I just sold my first for 275. I had to wait patiently because I didn’t want to take anything less!
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I think that if I buy a doll from a fellow artist I will ask them to use string ties or just let me weigh the baby myself because I will be reweighing the baby to my own weight and specifications anyway. Reading all of this makes me not want to sell a doll to the public. I think I’ll just stick with friends, online friends and family. 
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That is a good idea about the string ties. I don’t want you to be discouraged from selling. It’s great that you sell to friends. You would definitely hold yourself accountable to someone you know! And selling online is no problem either, as long as you describe what you are selling correctly. A good way to do this would be to state things generically, unless you are sure of where you bought supplies. Not calling a cheap tissue a Kleenex, if you will 
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I am glad you brought all of this up. Some things we all should think about and beware of. My peeps don’t care what I have in their babies, don’t care about Birth Certificates or Care instructions. Of course they get a big discount anyway. To be clear - I use BB glass beads, Cluster Stuff, Moleskin, Polyfill, and Poly Pellets. I use Ultra Matte or Matte Gel to glue hair and neodymium magnets. I use Liquitex Pro paints and Waterborne and don’t cut corners with any babies. So they are getting quality they just don’t care, lol.
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That sounds like you have no problems as far as quality goes! You have nothing to worry about! Keep it up! 
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That was part of our agreement 
I told her I would redo it with my preference and what was described in her listing. It worked out fine. We have no hard feelings. We both apologized.
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That is a great idea! I did not disclose that mine was a first, but I did disclose the flaw that I considered it to have.
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I’m glad you were both able to talk amicably about it!
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Wow this thread has been quite uh…interesting.
First of all I have never stated what brand of glass weighting I use. I just state that it is glass micro beads. I do find the Harbor Freight ones very dusty and do refuse to use those. I buy mine from Abrasive Armory. I have never bought them from BB as I buy in larger quantities. I do not consider the BB brand to be the only quality brand for sure.
It does appear she used some sort of glass beads. Her mistake or dishonesty in stating they were BB brand I do not know?
I am not in any way feeling that cotton balls are a bad thing to have in a doll. They are expensive for how many one needs though so that is odd. As for her poly fill, I dunno what brand that is but regular polyfill is not a bad thing either. Of course if you are expecting a particular brand and it is not what it is then that is not as stated for sure.
As for the limbs not being sealed off, that is a huge issue to me and the one thing I would be concerned about here. I have repaired dolls for others that had nothing but poly fill to plug them up and it is not a secure method that does well over time. It can lead to contents leaking out eventually. I glue a piece of doe suede over the ends of mine after I have plugged them with poly fill.
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Thank you for your very professionally stated input. I agree with everything you said after a lot of thought throughout the day. The brand of beads was not specifically important, but a like brand that does not give off dust was the lowest expectation. I felt slightly attacked by a few of the responses, but I know it is coming from a place of respect for fellow artists. The seller and I came to an agreement. I don’t expect any money from her, but she has agreed to make sure her weighting material is secure in the future. That is a big problem, I agree. I asked her to reconsider her weighting material, but it also is t my place to dictate what she uses. I think by changing my mind and not expecting a refund and just talking to her we came to a good place of understanding, with mutual respect.
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IMO, 59 cents x 5 = $3 plugs for limbs and head will not kill anyone’s budget if you are selling your doll, however it will add necessary security. Only ones I had that one plug didn’t fit Liam’s leg and I was not able to put neck ring on him. I just used smaller plug in size and secured it with the glue.
None of my dolls were bought for children (accept one that I sent for CASA child), but when I create them I don’t know who might have them, so I think it always should be secured properly with plugs, moleskins, felt, whatever you use, but it has to be done.
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My first baby I did not realized that plugs were so important, because when buying the doll, it says “optional.” (I superglued moleskin at each opening after a large layer of angel silk.) After buying them for my second, I will never go back! What a perfectly simple solution for this problem! This post has been a rollercoaster but has had so many good points. I almost requested that it be deleted because it was slightly dramatic (even of me) but I think it’s a helpful post in many ways.
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@Sony72 Good to know! The vinyl glove sounds like a great idea! The polyfil in the butt/neck/shoulders sounds like a great idea too. It takes a lot of angel silk to do shoulders. Of course I will say ”polyfil” in my description. The seller said she likes the super fine weighting because it’s squishier. I agree it feels better, but whew!..,was it a mess in there. I didn’t want to open the doll up but my daughter was not playing with her doll because she was “making her arms tired.” Then when I saw in the sunlight that a lot more dust than should puffed out of it I said “ok, how ‘bout that surgery to make your doll lighter so we can see what’s up in there?” Kinda wished I didn’t open her up! Lol. But she is happy with the lighter baby and I am happy with the dust problem solved. Your babies are gorgeous, btw.
I sew my own bags for the glass beading from cotton/muslin fabric. I don’t trust vinyl gloves b/c after time they will become brittle and can crack.
I am currently using very fine as was in your first picture…as I couldn’t get the slightly larger on my last order. I order from Eastwood and get the 50 lb bag.
I don’t like to get too large of grain because it ‘crunches’ when you move the limbs.
I use polyfil in the butt, tummy, back to surround my weighting pouches and then fill the entire chest and shoulder area with polyfil. I like a very soft and realistic feeling body.
I fill the limbs approximately 2/3 with beading and then stuff polyfil in tightly the rest of the way.
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I have a question. I’ve never even thought to use cotton balls but is is wrong to use them? I just use poly fill and plugs to hold the beads.
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I wouldn’t say it’s wrong. It’s just new, clean cotton. But using polyfill is probably a lot cheaper.
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I wanted to kind of address this a little because you keep talking about the dust and only wanting “doll glass beads”. There is no such thing as “doll glass beads”. The glass beads that BB sells is essentially a glass blast media as well. Its just bigger in size and silica free. I get the same thing from a local company here just a size smaller because I like it that way. The dust that glass beads produce has a lot to do with the size of it. The bigger the size the less dust it creates. Habor freight beads are dusty for sure. I dont know what she used in your doll so i cant speak for that. But i do know that beads can be purchased from other places other than BB and still be the same stuff. My husband and I researched this quite a bit because i wanted to be safe with my dolls as well. Not only did we speak with multiple companies, my husband also researched and did at home “dust” tests himself. If you would like the name and number to where I get my beads to ask them questions regarding it, PM me. They are very knowledgable.
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Have you had this happen? And if so, how long before the breakdown occured? Im just curious because I use vinyl gloves inside of a stocking and have never had a problem with breakdown. The dolls themselves are vinyl and they last.
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No. It’s not, just as long as you don’t say the entire body is filled with angel silk or something like that. I would say if you used a lot of cotton balls, it would be best to say you used a blend of cotton and polyester. Cotton all’s are expensive though!
As I said earlier, it’s not important that they were Bountiful Baby. I consider “doll glass beads” to be large enough that they don’t give off dust, vs. something like sandblasting glass beads. I am glad that you researched this and I think it’s great that you care about the safety of the product you are using. I was only wanting BB because she said they were BB in her description. Since BB clearly is much larger, I could easily tell they were not. It’s definitely not about the brand to me. It’s about the quality. Thanks for your response.
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