This is a fantasticly phenomenal community - and one thing we do, is look out for one another.
There are two-sides to every story; now let me give you the third side.
Steve told me in detail about the condition of the hands - now, let me give you a Rob-rundown.
The first thing that caught my eye upon receiving them, was that the paint in some areas was peeling off. You know when you were younger and in school, and you'd get bored and make "wounds" with Elmers School Glue, right? Well, it's kind of the same thing, and I spent a wee-bit just peeling off the "paint."
I can make out, at best, three different colors for the base coat. One is a white-ish tone, and the other is more of a brown-yellow-ochre color; and there's kind of a peachy looking color on the palm side of the fingers. I gathered the "whiter" of the two colors was the primer - it also has a sheen to it. Primers should never have a sheen (unless it's a commercial-grade primer). Two things real quick: Latex paint will have trouble sticking to anything with a sheen (unless the latex paint is a primer with bonding agents), as it needs something that it can bite into and grip on to as it cures. The other cause for a shiny coat would be that too many layers were applied. Yup. With flat paint, you can actually build up a sheen by adding multiple coats. This will result in cracking, and failure as the previous layers have not fully cured and will push-off the top coats - also, too much paint is evident also by the muddying of details on the skin. This would explain the lack of adhesion, and the latex paint just "falling off."
There's some weird sheen phenomenon too. The sheen(s) are sporadic, and in some instances it looks like it's coming up from under the base-coat. I don't know why... or how.
The black spots are just globs of paint thrown on most likely at the last minute - sloppily. They were not airbrushed on, but put on with a traditional brush. Some of the black paint is way too shiny to be latex. It's oil-based enamel. You never put an oil-based enamel on something that's going to flex with the wearers movements - it will crack and pop off. "Enamel" is a hardness rating. Anything labeled as an "Enamel" is not meant to flex; it's meant to take abuse and provide durability. You paint resin-plastic, fiberglass, and metal with enamels; for example - a bio helmet.
The black coating used on the "knuckle-duster" portion of the hand has some weird, iridescent shimmer. I think this might be India Ink or the pigment from a household Sharpie Marker. Or one of those industrial grade markers that smell oooooh so good.
Well, I'm hoping you guys out there get the jist of what they look like. Now, I'm going to describe one element about the paint job that really, really, really pisses me off as a practicing painter; brush marks. Yup.... brush marks... where there shouldn't be, and not from a fine-art paint brush you'd use to paint a landscape. No, the brush marks are coarse, like that of a paint brush you'd use to paint your house with; and I should know, because I see that **** all day long. They're only present on the bottoms of the fingers and the palm. This... this just made me mad.
I've been nice in this post, and kept my mouth clean in hopes of just explaining the horror that Steve must have experienced when this got real.
Had this been done by someone who was new to painting, I would support that person and tell him or her what they did wrong, and hope that they would keep practicing to improve their work. No, someone paid for this. You can banter back-and-forth with "It was something Steve did!" Wh..w..what the hell could he have done to the suit to get this kind of end result!? Soak it in paint thinner with a follow up lacquer thinner bath? No.. because both would've eaten away at the latex. Why would he sabotage something he's paying for? I just don't understand the logic on that side of the argument. Why? Because it doesn't make any ******* sense. I have seen some of the other work done by this same person, and it's nothing like this - and to NOT stand behind or guarantee the workmanship? Come on... that's just lame and unprofessional - because when you start taking peoples' money, you become a professional, because you're being paid to provide a service. I say this because the painter has done work for other Lair members.
There's soooo many talented artists on the Lair, and I really hope that this little episode doesn't turn them off from having their suits painted by them.
Gene - that is incredibly cool of you to offer those!!! I would happily pay for shipping, or just buy them out right to help out Steve.
