My order (http://tmhlittlebit.livejournal.com/1317.h
My original order had been for 10 basic rapiers, with 2 additional “Musketeer” style rapiers added in as part of a “buy X pieces, get Y free” sale StageSwords had going on at the time. Due to the numerous delays in receiving my original order, John Davis (the owner of StageSwords) included an additional 2 pieces, by way of apology, for a total of 14. The order I received included 5 basic rapiers and 9 “Musketeer” style rapiers, so although the specific numbers were “off”, nothing was truly amiss, as I now have all 14 swords.
Needless to say, looking at the pieces one by one yielded disappointing results. While there is some minor rust spotting on many of the blades, that in itself is not unusual because of moisture conditions during shipping, and no one is responsible for controlling such things, the amount of rust still seems excessive. There are many rough areas on the guards and cross pieces of the weapons which appear to have been finished over quite roughly, thereby encouraging the development of rust above and beyond what one might expect after a week’s shipping… There are ricasso metal “covers” on all over the pieces, and 4 of them do not fit properly, rattling in place. Furthermore, many of the guards on the new swords have sharp edges, particularly around the edges of stenciled/cutout details. The edges are keen enough to cut flesh in some places. A number of the rapier blades themselves also have burrs and badly finished, jagged edges, rather than being smooth and free of irregularities. I am a stage combatant by trade, and while these rapiers are not precisely “sharp”, neither are they truly safe blunts.
The weapons themselves are structurally sound. The rust can be cleaned. The sharp and rough edges on the guards and blades can be filed and ground down safely. The loose ricasso “covers” can likely even be fitted more securely and tightened up. I can and will do this all myself, because it is not hard and I have the equipment and time to do so, but that is perhaps why I am so irked about these small things. They are not hard tasks to complete, but I do not feel I should have to perform “maintenance” on new weapons I just received today.
John Davis has released a public statement, apologizing for the delay of numerous orders over the last two years (mine amongst them), and I have copied and linked to the statement here: http://tmhlittlebit.livejournal.com/163
In short, while I have finally received my order after spending almost $2000* and waiting nearly two year for it, and I am happy to have these pieces in hand, I am still disappointed that I received products that feel unfinished and must now take time out of my own schedule to render them safe for future use.
I am not out for blood, and I do not wish John ill, and if that is the impression being given, I apologize. I still very much consider him a peer and delight as a friend. I simply won't be doing business with him in the future, for the reasons given in the posts and links here.
*NOTE: For the record, doing film and fight work, I haven't cracked nine grand ($9000) per annum in the last three tax years. This order cost me nearly a quarter of my annual income, so the money was not lightly spent. In the strictest sense of business, waiting nearly two years for a return on what I consider to be a substantial investment is unacceptable.
- Current Mood:
disappointed
Late last night, John Davis left a reply to me via a number of Facebook Groups where I had posted the same message as yesterday's journal entry (which can be viewed by clicking here: http://tmhlittlebit.livejournal.com/1317.h
The apology runs thus:
"First I would like to publically apologize to Tessa and the other individuals whose projects are still in partial completion on my workbench and to Karl for sub par workmanship. I will and am working to rectify the situations. There is no excuse that can be made for what has happened here and I take full responsibility. Everyone is due an explanation for what has transpired and I offer it here. I have tried to keep this very private, but I see now that was a bad move.
Over a year ago I had six shipments to Canada go missing all at once. As I was declaring the value as zero or low to help the customers not pay extreme customs fees, it was a complete loss for me. Stageswords is not big business nor a hugely successful one and this was very difficult. I worked to replace all the weapons and replaced them all except Tessa's order.
While working on Tessa's order I accidentally welded some galvanized steel, a mistake that has potential fatal repercussions. I was struck with something known as “Metal Fume Fever.” In this disorder, I lost almost 75% of lung capacity, had Kidney issues , and what seemed to be the symptoms of extreme rheumatoid Arthritis. I also began leaching metal through my pores ruining pillows and sheets with rust stains. Whenever I would go into the shop for even short periods of time, It left me down for weeks. I had a friend start helping with the catch up. I truly thought I was dieing and could have at that point.It was at this time that my main income was lost to budget cuts at Oberlin College. I suddenly found myself unemployed and unemployable and without insurance and with knee and ankle braces and a cane to get around.
To try and heal my body I went on an extreme juice fasting diet to clean out my body it seemed to work somewhat and I began to feel better. When the fast ended all the symptoms came back with a vengeance. I came to realize that I could no longer do stage combat or do production runs of weapons like I had before. I made the decision to end my participation in the Hack and Slash show, but did not fully share with Spencer all that was going on. For that I apologize as well. I wanted it to end the show on a positive note and not a sad ending with one of us being sick. Those three performances were one of the most physically painful things I have ever done.
All of this was effecting my mental and emotional state and I fell in to a deep depression with days on end where I couldn't get up. I am climbing out of my dark valley now and though I will never be able to do many of the things I have been passionate about, I have been working to clear the workbench. There are still seven outstanding projects that are in various stages of completion. A good friend is helping me finish them. Over the last few weeks we were able to ship out four projects. This next week we are shipping orders to England, Germany. All seven of these projects will be shipped over the next two months and Tessa will receive her order plus two extra swords. I will start posting pictures on Stageswords as they leave.I am not offering this as a “pity me” story. This is just an explanation of how things came to pass. I am embarrassed, disappointed in myself for letting people I like down and am doing what I can to rectify the situations. I have not been online as other things have been on my mind. I again apologize for my actions. I do not expect forgiveness. If you wish to give me a piece of your mind please message me I will respond. I would prefer not get sympathy messages as they do not help my mental state."
I have contacted John privately, via Facebook, to express my disappointment at being kept in the dark for nearly a year, and to tell him of my expectations to be given a tracking number for my order no later than May 31st, 2014 (two months' time from now, the timeline he has given for order completion). I have also told him that I will be keeping the updates of this situation public, via this blog. Here's hoping it can finally be resolved, after nearly two years of setbacks.
- Current Mood:
exhausted
My Fellow Combatants,
I am writing in regards to an order for twelve steel rapiers I placed with John Davis (http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?i
Once, the order was lost in the post, and I alerted John that I had failed to receive it in due time. He made good on the postal system’s error, and told me that he had made the order anew, and informed me that it had been shipped on May 24th, 2013. The order never arrived, and after nearly two years of complications, I feel I have been more than patient in waiting for the receipt of my order.
In neither of the instances of shipping was a tracking number for the package ever given to me, despite my numerous requests for such. As a customer, I do not know whether the order is in transit, if it has been waylaid by customs, or if it was ever shipped at all.
I understand that John has experienced more than his fair share of tribulations in the past year, and I have done my best to be accommodating, but speaking in the strictest of business senses, I can no longer let this situation sit in limbo as I wait for a return on my investment. Furthermore, I cannot abide the blatant lack of communication on John’s part. Despite numerous attempts on my part to contact him via email (both private and business), Facebook, LinkedIn, and even personal telephone, the channels of communication have been silent on his part for far too long. As it stands, I have not heard anything from John Davis since May 27th, 2013.
On August 6th, 2013, I requested a full refund of my money, as at that point, I did not expect I was likely to see the product I had paid for.
It is with regret that I am bringing this issue to public light, not because I expect that it will gain me anything, but as a means to caution anyone who is considering purchasing StageSwords products from doing so. My money was freely given over, I have not received my product after an excess of 18 months have passed, and I have had no communication as to why this is the case in nearly a year. If I did not know John Davis face-to-face as a peer in our industry, I would never have been so patient with such reprehensible business practices in the first place. Please, my friends, do not put yourselves in the same boat.
Fight safe,
Tessa Hatheway
- Current Mood: disappointed
Today is Remembrance Day, and my Facebook feed has been awash with the debate of red poppies, white poppies, or no poppies at all. While many will probably forget this Canadian issue du jour in a matter of weeks, if not days, replacing it with another salacious bit of news to be outraged by, it has raised a number of important thoughts about what today means to me. Some cry out against the glorification of war, and I cannot fault them. But to me, the poppy has never been a symbol of glory or heroics. It is a symbol of war, yes, but if you think there’s any glory there, any heroics, then you don’t understand war. The red on those petals? It stands for the blood of the fallen and the lost. Many of my friends have cited “the military” as a faceless entity in the course of their debates, but I am the daughter of a Marine. I was raised to understand, and what I understand is that on this, of all days, we shouldn’t be dividing ourselves and slinging mud at one another.
On this day, I think of my family, and the hardships war brings. I think of my father, who talks to me about anything but will not speak a word of his time in Korea, the things he saw and the acts he committed when he was so much younger than I am now. I think of my grandfather, a World War I Veteran whom my siblings and I never had a hope of knowing, because he died of health complications caused by shrapnel. I think of a tattered little book of poetry by Robert Service, the ink faded and running, with two sets of handwriting on the inside that say, “From Mary, March 11, 1917 – Received in France on March 25/17” and the way I cried like a baby when I found it packed in the bottom of a cardboard box, knowing it was the only thing of my grandmother’s that Grandpa Hatheway had with him on the front line. A tiny little book… No replacement for a kind smile, a soft word, or a warm embrace.
This is what Remembrance Day means: sacrifice and loss. It is people who leave, and do not return. It is people who get to come home, but are never whole again. It is people who stay behind and wait, not knowing. It is people… People. Not poppies.
“They shall grow not old, and we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.”
- Laurence Binyon
- Current Mood:
frustrated
For a few obvious reasons, this distresses me. I worked hard to get where I am, and I thought I'd paid my dues... Going back to a regular job will chafe... I could rant long and hard about particulars, but I think the best way for me to get this all off my chest is in the form of a list, or rather, two lists: things I am scared of, and things I need to remember...
Things I am Scared of:
I am scared that...
...this is a step backwards.
...I didn't really accomplish anything in the window of time I had.
...every time I start to make progress, or feel like I'm finally getting ahead, something will trip me up ten feet shy of the finish line.
...I've lost the work ethic I spent years cultivating, and even if I do go back to a "real" job, I will be apathetic, unsatisfied, and a downright shitty employee.
...if I go back to a real job, I may never get the opportunity to leave it again.
...I will always have to choose between making money, and doing what I actually want with my life and talents.
...if I go back to work, I will miss my chance to become established in the industry.
...I am running out of time.
...if I go back to work, I will return home to a messy house, meals still needing to be prepared, clothing needing to be washed, rooms needing to be cleaned, cats needing to be fed, a litter box needing to be scooped out, chores needing to be handled... oh, and a manuscript that still needs be finished.
...if I get a job working in construction or on a road crew, where the money is good, the harassment I will be faced with will be more than I can take, and I will legitimately murder someone ("honey, bring a shovel...").
...that any brief spurt of success I experience will always be followed, too quickly, by crushing defeat, and a sharp return to reality.
...I have become a lazy bum who will never finish her first novel, let alone the ones that are supposed to come after it.
...that this sort of setback is not just temporary, but cyclical, and will never stop happening.
...I am disappointing everyone around me.
Things I Need to Remember:
I need to remember that...
...I have written 42 829 words in the last six months, on various projects, 34 751 of which have been on my first novel.
...I am not going back to work because "I'm not earning my keep" at home, it's strictly because of circumstances far beyond my control.
...this IS just a temporary slip. I will not allow it to be anything more.
...I might still be able to get a job in my industry, in some aspect, with a bit of juggling and favor-calling.
...I will still have time to write, I just need to be more focused in the reduced time I will have. I did it before, I can do it again.
...if I push, I can finish draft one of A Silken Blade by the end of April. There is still time. I only have about 10 000 words to go.
...there is no shame in earning a paycheck, whether in my desired field or not. There need be no such thing as a starving artist.
...I am only 25, and my life is certainly far from over.
...there is no single, solitary chance to "make it", that, if missed, never comes again. No opportunity is lost forever. My time will come.
...I only NEED to work 24 hours a week, at minimum wage, to make ends meet.
...my husband will help out around the house (or I an entitled to hurt/yell at him).
...I do not have to do this alone.
...it is only a year, maybe even just a season.
...this is not the end of the world.
...this is not the end of the world (it bears repeating).
- Current Location:The Crossroads of "Career" and "Job"
- Current Mood:
crushed - Current Music:It's the End of the World As We Know It - Great Big Sea
So... I have a Live Journal now. On top of Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. This could be interesting...
I plan to use this little slice of the internet as a place to rant, rave, share things of interest, and also to keep in touch with some much-missed friends who, like me, are bad as just dropping a casual line to say hello (who does that nowadays, anyway?). Included in this space, you'll find musings on my work and journey as an actor combatant, wannabe novelist, and hermit-living-in-the-middle-of-nowhere. There will also likely be copious mentions of my cat, and the two dozen or so sheep who share the farm where I live. My cat's name is Sol, and the sheep are not really sheep, I suspect, but woolly little pigs in disguises... >_>
Well, Internet, looks like it's just you and me tonight. Let's get this party, shall we?
- Current Mood:
curious
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