Sunday, January 13, 2008

Help! Mickey has the Mumps!

Our friend Sergio in Brazil writes in for help figuring out what the heck is happening to his snowglobes. Bubbles are forming in the paint of the figures inside the globes. The globes are not near heat or direct sunlight. Anyone else have these kind of problems? Any theories on what has caused it?

To me it looks like the Princess globes have manufacturing flaws where the paint perhaps wasn't allowed to cure long enough before water was added. But I'm just guessing.
And what about poor Mickey? He's gone from having nice dreams to looking like he's in bed with some terrible disease.One of the chapters in my book will be about the proper care of snowglobes so I would be very interested in learning what has caused these problems. Please leave a comment with any theory you might have. Thanks.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

AHAHAHAHA!!!
That was VERY good!!!
He is very sick in bed and I see the Bible in his hands. At least by his smile and all the water in the globe I guess he's had "wet dreams".
Poor Mickey! Mumps or Chicken Pox?
Your theory is very good and it makes sense. I would add another one: bad quality of the paint used.
Rob, thank you for posting it!
Sergio

zapjones said...

Sergio tells me that he purchased these globes through ebay and not directly from Disney. That means these globes could have been through just about anything. I'd still like to know what caused that extreme reaction on the Mickey globe. Perhaps it is just a really bad paint job and is one that was never meant to be sold.

Anonymous said...

That Mickey one may be not meant to be sold, as you say. But the other ones WERE perfect by the time I got them and developed those bubbles after some months. I controlled the temperature and the location, as they are with other snowglobes in the same cabinet. That's really weird. They were not supposed to have this problem. Should I keep them in quarantine??? I'm afraid of a snowglobe outbreak... LOL
Thank you Rob Jones!

Anonymous said...

What I know of snow globes is limited. But I do know that the ones we make are filled with anti-freeze (I believe alcohol based) or oil or a combination of both. The anti-freeze is needed for the long trip by boat from China. The amount of anti-freeze also determines the speed of the floaters inside. The more that is used, the longer it takes for them to reach the bottom. (Do you find that the floaters drop more quickly?) Over time however, the liquid inside will evaporate. my best guess would be, that the lumps are actually drops of what's left of the anti-freeze collecting on the bottom. Are there any air-bubbles on top?

Depending on where you bought the globe, the company may haved gone with a cheaper brand of anti-freeze. (Don't be fooled, even Disney tries to save a penny wherever they can.)

Every painted sculpt inside the globe is coated with a clear enamel to protect it from the liquid. If the colors are not faded, then I don't think the enamel nor the paint is the problem.

Collectors will tell you, that even in this state, it may still be worth something over time. I do not recommend trying to fix it. It may lower the value.

Storing your snow globe away in a dark area for a long period of time may also cause bacteria (like sea-monkies) to grow inside the globe. But that's another issue.