A Second Mistake Was Almost Made

 

The arm returns.

The Zip Tie Incident

 

    After the concerns about Casper's arm's white spot were addressed, I initially worried about how well the repair would hold up, since another collector and artist online informed me that simply smoothing out the varnish was not guaranteed to solve the issue. However, I also realized that I could not press Casper's artist any further if she did not want to strip, repaint and revarnish from the start on the arm, not even by offering to pay for the service. So I had no choice but to accept and just hope the repair worked. Now, that should have been enough. I know I certainly felt it was enough. What I did not know though was what the arm would have to go through after the repair to get back home to me. There was some slight relief, though it did not dull the pain of concern when the new challenge surfaced- his artist had sent me photos of his arm post repair and it looked good as new. The following day, it was shipped back home to me and initially, I waited with happiness and relief. Until last Wednesday. USPS' system notified me that the arm was out for delivery that morning and I almost choked. I had been hoping and praying his arm would arrive in my town the day after because that particular Wednesday was shaping up to be the hottest day of summer 2025 where I live and I did not want to think that his arm, after having just been repaired, could possibly be getting heat damage or dye transfer in 101 degree Fahrenheit weather in a hot mail truck! 

 

    I was absolutely terrified and to make matters worse, our doorbell did not ring and our delivery person kept trying to deliver the arm during hours when we were either asleep or just unable to hear the door. For four days, I had no idea if Casper's arm was waiting in the AC at the PO or in the back of a hot mail truck and I found it quite worrisome. I even at one point started to feel like his arm would become lost in the mail if I was not able to receive it before the date on which it would be returned to sender. Finally though, on Monday morning, the day that my mother and I were planning to check the post offices in person, I was lucky enough to hear the delivery person at our door. When I went to open it, she gave me the box containing Casper's arm. It was quite warm to the touch, so I still felt concerned about heat damage as I thanked her for delivering the package. After signing for it, I placed the arm in a cool, dry place and let it sit untouched for several hours both to acclimate to the cooler temperature in the house and because I was admittedly scared of what I might find in that box. Eventually though, I knew I had to bite the bullet and get it overwith, so I opened the box... 

 

 

And his arm...

Was completely fine!

    I immediately saw that his arm had survived the heatwave and still looked good as new. Huge, huge relief. But the drama was not exactly over yet, as I still had to do my part of learning how to use a zip tie to reattach the arm. I had never done such a thing before and it was lucky for me that his artist included not one but two zip ties with the arm. I threaded the first one through the arm loop around the opening in his cloth body, carefully scrunching it all the way through and then, not knowing that the T shaped hole in the zip tie's lock needed to face me, I threaded the loop through the wrong end and it got stuck in a twisted shape. I knew I had gotten it wrong and had to cut it open, wasting a zip tie. With the second one, I managed to figure out how to do it correctly on my own but still made the mistake of pulling it a bit snug around his arm. I had no other zip ties at the time, nor did I have the right tools to do it exactly. So I had to leave the zip tie on snug until I could order more, as well as the proper tools to make the attempt again. I did order the supplies on Amazon after that and well, we shall soon see how that goes. Third update incoming at some point. Stay tuned!