[NO] Jewel Mainecoon by The Sparkling Hound The item being reviewed is 6 years old and may not reflect the makers current style, or work. Maker Information The Sparkling Hound Year of Project2020 Completion Time (?)7 - 12 Months ETA AccuracyNO - MULTIPLE ETAs were passed An ETA is the Estimated Time of Arrival for a project. In other words, an estimated turnaround time. An ETA is not a deadline. Review Date23 July 2021 RelationshipThe maker is NOT a friendThis relationship was indicated by the reviewer at the time this review was written. Review InformationReviewerAnonymous Prior ExperienceYes, this is my 6th suit I've owned / commissioned. Wear Time30+ Hours Informed Maker of IssuesYes, I told them about multiple issues. None were resolved and was left on read or unopened. Jewel Mainecoon Negative ProjectThis item was a commission Paid: A Lump Sum of $1000 - $2999 Initial Contact: October 2019 Completion/Ship Date: October 2020 Shipping Origin: USA Type: Partial Style: Real/Toon Hybrid Padding: None SpeciesName: Mainecoon Found in: Felidae(?) Features: Horns or Antlers Concept Art Photos of Completed Product Overall Initial ContactThe initial contact of a suit quote took over 3 months to get a response back. To be fair I messaged her on a social media that she did not check often and only really responded on telegram (which I received later on). Once she actually responded she seemed to respond quickly. Her slots were always opened at the time and allowed quotes for free. She was very easy to give measurements to. Only thing I did not like was that it had to be paid in full and not half the start half before it's sent out. Maker CommunicationThis was absolutely horrible. She started out strong before production started, but once it started and after she finished my base it could go from weeks to months of nothing. She was active during the times I'd message her but she would never open my messages. She did provide wips but it was a pain in the butt to get any from her and it was a fight to see if she even made progress on the suit. I do not find that I was treated well, it was random excuses for not being able to work or respond to me. The communication was more like a treatment of a mutual or a fan. I didn't have that professionalism, but nothing close to a friend either. She went months without responding to me which made me feel like I was being scammed and it made me very nervous. She did not communicate clearly and I was lucky to catch mistakes she made before she finalized a lot of this suits progress. She gave me many excuses and details about her personal life when she could not work or respond to me. Project Completion TimeThis suit was 8 months off of the completion date. I was told it would be finished the first week of April, and once the first week of April hit, she would mention that It'll be finished the next week, then the week after that, and she kept pushing it back until she just never responded to me. She specified it'd be done then and kept missing every new ETA she would place. Items were finally shipped to me a week after it was completed and got to me quick, but it was 8 months past the first ETA given and was a long process. Overall Project QualityI was really excited to get this suit in and was just happy to finally have it within my possession. I am happy that I have it but I am not overall satisfied with anything that had to do with this suit. The suit itself is very pretty but it is so easy to possibly break so I have to baby her all the time. It did not meet expectations as her past works look much better than what I received. The suit isn't terrible but I can tell its not her best work and it was very rushed. I don't think anything of this suit will last for a long time and I'll only get about a year or more of wear out of it before she completely falls apart or needs a big refurb. Components Head Wear SatisfactionThe head is a little tight to get on, but once it on it is comfortable and secure. It seems to be lined with a spandex type cooling material that I actually do really enjoy. Ventilation on this suit is not entirely great, her mouth is barely open and its made so the lower jaw cannot be bent at all. (almost feels reinforced by something like cardboard or just mounds of hot glue on the foam). It doesn't get stuffy, but it gets hot easily in her because of it. The vision itself is okay, I cant see entirely great but its not the worst I've had on a suit. The blind spot is about a normal one you'd get on a suit, but I do have to slightly turn my head to see where I'm going. Visual SatisfactionAlmost everything on this suit is uneven. I'm not even sure where to start with this. On the images shown, you can see in her front view how uneven her markings are. Near the muzzle the light cream is uneven on both sides, and its so noticeable that she only looks good getting taken pictures of 3/4ths or from the side. One eye is higher up than the other, which also goes the same for the eyelashes. Both eyebrows are uneven and odd looking. You can see it the most in the back view, but the horns are unbelievably lopsided, are made with a really cheap material that WILL pill and break apart if it gets touched the wrong way. The horns aren't sewn on either. One of her nostrils is uneven, has glue chunks and pilling of the fleece near it. It wasn't secure enough and came in the mail already starting to come apart. Her teeth are also uneven. Two days after receiving and wearing her, the lining thread snapped inside of the head and started to come apart, I had to fix it as fast as possible so it didn't completely come apart. I brought this to the makers attention and she acted like it wasn't a huge deal. Her teeth are also sewn on the outside of her mouth, so they're like on the side of her muzzle and not in the mouth itself. It looks really weird once you notice it. She also came with a neck donut. It is really cute, but does not fit whatso ever. I gave her my neck measurements and asked her to make it a few inches bigger so it didnt suffocate me and she didn't. The belt buckle is also extremely hard to get out and snap together to get it on. Most of the time I wear her without her neck donut because of it. The shaving is only even in one spot, being the ears. The maker decided to shave the back of her neck for some odd reason and it is super choppy, almost so much so that I plan to go in and fix it up. Shaving on the muzzle is uneven and has a spot that's down to the backing. The cheeks are semi-even but there are a few places she missed that have long hair. Forehead is only partially shaved, and places near the eyes are lazily done. The shaving job is a lazy version of what I wanted basically. The fur feels soft minus the spots near the eyes. She did a paint for her makeup look so its super crunchy and will most likely come off if I washed the area normally. It's luckily easy to brush, but some areas I have to avoid (eye area and space near horns or else they'll tear). The expression is exactly what I wanted, but the uneven-ness of the head really upsets me to enjoy and be satisfied with. It's pretty static aside from that though, the expression stays the same at every angle. Her eyes are follow me, but they don't seem to be entirely effective. Her suit does match my concept art. There is one marking she entirely missed though near her mouth and she mentioned she did it but she only did black felt and not the dark grey fur. I am happy that she did the rest correctly though. Upper Body Wear SatisfactionAll for the upper body that I received are arm sleeves. These I have only worn once and won't again until I finally fix them. They are not lined so they're extremely itchy. They were supposed to go from my shoulder to wrist but only go from my forearm to wrist. The arms are too tight around my wrist to be able to tuck in my paws. There is also no elastic to keep them up so they fall off constantly and it makes them unwearable. Quality is alright minus the very obvious and upsetting flaws. The tail came unstuffed for her convenience but she planned on shipping me out stuffing since I paid for this tail to be stuffed and completely finished once in my possession. She said she ordered it off amazon to be sent to my address but I never got it even after my suit arrived. I mentioned this to her about 2 months later after receiving my suit and she said she would reorder it and here we are all the way into July of 2021 with still no stuffing or response to my further concerns. I ended up buying more fluff myself to stuff it but it's ridiculous that I had to do it myself when I paid for it to come with the stuffing and FINISHED. Visual SatisfactionSymmetry is good, because there are no markings on the arms. The colour of the arm is the same as the rest of the parts, and are exactly how I wanted them to look shave wise. The arms do match the concept art. I am happy with them minus the fitting and quality issues. Hands Wear SatisfactionPersonally I love the hands the most when it comes to wear satisfaction. They hug and compress my hands perfectly and I can grab anything I want to. I have good movement in the paws, they are very easy to put on and stay on. Durability has been good so far, no seam ripping or anything. There is no lining in the paws and the part near the wrist is too loose which are the only wear problems. Visual SatisfactionVisually they're very pretty, but not up close. The markings are symmetrical but the shaving is lazy, patchy, and uneven. It's not enough to entirely bother me but it can be a little problematic. The pawpads are a decent material, they match her skin colour well. Unfortunately the same material for her horns were used for her claws so I can see that becoming a future problem. Tail Wear SatisfactionThe tail is a little heavy and saggy but not too much to bother me a whole ton. It does not allow for good movement and often gets in the way while I'm walking. The tail is another thing I prefer not to wear while suiting. It came with a zipper to stuff and un-stuff which is convenient for traveling and washing. One big thing that bothers me is I asked for it to be a floor dragger with no curve so it drags naturally which she did not do but was aware that I wanted it. Visual SatisfactionThe symmetry on the tail wasn't a problem because the markings are asymmetrical. They match my characters design. On the tail there is no shaving so the length of the fur is just fine. The colours match extremely well which I am very happy about. The tail sort of matches my concept art. My only problem is that she curved it when I asked not to and said she had to make it shorter for "functionality reasons" which I know was untrue because people have made much longer tails in the past with no problem (and she has too). Special FeaturesI mentioned this in the head section but I ordered a neck donut for extra fluff. It matches my design but I cannot wear it because it is way too tight and the hidden strap is extremely hard to undo and rebuckle onto my own neck. It's very painful and hot to keep on for too long so I only use it at home to take a few quick pictures and call it a day. I will most likely remake this myself as I cannot even wear it for longer than 3 minutes. RatingFursuitReview rates by asking the question: Would you recommend this maker? NO This review has been marked with a negative rating. This means the reviewer would NOT recommend The Sparkling Hound unless they significantly change their practices. Final CommentsOverall I am very unhappy with the customer service, communication, quality, and wearability. It just really sucks that I had to wait so long for this suit to finally be completed only for it to come in rushed, uneven, and lazy. I love this makers style to death but I just can't recommend her to anyone. The communication ruined this entire experience entirely and I am STILL very upset about all of this. Are you the maker of this item? Would you like to leave an official response? Click here. 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