@Stu I purposely stayed away to avoid stoking those fires.
I wanted to post an update after issues with my order was resolved. But it is dragging on....
A recap. Order placed 5/18. Received 8/7. Piece was missing worked dome and can was missing yellow fuming as quoted. Seller acknowledged missing dome but over a month later still has not shipped it. Seller did not acknowledge fuming despite screenshots from separate KIK messages clearly stating "yellow fuming on can". No response to paypal dispute.
A few take-aways from this transaction.
1. Don't pre-pay for an item in full. It should have been a big red flag that I was invoiced for full price before work began. Because some artists take their time with orders, it just creates a stressful situation where the blower can't deliver before the buyer's paypal protection expires. A partial deposit on a custom piece is fine, but I should have balked at paying up front. Turned out, that protection was needed.
2. A seller who refuses to ship until a paypal dispute is dropped gets a permanent ban.
3. Work mostly with artists I've had success with previously.
4. Only work with new blowers introduced in threads where the OP of has first put down their own money on the artist's work.