke smells also c:

Re: Butting in maybe...

[nomsocks.livejournal.com]

Thank you, that's incredibly helpful!

Let me know how it goes.