This morning has been an example of the very reason i don't use glass granules for weighting my babies.
I ordered an ashton drake doll for a custom order i'm doing for a woman, I shipped it from the USA as they cost only $125 from there compared to $240 from bradford exchange here is Australia. Anyway my order came this morning along with another kit i'd ordered, only my ashton drake one had been removed, she's been retained by quarantine!!!
X-ray scans show glass granules to look exactly like sand, sand is considered a soil product and possible bio-hazard - australia wont let this into the country without being treated with Gamma Irradation treatment. I've heard from another person that their reborn baby they purchased from ebay USA had this same problem, she let quarentine treat her baby only to have the treatment turn the vinyl black!!!
I've talked to quarentine and instead requested that they not treat my baby but have given permission for them to remove her head and empty out the weighting content - weather it turns out to be sand or glass.
This is the very reason i do not and never will use glass granules to weight my babies. I don't know if its just australia customs that will not allow sand/soil products though but i never want to risk one of my babies going to another country that also might flag glass weighting as possible sand and end up either treating the baby or cutting it open for my baby to then arrive at its new home in a distroyed state.
has anyone else had problems with glass weighting and customs???
Hello Naomi, I haven't had any problems suchas shipping., but when I first went on the forum was told not to weight with sand as they wouldn,t let it out of Australia.,so I,ll only sell them in Australia. The other tings I bought for weighting from the $200 shop was round glass beads the size of glass pin heads, they are coloured and I thought I might be able to mix them with plastic pellets, I buy them by the 50kg bag, so they are cheap. the other thing in porcelain doll was lead sinkers but there out to, so I guess it is plastic pellets here in Oz. June M
yeah i use the polly-pellets but i wouldn't mind useing the bigger glass beads, but the granules seem to risky with reguard to customs and when you sell on ebay you baby could end up going international... i've sent babies to france, the uk, usa, canada and NZ
Naomi ,Do you have a King kong traders or a Dimmies over there. they are only $2.50 a tube, you could mix them with the polly pellets, if not I can get them from Nambour next week when we go to the Doctors for Sam, They only had blue and gree left about 12 tubes. (((HUGS))) june M
Australian quarantine laws are tough. They will not accpet anything packed that contains sand/soil content. That includes craft sand.
Sending craft sand overseas however isnt a problem in most countries. It comes down to their countries quarentine laws.
Back when craft sand was the norm to weight limbs with, sending dolls to the US wasnt a problem but having a doll sent to you that contained craft sand would get picked up by our customs and they would contact you to either come down to customs to pull the doll apart or they would do it themselves and would not gaurentee the state of the doll after they had done so. Ashton Drake dolls were wieghted with sand once apon a time.
I dont know about now, because its been a long while since I brought one. And I use to buy them already pulled apart and posted in kit form when I did.
Kat
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The bi-racial baby in my Avatar is Ashton, created from a Antonio Juan speciality play doll.
Kat, the last ashton drake (which was the first ashton drake i used as a reborn suclpt) I did get sent already taken apart. I should have done so this time too.
its iteresting to know that the glass (or sand for that matter) may not be somthing to worry about with other countries customs and quarantine... maybe its just our boarders that wont let it in... i might have to reseach this matter a little more.
June- yes we ahve King Kong over here, i'll have to have a look next time i'm near one to see if they have the bigger glass beads your talking about.
Hi I just pullled apart a ashton drake emily baby and she had plastic pellets in her limbs and a plastic bag in her head of something heavy that looks like sand not sure. This doll is 5 years old.
thanks for letting me know *justme* i guess i'll just have to wait for my baby to get here and hope they haven't damaged the breathing mech thats in it. I ordered a 17" Ashley, as a private order for a customer. She doesn't want the breather just the baby re-reborn from the factory paints to my own work. I've done an ashley in the past and she loved her pictures and so i'm doing her one kind of the same as the one i'd already done in the past. It also means i'll have another breathing mech to do another breather baby for ebay
when i pack my babies that are going out of country i put in small sachet bags with the contents of my doll one with polly fill, one with plastic pellets and one with glass granules and i label them so that they know where in the body it is, I have never had a problem going through aussie customs they appreciate the sample bags so they can check them quickly you might like to try this too :)
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Baby in my Avatar is a little Teagan sculpt by Denise Pratt now Little EarthAngel Aimee Rose
You can get the bubble bags as wel as bubble wrap to pack your dolls in. But as for the glasss and I think I"d leave it a lone The bigger ones I was talking about are almost the size of poly pellets, so mixing them together shouldn't be a problem. You could always ring customs and ask. June m
I believe the UK also has a ban on sand in the babies. I had heard from several people in other forums I belong to that AD does use sand in their heads (at least) and for that reason AD dolls as a general rule may not be shipped to the UK at all. And that was still as recent as 2008.
When I ship out of country I also include "samples" of what is in the babies so customs won't have to detain or take apart my babies. This is also why I list my doll kits as "hollow doll parts" on the customs forms. They are not trying to be difficult in this instance, just trying to protect their people and everyone elses. I also try to include a shipping invoice with the copies of customs forms that go in the clear envelope on the outside of the box. They also appreciate that.
And yes, just me, I can almost guarantee that it was a bag of sand. I had one in my AD Welcome Home Emily head and also one in the body.
I was taking baby 'Moritz' to Florida to a customer air fare was paid to have their baby hand delivered. I asked when I checked in at the airport if there would be a problem & was told no. At security I explained I had a doll that looks like a real baby, they said "no problem just put him in a bucket", when I got through I was pulled aside and more security was called. I couldn't touch my purse or carry on they had 'Moritz' asked to undress him I told them what was in him it didn't matter, the glass bead showed as explosives on x-ray. After being detained nearly 3 hours they let me through with him. Just making it to my gate boarding was taking place to my surprise a State Trooper stopped me & asked if I had a baby I said "no" I have a doll that looks like a baby. The Officer asked to see him to my surprise he was interested in getting one, he was told by security about a doll that was taken for a baby. I gave him my card and was called a couple weeks later. Who would think.. I was told if ever again to travel with a baby call the airport in advance explain I have a home made item and what it contains so they can be prepared for that type situation