Hi Kids!
Right off the bat, I'm letting it be known that I've only fooled around with about 30% of the images from the D series fauxnad plates. I purchased them as a 30 plate bundle from
Chez-Delaney. While shipping was super fast, some of my plates, including the XL "C" were slightly damaged by way of small dings. I don't think the damages happened in transit. They look to be manufacturing defects, quality control issues, and improper storage. These fauxnad plates are easily damaged due to the inferior metal stock used to make the plates. Many of my other fauxnad plates have similar damage. I never reported this to Chez-Delaney, so I can't give feedback on how she handles such issues. What I can say...twice I received plates that were stamped way off center, and duplicate plates were included, that although not perfect, were better.
I repaired all the damaged plates myself. I'm a corset maker, so I understand metals and have many tools in my arsenal to take care of stuff like this.
The D series fauxnad are available for 50 Euros ($68.44 USD) as a whole bundled collection of 30 plates.
Due to some images not stamping well or at all, Chez-Delaney discounted the price and is selling them as a set.
They are not sold separately!
This was good news for me...I figured I was going to get the entire set for the price of whatever plates I was going to cherry pick.
As for images not stamping at all, there really weren't that many. The biggest problem with some of the images I tried were incomplete/partial stamps.
Disclaimer...If you've been following my Blog for a while, you'll know that I do things differently. I don't stamp 1 or 2 images and call it a day. Although a little bothersome, partial stamps aren't a big deal to me.
Honestly, finicky/tricky images in the D series fauxnad plates make up only a small percentage- much less than the very challenging T series fauxnad plates. Seriously, sometimes all it takes to get a troublesome image to work is to experiment with different stamping polishes. Then again, I don't play by the rules where choice of stamping polish is limited to those that are labeled for stamping. I make most of my own stamping polishes now, and am always experimenting with regular manicure lacquers. Did you know that some jellies make excellent stamping polishes? Sometimes the only way to get an image to stamp is to use a jelly. Other times you may have to add thinner to a stamping polish, and in some cases the addition of clear to a polish is needed to make certain images to work.
So, before this post becomes a tip post (coming soon)...
The images in the D series fauxnad plates were well thought out- there is something for everyone. You're not getting the same old run of the mill images that look like something else you have on another plate. I think all of the images are outstanding. The assortment of flowers is amazing, as are the fleur de lis, emblems, scrolly and leafy thingies. There are a fair amount of images on these plates that I'm sure are a no-no...illegal... Mickey Mouse, Tweety Bird, Tinkerbell, to name a few, also stamp well.( I should add that I had to thin my black a bit for Tink to stamp fully.)
I have to laugh...the stamp I've used most, the circle on plate D30 is supposed to be one of the "fail" images.
For the last couple of weeks, I've been wondering why that circle has an off center dot. For this post, I went back to the Chez-Delaney site, only to find out that while it's supposed to be Winnie-the-Pooh in a circular frame, the only part of Pooh that made his way in that circle was his nose.
Anyway- I absolutely LOVE my D series fauxnad collection! As far as I am concerned, if I was only able to have 1 set of nail stamping plates, this series would be it, faults and all. Truly, this bargain priced set has all the right stuff!
If you are the type of person who plays by the rules and expects all the images to stamp perfectly with polishes made specifically for stamping, this set is probably not for you.
My plate below- no Pooh face...just the dot of his nose. This manufacturing fail works great for me. You'll see this circle image in a lot of my stampings.
Oh yes...I can't forget to mention the extra large, double end stamper also offered by Chez-Delaney, made specifically (I believe) for the XL plates.
Since I got this, I have not touched my Konad double ended stamper. I love this stamper as much as I hate it. The gummy heads pick up images like no ones business, however they also pick up things like hair, lint and anything else that gets within an inch of it- including the very plate you're taking the image from!. Cleaning between stamps is a nightmare if you use cotton balls. I'm going to try using one of those yellow, small cell kitchen sponges soon.
Another issue with this stamper- The material used to make the heads is squishy by nature. Care must be taken with how you apply images to your nails. "Rolling" and any type of firm pressure will lead to distorted stampings. What works best for me is gentle pressure with no rolling.
Please remember, this is a preliminary review of the D series fauxnad plates. I'll surely post another review in the future as I get to work with more images.